Booming Chain &pizza Brings Oblong Pies to Ballston December 27, Plus More Intel

Free pies/ink for Arlington

Expansion-minded local chain &pizza is opening its next store Wednesday, December 27, in neighboring Ballston. The 26th shop (3924 Wilson Boulevard), which is scheduled to debut at 11 a.m. with all the now-expected tie-ins — one free pizza for the first 126 customers in line; by-request tattoos of the &pizza logo and free pizza for a year for the first 26 patrons to go under the needle — comes just days after the company debuted in Adams Morgan.

Dining deals in the new year

The next semi-annual Winter Restaurant Week is scheduled to run from Monday, January 22, through Sunday, January 28. Open Table currently lists 90-plus restaurants participating in the discounted three-course meal blitz ($22 lunch/brunch; $35 dinner), ranging from lunch-only participant Rasika West End to fully committed newcomer Arroz.

Japanese trumps Sri Lankan food in the ‘burbs

A tipster tells Popville that recently shuttered Banana Leaf in Chevy Chase, Maryland, will likely be replaced by a sushi restaurant in the new year.

Critics’ picks

Northern Virginia Magazine restaurant critic and dining editor Stefanie Gans reflects on her favorite meals of the year, a stroll down memory lane that includes a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit in Leesburg, Virginia, which she says “could be the most-perfect sandwich.”