Baltimore Oyster Bar Prepares to Open an Offshoot in Arlington

Oysters in Arlington

Baltimore seafood restaurant Local Oyster is opening its second location next week in Arlington, Virginia, pending final permits. The “no frills seafood” spot (a term coined by the restaurant’s Beverage Director Chelsea Gregoire) is planning to hold a soft-opening next Thursday, April 18, featuring a special limited menu. The full menu, which the restaurant will serve once it opens for good, includes oysters (sourced from southern Maryland farm True Chesapeake Oyster Co.) clams, soups, lobster rolls, crab cakes, and vegetable-based sides.

The Arlington location represents Local Oyster’s first foray beyond Baltimore, where it first opened as a pop-up about six years ago, Founder and co-owner Nick Shauman says. The restaurant will open at 4238 Wilson Boulevard, inside Ballston mall’s Quarter Market. [ARLnow]

Turkish delight

Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant Maya Bistro has opened on Arlington’s Lee Highway. The family-run restaurant, which opened in the space once occupied by former Nook Play Space at 5649 Lee Highway, is serving moussaka, falafel and adana sandwiches, and grilled meat skewers, ARLnow reported Wednesday. The restaurant’s staff told the site they sold out of some menu items last Friday, briefly after opening. [ARLnow]

A chef’s battle

Ed Scarpone, the 32-year-old culinary director of Schlow Restaurant Group, described to Washington City Paper what it has been like coming to terms with his Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. “Could you be in a wheelchair in a kitchen? What if you needed crutches or a cane? Could you expedite without being able to hold a marker? You go deep down the rabbit hole,” Scarpone says in a story published yesterday. The D.C. chef, now heading up the menu at several of restaurateur Michael Schlow’s restaurants, including the Riggsby, named #56 on Washingtonian’s 2019 “100 Very Best Restaurants” list, also spent years working in restaurateur Daniel Boulud’s kitchens across North America.

Scarpone was first diagnosed with MS in March 2018, when he had just started working at The Riggsby. After years of keeping the condition a secret from everyone but his closest friends and co-workers, fearing losing his future in restaurants because of the disease, Scarpone posted an image from his MRI to Facebook last month, going public with his experience before sharing it with the WCP. [WCP]

Surf’s up

The development of Surfside restaurant’s Tenleytown location at American University, slated to open this Spring in the former Ruby Tuesday/Firelake Grill space at 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, is progressing. The restaurant, known for its tacos and burritos, has just applied for its liquor license. The operation will be Surfside’s third D.C. location, after its locations in Westchester and Dupont Circle (the latter of which is open 24 hours). [PoPville]