Opal, an American coastal-fare restaurant in Washington, D.C.’s Chevy Chase neighborhood, has kicked off a Sunday Patio Series, where patrons can enjoy watching chefs cook seafood and meat skewers over an open flame, according to a press release.
The Sunday Skewers events are held outside on the patio of the restaurant at 5534 Connecticut Ave. NW to showcase the “tastes of grilling out on a summer night,” according to the menu for the patio series. But if patrons want to beat the heat, the experience will be offered inside the restaurant as well, the release said.
Opal chefs are grilling a variety of skewer kebabs that are served with an assortment of side dishes and condiments including steamed scallion rice, wood-fired pita, roasted garlic hummus, tzatziki, tahini sauce, garlic sauce, pickled vegetables, fresh herbs, tomato and cucumber salad, crispy roasted chickpeas and sumac onions.
Kebab options include beef striploin ($30), salmon belly ($29), chicken thighs ($28) and shrimp ($36). Opal also offers a combination platter for $32.
Opal’s Sunday Patio series will run until Thanksgiving, according to a press release. The Sunday events run from 5 p.m. until the restaurant closes at 9:30 p.m.
Lucky patrons might even experience a celebrity sighting along with their skewers. Last August, as Beyoncé prepared to play a show at FedEx Field in Landover, her husband Jay-Z and sister Solange went to brunch at Opal.
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Social media posts revealed Jay-Z and Solange spent hours in the 80-seat dining room and later posed for a photo with the restaurant’s staff.
“Jay-Z was laughing, clapping, being so kind to staff. Love to see it,” Kelly Pace Hayes, a marketing and social media consultantpostedon X.
El Jefe Wood Fired Pizza opens in Solaire Social
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Solaire Social, a food hall at 8200 Dixon Ave. in downtown Silver Spring, welcomed its newest addition, El Jefe Wood Fired Pizza, on Tuesday. With the new pizza spot, the 13,000-square-foot food hall is now complete, according to a press release.
El Jefe Wood Fired Pizza is owned by chef Edwin Garcia, who has operated a food truck on Broad Green Drive in Potomac since 2022. Solaire Social is El Jefe’s first brick-and-mortar location after Garcia spent years serving hot pies at local farmers markets and while catering.
He told MoCo360 Tuesday that it “feels good” to have a physical location for El Jefe to call home.
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“We are happy because we know how hard we [worked] … outside in the weather, raining and hot,” Garcia said. “I mean, we are still going to continue doing the farmers market, of course. But now we have plenty of space.”
El Jefe offers traditional Italian pies such as a Margherita ($15) as well as pepperoni ($16) and arugula prosciutto pizzas ($17) and other nontraditional combinations like the street corn ($14) or birria pizzas ($17), inspired by Garcia’s upbringing in Mexico and Los Angeles. El Jefe also serves a vegan pie with non-dairy cheese and vegan pepperoni, spinach and pesto.
For now, El Jefe’s menu includes pizza and homemade hibiscus and lemonade drinks ($7), but Garcia said he is considering adding pasta dishes, salads and more vegan options to the menu in the future.
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The eatery is located between Fire Pit Brazilian Cuisine & Barbecue and Shuga x Ice in the food hall, which opened in May.
Hard Times Cafe in Rockville reopens
The Hard Times Café in Rockville has reopened, according to Bob Howard, one of the owners.
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Howard confirmed to MoCo360 Wednesday that the restaurant, at 1117 Nelson St., officially reopened Tuesday. The expected reopening was first reported by Store Reporter.
Hard Times Café Rockville closed in late September 2023, citing extensive repairs, according to the MoCo Show. The restaurant’s webpage for its Rockville location says a “plumbing situation” affecting the shopping center where the restaurant is located caused it to close temporarily.
Nearly 10 months later, the southwestern-inspired restaurant known for its traditional chili has reopened for patrons craving a Hard Times Chili Dog ($13.89), chili over spaghetti ($12.89), and Santa Fe Eggrolls ($10.89), among other dishes.
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The Rockville location first opened in 1984, according to the restaurant’s website. Other locations are in Alexandria, Fredericksburg and Springfield, Virginia.
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