Reston Citizen

The early 2008 completion of the South of Market project will bring several new dining options to the town center.

Boston Properties, which owns several buildings at the Town Center has confirmed they have signed three leases, and a fourth is almost completed. The Reston Times say the tenants are Mon Ami Gabi, Passion Food LLC and Great American Restaurants.

The newer western end of the Town Center has seen several new restaurants move in including Il Fornaio and IceBerry, a California yogurt “parlor.” There is also a rumored White Chocolate Grill which would occupy the space abandoned by Ruby Tuesday. The new restaurants have been selected to minimize cannibalization of the already crowed restaurant market.

The new menus will include a customizable burger restaurant, a seafood restaurant, and a French steakhouse.
The Reston Town Center has had a nearly continual retail occupancy of 100%, and according to John Asadoorian, manager of retail leasing, “Interest in the space was high.” The South of Market project, a brick and glass office building with ground level retail will open it’s doors sometime in early 2008. As the Town Center faces build-out this will probably be one of the last office projects.

The Fairfax County Police Department wants to remind residents of some common sense ideas to be safe on Halloween, and for the rest of the year.

• Walk in the crosswalk or corner of a road. Don’t cross between to parked cars, and look both ways.
• Young children need an adult with them, older children should tell parents their route, and bring a cell phone
• Only visit house with lights on.
• It’s best to eat only individually wrapped candies, and homemade candies should only be taken from people you know.
• Wear a costume that is easy to see out of, doesn’t impair walking, and brightly lit.
• Lastly, gas and alcohol don’t mix.

And of course don’t forget to have fun!

This delicious looking meal was prepared at Busara, a Thai restaurant at the Town Center. I know from person experiences, restaurants are terrible places to photograph. But somehow he got the lighting and everything worked, to the point I could see this in a food magazine.

Weather for Thursday, September 13th: Increasing clouds, with a high near 78. Calm wind becoming south between 6 and 9 mph.

Photo by: chrismilne

Il Fornaio opens it’s first East Coast restaurant at the Reston Town Center Monday. Il Fornaio started as a cooking school in Lombardia, Italy, and later expanded to America.

Il Fornaio serves primarily Northern Italian cuisine, and has a list of 60+ wines. Several of the wines are unique to it’s Reston, Virginia location, as they believe in selling a few local wines. Il Fornaio’s chef, Claudio Zorloni and managing partner, David Carteni both come from Italy and have extensive experience.

Average menu prices are $16, lunch, and $30 dinner. The restaurant seats about 240 people, and is open from 11am to 11pm Monday-Thursday, and open until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours are 10am to 11pm. It’s opening day is August 27th, and is located in the Midtown residential building.