Black Squirrel To Open Saturday In Dunn Loring

VIENNA, VA — The Black Squirrel, a pub based in DC's Adams Morgan neighborhood, is expanding to Virginia with a restaurant and craft beer bar in Dunn Loring. Owner Amy Bowman confirmed to Patch that the store will open Saturday. It is located at 2670 Avenir Place in Vienna, not far from the Dunn Loring Metro.

Black Squirrel hopes to become a Vienna staple just as it did in Adam Morgan's craft beer scene. That location opened in 2007.

"When I decided to go with craft beer back then, I definitely remember sensing how odd it was to folks. People would come into the place and say, 'What do you mean you do not have Miller Lite on tap?,' Bowman said. "It sounds crazy to say this now, but it took a long while for people to catch on to craft beer."

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The other facet of Black Squirrel will be a farm-to-table restaurant. Chef Thomas Crenshaw plans to bring in products from the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia, at least until the winter season.

"There's a certain romanticism associated with farm life nowadays, especially among urban millennials, who maybe are a generation or two removed from the land," said Crenshaw. "I can tell you there's nothing like the taste of a vine-ripened tomato, as opposed to one that was picked while green and shipped to our area from California. I want to give you the vine-ripened experience at the Black Squirrel."

Crenshaw has also worked at DC's Boss Shepherds, the Capital Restaurant Concepts group and Interstate Hotels and Resorts.

For more information, visit Black Squirrel Dunn Loring's Facebook page or the Adams Morgan location's website.

Image courtesy of Black Squirrel