A Mexican restaurant plans to take the Oriental East space. Photo courtesy Pete Tan.
District Taco has signed a lease to open a location in the The Blairs shopping center, according to an announcement on the restaurant company’s website.
The new outlet will occupy the majority of the space vacated when Oriental East closed, according to Charles Wallach, vice president of leasing and tenant construction for The Tower Companies, owner of The Blairs.
“We like fun communities with a lot of energy and Silver Spring definitely has that!” said company CEO and co-founder Osiris Hoil in the announcement. “Silver Spring has been on our radar for a long time.”
The restaurant offers typical Mexican fare such tacos, burritos, quesadillas, with a breakfast menu that’s available all day.
District Taco was launched in 2009 as a food truck in Washington, D.C. The company now operates a dozen outlets in Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia, and will open a second location in Philadelphia this year as well as coming to Silver Spring.
In its announcement, District Taco said, in addition to current occupants such as Mamma Lucia, it would be joining Zinburger in The Blairs.
Wallach confirmed that information, writing in an email to the Source, “Zinburger Beer and Wine Bar will be constructing a new pad site immediately to the south of where [District Taco] is going.”
Zinburger bills itself as a wine and burger restaurant with more than fifteen outlets in seven states along the East Coast. It is part of Phoenix-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, which operates 15 different concepts around the country.
Wallach said the expected opening dates are the end of 2018 for District Taco and the summer of 2019 for Zinburger.
h/t to Reddit users SilverSpringist & sleight42