By Pat Malone
There is a new place to ‘touchdown’ for great food and good sports near Alexandria and Arlington – Glory Days Grill at the Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center, located on Columbia Pike, between Annandale and Bailey’s Crossroads!
Glory Days Grill opened Tuesday, December 19, 2017. Sports fans and foodies alike can now drop in to what has become the local ‘go-to’ landing spot for delicious, mouth-watering food in the Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Falls Church, Bailey’s Crossroads and Lake Barcroft areas.
The ‘all-star’ management team at Glory Days Grill at the Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center is made up of Wali Ghause – Managing Partner; Mike Adelsbach – Assistant General Manager; Nate Goldstein – Manager; Victor Joya – Manager; and Jose Duran – Kitchen Manager.
Long-tenured restaurateur, Wali Ghause, is coming home, of sorts, as the Managing Partner of Glory Days Grill at the Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center. “Opening our newest restaurant, close to my home, means so much to me,” Ghause proudly said in his office. “I grew up here and I know that my great Glory Days team will help bring smiles to so many of my friends and neighbors.”
“More importantly,” Ghause added, “I know how much Glory Days will help strengthen the local community, with our team sponsorships and our restaurant’s banquet room that organizations in-and-around Lake Barcroft can utilize. Depending on the configuration, the banquet room can accommodate up to 68 guests. This amount of seating will appeal to teams from Mason District Little League and the many public and private schools that are in close proximity. I am looking forward to getting a chance to meet and greet guests at Glory Days, and I hope to see everyone very soon.”
The Barcroft Plaza Glory Days Grill location will feature over forty high-definition televisions, featuring live sports, news programming, and family entertainment shows, including the Cartoon Network. Each table features portable infrared-remote speaker boxes, one of the most popular and unique aspects of Glory Days Grills, enabling guests to listen to the programs of their choice.
Glory Days Grill attributes much of its great success to a long-time friend of mine, Tony Cochones, who is their Executive Chef and Vice President of Culinary Operations.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our company,” said Cochones, regarding Glory Days Grill’s newest location. “As an Alexandria-area resident for over two decades, I am proud of what we can do and the contributions that we make to each community that we are a part of at every one of our locations. We love the area in-and-around Lake Barcroft and the wonderful people who live here,” he added.
Cochones has been involved with Glory Days Grill for the past seventeen years, and was recently honored as Virginia’s ‘Chef of the Year’ by the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association (VRLTA). One of the determining factors in this recognition, was Tony’s development over the past eight years, of Glory Days Grill’s gluten-free menu and ALLERGEN Wizard, which instructs guests regarding what list of offerings are acceptable for them enjoy, based on their specific food allergies.
Dave Kohn, Glory Days Grill’s Director of Training said, “The biggest thrill, for me, is taking more than 100 new employees, and in under a week, getting them ready to serve our guests ‘the Glory Days way’.
We are thrilled to be joining the neighborhood that surrounds Barcroft Plaza with our brand of outstanding food and quality service. It is an honor to be a cornerstone in the community, working with new employees and training them to not only have excellent service standards, but to also help them develop traits that will benefit them as individuals, including teamwork and personal responsibility.”
Gary Cohen, Glory Days Grill’s Executive Vice President added, “I am so very proud of our team: from design to development, construction through opening day, our folks professionally manage every detail along the way. We have assembled the best-of-the-best crew from many of our locations to help open and train our staff of stars. Lake Barcroft, we are here to serve you! At Glory Days Grill, you’ll come for the sports, but you’ll come back for our food! Play Ball!”
Glory Days Grill at the Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center is located at 6341 Columbia Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Their phone number for ‘to-go’ orders and to book private parties and banquets is 703-992-6060.
Sometime this summer, Glory Days Grill will open their next Virginia location at Alexandria Commons Shopping Center on Duke Street, in the City of Alexandria, which will become their second location inside the Beltway. The Alexandria Commons location will feature the standard award-winning Glory Days Grill menu, offer personal pizzas, and will also have a 56-seat covered patio in the front of the premises. A banquet room will be available for private functions and team celebrations.
Glory Days Grill opened their first location on April 16, 1996, in Burke, Virginia and twenty-one years later they have grown to become the preeminent full-service, family-oriented, sports-themed restaurant in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. metro area.
Upon opening, Alexandria Commons will be their thirtieth overall location. The three co-founders of Glory Days Grill, all great long-time friends of mine, legendary restaurateurs Richard Danker, Jeff Newman, and Bob Garner, currently own and operate 19 restaurants in the tri-state area, comprising Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Glory Days Grill also supports 10 franchise restaurants; two in the Richmond, Virginia area; one in Apex, North Carolina; and seven in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area of Florida.
For more information on how you, your friends and family, all can become a part of the Glory Days Grill experience, please go to www.GloryDaysGrill.com.
On a personal note, having lived in-and-around Annandale and Alexandria for much of my youth and adult life, I have great memories of Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center, from the old Safeway store, which was adjacent to 711; to Roy Rogers, where Starbucks is, now; and the many previous end-cap restaurants, like Tom Weston’s Angler’s Inn, where Glory Days Grill is located, today. If you have any of your own personal memories of ‘glory days’ past in the local area, please email me at [email protected], and I will see you at Glory Days!
Nice write-up, Pat. Thanks! (…made me hungry just reading it…)
That nice artuicle has seduced me into crossing the Potomac and trying out the new location. But only if the author, Mr. Malone, might meet me there sometime!