CIRS Mold Toxicity Treatment in Alexandria, VA

In Virginia, flashy diners and ostentatious restaurants aren’t the only places to find exceptional food. According to a recent ranking, their opposites are actually a better option.

In its ranking of the 50 Best Hole-In-The-Wall Sandwich Shops In Each State, Chowhound singled out The Sandwich Shop in Vienna, a modern eatery on Church Street Northwest.

The Sandwich Shop serves the Italian, chicken and hummus or chicken and cheddar sandwiches, curry chicken salad, club sandwiches, broccolini and sun-dried tomato sandwiches, vitamin c banh mi, french fries, cheesy bacon tater tots, steak and cheese sandwiches and meatball sandwiches.

Here’s what some Google user reviews say about The Sandwich Shop:

"Really cool sandwich shop in Vienna, Virginia. Really lovely outside seating, creative ???? sandwiches ????. Decent prices. Will be back."

"Our favorite sandwiches in NoVA! Their sandwiches are delicious and always stuffed— our favorites are their chipotle chicken sandwich, Italian, and chicken parm. Their chicken salad and tuna salad sandwiches are amazing too. Highly recommend putting in a mobile order or going as soon as they open because the line can get pretty long, especially around lunch time on the weekends."

"The food here is delicious and they have veggie options! I've been here a few times with my daughter and I've been stalling to review because I don't want others coming to my favorite lunch spot! Sorry, not sorry. Today I had the vitamin c banh mi (careful, it's got hot peppers!) and my son had the BLT-A and loved it, my daughter had the mozzarella sticks from the kids menu and we shared some tator tots. And I had a Raised by Wolves amber lager which was super tasty. The food here is great and the staff is excellent. Go here. (But don't cause I don't wanna share.)"

Chowhound, an influential online food community and forum dedicated to finding “undiscovered” gems hidden in a region’s food scene, said the 50 sandwich shops on the list are places “where tradition and simple care yield unforgettable flavors.”

The ranking, based on consistent praise from loyal customers on social media, press chatter, and industry awards, represents the consummate “guide to the unpretentious heart of American sandwich culture,” Chowhound said.

“Whether you’re chasing a perfectly toasted grilled cheese, a smoky barbecue sandwich, or a cold-cut masterpiece layered just right, this guide is your roadmap to discovering the hidden gems that define America's sandwich culture, one humble counter and unforgettable bite at a time,” according to Chowhound.

In a shift that building operators could see more of, the city council of Alexandria, Virginia, last month approved a plan that reduces its reliance on third-party certifications as the standard for measuring green building compliance by adding an additional option that’s focused on a narrower standard: energy use intensity.

“I do think we’re seeing a trend in that direction,” Matthew Allman, a partner with Venable, said in an interview. “I’ve not seen municipalities abandon third-party rating systems completely, but more and more of what they’re doing is providing a menu of options where you can achieve the green building policy [using] metrics related to energy use intensity.”

Energy use intensity, or EUI, is considered a more direct, performance-based sustainability goal than third-party certifications because it focuses on just one metric: the amount of energy a building uses per unit of gross floor area over a specific time, typically expressed as energy use per square foot per year.

“Developers will react [to an emphasis on EUI] by prioritizing energy modeling and building envelope performance over chasing certification points,” according to an analysis of Alexandria’s new plan by Sustainability Directory.

Prior to the change, Alexandria’s building plan required developers wanting to get a building permit to submit plans that aligned with one of several third-party certifications, including LEED, Green Globes and EarthCraft.

These certifications tend to look at a broader range of performance metrics. LEED, for example, looks at water use efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, indoor environmental quality and the use of sustainable materials, among other things.

Under Alexandria’s new plan, developers of any commercial building that’s 10,000 square feet or larger could submit a plan aligning their project to one of the certifications or to the EUI standard. There’s no existing building retrofit requirement. There are slightly different requirements for building conversions and some multifamily properties.

Developers would also have to show how they would generate at least 3% of the building’s energy use from on-site renewable generation, typically rooftop solar. If meeting the 3% requirement would be a hardship, they can pay $150,000 into a city fund.

The payment option would likely be attractive to developers of buildings that wouldn’t have sufficient rooftop space to have both the solar panels and the building’s mechanical equipment.

“Some of these urban lots, they’re so small that it’s difficult to actually get to that 3%,” Venable Associate Megan Rappolt said in an interview. “They use that roof for mechanical equipment.”

On-site geothermal might be another option but a system like that in a private commercial building would be a rarity, said Rappolt. “That’s more of what a government [building] would do,” she said.

Alexandria is a largely urban city of about 160,000 people that’s part of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. It’s known in part for its association with George Washington, who kept a townhouse in the city when he wasn’t at his nearby Mt. Vernon estate.

With the change, the city joins a number of municipalities that use EUI in some form as part of their building performance standards. More cities could follow suit.

“Jurisdictions seem to be a little bit more focused on energy efficiency as a means of meeting their environmental goals,” Allman said. “With the third-party rating systems, there may be a sense [that] there are so many things you can do to achieve a certain level of LEED certification that maybe aren’t as aligned with the jurisdiction’s specific goals, so they’re trying to deemphasize [that] or offer alternatives to those routes.”

An incoming storm could dampen Valentine's Day weekend plans in Virginia, bringing widespread rain and a possible wintry mix to the D.C. region, according to the latest forecasts.

The storm, which pummeled California with rain and mountain snow earlier this week, is expected to shift east later this week and could track in a way that brings snow, ice and rain to part of the northeastern United States this weekend, AccuWeather wrote in its latest forecast.

"While there is not a large area of Arctic air to the north, there is enough cold air for some precipitation to be snow and ice," AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecasting Operations Dan DePodwin said. "At this time, the greatest risk for any snow and ice will be from the mid-Atlantic into southern portions of New England."

While the exact timing, track and strength of the storm are uncertain, National Weather Service forecasters said the system is most likely to impact Virginia on Sunday into Monday.

As the storm advances into Northern Virginia, it could briefly bring a wintry mix to the region, especially north and west of the Beltway, The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang said in its latest forecast.

A bulk of the precipitation on Sunday will likely be rain, according to NWS forecasters. There's a chance that up to an inch of rain could fall, especially in areas to the south.

"If higher rainfall values are realized, especially in areas with residual snow pack and icy rivers, there could be some localized flooding issues," the National Weather Service wrote. "The system should be exiting the area by Monday morning."

Once the storm exits the state, Virginians can expect a surge of warm weather with temperatures reaching the 50s by Monday and nearing 60 degrees by Wednesday.

Here's a look at the detailed forecast through the weekend:

Thursday: Scattered flurries before 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. Northwest wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 25. Northwest wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 40. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29. Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph after midnight.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 53. West wind 6 to 8 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35.

Sunday: Rain likely, mainly after 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 46. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday Night: Rain likely, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 51.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 54.

Seven Virginia and Washington, D.C. universities are among the 500 best in the world, according to a recent ranking from Time.

Seven Virginia and Washington, D.C. universities are among the 500 best in the world, according to a recent ranking from Time designed to help students understand where they’re most likely to get degrees that help them achieve extraordinary success after graduation.

Virginia and D.C. universities cited by Time and their rank in the world are:

The higher education debate often falsely pits diversity against meritocracy, suggesting universities must choose between student identity and quality, but the core issue may be wealth’s role in admissions, Time said. The real question is how to design admissions policies that are both more meritocratic and increase socioeconomic diversity, the news outlet said.

Time said the tension is reflected in its new ranking of the World’s Top Universities, which emphasizes the extent to which students achieve extraordinary success — for example, in patenting innovations or rising to leadership roles in business. But the analysis also reveals what Time called “an uncomfortable reality”: These top universities are primarily accessible to children from wealthy families in most countries, limiting their socioeconomic diversity.

Time said its research using big data to study the outcomes of millions of college students over time underscored that in the United States. While fewer than 1 percent of Americans attend the 12 “Ivy-Plus” colleges (the eight Ivies, plus Stanford, MIT, Duke and UChicago), these alumni account for more than 13 percent of the top 0.1 percent of earners, a quarter of U.S. senators, half of Rhodes scholars, and three-fourths of recent Supreme Court justices appointed in the last half-century.

“These institutions don’t merely select talented students but directly change their life trajectories,” Time said. “Comparing waitlisted students who were accepted vs. rejected from these institutions essentially by chance, we find that those who attend an Ivy-Plus college are far more likely to reach the top 1 percent of the income distribution, work at prestigious firms, and achieve success in many other dimensions. Selective colleges have extraordinary influence.”

The top 20 universities worldwide on Time’s list are:

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Eclairons, a family-owned French pastry shop, is set to open a new location Friday, Feb. 6 in Old Town Alexandria, owner Maya Srour confirmed Wednesday.

Look for an official grand opening coming up in March.

The space at 430 S. Washington St. is a well-known spot for a bakery; it was the former home of Firehook Bakery, which was in business for more than 20 years, closing its doors at the location on Christmas Eve 2024.

"We're excited to come to Old Town!" Srour said last year when plans were unveiled for the new Eclairons location. She runs the business with her family, including her father Chef Toni Srour, who has more than 40 years of baking experience. The owners have been busy renovating the interior and exterior last year.

"We aim to preserve the existing facade while giving it a clean, modern update that aligns with the tenant's brand. The design will maintain key historical elements while introducing sleek new features to enhance the building's overall appearance," FORMDesign, LLC noted in a letter to the City. The proposed design went before the City's Board of Architectural Review last spring.

The hours at Eclairons will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

This will be the second location for Elcarions. Its first bakery is located at 1737 Wilson Blvd., in the Colonial Village Shopping Center in Arlington. The bakery has earned 4.5 stars on Yelp.

The Alexandria bakery will offer the same features and menu as the Arlington location: A coffee bar, breakfast (croissants, egg sandwiches, quiche, breakfast burritos and more), lunch (short rib sandwich, turkey panini and more), cookies, bars, pastries and of course, eclairs. Other specialties include whole cakes including one named "Alexandria," which is described as almond coconut macaron, pistachio cream and white chocolate pistachio glaze. Other flavors include Dark Chocolate Raspberry and Black Forest. (It's unsure whether the entire menu will be immediately available before the grand opening in March.)

The family business also includes a third location, Pastry Xpo in Falls Church.

Chef Toni Srour immigrated from Lebanon at the age of 26, and after learning the business of baking from his father, he opened his first wholesale business, Maurice Pastries, Inc. in 1993 followed by Pastry Xpo Café in 2008 and added Eclairons in 2020 in Arlington.

His business and food philosophy is to keep evolving, continuously perfecting recipes and creating new ones with sometimes unexpected flavors.