At 1:45 on a Saturday morning, a kitchen is still taking orders at 6218 Old Dominion Drive. Surfside Taco Stand opened there on October 22. Its posted hours run from 10:30 a.m. every day until 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, and 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, FFXnow reported. The same parking lot has long served grocery runs, dry cleaning drop-offs and haircuts. Its barber shop alone dates to 1967. A 2 a.m. weekend close is new for this lot.
Surfside is the latest in a long run of new tenants. Since Federal Realty bought Chesterbrook Shopping Center in 2021, it has added businesses that stretch the center's day toward dinner and past it. The errand tenants are still here. One of them now runs from the strip next door. The other trend points the same way: each new arrival keeps the lights on later than the last.
The renovation came first, and it lit the place up
The physical remake started in fall 2022. FFXnow's coverage of the finish put the cost at $8.5 million and listed the work: new building facades, new lighting and outdoor spaces, a repaved parking lot, pollinator gardens and landscaping beds. The center marked completion with a Friendsgiving open house on November 14, 2025.
New lighting and outdoor space are easy to skim past on a work list. They matter most after sunset, and that's when the next wave of tenants does a big share of its business.
Who arrived, in order
FFXnow's recent coverage names the newer arrivals. The ones with firm dates show the newest tenants leaning toward evening food.
| Tenant | What it is | When |
|---|---|---|
| Sorn Thai | Thai restaurant | Recent addition |
| Small Door Veterinary | Membership-based vet clinic | Recent addition |
| Sassanova | Fashion boutique | Recent addition |
| Sweetgreen | Salad chain | December 2025 |
| Bearded Goat Barber | Barbershop at 6248 Old Dominion Drive | Booking McLean appointments by July 2026 |
| Surfside Taco Stand | Coastal Mexican, first Virginia location | October 22, 2026 |
| Glenwood's | Sushi, steak and American fare | Targeting fall 2027 |
Sweetgreen and Surfside share a freestanding building at 6218 Old Dominion Drive. One is a lunch habit for most of its customers. The other has a margarita list and serves until 2 a.m. on weekends. The pairing in one building is a small version of the whole center's shift.
Surfside is a counter, built for groups
Surfside's McLean outpost is about 1,700 square feet. It's a taco stand, not a copy of the full-service flagship in Tenleytown. The menu covers tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas, and rice and salad bowls. Nacho and fajita boxes feed up to 10 people, and there are kids' meals. Drinks include beer, regular and spicy margaritas, Mexican sodas, and a Montego Bay punch made with coconut milk, pineapple and orange juice. Dessert is soft-serve, flan or tres leches cake.
The format fits a Friday when a youth game runs long and eight people need dinner without a reservation. It also fits a late snack after a night out. Owner Georgetown Events Hospitality Group runs Surfside, Millie's Spring Valley and Jetties in the District. Founder Bo Blair told FFXnow that McLean and Arlington diners have been loyal customers of those places for years. As of FFXnow's October 21 report, Federal Realty planned a grand-opening celebration for November but hadn't set a date.
The errand side stayed, and one piece moved next door
The remake hasn't replaced everyday errands. Federal Realty's tenant directory still lists Safeway as the largest occupant, along with Starbucks and CorePower Yoga. FFXnow notes that some longtime tenants remain, including the family-owned Mylo's Grill and Chesterbrook Cleaners, which handles clothing and shoe cleaning and alterations.
The Chesterbrook Barber Shop took a different route. It was one of the center's original tenants and cut hair there from 1967 until it relocated after the ownership change, FFXnow reported in June. Longtime customers helped with the search for a new space. The shop held its grand reopening on June 14, 2026, at 6262-F Old Dominion Drive. That's in the adjacent strip, where Tennis Topia and Fonts Books & Gifts are.
So the barber is a short walk from its old spot. Its hours, also from FFXnow, are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Those are daytime hours, and Surfside's run well past them. The two businesses split the old Chesterbrook day between them.
Glenwood's is the clearest signal of where this goes
The tenant planned for 2027 is built for evenings more than any business here so far. Glenwood's signed a lease for about 7,000 square feet at the southern end of the center, near Small Door Veterinary. It will be the chain's first Northern Virginia location. According to the press release covered by FFXnow, it will seat about 170, add about 90 full- and part-time jobs, and offer:
- Live entertainment every night
- An outdoor patio
- Valet parking
- A private dining room with a temperature-controlled, floor-to-ceiling wine display
Montgomery County diners may know the concept under an older name. It opened as Stanford Grill in Columbia in 2010, came to Rockville in 2015, and took the name Glenwood's under Blueridge Restaurant Group in 2024. Construction is expected to start in early 2027, with a target opening of fall 2027.
Nightly live entertainment and valet parking at the end of a lot best known for its Safeway would have sounded unlikely a few years ago. The landlord calls it a step in the center's evolution. Speaking to FFXnow about Surfside, Federal Realty Senior Vice President of Asset Management Mike Ennes said:
"Surfside complements the center's established restaurants and recent additions like Sweetgreen and Sorn Thai, as well as the highly anticipated Glenwood's."
How the center works across a week now
Put the hours side by side and Chesterbrook has three shifts:
- Morning and midday: Safeway, Starbucks, Chesterbrook Cleaners, a yoga class at CorePower, and haircuts at either barber. Sweetgreen covers lunch.
- Early evening: Sorn Thai, Mylo's Grill and Surfside for dinner. On Sundays, Surfside's last call is 8:30 p.m.
- Late Friday and Saturday: Surfside, until 2 a.m.
When Glenwood's opens, the evening shift gets a sit-down anchor with music and a patio. Until then, the late hours rest on one taco counter.
This fits a pattern we've followed across McLean this year. Our August look at the town's calendar found the summer energy collecting on one Old Dominion Drive block downtown and at the Capital One Center campus. Chesterbrook sits on the same road and is building its own evening hours. More McLean coverage is on our McLean neighborhood page.
The McLean Revitalization Corp.'s Winterfest Parade and Block Party is Sunday, December 6, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. The block party is at Langley Shopping Center, and the parade starts at Fleetwood Road and Old Chain Bridge Road at 1:30 p.m. At Chesterbrook, the next things to watch are Surfside's grand-opening date and the first construction fencing at the southern end of the lot.
If you own near Old Dominion Drive and wonder how a Glenwood's in 2027 might affect your street, or you just want to talk through what's changing around Chesterbrook, I'm glad to share what I'm seeing. Reach out to Anthony C Ford and Contact Anthony Anytime.
