Northwood News ♦ April 2005

Four Corners Gets New ‘Fajita Coast’ Restaurant

By Cait James

Looking for something different to feast on close to home?  Fajita Coast restaurant will be opening at Four Corners in the former Fred and Harry’s restaurant in mid-April, according to co-owner Juan Belcran.

Belcran, 33, and his business partner Ever Rivas, 36, were fixtures at the Cactus Cantina restaurant in Northwest Washington, D.C., for the past 16 years, where Belcran managed and Rivas cooked.  Rivas will be the chef at Fajita Coast.

Belcran and his friends and relatives have gutted the former seafood restaurant, and are completely changing its look with bright paint inside and out and contemporary interior lighting.  The approximately 5,000-square-foot space will seat 85-90 customers, Belcran said.

Belcran lives in nearby Montgomery Knolls and had been looking for a place to open his business for three years when he learned that Fred and Harry’s was closing.  He is leasing the building from Anthony Mereos, who owns several other buildings on the lot, including another new eating establishment, Manhattan Deli, which opened in February.

“It’s a nice neighborhood and I wanted to try to do something nice for it,” Belcran said of the Four Corners area.

Acknowledging that Silver Spring is awash in Tex-Mex cuisine these days, Belcran said his place will be different from other local eateries such as Chipotle, Baja Fresh, Austin Grill, and California Tortilla (which is soon to open at the Burnt Mills Shopping Center on Route 29, about a mile north of Four Corners).

Belcran said Fajita Coast will offer fine dining with white table cloths.  “We’re not a chain,” Belcran added.  “We’ll do what customers want.”

Fajita Coast will offer big portions of fajitas, tacos, enchiladas, as well as salads for $8.95 to $11.95, as well as a kids’ menu, Belcran said.

Northwood Park residents Cathy Lawler and Claudia Saldi are looking forward to trying out the new establishment.

“There is a lot of Mexican food around, so it would be nice to have a little more variety, but it will be nice to have a place to sit down (and eat),” said Lawler, who has lived in Northwood Park for two years with her husband Brian.  “It’ll be nice to have some place you can actually walk to in the neighborhood.”

Saldi, a six-year resident of the neighborhood who has a two-year old son, said she hopes the opening of Fajita Coast portends a trend.

“While Wheaton and Silver Spring have always had a lot of great places to dine, Four Corners has had few.  We hope that this place will be one of many interesting places in Four Corners,” she said.   ■