Riviera Tapas has moved across the street to a new location in Riverdale Park.

After five years in the historic town center, the Spanish-Mexican fusion restaurant moved into the former home of Banana Blossom Bistro in the corner of the the Riverdale Park Town Center building.

The new restaurant location opened at its new spot at 6202 Rhode Island Ave., Suite 116, on March 31. Banana Blossom Bistro moved out of the space to a smaller location at Union Market a year ago.

Owner Hugo Bonilla, who is originally from El Salvador, built the menu around a a fusion of American, Spanish and Mexican tapas in contemporary and traditional cooking styles. Since opening in 2018, it’s become a mainstay of the Route 1 dining scene.

Riviera Tapas was named a runner-up for best Latin American restaurant and best brunch in the 2022 Hyattsville Wire readers poll.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.

Hyattsville will soon incorporate “living canopies” to its new bus shelters.

This summer, the city will add 10 new stations with solar panels and living vegetation from Cool Green Shelters, an offshoot of the local business Living Canopies.

You may have seen one of the company’s other products, a vegetation-laced umbrella stand, at the Vigilante Coffee in College Park.

University of Maryland professor David Tilley designed the aluminum umbrella stands, which incorporated four pots and a solar-powered standalone watering system.

But the company had to halt production during the coronavirus pandemic, which led Tilley to start noodling around with an old idea to create a greener shelter to help people waiting in the sun and the rain for a bus.

The bus shelters use hardy native plants on top to cut down on heat and direct rain water into a reservoir, while solar panels provide power for USB charging stations and LED lighting, allowing them to be self-sufficient.

He plans to add temperature gauges and other measurement tools to future versions of the shelter.

The shelters cost around $30,000 each, which Hyattsville paid for with grants.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.

Three Route 1 restaurants have been nominated for a prestigious industry award.

The 41st annual Rammy awards from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington recognize the top eateries in a number of categories at a gala on July 9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

This year’s nominee’s include:

Era Wine Bar: The popular Mount Rainier wine bar was nominated for the “quality, diversity, clarity and value of its wine program.” It faces Lulu’s Wine Garden, Primrose, Reveler’s Hour and St. Anselm.

Pennyroyal Station: Located next door in Mount Rainier, the popular restaurant was nominated for its “dedication to dining excellence, service, and value in a casual environment.” It faces Bammy’s, Destino, Maketto and Tonari.

Spice Kitchen West African Grill: Located inside the miXt Food Hall in Brentwood, the West African street food place was nominated for “favorite fast bites.” It faces competition from Chef Skip 202, Rasa, Roaming Rooster and Stellina Pizzeria.

Nominees were chosen by an anonymous panel of food and media professionals. You can vote for the three restaurants on the Rammy Awards page on NBC Washington’s website. Voting begins today and ends May 31.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.

A Mount Rainier resident runs a small-batch coffee roastery from his home.

Christopher Lowe named his small business Quality Hill Coffee after the name of the area in Mount Rainier where he moved in 2006.

A wine seller at Balducci’s, Lowe got into coffee when his wife bought him a small roaster and began experimenting with different beans and methods.

“The same qualities that I appreciate that go into wine are not that different from the way we assess coffee — things like the quality of the land, soil, humidity, the seasons,” he told the Hyattsville Wire.

Lowe works with an importer in Baltimore to get the green coffee beans, then roasts them in a rotisserie in a shed in his backyard, listening for the cracks that mean they are done. Although not as efficient as a commercial roaster, Lowe said it allows him to make custom batches and stay closer to the roasting process.

He sells his beans by mail order, on his website and on Etsy and to local customers who pick them up at his house or, if they live nearby, get via delivery. You can also purchase his coffee at the nearby neighborhood Era Wine Bar, which carries it.

Lowe sometimes packs the beans in jars to cut down on packaging and likes to include details about the farmers with the order.

While small-batch roasters like Vigilante Coffee have opened cafes, Lowe expect he’ll continue to sell beans as a side hustle, although he says he’d love to partner with a local business such as a bookstore to sell his coffee.

Route 1 residents interested in buying coffee from Quality Hill can email Lowe at QualityHillCoffee@mail.com or text him at 202-460-5260 to learn more.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.

You can now regularly spot bald eagles at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

Hyattsville birdwatcher Harry Yeide, a retired federal intelligence officer, has been going to the park every morning for the last six years and he said in a recent profile that he now sees them most mornings.

“When I started walking, seeing a bald eagle was rare,” he told the Washington Post.

Yeide now regularly spots three separate pairs of eagles — which he’s named Thelma and Louis, Karina and Notch, and Fred and Ginger — as well as great blue herons, snowy egrets, red-tailed hawks, cormorants, osprey and other birds.

The eagles are particularly fond of a tall radio tower near the park.

In the 1990s, there were no nesting eagles along the Anacostia River. A local environmental group called Earth Conservation Corps brought some eagle chicks from Wisconsin, raised them in an artificial nest and released them into the wild as adults.

Meanwhile, the Anacostia Watershed Society has also gotten photos of beavers and river otters returning to the Bladensburg waterfront amid a years-long effort to clean up the Anacostia River, while volunteers are looking to reintroduce mussels to clean the river.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.

ECO City Farms has some colorful new murals of farming and nature scenes thanks to a group of students from the Rhode Island School of Design, a nationally known art and design school, who recently visited as part of an Alternative Spring Break program.

The students painted several farm-themed scenes on metal shipping containers at the community-supported agriculture nonprofit’s location at 4913 Crittenden St. in Edmonston.

Designed by student Simone Nemes, the murals include a garden scene showing carrots, rhubarbs and beets; butterflies visiting Black-eyed Susans, the state flower; and farmers working inside a greenhouse.

ECO City, which was recently named the best CSA on Route 1 in the annual reader’s poll, will begin offering its spring and summer farm share May 4.

It also offers school programs, apprenticeships for people who want to learn about farming and classes on things like composting and growing microgreens.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.

College Park favorite Taqueria Habanero has expanded to a new D.C. food hall just off Rhode Island Avenue.

Located at 670 Rhode Island Ave. NE, near the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the new location at the Bryant Street Market serves a slimmed-down but similar menu as their popular sit-down restaurants including a location in Columbia Heights.

The new location is managed by Yicela Alvarado, the oldest daughter of owners Dionicio Montero and Mirna Montero-Alvarado, who moved from Puebla and El Salvador to D.C., where they first started the taqueria. Its College Park location was recently named the Best Latin American Restaurant in the Hyattsville Wire’s annual reader’s poll.

She said the food hall is part of the next step for the family-run business.

“We want to maintain that traditional aspect, but we’re the first generation born here in America, so not everything has to be traditional,” she said recently.

The Bryant food hall, which first opened in March, includes Bar Alegria, which is also brought to you by the Montero family, along with a poke bowl stand, a dumpling place and a bubble tea spot.

Support the Wire and Community Journalism
Make a one-time donation or become a regular supporter here.