Wawa is coming back to College Park after a 16-year absence.

The Pennsylvania-based chain of convenience-store-slash-eateries will open a new location at 10050 Baltimore Ave., next to the College Park Ikea store.

The 4,736-square-foot store will be the first in the city since 2007, although it has one farther north at 10515 Baltimore Ave. in Beltsville and another at 9100 Riggs Rd. in Hyattsville as well as five in D.C.

To the uninitiated, Wawa looks like a somewhat-fancier version of a gas station with a small restaurant and convenience store inside.

But since starting in 1964, the chain has developed a loyal following who love the fresh hoagies, self-serve soda fountains and reputation for friendly service. It now operates nearly 1,000 locations from Pennsylvania to Florida, with locations in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky planned.

When Wawa closed its previous location in College Park, 2,000 students joined a Facebook group threatening to hold a sit-in and tore souvenirs off the walls in its final hours — customers who were “loyal to a point that I didn’t understand” in the words of one employee.

The location in College Park fits with Wawa’s current strategy of expanding in the D.C. area as well as targeting college students.

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An upscale steak-and-seafood chain opened a location at the Hotel at the University of Maryland in College Park on Wednesday.

GrillMarX, which has locations in Olney and Columbia, is a traditional steakhouse and raw bar restaurant that will also be available for private events and large gatherings. It is located off the hotel lobby at 7777 Baltimore Ave.

One of the restaurant’s co-owners is University of Maryland head football coach Mike Locksley, a D.C. native.

The restaurant is currently accepting reservations for lunch and dinner seven days a week and promises to add a brunch option soon.

The menu leans heavily on steakhouse favorites like prime rib, blue point oysters and a crab cake sandwich, though there are gluten-free options and a handful of trendier dishes like an ahi tuna poke bowl.

GrillMarX also has a “business casual”and “conservative” dress code that bars “excessive skin” and offensive T-shirts.

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Route 1 baker Kareem Queeman was nominated for a prestigious James Beard Award.

Known as “Mr. Bake,” Queeman moved his ghost-kitchen dessert shop from Mount Rainier to Le Fantome food hall at the Station at Riverdale Park last year.

On Instagram, he called the award the equivalent of a food Oscar, saying he was “full of thanks” for the nomination.

Currently, Mr. Bake sells various flavors of cupcakes, mint fudge brownies, a spice cake donut with maple glaze and banana pudding.

He also offers seasonal specials, like a Valentine’s Day charcuterie board with fruit, two kinds of meat, two kinds of cheese, brownie bites, strawberry sugar sandwich cookies, shortbread cookies, a hazelnut spread, and macaroons.

Queeman also has a burgeoning reality TV career, with appearances on “Beat Bobby Flay” and other shows as well as his YouTube channel, “Baking With Mr. Bake.”

You can order online through Le Fantome or on his website or through delivery services like DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats.

For Valentine’s Day, Mr. Bake will offer a cupcake decorating class on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Le Fantome food hall. You can purchase tickets here.

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Zeke’s Coffee is planning to open another location at 4602 14th St. NW, north of Upshur Park in the Petworth neighborhood of D.C., in addition to its exisiting shops on 15th St. NW and Rhode Island Avenue.

The Woodridge roastery, which got its starting in Baltimore, is already hiring for the new Petworth location, which is expected to open sometime in February.

Meanwhile, Zeke’s is also still planning to expand next door at its Route 1 roastery at 2300 Rhode Island Ave. NE, just minutes south of Mount Rainier, giving patrons more room to work and mingle.

Earlier this summer, Zeke’s announced it would take over the former home of Kaaos Gym in Woodridge next door after the gym announced it would be focusing on at-home training. The roaster is still waiting for permits to be approved and is focusing on its 14th Street opening before moving ahead, however.

The extra space on Rhode Island Avenue will be used as Zeke’s main coffeeshop and will designate its current space at 2300 Rhode Island Avenue, which it’s been at since 2013, for roasting beans and other production needs.

Last summer, Zeke’s Coffee upgraded its outdoor sidewalk patio facing Rhode Island Avenue, due in part to the pandemic, with a more permanent sidewalk seating structure after receiving a grant from the D.C. Building Industry Association’s sidewalk improvement program.

Coffee has become a hot commodity on the Route 1 corridor in recent years. Along with Zeke’s, Vigilante has locations in Hyattsville and College Park, and you can get a good cup of coffee everywhere from miXt Food Hall in Brentwood to Manifest Bread Co. in Riverdale Park and the Board and Brew in College Park.

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A new coworking space opened in Hyattsville on Saturday.

Located at 4318 Hamilton St., the Hyattsville Business Center features a 1,459-square-foot work area and a 356-square-foot private kitchenette.

The business center offers the usual amenities: high speed wifi, printing, copying, scanning and faxing, complimentary basic office supplies and complimentary coffee, tea, water and snacks.

There’s also an in-house computer available on a first-come, first-served basis; public notary, document lamination and English/Spanish translations, on request, for an additional fee.

Co-owners Ana Pedroso Powell and Brandon Powell, who have worked in administrative and management roles in the past, told the Hyattsville Wire they got the idea after searching for a space for themselves.

They liked Hyattsville for the location due to the “the large and eclectic amount of small businesses” already in the area, which showed that the city is “welcoming and supportive” of small business, Ana Pedroso Powell said.

“To us, Hyattsville and the Route 1 corridor eludes vibrancy and inclusivity!” she added. “There are people from all walks of life, in different industries, everywhere you turn.”

Memberships cost $35 for a day pass or $299 for a monthly membership, which includes two free guest passes.

The facility can also be rented out from 7 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and 8 a.m. to midnight on weekends for private events like a yoga class, book signings, networking events or pop-up art shows.

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Popular Silver Spring eatery Money Muscle opened at Le Fantome food hall in Riverdale Park this week, continuing the barbecue boom on the Route 1 corridor.

After starting as a food truck during the coronavirus pandemic, Money Muscle moved to its first brick-and-mortar location at the food hall on Monday, part of the area’s entrepreneurial pipeline for new restaurants.

The eatery is run by Ed Reavis and Jennifer Meltzer, owners of downtown Silver Spring seafood place All Set Restaurant & Bar.

It serves a wide range of barbecue, including Carolina pulled pork, Texas brisket and Kansas City style, served along with trendy ingredients like quinoa and challah.

Money Muscle joins 2Fifty Texas BBQ in Riverdale Park and Federalist Pig, which runs a food truck and plans to open a sit-down restaurant in Hyattsville.

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Mom’s Organic Market in College Park sells edible insects, part of a broader trend toward sustainable proteins.

The Maryland-based grocery chain has a small section of the store near the entrance to the pinball area that includes dark chocolate-covered crickets, granola bites made with cricket flour and chile lime-flavored bug snacks, among other things.

The store also sells crickets in bulk in plain, barbecue and honey-mustard flavors.

Insects are a delicacy in many parts of the world, a crunchy alternative to traditional farm-raised meat with a dramatically smaller carbon footprint, and environmentalists have called for more people to eat them.

The grocery chain decided to add them in 2017 after two vice presidents tried them while on a fact-finding trip to Mexico City’s famed La Merced market.

A Southern Mexican food truck that occasionally sets up shop on the Route 1 corridor even serves grasshopper tacos.

If you’re unsure about the texture, you can also buy cricket protein powder, which has a mild, almost nutty flavor and can be added to smoothies instead of whey or used as a substitute for some of the flour in everything from cookies to pancakes.

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