The aromas of freshly made tacos, loaded fries, dumplings and Philly cheesesteaks filled the air of the new Commas Food Hall in downtown Silver Spring on Thursday afternoon.
The long-awaited food hall in Ellsworth Place at 8661 Colesville Road has yet to hold a grand opening, but four vendors have begun operating during a “soft opening” period. When it’s fully open, there will be a total of 11 vendors offering a variety of international cuisines.
“Silver Spring is very diverse, and this is the international county of Maryland, so that’s why we decided to reach out to [restaurants] with different ethnic foods,” General Manager Chil Chong told Bethesda Today on Thursday.
The Commas food hall is on the third level of the Ellsworth Place mall and features vibrant orange signs and chairs, along with hanging light fixtures and garden-inspired murals. Commas joins other local food halls, including Solaire Social at 8200 Dixon Ave. in downtown Silver Spring.
J&J Mex-Taqueria, which serves Mexican street tacos and burritos, and Tato’s, which serves loaded fries, baked potatoes and freshly squeezed lemonade, opened June 11. They were the first vendors to operate in the food hall.
“We’ve been open for around three weeks, and it’s funny because we already have our regulars,” Tato’s co-founder Cristian Saucedo told Bethesda Today on Thursday. “We would like to get a lot more people to know about [the food hall], and I think that will help us and our neighbors a lot.”
This is Tato’s first location. Victor Nava, its other co-founder, describes the eatery’s street food as “our window to represent the soul of the country [of Mexico]” and said he hopes his loaded fries become the new favorite “All-American snack.”
Momo Hub, which is known for its Nepalese-style momo dumplings, opened June 20, and Tokoa Cheesesteaks, which serves the classic Philadelphia sandwich, opened June 26.
Sudash Khatiwaba, owner of Momo Hub, told Bethesda Today that he’s growing his customer base at his food hall location because of advertising on his website and at his other location in Howard County.
“People are coming from all over. It takes a little bit of time, but I’m confident,” Khaitwaba said.
By early fall, 6 Skewers, Claude Have Mercy, Keleme Coffee, MV Asian Kitchen and The Champs Kitchen are expected to open. Chong said the timing of the vendors’ openings are based on the county permitting process for each establishment.
Chong said two vacant spaces remain in the food hall and he’s currently in talks with an ice cream vendor and a Korean bibimbap concept to fill them.
In addition to those food and drink vendors, there is a bar owned by the landlord in the food hall and a spot for rotating vendors to hold pop-ups.
The food hall will launch a marketing campaign and hold its official opening once most of the vendors are open, which will likely be in late August or early September, Chong said.
He said Commas is different from other local food halls because “we have wider ethnicities [represented].”
“Some food halls you go to, the food is mostly similar, and we do our best to make sure all [the vendors] are very different,” he said.
Freelancer Courtney Cohn is a former Bethesda Today reporter.
