Carlyle Crossing is about to get a double dose of comfort food.
Ted’s Bulletin and Honeymoon Chicken are both preparing to open on Mandeville Lane in Alexandria’s Eisenhower East area, steps from Wegmans and a short walk from the Eisenhower Avenue Metro station. Both restaurants belong to Catalogue, the Washington hospitality group founded by entrepreneur Steve Salis.
Ted’s Bulletin announced on Facebook that its ninth location will open this November at 2471 Mandeville Lane. “Alexandria, we’re coming for you!” the restaurant wrote, promising all-day breakfast, scratch-made favorites, plenty of coffee and its signature Ted’s Tarts.
Next door, at 2461 Mandeville Lane, Honeymoon Chicken is expected to follow, with Catalogue targeting a late-fall opening. It will be just the second location for the fried chicken spot, which launched in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood in 2022. A third, in Hyattsville, Md., is also in the works.
Neither restaurant has announced an exact opening date.
The pairing has been a long time coming. Alexandria Living Magazine first reported in July 2022 that Ted’s Bulletin had signed on to Carlyle Crossing, the 1.7-million-square-foot mixed-use development anchored by Wegmans. At the time, Catalogue planned to put its Sidekick bakery alongside Ted’s. In 2024, the company swapped in Honeymoon Chicken instead, with Salis telling the Washington Business Journal that the chicken concept made more sense for the space.
Ted’s Bulletin: A diner named for Dad
Ted’s Bulletin opened on Capitol Hill’s Barracks Row in 2010, the creation of the team behind Matchbox, including brothers Mark and Ty Neal. The restaurant was named for their late father, Ted Neal, a man known for offering neighbors a cup of soup or a sandwich.
The “Bulletin” half of the name came from the décor. The founders salvaged art deco panels, light fixtures and other pieces from the old Philadelphia Convention Hall, where the panels above the ticket booths read “BULLETIN.” The result was a 1930s-style American diner with black-and-white movies playing on the wall and a menu of nostalgic comfort food.
The item that put Ted’s on the map was its house-made pop tart. Because of trademark issues, the restaurant can’t call them Pop-Tarts, so they’re known as Ted’s Tarts, and they’ve been on the menu since the beginning.
The brand grew to five locations under Matchbox Food Group, adding a second D.C. restaurant on 14th Street NW plus outposts in Reston, Merrifield and Gaithersburg, Md.
The man behind both restaurants
In 2017, Steve Salis — co-founder of &pizza and owner of Kramers, the Dupont Circle bookstore and café — bought all five Ted’s Bulletin restaurants through his company, Salis Holdings, with backing from private equity firm JPB Capital Partners. At the time, Salis said he wanted to protect the neighborhood experience Ted’s had built and believed the restaurant could become an anchor in communities across the greater Washington area.
Since then, Ted’s has added locations at Ballston Quarter in Arlington, in NoMa in D.C. and at One Loudoun in Ashburn. A 10th Ted’s is planned for the former Woodmont Grill space in Bethesda, Md., with a target opening of mid-2027.
In 2022, Salis brought his restaurants together under the Catalogue banner, which also includes the barbecue spot Federalist Pig, Kramers and Sidekick.
Honeymoon Chicken: ‘Fried chicken made fancy’
Honeymoon Chicken opened in January 2022 at the corner of Georgia Avenue and Upshur Street NW in Petworth, in the former Slim’s Diner space. Its kitchen is led by chef Rob Sonderman, the pitmaster who made his name at Federalist Pig, Salis’ barbecue restaurant.
Sonderman traded his smokers for fryers, and the results got noticed fast. Just three months after opening, Honeymoon Chicken was named to the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand list for Washington, which recognizes good food at a moderate price.
The restaurant bills its style simply as “fried chicken made fancy.” The chicken is brined for 24 hours before frying, then finished with a sweet, smoky “honey dust.” Diners can take it further with the Honeymoon Dip, a sweet, spicy, smoky hot honey sauce.
What to order at Ted’s Bulletin
Breakfast is served all day, starting at 7 a.m. Some longtime favorites from the current menu:
Ted’s Tarts: Made in-house daily in strawberry, brown sugar and cinnamon, s’mores and blueberry cheesecake. This fall’s seasonal flavor is pumpkin spice.
Big Mark Breakfast: Three eggs, two slices of applewood bacon, two sausages, hash browns, sourdough toast and — of course — a Ted’s Tart.
Cinnamon Roll as Big as Ya Head: A weekends-only giant cinnamon roll, available while they last.
Nana’s Biscuits and Sausage Gravy: Served with two eggs and hash browns.
Chicken + Waffles: Buttermilk-brined chicken breast on a Belgian waffle with maple hot honey and chive butter.
Grilled Cheese Super Deluxe: Stuffed with braised short rib and mac ‘n’ cheese, served with Ted’s tomato soup.
Boozy shakes: Options include the Grasshopper (Kahlúa and crème de menthe), the Tipsy Toast Crunch (RumChata and Fireball) and, for a splurge, the Millionaire Malt made with Glenlivet 18.
This season’s fall menu adds pumpkin pecan French toast, apple spiced pancakes, a pumpkin spice cinnamon roll, a pumpkin pie milkshake and a toasted marshmallow old fashioned.
Ted’s pours bottomless coffee from its locally roasted “Every Day” blend, and the draft list at other locations has included Alexandria’s own Port City Brewing Optimal Wit and Monumental IPA (beer selections vary by location). Happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 3 to 6:30 p.m., with $5 draft beers, $8 signature cocktails, $7 wines by the glass and an $18 “Ted’s Trio” of fried mozzarella, steak and cheese egg rolls and loaded tots.
What to order at Honeymoon Chicken
Some highlights from Honeymoon Chicken’s current menu in Petworth:
Honeymoon Chicken Bucket: Eight pieces with four honey butter rolls ($29).
Hot Honey Dipped Chicken Sandwich ($12) and the original Honeymoon Chicken Sandwich, a honey-dusted fried chicken breast with cheddar, slaw and comeback sauce ($10.50).
Honey butter rolls: A cult favorite. This fall’s version is glazed with pumpkin honey butter and Maldon sea salt.
Sides: Mac and cheese, honey-dipped Brussels sprouts, crispy chicken poutine and hot honey cauliflower.
The Caviar Experience: Yes, caviar with fried chicken — from caviar bites to a full 1-ounce service with wedge fries.
Weekend brunch: Tendies and French toast, a chicken and waffles plate and a California breakfast burrito.
Dessert: Honeymoon hand pies and the Honeymoon Snowball (with an optional boozy floater).
Honeymoon’s chicken is all-natural and cage-free from halal-certified purveyors, and the restaurant says it has never served pork. Ted’s Bulletin also describes itself as halal-friendly.
Both restaurants are part of the Catalogue Club rewards program, so points earned at one can be redeemed at the other.
Ted’s Bulletin Alexandria
2471 Mandeville Lane, Alexandria, VA 22314
Opening November 2026
tedsbulletin.com
Honeymoon Chicken Alexandria
2461 Mandeville Lane, Alexandria
Expected late fall 2026
honeymoonchicken.com
Dining and Cooking