Earlier this year, a sign for La Poteria Local went up at 115 N. Washington St. while construction went on behind the glass. When the doors finally opened on Thursday, September 24, the business was Bogotá Coffee House. La Poteria later confirmed it has no connection to Bogotá, MoCoShow reported. Eight days earlier, La Poteria had started serving from a coffee trailer at 200 N. Washington St., at the Exxon station across from Trader Joe's.
So the Colombian coffee spot advertised at 115 never opened there, a different Colombian coffee spot did, and the one on the sign ended up in a trailer nearby, at 200 N. Washington. This fall, that has been the pattern along the stretch of MD 355 just north of Rockville Town Square. Along North Washington Street and up Hungerford Drive, a storefront sign tells you very little about what comes next. What the businesses announce themselves, with dates, tells you nearly everything.
115 North Washington, Where the Sign Changed Names
Bogotá Coffee House is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Its timing didn't follow the usual drift, either. The shop had most recently announced a Monday, September 28 opening, then moved it up four days to September 24. Patch's report the same day confirmed it was already serving customers ahead of schedule.
The coffee list covers the standards, from drip and cold brew through espresso, cappuccino, lattes, macchiatos and cortados. Beyond those come a few house drinks, including Café con Leche, a Dirty Chai Latte, Pepi Matcha and Mocha Avellana. The food is built around waffles: avocado waffles, waffle sandwiches and sweet waffles. Next to them are croissants, pandebono, almond guava pastries and several savory pastries. Smoothies come in mango, lulo and guanabana.
If you walked past 115 in the spring and filed it away as "the La Poteria place," your mental map needs an update. The sign was real and the plan behind it was real. La Poteria had planned to open there. The plan changed, and the space went to someone else.
The Trailer at 200 North Washington
La Poteria isn't new to Montgomery County. Its brick-and-mortar shop at 19116 Montgomery Village Avenue opened in 2021, and it also runs food trailers at Clarksburg Premium Outlets. The Rockville trailer held its first day of service on Wednesday, September 16. It serves Pergamino Lomaverde single-origin espresso along with waffles, empanadas, pandebonos and specialty drinks. At the Montgomery Village shop, the empanada fillings include beef, chicken, spinach and cheese, and pineapple, ham and cheese. The "Pan-De-Waffles" are made from cassava flour and cheese and come savory or sweet.
The result is two Colombian coffee counters on the same street, at 115 and 200 N. Washington, that opened eight days apart. Both serve pandebono, and both lean on waffles. That overlap came from a change of plans, not from two businesses chasing the same corner. For anyone on this end of town, the practical differences are format and setting:
| Bogotá Coffee House | La Poteria Coffee Trailer | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 115 N. Washington St. | 200 N. Washington St., at the Exxon across from Trader Joe's |
| First day open | Thursday, Sept. 24 | Wednesday, Sept. 16 |
| Format | Storefront café | Coffee trailer |
| Hours | Daily, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Not published in the coverage reviewed |
| Coffee | Full espresso menu plus house specialty drinks | Pergamino Lomaverde single-origin espresso |
| Food | Waffles, pandebono, almond guava pastries, savory pastries, smoothies | Waffles, empanadas, pandebonos |
Up Hungerford, a Sign That Told the Truth
Keep going north on 355 and the road becomes Hungerford Drive. Here the signs have been more reliable, though it took a closure to clear the space first.
Hot Pot Kitchen at 595 Hungerford Dr. announced its permanent closure on Monday, June 15. The announcement gave no reason. The restaurant had served all-you-can-eat hot pot, barbecue skewers, dim sum, stir-fried dishes and noodle soups. Signage for Aria Restaurant Grill and Kabob went up over the summer, and in this case the sign matched the business that opened. Aria held a four-day grand opening from Friday, September 11 through Monday, September 14, with 30% off during the celebration. That promotion has ended.
The food is halal Afghan, built around kabobs and rice dishes. The menu runs from Qabili Palaw and Mantu to gyros and pizza, and the restaurant advertises everything as 100% halal. Grand-opening posts are written before the opening, so they can't prove a place is still open three weeks later. Aria's own website now lists the 595 Hungerford address, daily hours and a full menu, and marks the restaurant "Open Today."
From announcement to opening took about three months: a June closure, summer signage, a September grand opening. On this corridor, that counts as a clean handoff.
605 Hungerford, Where the Signals Still Disagree
Next door, 605 Hungerford Dr. shows how messy the in-between stretch can be. In May, J's Asian Street Food announced it had temporarily closed, with no reopening timeline. Its delivery listing, which carries the 605 Hungerford address, showed the restaurant closed on that platform as of Aug. 3, 2026. No formal permanent-closure announcement turned up in the coverage reviewed.
On September 2, Rockville Nights reported that Hong Kong Tea House was coming soon to 605 Hungerford Dr. The planned menu includes handcrafted milk teas, fruit teas, Vietnamese coffees, smoothies, desserts and Chinese street foods from several regions. The report said the business was hiring cooks, baristas and assistant managers, and it gave no opening date. Hong Kong Tea House's own website now lists the 605 Hungerford location with a link to online ordering. The ordering page shows a Rockville menu and scheduled hours, but when it was checked on Oct. 5, its status read "Closed."
Here is what's confirmed so far. Two businesses have listed the same address. One reported a temporary closure in May. The other has announced it's coming, with no date. A menu online doesn't mean the doors are open, so Hong Kong Tea House belongs in the "coming" column until it announces a first day.
The Corridor, Address by Address
| Address | Before | Now or announced | Status as of Oct. 4, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 115 N. Washington St. | La Poteria Local signage during construction | Bogotá Coffee House | Open since Sept. 24 |
| 200 N. Washington St. | Exxon station lot | La Poteria Coffee Trailer | Serving since Sept. 16 |
| 595 Hungerford Dr. | Hot Pot Kitchen, closed permanently June 15 | Aria Restaurant Grill and Kabob | Open, per its website |
| 605 Hungerford Dr. | J's Asian Street Food, temporarily closed in May | Hong Kong Tea House announced | No confirmed opening date |
Put together, these four addresses changed more in four months than the signs suggested. Only one of the four, Aria at 595, opened under the sign that went up first.
Folding It Into an October Saturday
The Rockville Farmers Market runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Nov. 21, at the Jury Parking Lot at Route 28 and Monroe Street. The city's harvest chart lists apples through Nov. 5 and pumpkins through Nov. 30. With Bogotá opening at 7 a.m. every day, a coffee and a pandebono before the market opens fits easily into the morning.
On Saturday, Oct. 17, the city's Rockville Antique and Classic Car Show runs from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Rockville Civic Center Park, 603 Edmonston Drive. Admission is free, and the day includes music, a flea market, food and an accessible shuttle. That same evening, the Croydon Creep runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at Croydon Creek Nature Center, 852 Avery Road. The indoor activities are free, and the guided hikes are ticketed separately. Lunch at Aria on Hungerford fits between the two.
Storefront changes on your own block can be the hardest to keep up with, and the signs don't always settle it. When you're wondering what's opening on your street, or how this fall's turnover along 355 fits into the bigger picture of your part of Rockville, the team at Levin Group Real Estate is glad to talk it through. Get in touch for a personalized consultation.
