Dancers have once again begun to fill the Friendly City Dance Room, and Phase 3 precautions have made it a literal masquerade. Owner Phillip Fusaro told The Citizen that a typical day in the newly reopened studio looks like masked personal lessons, and then a round of sanitizing the space afterwards. As Fusaro put it, “rinse and repeat,
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Prospective restaurant owner Hotiman Ridwan had been developing his dream business for quite some time when he joined – and won – the Shenandoah Valley SBDC’s “What’s Cooking” Business Concept Plan Competition.  A restaurant manager and 18 year veteran of the hospitality industry, Ridwan began his culinary endeavors growing up in his home country of
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When Mikey Reisenberg opened his food truck, Mashita, in 2013, people went NUTS. I remember it well — seemingly everyone I knew was raving about this giant grey bus/truck thing slinging Korean food on East Market Street. And then it started showing up at breweries, and people flocked to it like children to an ice cream
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Meet Sherzad Barakay of City Auto Services When I was eight years old, my passion of becoming a mechanic began. Throughout my life I was interested in repairing cars and creating machines from scratch. I was also always very quick to solve problems, so naturally mechanics work came very easily to me. In 1999, when
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Bahir Al Badry’s art studio sits perched on the 2nd floor of Oasis Fine Art & Craft with a bird’s eye view of the gallery and shop below. Like any nest, it is a place of comfort and creation. Music drifted upwards as I climbed the stairs to meet Bahir, and on entering his space
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A few years after I arrived in the United States with my brother, I had the idea of starting my own business. My brother has been trying to get me to start my own business for so long. He was the first person who encouraged me to start. Since I studied as a business major
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When my kids were little, I would try to give them a thematic birthday party based on something they were really into at the time. Then I’d *attempt* to bake a cake that included that theme, or make a banner, or at least have some kind of activity. Only, I could never execute these ideas
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I chatted with Steve and Shami, owners of CubanBurger, on a sultry Monday earlier this month from the comfort of my air-conditioned dining room/office. The world looks small and cold through a laptop screen, but their love and warmth transcended the two dimensional plane, and I felt I was sitting there with them, in their
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Some people are built for endurance. They are strong and efficient; their minds are sharp and focused, not easily distracted. They can maintain a steady pace for the long haul and put one foot in front of the other despite hills, valleys, blisters, muscle cramps, and thirst. Mikey Reisenberg and his partner at Mashita, Kevin, are
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You might not even know it’s there if not for the glorious smells emanating from it. Or the zillions of people who will recommend you go there. This article is one such recommendation. GO THERE. I’m referring to one of Harrisonburg’s newest eateries — BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe. This tiny, 20-person capacity restaurant sits right up the
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