Score another point for the Belmont residents who’ve rallied against the addition of another restaurant to Hinton Avenue. As we told you a few weeks ago, last Monday, City Council was scheduled to take a final consent vote on rezoning the residence owned by Lillian Ewell, William Ewell and Ian Day at 814 Hinton—which sits next door to Belmont Bar-B-Que—so that Andrew Ewell and Hannah Pittard can open a New Orleans-style restaurant called Southern Crescent there; however, after receiving a written request to postpone the vote from someone identified as a Belmont resident, Council acquiesced “to give staff more time” to assess the situation. The residents against the rezoning have complained that the existing businesses on Hinton—Belmont’s Neighborhood Commercial Corridor (“NCC”) in zoning lingo —already generate an intolerable amount of noise, traffic and parking problems.
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John and Lynelle Lawrence are lending fresh air and fresh brew to Crozet, where their latest Mudhouse is set to open in a few weeks. |
Despite the very passionate public debate on this, Restaurantarama really thought the rezoning would be a done deal by now and that we’d be slurping gumbo (oops, sorry Belmonters, we mean sipping very quietly) in short order. After all, Council already voiced support for the rezoning at its meeting on June 1, in part because the applicants offered to add a landscaped buffer between the new NCC boundary and the next residence, and in part because Councilors such as Dave Norris (himself a Belmont resident) and Holly Edwards saw the neighborhood blitz on Southern Crescent as misdirected anger over existing neighborhood tensions that should be addressed separately. In Norris’s exact words to CBS 19 News, Southern Crescent had become the “whipping boy of sorts.” But it seems someone has gotten to someone, and as of press time, a new vote has not yet been scheduled.
By the way, it’s not merely a mob of angry Belmont restaurant haters that are against this thing. Even Tomas Rahal, part-owner and chef of Mas and the first restaurateur to brave Belmont when it was still undiscovered as a hot spot, has opposed it. If you’re interested in his reasoning, check out Mas’s website, where Rahal has posted his position in much detail.
Coffee and coffee in Crozet
Now, what’s happening with the new Mudhouse in Crozet is not a rezoning, but it is a whole new world. Mudhouse founders John and Lynelle Lawrence have painstakingly renovated the site of the old Uncle Charlie’s Smokehouse space on the Square with lots of reclaimed wood and thoughtful design touches to bring out the character of the century-old building while giving it much-needed new life and fresh air. When it opens in a few weeks, the place will be the second full-scale Mudhouse coffeehouse, the first being the 13-year-old Downtown Mall flagship. In connection with the new Crozet shop, the Lawrences have closed the Pantops location of their string of four Mudhouse espresso-smoothie bars located in several of The Markets of Tiger Fuel. “It was a tough decision,” says John, “but we didn’t want to just add another location, and the lease was coming due there just as we were signing the lease on this [Crozet] one.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of Crozet, Trailside Coffee is set to open in the new Old Trail Village Center on July 6.
More pizza
And finally, something called Rise Pizzaworks is “coming soon” to Barracks Road. Don’t expect anything real soon (we spied in the windows), but do expect something for the eyes in addition to a slice a pie when the place finally does open: The designers of Alloy Workshop are lending their expertise to the project.