 Camille Phillips’ new coffeehouse, Green House Coffee, isn’t your average coffeehouse. In addition to java, the shop will also offer baked goods, a kids’ play area and classes on gardening and composting.
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Situated on nearly one acre at 1260 Crozet Ave., the coffee shop was but a dream for Phillips five years ago. She’d always wanted to create a place where the neighborhood could gather, so when the old house on Crozet’s main drag came on the market, she went for it. With her husband, Phillips renovated the building—“basically took it apart,” she says—inside and out. The spot got new landscaping and a fenced in area for kids, too.
“It’s more than a coffeehouse,” she says. Indeed, Phillips has plans for a kids’ storytime and classes on gardening and composting, which the shop practices in its own kitchen.
And speaking of the kitchen, Phillips has big plans there, too. Currently, the shop serves Shenandoah Joe coffee, baked goods from Goodwin Creek Farm & Bakery in Afton and Green House’s gluten-free speciality, the Skinny Jeans cookie. Phillips says Green House will also offer sandwiches, soups, salads and daily specials.
Barely open a month, the coffeeshop is already a hit. “The response has been great,” Phillips says. “We get very busy with the after-school crowd.”
For more information about Green House Coffee, visit greenhousecrozet.com.
Grill ’em
Restaurantarama knows all you buffet lovers have been missing the Golden Corral since it closed back in June, but we have good news: Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet, a family-owned franchise that began in North Carolina eight years ago, is open for business.
One of more than 30 Hibachi locations nationwide, the 29N restaurant offers close to 250 items, a far cry from the menu at GC. Drew Huggins, who handled Hibachi’s takeover of the space (and many of the Grills’ real estate deals), says you can expect buffet tables filled with everything from pizza and grilled chicken to salads and Chinese food. Plus, a designated area where chefs will prepare food in front of you, hibachi-style. (Hence the name.)
Dumb Bel
Belmont restaurants won’t have any new compatriots for a while, as the former Bel Rio space has been rented to Hyam Hosny. Hosny, whose Clay Fitness was previously relegated to only the lower level of the building, will expand her fitness and nutrition center to the main floor as well. Followers of the Bel Rio story know its history of stirring up noise ordinance debates and the like until it closed in July. Here’s hoping neighbors don’t mind the sound of clanging free weights.