The folks behind Pasture rarely do anything under the radar. But the Stonefield-based restaurant’s patrons who walked by during the week of October 20 were likely surprised to find paper hanging in the windows and a sign tacked to the door.
“We are currently closed as we transition into PastureQ…a southern regional barbecue restaurant,” the notice read. “We will reopen on Friday.”
Shocking, considering the restaurant opened just over a year ago to much fanfare (some admittedly fueled by this publication) and riding owner Jason Alley’s wave of success at two Richmond-based restaurants, Comfort and the original Pasture.
But Alley insisted the transition will be natural, intended to allow Pasture to keep pace with the changing landscape at the Shops at Stonefield. The lower-end burger and Mexican concepts that were promised for the center have yet to materialize, and Alley said his barbecue format will fill that niche, coming in at a lower price point than Pasture but offering a similar experience.
The transition is also born out of passion, Alley said. He’s been yearning to get his meat hooks on a barbecue joint for some time, and the opportunity to do it in an existing space where it might bring more people through the door just made sense.
“Any time I get to do something new, it’s super exciting,” Alley said. “Sitting still is not something I’m good at.”
The PastureQ menu, which will feature the usual BBQ suspects cooked on a new 500-pound capacity smoker, isn’t that much of a stretch for Alley and the crew. He’s long been known for his pork obsession and with lower-end cuts of meat that need a little love to draw flavor out.
Alley said the PastureQ staff has been busy giving the restaurant a Southern makeover, with a splash of warm colors highlighted by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers records and a big pickle wall, but Pasture’s focus on local ingredients and thoughtfully crafted food and drink will remain. A few Pasture favorites, such as the house-made pimento cheese on Ritz crackers, will stay on the menu. The cocktail menu will be more barbecue friendly going forward, and a few PBR-like canned beer offerings will join the lineup of local craft taps.
Alley said that while he’s made some efforts to bring Pasture’s noise level down in response to complaints when the restaurant first opened, he wants PastureQ to be a vibrant place to eat.
“We had an older guest years ago in Richmond say, ‘Who wants to eat in a library anyway?’” Alley said. “We don’t want it to be obnoxious, but we want it to be a fun, lively room.”
Red light on the red carpet
If you hadn’t checked out Trocadéro Social Club yet, looks like you lost your chance. On Monday, October 27, founder and owner J.R. Gentle sent an e-mail to everyone who paid for a membership, and announced that Trocadéro was closing down due to lack of support, effective immediately.
It’s been only about a month since the European-inspired, member-preferred weekend nightclub made its debut in Glass Haus Kitchen on Second Street. We got a sneak peek back in September, when we learned that for an annual fee, members would get front-of-the-line access to the club every weekend with no cover charge, free entry for one friend each visit, and first dibs on reserving tables upstairs.
Reached by e-mail, Gentle said the decision was based on response—or lack thereof. “We had a fantastic opening night and then not much after that despite overwhelming support in the lead up to the opening on social media,” he said. “It was simply not a smart financial move to keep going.”
Gentle said that anyone who paid the annual $200 membership fee ($300 for couples, $140 for ages 23-27) will receive a refund, and the Facebook page, which had 860 likes at press time, will remain active so anyone interested can check out photos from the opening night. If you’re absolutely devastated that Trocadéro didn’t make it here in Charlottesville, you can always check out the social clubs that Gentle opened in Brussels and Ireland.
Bittersweet
When someone says “chocolate bar,” what comes to mind? Milky Way? Hershey’s with almonds? One of those fancy Ghirardelli 70 percent cacao bars? A young set of local newlyweds want to change the way we think about chocolate.
Renée Shuman and Logan Byrd tried their first small-batch chocolate bar during a trip to New York a couple years ago, and they were hooked. Now, they’re the masterminds behind Frolic Chocolate, a company that they hope will soon introduce the Charlottesville area to the different flavor profiles of cacao.
“The flavor differences between the bars versus your average chocolate bars is incredible, really stunning,” Shuman said. “I definitely see it as the future of chocolate.”
Shuman and her husband have been painstakingly researching the process of roasting criollo cocoa beans (which are considered the chocolate equivalent of the Arabica coffee beans) and combining them with minimal ingredients. One small batch takes upwards of 30 hours from start to finish, but Shuman said the final product is worth the tedious process.
“Part of what makes this different is our bars are an opportunity to experience what cocoa beans actually taste like when you don’t over-process, chemicalize, and strip down all the natural flavors like most chocolate companies do,” Shuman said.
Shuman and Byrd are in the process of transferring the operation from their home to a commercial kitchen. A storefront isn’t in their immediate future, she said, but keep an eye out for Frolic Chocolate bars online and through local retailers between now and next spring.