Fifth Street Station is serving up another helping of restaurants, which includes a second location for a Corner favorite, and a Manassas-based traditional Thai restaurant.
Jersey Mike’s Subs: Grab a submarine sandwich from the New Jersey-bred chain at one of the newest additions to its 1,500-store résumé. The approachable menu assigns numbers to each sandwich, and they all come “Mike’s Way,” with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, spices, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Customizable toppings are available too. Open now.
Red Mango: The frozen yogurt franchise that began filling cups with all-natural creamy treats in 2007 has expanded into Charlottesville. A menu full of refreshing options includes the signature sweet and tart frozen yogurt, smoothies, parfaits, sorbettos and fresh juices. Open now.
Krispy Kreme: The international donut chain with the iconic Hot Now red neon sign that lets passersby know when the offerings are fresh, has found a home at 5th Street Station. With a visual donut menu in the form of a glass display case, choose one (or two, or three, or four…) from rows of traditional flavors such as chocolate glazed, or more eclectic ones like Reese’s peanut butter. Opening in October.
Basil Mediterranean Bistro & Wine Bar: The Corner restaurant that serves Mediterranean fare from Greece, Lebanon, Italy, Spain, France and Turkey is opening a second location on the south end of town. Its extensive menu includes a variety of region-specific dishes. Try one of the laffa options: a Lebanese-style pita roll-up with meats, produce and sauces inside. Opening in December.
Extreme Pizza: Pizza isn’t limited to average flavors at Extreme Pizza. International ingredients like Portuguese linguica, a smoke-cured pork sausage, take center stage, along with reimagined classics, such mandarin oranges on a Hawaiian pizza. This pie place chain will be part of The Yard food hall. Opening early 2018.
Zabb Thai Restaurant: The Manassas-based restaurant will open a second location in The Yard food hall, where it will offer up its authentic Thai fare, including noodle and rice dishes alongside signature entrées. Opening early 2018.
Fresh face
If you’ve visited Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards recently, you might have seen someone new. Ian Rynecki has taken over as executive chef from Bill Scatena (no word yet on what’s next for Scatena), and Rynecki says he’s looking forward to taking advantage of a lush garden and local produce and meat to create new dishes to pair with the vineyard’s vino.
With no culinary school training, Rynecki honed his chops while working in catering in several cities across the United States, including Philadelphia, Big Sky, Montana, San Francisco and New York City.
Virginia, however, is the land of new opportunity for Rynecki.
“The dairy and the meats that I can get here are some of the best in the country,” he says. “And the good thing is that I can visit all of these farms.”
Rynecki is working on a few new additions to the menu, with the help of Pippin Hill’s horticulturist, Diane Burns. His favorite is a duck dish using local meat, and an Andalusian-style gazpacho made from the tomatoes grown in the vineyard’s garden. The tomato dish is on the menu now; look for the duck option and a full-of-fall-flavor toffee carrot cake in September. Rynecki will add new dishes to the menu every month.
“We’re a winery that has to have really good food,” he says.