Andy McClure – C-VILLE Weekly

No free lunch: Paid parking comes to Belmont

When the ParkMobile signs went up June 15, the paid parking designation caught Belmonters by surprise. Parking can be a challenge in the neighborhood, and customers at two new restaurants, Belle Coffee & Wine and No Limits Smokehouse, had been using the adjacent lots for free. Now, they’ll have to pay.

Belle Coffee & Wine is in the building that formerly housed La Taza, which was purchased by real estate investor Murry Pitts’ MELCP LLC September 24 for $3.65 million. The sale included property across the street that used to house Belmont BBQ, and both sites have lots that now warn parkers to pay with the mobile app or risk getting towed.

No Limits Smokehouse occupies the former Belmont BBQ space, and its owner, who declined to provide his name, says, “People are pissed.” He says he’s watched people pull into the lot beside his restaurant, look at the signs, and leave.

He was aware the landlord was going to put in paid parking when he signed the lease two months ago, he says, but he didn’t realize it would happen this soon.

Thirty percent of No Limits’ business is takeout, he says, and Friday and Saturday nights have been “super busy.”

Across the street, Belle Coffee & Wine has been open fewer than two months, and some customers have been “very upset,” says manager Bailey Laing. “We do get a lot of people asking about it.”

Not everyone is bothered by the paid parking. A woman sitting outside Belle says it was her second time there and paying to park didn’t keep her from coming.

“I never mind paying for parking,” says her friend “It’s not as big a deal as people make it.”

Restaurateur Andy McClure owns Belle, along with the Virginian and Citizen Burger, and he sees the paid parking as a plus. “I think it’s good for all of Belmont. There’s nowhere to park.”

People pay to park on the Corner and downtown, he points out. The Belmont lots are private, and now anyone can park there. “People weren’t allowed to park there before,” he says. “I think everyone wants more parking.”

Resident Kimber Hawkey was “astounded” to see the newly installed parking signs, and she does not believe the paid lots will ease the neighborhood’s parking crunch.

‘Why would it help?” she asks. “Why would someone choose to pay when they can go down the street and take a free space in front of someone’s house? That makes no sense.”

Matt Shields, who has lived in Belmont for 20 years, was having a brisket sandwich at No Limits. He says he stopped for coffee at Belle’s last week. “I didn’t pay because I thought it was crazy. I was only going to be in there a minute.”

He acknowledges that parking in Belmont can get “bonkers,” and can see the paid parking hurting both new restaurants, particularly for customers making a quick stop who have to pause and download an app or risk getting towed.

Pitts, who also bought the former Gleason feed store property at 126 Garrett Street for $5 million in 2016, did not respond to messages left with his registered agent in Staunton.

However, Ben Wilson with Nest Realty, which manages the properties, says Pitts “is trying to expand the parking rather than have it exclusive to the properties he owns. He wants to create an opportunity to anyone who wants to park.”

Correction June 28: Pitts does not own the Gleason condo building as stated in the original story.

Sake to me: Falling in love with rice wine

For North American Sake Brewery co-owner Jeremy Goldstein, it wasn’t a trip to Japan but a visit back home to California that inspired his new venture.

“I’d never had ‘craft’ sake, but I went to this amazing restaurant with a sake sommelier and had a whole different experience than I’d had before with the heated stuff, or sake bombs,” he says. “It was like drinking a really nice craft beer or craft cocktail.”

The experience lingered in his mind, and once back in Charlottesville he mentioned it to his friend Andrew Centofante, who’d dabbled in brewing.

The two sought out some good bottles of sake, and Centofante says it was love at first sip. “One night, maybe I drank a couple too many and I looked at the glass and I looked at Jeremy and said, ‘how do you make this stuff?’”

Centofante researched some home-brew recipes and started cooking it up in his basement. He gave the first batch to friends, who enjoyed it, then brewed another, and another. “I had two batches going at once, then three and then five,” Centofante recalls. “It was then Jeremy and I decided this was a cool thing we liked doing and could be a unique opportunity for a business.”

The men then visited every U.S. sake brewery they could find, 14 in total. “There are so few of us, it’s kind of a niche crowd,” Centofante says. “It’s nice to be able to talk to others about the brewing process and learn from them.”

Goldstein says they were thrilled to find a space at IX, and business has been booming, with over a thousand patrons coming through during the recent Tomtoberfest event. Luckily they had plenty of sake on hand.

“We go through about 6,000 pounds of rice every month,” Goldstein says. “We’re one of the larger independent sake brewers in North America and we have a lot of different types, including the traditional unfiltered, or cloudy, nigori style, and infusions with fruit and peppers.” There’s even a new, hyper-local variation made with pawpaw foraged from the Monticello trail.

To compliment the drinks, the pair have brought in chef Peter Robertson, who with his wife, Merrill, owns the popular Côte-Rôtie food truck (which Merrill is now operating on her own). Goldstein says Robertson has long had a passion for Japanese cuisine.

“He’s bringing a little Southern style and American style to his cuisine, just like what we’re doing with the sake,” he says. “We have a 330-gallon smoker, so we do Asian smokehouse and our own pastramis and pork. He makes fresh bao buns daily, and we do rice bowls.”

Centofante, who worked in branding before opening the restaurant, has enjoyed applying those skills to the business as well. “Not only do I get to be very hands-on and physical in making sake, but I get to make my own brand and guide my own brand,” he says. “I get to flex different muscles in my brain.”

He wants to help customers discover a new side of sake, the same way he did: “Let me open your eyes to this wonderful beverage that is historic and culturally significant,” he says. “And hopefully you’ll fall in love like I did.”

Oui, Oui, Belmont

Restaurateur Andy McClure announced plans to bring a little bit of France to Belmont this January, when he plans to open a French bistro in the old La Taza Restaurant space. McClure, whose Virginia Restaurant Company empire includes The Virginian, The Biltmore, Citizen Burger Bars in three locations, and Citizen Bowl, plans to expand the space while maintaining the charm and familial feel. He lives in Belmont, and he says he’s had his eye on the spot for years.

“I have always loved this space,” he says. “I think it’s one of the prettiest and coolest restaurant settings in town. I heard a rumor that the building was changing hands and it was an opportunity I could not pass up.”

McClure says he’s still deciding precisely how to execute the transformation, but has some ideas.

“It will definitely have coffee, fast casual breakfast, and snacks in the La Taza space. And I will most likely do something different in the cabinet space.” That part of the building was home to contractor Jeff Easter’s remodeling business. McClure says he’s looking at potential brewery partners to add a beer garden outpost.

He adds that he wants to ensure the restaurant maintains the cachet La Taza was known for. “Staying true to what is great about Belmont is the primary goal,” he says. “I want nothing more than to add to the cool and laid-back neighborhood vibe that Belmont owns.”