Tag: Modern Nosh

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Culture Living

Now serving Tex-Mex and Turkish

The latest addtion to the Downtown Mall’s dining scene is Champion Hospitality Group’s Passiflora, offering a refined combo of Tex-Mex and Baja Mediterranean cuisines. Photo by Eze Amos

Tacos in the sky

As the season turns, the Downtown Mall is also seeing some turnover, starting with Champion Hospitality Group’s just-opened culinary venture, Passiflora, which offers Tex-Mex and Baja Mediterranean cuisine. While we are still mourning the loss of Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, it’s good to see new openings on the mall. “We put our hearts and soul into this restaurant, and we are excited to share it with Charlottesville,” says General Manager Elizabeth Hood.

Expect to find small plates for around $10, local brews, and plenty of vegetarian options. CHG hopes to finish renovations on the rooftop open-air bar in time to catch the last warm nights of the year: “You can absolutely expect to see live bands as part of the experience,” says Hood. Passiflora is open Thursday through Tuesday, and accepts reservations and walk-ins.

Nod to Nosh and hello wraps

Another transition took place on the outer rim of the Downtown Mall—Modern Nosh closed its doors in September. Known for kosher fare and loaded sandwiches, Modern Nosh was established with a mission to give back to the community. Over two years, the restaurant donated hundreds of pounds of bread and benefited non-profit organizations like The Women’s Initiative and the Companion Animal Fund.

“We are so sad to be leaving,” says owner Stephanie Levin. “With the large number of business people not coming back to work downtown, the loss of tourists, and the lack of outside seating, we just couldn’t find a way.” Levin hopes to reinvent Modern Nosh along with its vision of supporting the community sometime next year. “Numerous people have asked me to open a food truck—maybe so,” she says. “If I find a commercial kitchen, perhaps I will stick to catering.”

Otto Turkish Street Food is slated to open in the space on November 1, introducing yet more authentic flavors to Charlottesville. Owners Ali Sevindi and Haldun Turgay worked at The Clifton together for five years before officially partnering up. Now, they are excited to serve fast-casual fare like döner kebabs (seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone that cooks slowly on a rotisserie) and homemade sauces at the corner of Southwest Second and Water streets. Specializing in wraps and bowls, Otto Turkish will have two rotisseries to choose from; one chicken and one a mix of beef and lamb.

Jughead’s a regular

Dairy Market’s food-and-beverage hall is quickly filling its 18 stalls, adding two more merchants this month. Moo Thru, a favorite ice cream stop for D.C. commuters, is expanding to a fourth location in the heart of Charlottesville. The family-operated creamery behind Moo Thru will supply dairy products to market vendors, including The Milkman’s Bar, the cocktail joint from Ten Course Hospitality. Milkman’s promises to be a ’50s-inspired soda-pop shop straight out of Archie comics—but with a lot more of the hard stuff.

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Culture

Deli-cious anniversary: Local organizations benefit from Modern Nosh’s success

Modern Nosh’s menu features popular deli standards like Reuben sandwiches (above), matzo ball soup, and latkes. “When I came back to town, I said I would really love to do this but who knows if they’ll support it, and it’s been a really positive experience" says owner Stephanie Levin. Photo by John Robinson

Has it already been a year since we touted the arrival of an authentic Jewish deli to the local food scene? At the time, Modern Nosh owner Stephanie Levin said her goal was to launch her new eatery with a philanthropic twist, by sharing profits with local charities. 

“Our tagline is ‘you dine, we donate’,” she says. And donate, they did. After enlisting suggestions from customers about prospective recipients, Modern Nosh recently cut checks for $2,500 each to both The Women’s Initiative, which provides mental health services for women in the area regardless of their ability to pay, and the Companion Animal Fund, an organization that gives financial grants to various local pet rescue organizations. 

That Levin had profits to donate bodes well for the deli, considering how hard it is to get a restaurant up and running. She says her first year in business was relatively painless.

“It’s been fun,” she says. “Some things were harder than I expected, some easier. I’d heard horror stories, and I don’t really have any horror stories, so that was really good.”

Levin, a UVA grad whose parents owned a restaurant in Norfolk, says that helping out locally was important to her. 

“When I came back to town, I said I would really love to do this, but who knows if they’ll support it, and it’s been a really positive experience,” she says. “I was keeping my fingers crossed at the end of the year that there would be money to donate because there are so many expenses.”

Levin enjoys working in the food business, even when the hard part of owning a restaurant rears its ugly head.

“The paperwork has taken a lot of time—there are not enough hours in the day to work the behind-the-scenes bookkeeping…and other office stuff,” she says. “But the hardest part has been exposure. I’m still surprised that to this day people walk in and ask ‘Did you just open?’”

While the Modern Nosh menu features popular lunchtime deli standards like Reuben sandwiches, matzo ball soup, and latkes, the shop now serves breakfast fare as well. Favorites include the innovative latke Benedict—two latkes (potato pancakes) with eggs on top and hollandaise sauce (you can add meats such as pastrami bacon)—and challah French toast, which comes three ways: with powdered sugar, chocolate chips, or golden raisins.

“The restaurant makes its corned beef and brisket in-house,” Levin says. “All ethnic things and salads and soups are also homemade,” and even though people in Charlottesville seem unaccustomed to toasted bagels, it’s how they’re served at Modern Nosh.

She’s also added a lunch special for the cost-conscious diner. “Lunchtime we have a couple of hours where it’s a special lunch menu in addition to the regular menu,” Levin says. “Nosh for Nine,” which changes every few months, features nine menu items for $9 from a set menu served between 11am and 1:30pm. 

Even with menu additions, Levin says it’s the customers’ word-of-mouth that makes Modern Nosh a success. “There’s no amount of money I could put into marketing to get [that level of] exposure and name recognition,” she says.

 

Categories
Living

Small Bites

A selection of Caromont Farm goat cheeses. Photo: Bill Parrish

Finally, a real Jewish deli in town

It’s about time, right? After a soft opening on January 26, Modern Nosh will be fully up and running at 111 Water St. on February 5. Owned by Stephanie Levin, a Norfolk native who graduated from UVA in 1990, the restaurant will serve corned beef and brisket cooked in-house, pastrami imported from New York, and other traditional Jewish fare, such as tongue, latkes, and homemade matzo ball soup. A specially selected marbled rye made in Baltimore will be trucked in every day the restaurant is open (Tuesday-Saturday, from 11am to 8pm).

Levin is pulling a Paul Newman, and donating 100 percent of Modern Nosh’s profits to local charities. “Our tagline is ‘you dine, we donate,’ and it’s combining two important things in my life—giving back to the community and food.”

Kidding around

Equally famous for its artisanal cheeses and baby goat-snuggling events, Caromont Farm will host a summer program bringing 8- to 12-year-olds together with their kid counterparts—you know, goats. The Field-to-Fork Day Camps will provide instruction on local food and sustainability, and include activities such as cheesemaking, vegetable gardening, foraging, and cooking.

“Kids should have an opportunity to see the whole picture,” says Caromont owner Gail Hobbs-Page, who will hold the four-day camps at the farm in Esmont, Virginia, this June. “There are so many teachable moments in farming.”

Hip-hop with your BBQ?

In what may be a first for a Charlottesville restaurant, Ace Biscuit & Barbecue has posted a parental warning. It’s for Wu-Tang Wednesday, a weekly event featuring classic hip-hop and rap. “Due to the nature of the music, there may be language which may offend you or your kids,” the posting says. “Unless, of course, you take parenting advice from Ol’ Dirty Bastard, in which case, WU-TANG IS FOR THE CHILDREN.” (That’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s declaration at the 1998 Grammy Awards.)

“Every Wednesday we play unedited hip-hop music, anything of lyrical value, nothing that’s ‘drug use, drug use, drug use,’” says Ace Biscuit manager Andrew Autry, who’s better known as Wolf. “We’re trying to get back to ground level—we want fun customers in here.”