Tag: Sugar Shack

Categories
C-BIZ Magazines Uncategorized

Cross-pollination: C’ville to RVA and back

Charlottesville-born Champion Brewing opened a Richmond location in 2017. Photo: Ash Daniel

Is love in the air? It appears so–at least between the cities of Richmond and Charlottesville, as witnessed by the number of businesses that have decided to open locations in both cities. Charlottesville, with its beautiful setting and college town vibe, has long made lists of best places to live and work. And in the past few years, Richmond has experienced a renaissance of sorts, with praise seemingly pouring in weekly for its long-underrated, still burgeoning arts, dining, and entrepreneurial scene. So it’s not surprising that a mutual admiration society has developed between the two cities.

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and Sugar Shack donuts, both born in the River City, added Charlottesville locations on West Main Street–Hardywood in February 2017 and Sugar Shack in June 2018 (bringing with it sister business Luther Burger not long after).

Also coming to Charlottesville in early 2020: Quirk Hotel, which first debuted in Richmond in 2015. Why are they interested in C’ville? “First and foremost, the numbers indicate that Charlottesville is a stronger hospitality market than Richmond,” says Quirk Hotel co-owner Ted Ukrop. “Second, UVA is a major and sustainable economic and cultural engine. Having said that, there are also plenty of innovative companies, organizations, and people that align with Quirk’s brand.” The proximity to Hooville–just an hour away–also made a second Quirk location appealing, Ukrop adds.

Meanwhile, Richmond has already experienced an influx of Charlottesville-based businesses, like Roots Natural Kitchen (opened July 2018 in the VCU area), Three Notch’d Brewing Company (opened in 2016 in Scott’s Addition as the RVA Collab House), and Citizen Burger Bar (also opened in 2016, in Carytown). The city’s developing reputation as a supportive, destination craft beer scene was a big draw for Hunter Smith, who founded Champion Brewing in Charlottesville and opened a Richmond location in January 2017 on Grace Street downtown.

“The two cities and their respective governments operate quite differently, which was informative from a business perspective, and has helped me to evaluate additional locations,” says Smith. “I appreciate [chef] Jason Alley from Pasture and Comfort for introducing me to the beautiful former bank space we’re now lucky enough to occupy.”

Up next? Starr Hill Brewery, which is opening Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition this summer. Also coming soon: Common House, the “contemporary social club” that opened in C’ville in 2017, will make the RVA’s Arts District its home sometime in 2019. You’ll be able to find the newest Common House at 305 W. Broad St., just steps away from the original Quirk Hotel.

“Richmond feels like it’s in the midst of a cultural revolution that we are anxious to participate in,” says Common House co-founder Derek Sieg. “The food is world-class, the art scene is electric, and the energy in the entrepreneur community rivals that of any city its size.” While Sieg says his team has been looking at other creative markets in the Southeast in anticipation of growth, the proximity to Charlottesville helped clinch the second location.

“We have a lot of Richmond-based members who use Common House as a landing spot when they’re in Charlottesville, and vice versa, so we see this cross-pollination firsthand and look forward to being a fruit of that pollination ourselves,” he says.

Categories
Living

Sugar Shack and Quality Pie sweeten the deal

Quality Pie, in the former Spudnuts space on Avon Street, is dishing out sweet and savory pies, as well as grain bowls and sandwiches, such as an octopus bahn mi. Photo by Martyn Kyle

By Jenny Gardiner

The recent summer heat seems to demand curative sweets to help temper the constant weather discomforts. Luckily, sugary treats (and more!) are featured on the menu at two new Charlottesville eateries opening this week.

If you’re like Homer Simpson (and who isn’t?), you probably live for your next delicious donut. Fortunately, Sugar Shack has arrived on West Main Street with everything from maple bacon to Samoas—yes, like the Girl Scout cookie—donuts. One Sugar Shack location even offers up a fried chicken donut.

“The kitchen has the freedom to make whatever they want,” says manager Virginia Williams, adding that she “whipped up a pink rosé rose glaze” in honor of “The Bachelorette” episode that filmed recently at the chain’s Richmond flagship.

Other innovative flavors include Baby Ruth, Fruit Loops and Party Time (covered in M&Ms, sprinkles and Oreos), plus many vegan options. Everything is made fresh, without preservatives.

Sugar Shack on West Main Street sweetens the deal with several donut varieties made without preservatives, as well as a Luther Burger counter for a savory option. Photo by Morgan Salyer

The restaurant offers a free donut daily via its Facebook page, provided you’re willing to show up with, say, your latest purchase from Amazon or wearing white sneakers. Fair warning: You could even be asked to sing or dance for that donut.

And fittingly, at the home of the former Spudnuts Donut shop comes another sweet surrender, in the form of Mas Tapas founder Tomas Rahal’s much anticipated Quality Pie.

Rahal—with the help of friends in the food community—gutted the building and gave it a bright, cheery interior with apple-green walls featuring prints from former Charlottesville artist Steve Keene, and cherry-red stools that once graced the old Woolworth’s lunch counter downtown.

Rahal says he had been eyeing the Spudnuts site for a decade.

“I wanted to do a daytime coffee and bake shop, and I wanted to stay in Belmont,” he says. “I love the neighborhood, and all of our customers. The Spudnuts building was iconic and I hope Quality Pie becomes iconic as well.”

With his new restaurant, Rahal plans to continue collaborating with schools to promote the farm-to-table approach to eating.

“We’ve got a great garden here and will work with the City Schoolyard Project like we did at Mas, and we’re working with Clark Elementary,” he says. The garden has already yielded beets, chard, carrots, Romaine lettuce and herbs, all of which will be used in the restaurant.

Sweets might rule at both restaurants, but savory will vie for attention as well. Tucked inside Sugar Shack is a separate counter for the restaurant’s sister enterprise, Luther Burger, named after the late R&B singer Luther Vandross’ substitution of a donut for a hamburger bun. Diners will have the option of eating their burger sandwiched between two glazed donut halves, or settling for a mainstream potato—or even a lettuce—bun. Besides beef and turkey patties, the restaurant will offer crab and vegan patties, along with vegan cheese and sauces.

And the rotating menu at Quality Pie will include sweet and savory pies (don’t miss the blueberry!), artisanal sourdough bread and biscuits, including “our own version of a signature dish with rye and Iberico ham,” Rahal says.

They’ll also offer a variety of “fun sandwiches, including an octopus bahn mi, in which you will get some of the trademark Spanish flair with a slightly different format,” he says.

In addition, there will be healthy lunches and grain bowls, and, as soon as they get their ABC license, beer, wine and cider “to sit outside on a beautiful day by the garden and relax.”

Both restaurants opened Monday, July 2. Sugar Shack’s hours are 7am-2pm opening week, with hours extended to 6am-6pm daily afterward. Quality Pie is open 7am-8pm weekdays and 10am-3pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Quiet closing

Zzaam! Fresh Korean Grill on Emmet Street near Barracks Road has shuttered its doors with little fanfare. A notice on the restaurant’s Facebook page announced the closing, effective May 31, to the dismay of hundreds of customers who posted their disappointment on the store’s homepage. “This is really depressing,” said Jonathan Morataya. “This place got me by some of my toughest economic times while enrolled at UVA, and I was introduced to many Korean-themed dishes. Zzaam Charlottesville, you will be missed.”

Categories
Living

Order Up! fills mobile lunch spot on the Downtown Mall

Order Up!, located on the Downtown Mall at the Third Street SE intersection, serves typical grill foods like burgers, hot dogs and more. Photo by Tristan Williams.

By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare

Food cart Order Up!—not to be confused with Grubhub’s predecessor, OrderUp—recently set up shop in the former Catch the Chef spot on the Downtown Mall at the Third Street SE intersection, next to Virginia National Bank.

Owners Max and Troy Robinson, who have operated the food cart for a few years, were based out of their home turf in Greene County before deciding to plant themselves in the middle of downtown Charlottesville foot traffic.

The inspiration for Order Up! came during Max’s time working for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, when she struck up a friendship with Catch the Chef’s owner, Tyler Berry. After that, she was motivated to start her own mobile food service.

Order Up! chiefly serves a variety of typical grill foods like burgers, hot dogs, chili, etc., but the cart offers something unique to go alongside the classics: mambo sauce. When asked to describe the taste of mambo sauce, Max says it’s a “sweet sauce but with hint of spice.” While Troy admits he doesn’t know what’s in it, he says it tastes like “heaven,” and that even though it’s made for chicken, it can go on anything.   

So far, Order Up! has provided catering for several events throughout the surrounding area, and it can be found on the mall from 10am to 3pm Monday through Friday.

Eater’s digest

Revolutionary Soup’s 14th Street location on the UVA Corner is temporarily closed for renovations, but it’s scheduled to reopen in the fall. And don’t worry: You can still get your soup fix at its location on Second Street SW, off the Downtown Mall.

Sugar Shack on West Main Street is set to open any day now. The donut bakery has been keeping us posted on its progress via Twitter (@cvilledonuts), and word is that its “open” sign will be turned on sometime this week, followed by that of its partner restaurant, Luther Burger, in the coming weeks. So keep your eyes peeled to this spot for updates.

Tiger Fuel Co. recently bought the Shell station on Preston Avenue and plans to transform the place into the sort of fancy market deli the company is known for (Tiger Fuel also owns Bellair Market and the Market at Mill Creek). For those who fear that the station’s fried chicken program will go away, a representative for the company says the fried chicken will remain, but we’ll believe it when we eat it for ourselves.

At 7pm on Friday, June 29, Mudhouse Coffee Roasters will host a latte art throwdown at its Downtown Mall location. There’s a $5 buy-in for latte artists hoping to win the $50 cash prize, and money raised from a raffle (among the prizes is a primo burr coffee grinder) will benefit victims of the June 3 eruption of Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego.

Categories
Living

Say cheese: Tilman’s helps you make the right choices

Courtenay Tyler and Derek Mansfield recently opened Tilman’s, a Downtown Mall cheese, wine and charcuterie-focused shop, which also offers sandwiches, salads and desserts. Photo by Amy Jackson

Derek Mansfield and Courtenay Tyler know that shopping for the perfect wine and cheese can be tough. They’re hoping to take the intimidation factor down a few notches, though, with Tilman’s, their cheese shop and wine bar that opened last week on the Downtown Mall.

Mansfield and Tyler met while working at Relay Foods, and as the company wound down in preparation for its merger with Door to Door Organics earlier this year, the two colleagues started talking about what it would be like to hang their own shingle here in Charlottesville. Tilman’s, named for the popular department store that occupied the building in the 1930s, is the result of those conversations and months of planning.

Wine, cheese and charcuterie are the focus at Tilman’s, which offers a variety of composed cheese and charcuterie boards available to eat at the marble-topped bar, perhaps with one of the nine wines offered by the glass or a pint of beer on tap. Customers can sample a cheese before they buy, and knowledgeable staff is happy to answer questions, make recommendations and sub different cheeses in and out if you’re not a fan of blue or goat. There are sandwiches (like the prosciutto and fig, and Italian pork) and salads, too, and desserts such as chocolate cake with merlot and chocolate ganache, and a goat cheese tartlet with roasted pistachios and honey. The shop also has a retail element offering about 40 different bottles of wine, cheese to go, boxes of crackers, baguettes, containers of Found. Market Co. shortbreads (bee sting and salted rosemary among them), Blanchard’s coffees, jars of chutney, specialty snacks and more. Taylor’s pimento cheese recipe, which Mansfield says will be familiar to Relay Foods customers, makes an appearance on the menu as well.

Mansfield says he wants Tilman’s, which is open from 11am to 9pm  Monday through Saturday, and from 10am to 5pm Sundays, to be a welcoming spot, the kind of place where people can come in with a book or laptop and hang out for a few hours.

Pack lunch

Chef Curtis Shaver’s Sandwich Lab has been a bit elusive as of late. For those unfamiliar with Sandwich Lab, we’ll get you up to speed: In 2014, Shaver, executive chef at Hamiltons’ at First & Main, put together a once-a-month, one-day only, delightfully-over-the-top sandwich available for lunchtime pickup at the Downtown Mall restaurant.

Although the sandwiches regularly sold out, Sandwich Lab’s frequency has waned.

Fans of Shaver’s sammies, get ready to rejoice, because come spring 2018, Shaver will be making sandwiches for a sandwich joint-cum-bike repair shop, Peloton Station, at 114 10th St. NW, in the former Cville Classic Cars space. (In a bike race, the peloton is the main pack of riders who save energy by riding close to other riders to reduce drag.) Peloton Station, which Shaver is opening in partnership with Hamiltons’ owner Bill Hamilton and managing partner Greg Vogler, is intended as a space for cycling enthusiasts to grab a bite to eat and a beer after a ride, and even have their bike repaired while they wait.

Shaver, a former part-time bike mechanic and riding enthusiast, has long wanted to combine cooking and riding, and the timing seemed right, Vogler says. These sorts of bike cafés have popped up in European cities and in places like Asheville, North Carolina, and the Peloton Station partners think Charlottesville’s ready for one, too.

In addition to chef sandwiches and beer, Peloton Station will offer happy hour tune-ups, repair clinics, community builds and a chill atmosphere for bikers and non-bikers alike. Shaver says that some Sandwich Lab favorites will be on the Peloton Station menu, and, just in case you were wondering, no, Sandwich Lab probably isn’t gone forever.

Double or nothing

According to a post on Sugar Shack Charlottesville’s Facebook page, the reason the build-out is taking so long is that an expanded patio is being added to the 1001 W. Main St. space because this Sugar Shack location will also include owner and donut aficionado Ian Kelley’s other project: Luther Burger. It’s the second Sugar Shack to include a Luther Burger (the other is in North Chesterfield), which promises beef, turkey and veggie burgers served on buns made from Sugar Shack donut dough, and, according to the Facebook post, “the best waffle fries in your life.”

Mooning over baked goods

Vegan and gluten-free baked goods gluttons have probably already heard of Moon Maiden’s Delights, whose sprouted-grain, gluten-free and vegan cakes and pastries, such as cranberry pear rolls with carob frosting and berry garnish and salty maple-glazed coconut brownies, are sold at City Market, Rebecca’s Natural Foods and Java Java. But for those who aren’t familiar with the bakery, now you’ve been introduced, and at a most convenient time: Moon Maiden’s Delights has opened a brick-and-mortar location on the Downtown Mall, in York Place. Owner and baker Sidney Hall recently moved to town and says the bakery has helped her get to know the community.

Categories
Living

Sugar Shack to open West Main location

 

The heavenly scent of handcrafted donuts, fritters and cinnamon rolls will soon waft up and down West Main Street: Charlottesville is getting a Sugar Shack Donuts, directly across the street from the Uncommon Building, this summer.

Sugar Shack owner and self-proclaimed “donut nostalgia nerd” Ian Kelley opened his first shop in a small building in Richmond’s Carver neighborhood in 2013 and has been searching for the right place to open a Charlottesville spot for a while; this will be Sugar Shack’s 11th location.

“Charlottesville is the town we always wished we were part of, and now finally get the opportunity to join. The people, businesses and university have created an incredible environment for community-driven businesses like ours, and we are proud to bring our handmade donuts to a new home,” Kelley says in a press release.

Per Sugar Shack tradition, customers can earn a free house donut if they participate in the almost-daily, usually quirky challenge posted on the shop’s Facebook page. So, Charlottesville: What will you do for a free donut? Will you break out the air guitar and riff along to the chorus of Warrant’s “Cherry Pie”? Wear your clothes backwards (a la ’90s hip-hop duo Kris Kross)? Bust an M.C. Hammer move? Do the “Single Ladies” dance? Oh, this is gonna be good.