Tag: The Alley Light

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Living

Grit opens fourth location; Snowing in Space coming to West Main

Grit Coffee opened its fourth location last week at The Shops at Stonefield. Photo by Eze Amos

Snowing in Space Coffee Co., a local nitro coffee business that’s been serving up thick, creamy, Guinness-like (but not alcoholic) nitro coffee on tap at several locations around town, will soon take over the old C’Ville-ian Brewing Co. space at 705 W. Main St.

Snowing in Space co-owner Paul Dierkes says he signed the lease only recently, and plans to open a coffee concept on West Main—where there isn’t really another shop dedicated to just coffee—in early 2017.

Currently, Snowing in Space coffee—in flavors such as the nutty Gimme-Dat, the blueberry Lil Blue and the peppermint, green tea and coffee blend Ninjabrain—can be found at Paradox Pastry, Keevil & Keevil and The Local, and in some hip local offices like WillowTree Apps.

Dierkes is particularly excited about the collaboration opportunities the new location affords. Snowing in Space has worked on special brews with Trager Brothers Coffee and Lamplighter Coffee Roasters in Richmond, and they’ve also collaborated with Virginia Distillery Co.

Another jolt

Grit Coffee Bar and Café opened its fourth location last week at The Shops at Stonefield. Baristas at the newest Grit will sling the same locally roasted coffee and espresso drinks as the other three locations, but they’ll have a few special-to-Stonefield options, such as nitro cold-brew coffee and, by early 2017, beer, wine and cocktails. Grit co-founder Brandon Wooten says the Stonefield Grit has a “10-tap draft system that will include a rotating selection of harder-to-find craft beers, ciders and wines.” The cocktail menu isn’t finalized yet, but Wooten says it will be focused on “unique drinks perfect for enjoying before or after dinner.” Customers can expect a few classic cocktails, but most of the drinks will be “built around bitter notes meant to give a subtle nod to coffee” and pair well with a new rotating dessert menu. Some cocktails will have an espresso or cold-brew coffee base, and others will utilize liqueurs and potable bitters.

But it’s not all drinks and dessert: Grit will offer build-your-own breakfast sandwiches, Cuban sandwiches, empanadas, savory small plates and grab-and-go options as well.

The Alley Light welcomes new chef

Brian Jones, who’s perhaps best known around Charlottesville as Petit Pois’ opening chef, has left his most recent post at Fifth Street Station’s Timberwood Tap House for a new gig: He’ll be cooking at The Alley Light.

At The Alley Light, Jones will help co-owner and executive chef Robin McDaniel cook the extensive Alley Light menu and contribute dishes to the specials board.

McDaniel and her husband, Alley Light co-owner and general manager Chris Dunbar, previously worked with Jones at both Petit Pois and Fleurie, and the three are glad to be working together again. Jones is “a great presence [in the kitchen],” Dunbar says. “He’s very organized, very detail-oriented, creative.”

The decision to leave Timberwood wasn’t an easy one for Jones—he says he enjoyed getting to know the owners and the kitchen staff during his six months with the restaurant, and it was a joy to watch Timberwood open in October. But, ultimately, Jones says, kitchen management wasn’t his thing. He missed cooking. “I was ready for the challenge of managing, but my heart still wanted to be behind the range with a towel in one hand and a spoon in the other, cooking great food, using the highest quality ingredients thoughtfully prepared and executed with great technique,” he says.

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Living

Michelin-rated D.C. restaurants boast local ties

Chefs and restaurateurs around the world work their whole lives in hopes of earning even a single Michelin Star for their restaurant; only a select few earn one, even fewer earn two, and only a portion of those few earn three (just 13 restaurants in the U.S. have three stars). Photo by Amy Jackson

Star chefs

In 1900, French tire moguls Ándre and Édouard Michelin found a creative way to get more people to buy their tires: a restaurant and hotel ratings guide that would get people in their cars, on the road and wearing down tire treads going from place to place.

By 1926, the Michelin Guide started awarding a dining star to select spots; by 1931, the guide expanded its star ratings to two and three stars. By 1936, the guide defined its system: one star for “a very good restaurant in its own category,” two stars for “excellent cooking, worth a detour”’ and three stars for “exceptional cuisine, worth the special trip.”

Decades later, chefs and restaurateurs around the world work their whole lives in hopes of earning even a single Michelin Star for their restaurant; only a select few earn one, even fewer earn two, and only a portion of those few earn three (just 13 restaurants in the U.S. have three stars). The acquisition or loss of a star can make or break a restaurant (and a chef’s spirit). On October 13, Michelin released its first Washington, D.C., guide and awarded stars to 12 restaurants in the district.

Charlottesville has connections to two of them.

Chef Jose De Brito left his position as head chef at The Alley Light in May to join the vast kitchen staff at The Inn at Little Washington. When asked about the stars, De Brito says, “I do not have much to say. I am just the lucky witness to chef Patrick O’Connell’s 38 years of work and vision being rewarded by two beautiful stars.”

The Dabney, chef Jeremiah Langhorne’s casual restaurant known for its commitment to crafting heritage American cuisine from ingredients sourced from the Mid-Atlantic region, received one Michelin Star (Langhorne is from Charlottesville—he trained under chef John Haywood at OXO restaurant before moving on to McCrady’s in Charleston, South Carolina). Christian Johnston, who made a name for himself mixing cocktails at The Alley Light before becoming bar manager at Tavola, will join The Dabney staff later this fall as the restaurant expands its bar program. Tyler Hudgens, who worked at Commonwealth Restaurant and Skybar before heading to D.C. and hiring Johnston to The Dabney team, says she is impressed by Johnston’s “leadership, creativity and investment in his community. He won’t be ‘filling anyone’s shoes,’ and will be able to make his own mark on our constantly honed service and drinks.”

Johnston, who will also work at The Bird in D.C., says that after working in just about every restaurant position—bouncer, sous chef, bar manager—here in Charlottesville, moving to D.C. seems like the logical next step for a C’ville native about to turn 30 and seeking to expand his horizons. What’s more, D.C. ABC laws aren’t as strict as Virginia’s, so Johnston is eager to have access to more cocktail components, though he’s proud of many of the drinks he’s created here in town, particularly the Bittersweet Symphony (Tanqueray gin, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, fresh lemon and lime juice) and the Dea Marrone (brown butter-washed Bulleit bourbon, Yellow Chartreuse, brown sugar and Averna syrup, apple cider shrub and fresh lemon juice) served at Tavola.

Johnston’s last shifts at Tavola and The Alley Light were on October 29 and 30, respectively. Steve Yang, who’s worked under Johnston, will take over the bar at Tavola.

Christian Johnston, bar manager at Tavola who got his start mixing cocktails at The Alley Light, will depart Charlottesville for The Dabney in D.C.

Contact Erin O’Hare at eatdrink@c-ville.com.

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Living

Jose De Brito joins kitchen staff at The Inn at Little Washington

Jose De Brito, formerly chef at The Alley Light, will join the kitchen staff at The Inn at Little Washington. Photo by Rammelkamp Foto

James Beard semi-finalist Jose De Brito quietly left his post as executive chef at The Alley Light last week, and rumors have been flying about what his next move is. Well, the cat’s out of the bag.

“The Inn at Little Washington is pleased to welcome Charlottesville’s Jose De Brito to its kitchen brigade,” says The Inn at Little Washington PR Director Rachel Hayden. “He will join Chef Patrick O’Connell and his team of 36 chefs in The Inn’s five-star kitchen this spring. We are all looking forward to working together and to having Jose on our team.”

O’Connell and his restaurant at The Inn at Little Washington—which opened in a former garage in 1978—have received international accolades for years, including restaurant of the year from the James Beard Foundation in 1993.

As for The Alley Light, founder and co-owner Will Richey says he isn’t worried about the transition. Former sous chef Robin McDaniel has taken over the kitchen as chef/co-owner, and Richey is confident she will uphold the reputation that De Brito built.

“She will continue in the method of classical French cuisine that Jose began, staying true to the aesthetics that have rounded out the experience of The Alley Light,” he says. “Robin was already leading the kitchen at The Alley Light two nights a week and for many months during the last few years when Jose would travel, and she is eager to lead our kitchen with her own personal touch.”