Water Street Restaurant – C-VILLE Weekly

By Sam Padgett and Erin O’Hare

The Yard food hall at 5th Street Station is gearing up to open in May, in the building next to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Jeff Garrison, the project’s lead, says he wanted to “create an active community-engaged area…a great area to hang out.” And so The Yard put extra emphasis on seating, including a shaded outdoor patio and complimentary WiFi. Additionally, if Garrison can obtain a coveted festival liquor license for the space, drinks can be openly carried between the businesses, which is beneficial because The Yard could also serve as an entertainment venue. As for the food half of the hall, The Yard already has leases from Basil Mediterranean Bistro & Wine Bar, Extreme Pizza and Chim, an Asian street food restaurant. While the first restaurants are going to be opening this May, The Yard will continue to add more options.

Fresh start

Back in December, we reported that The Villa Diner would be moving to a new location in town, as its current home at 129 Emmet St. N will soon be demolished when the University of Virginia begins to develop the land at the corner of Emmet Street and Ivy Road later this year.

Now we can report that The Villa’s moving down the road, into the former location of the Royal Indian Restaurant at 1250 Emmet St. N, adjacent to the new Zaxby’s. Villa Diner co-owner Jenifer Beachley describes the relocation as “terrifyingly exciting.” She says that the same atmosphere and service that customers have come to expect at The Villa will move with the business, and there will be a few additions to the menu. The Villa’s final day in its current location will be Memorial Day, and the Beachleys expect the new location to open in June.

Best of the South

In Southern Living magazine’s 2018 Best of the South poll, Charlottesville was named the eighth best food town in the region (food cities are in a different category). In that same poll, Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton was named the best brewery in Virginia.

And in Garden & Gun magazine’s Southern Craft Brewery bracket, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, whose flagship is in Richmond but operates a pilot brewery and taproom in Charlottesville, made it to the final matchup out of a field of 32 breweries, to take on Scofflaw Brewing Company of Atlanta for the championship. Hardywood was named the bracket winner on Tuesday.

Losing a gem

Pearl’s Bake Shoppe, known around town for its vegan cupcake offerings, among other sweet treats, closed its Charlottesville location on March 24. According to information posted to the bakery’s Facebook page, the owners have chosen to focus attention on their Richmond location instead.

Another closing

Water Street Restaurant—or, chef Brice Cunningham’s rebranded Tempo—closed after service on March 31. The eatery, which served upscale casual French and American cuisine, opened in September 2016.

Brunch game just got stronger

In a March 12 Facebook post, Kung Fu Tea Charlottesville at 1001 W. Main St. announced that it will soon begin serving dim sum (and judging by the hundreds of comments and shares on the post, folks are excited about it). For those unfamiliar with dim sum, it’s a style of Chinese (usually Cantonese) cuisine served with tea for a brunch-type meal. The bite-sized portions of food—think steamed buns, steamed vegetables, slow-roasted meats, congee soups and even dessert dim sum such as egg tarts—are served on small plates or nestled inside little steam baskets.

Quality time

In the last few weeks, a Facebook page called Quality Pie has popped up and begun sharing photos of baked goods, as well as both interior and exterior shots of the former Spudnuts donut shop on Avon Street in Belmont. It appears as though the bakery is the work of former Mas Tapas chef Tomas Rahal.

Water Street construction closure affects businesses

Anyone attempting to drive east down Water Street over the past couple weeks has noticed a large traffic sign intercepting her mission—and some business owners in that area aren’t happy about it.

Construction of a seven-unit mixed-use building at 550 E. Water St. (called 550 Water Street) will cause intermittent lane closure for the next nine months, according to city spokesperson Miriam Dickler.

“It’s difficult to quantify exactly how much the partial closing has impacted our business, but I can definitely say it is significant,” says Ashley Williams, the general manager and marketing director at Water Street, the eatery located at 117 Fifth St. SE in the former Tempo space, which has only been open since the end of September.

There have been several instances when customers have wanted to eat at her restaurant for dinner, she says, but they were driving in from the west on Water Street or tried to make a left-hand turn after crossing over the Downtown Mall on Fourth Street, and were not able to do so.

“It is far from an easy one-block detour, and I have talked to many potential diners who have said that they ended up giving up because they got turned around or got stuck in traffic and just decided to go somewhere else,” she says.

A small parking lot once leased by C&O Restaurant, which sold to 550 Water Street developers for more than $1 million, is also blocked by the closure.

“When Dave [Simpson] sold me the restaurant, he said that parking lot could go at any time,” C&O chef and proprietor Dean Maupin says. “Of course, that day came and went, but honestly it has not affected anything at all.”

Though it has been more inconvenient for patrons, Maupin says “everyone seems to be taking it in stride and we really appreciate that.”

As a way around the detour, he says his crew has started offering complimentary valet service to guests on Friday and Saturday evenings.

“I’m just thankful the construction noise ends at 5 every day,” he says.

Dickler says the city is working on a plan to open the street to two-way traffic once the current utility work in the roadway is complete, which should happen on February 3. After that, the detour will only be in effect during the day, and two-way traffic will resume on nights and weekends. This will last for about four weeks.

At the beginning of March, the concrete barriers will return, but two-way traffic will be maintained by using the loading and valet parking spaces along Water Street. Two valet spaces will be moved one block down on Water Street, and two will move around the corner on Fifth Street. There will be one additional detour toward the end of the project to install gas to the new building and repave the roadway.

“Unfortunately, road projects often come with unavoidable impacts to businesses and property owners,” says Dickler. “Our staff works with those owners and the project team to mitigate those impacts as much as possible.”

Though the road closure is temporary, one business owner says blocked views of the mountains and Charlottesville favorites such as the Pink Warehouse are forever.

Nora Ayala, the owner of Low—vintage clothing, records and antiques, says before she moved into her Fifth Street location in 2010, she knew 550 Water Street would be built, but “I really, really dislike that every open space on Water Street is going to be gone,” she says. “It’ll be so cold.”

This isn’t the only inconvenience downtown visitors and workers can expect on Water Street, and perhaps it foreshadows the construction and detours stemming from West2nd, the fleet of luxury condos going in at the current City Market site later this year. Stay tuned.