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Indian Street Food Restaurant & Pop-Up Bar Come to Richmond

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The crew behind downtown Richmond’s Kabana Rooftop and Belle have joined forces with a well-known restaurateur and a major R&B singer to bring two concepts to life in the fall.

Neal Patel and Kunal Shah have leased two adjoining spaces on West Broad Street to open Nama, an Indian restaurant with Chef Mel Oza serving at the helm, along with a pop-up bar called Switch that will feature rotating themes every few months.

Nama will offer family-style shared plates ranging from $11-20 to give patrons the opportunity to experience more than just one entree per person.

“When we say shared plates, people generally think of really small portions, like tapas, which is not what we’re trying to do. There are many dishes from India that make kind of mini meals for an individual or are good to share with people,” said Oza. “Sharing is a big part of Indian culture, it’s actually considered rude to order something and not share it with others at the table in most dining situations.”

While curries and tandoori will make their appearance at Nama, Oza said the restaurant will instead focus on a variety of street foods and delicacies from different regions of India.

“Street food in India used to be very risqué in terms of hygiene. A lot of progress has been made in recent times as the lifestyles are getting busier and people need to eat out more,” Oza said. “What we are trying to do at Nama is similar to what people would generally enjoy eating out. The full-on meals that involve the works are reserved for certain occasions or settings. An average person would rather have chaats, pav bhajis, street side kababs or pulaos [rice dish]. These kinds of dishes serve the purpose of stimulating your taste buds and yet comfortably satiating you. Restaurants offering similar cuisine are becoming really popular in the UK and big cities in the western world.”

Patrons can expect to find dishes from western and northeast India including pav bhaji, a spiced vegetable mash, goat meat Mamna which are roasted meatballs, quail eggs, chaat, and a fermented lentils rice cake in additional to more common staples like Indian fritters, kebab dishes, curries, and hot and cold chaat.

Oza has been cooking since the late 90s in the UK and later in the US. He served as the chef for contemporary Indian restaurant, Copper, in Charlotte, North Carolina before coming to Richmond in 2009 to pursue other restaurant ventures, including Carytown’s Curry Craft, which sold two years ago after four years in business.

Patel and Shah have wanted to bring an Indian concept to Richmond for quite some time, aiming to offer something a little different than other Indian restaurants that are currently in the market.

“We want people to have the option of coming to an Indian restaurant and not getting filled up by a single curry dish,” Patel said. “If you want to come in and have some craft cocktails or great wine or beer and try a few different plates off the menu, our goal is to create a little bit of a fun and lighter atmosphere. With most concepts we want to introduce, it is all about creating a fun social dining experience.”

After meeting Oza, the group worked on the idea for two years before leasing the space at 15 W. Broad St.

“We had a lot of variations and ideas for what we wanted to do, and my sister actually drafted the initial conceptual menu.  Since partnering with Mel that initial vision has morphed into something much greater than we ever expected from a culinary perspective,” Patel said of Nama.

Rounding out the initial investors in Nama, is R&B artist, Jay Sean. The singer knew Shah threw his early promoter days and according to Patel, was enthusiastic about becoming involved in the early stages of development.

“Jay has a great relationship with Kunal. Early in Kunal’s professional career he owned a production company that managed Jay Sean in the US, and they have maintained their friendship for 10 plus years since then,” he said.

Their second concept, Switch, if the name didn’t give it away, will be a pop-up bar with a rotating theme every three, six, or nine months. Patel said the group wanted to bring the concept to Richmond after seeing it take off in bigger markets, citing DC’s wildly popular and seasonal Cherry Blossom pop-up bar as inspiration.

“Pop up bars have been growing in popularity, especially in Chicago, DC, LA, New York,” he said. “Kunal and I have experience in the DC market, and so, we had always been looking for a space to give Richmond what we consider to be its first true pop-up bar.”

The bar, located next to Nama at 13 W. Broad St., will serve cocktails and small bites which, along with the decor, will play off of each theme. As far as themes for the pop-ups, Patel mentioned Halloween or Christmas as potential options, but didn’t want to reveal any details just yet.

“Probably in the next month or two, we’ll start dripping teasers out,” he said. The restaurant and events group also plans to incorporate a second theme into the downstairs portion of Switch to host two separate concepts at the same time. To execute their vision for each theme, Patel and Shah have recruited Richmond interior design firm Lost Art Studios and commissioned local artists for the design and decor.

“Richmond is known for its artistry, and that strong local art scene we have, so we want to partner with a lot of local artists whether it’s for murals or design pieces that are featured in Switch, because when you think about these pop-ups, you’ve got to be able to shut it down and open it back up in a couple weeks with a brand new theme,” Patel said.

Jesse Smith of Loose Screw Tattoo was tapped for a mural for the first theme, which Patel is keeping under wraps for now, but be on the lookout in the coming weeks for hints on their social media.

The group hopes to have both Nama and Switch open by November.

A Taste of New Orleans Rolls Into Northside

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If you frequent any of the breweries in town, it’s likely you’ve seen a royal purple truck with a feisty chicken emblazoned on the side serving wings and other Cajun-inspired dishes. And this summer, that truck will settle in with a place of its own in Northside.  

Manchu has only been slinging wings, fried rice, fries, shrimp po’ boys, banh mi, and gumbo in Richmond for a year, but its history goes back more than three decades with a family business that originated in New Orleans.

This article originally appeared in RVA #33 Summer 2018, you can check out the issue here, or pick it up around Richmond now. 

Although a staple in the Big Easy and highly popular with the locals, there are no frills about Manchu, just a simple corner store near the French Quarter that has served up wings, po’ boys, fried fish, and yakamein for 35 years.

“We’re one of the few corner stores that’s still around,” said Manchu food truck owner Marvin Nguyen, of his family’s business.  

Nguyen’s cousin Tommy and his wife Yen Pham, along with his father Kevin, founded the original Manchu, and while Nguyen moved out of New Orleans when he was 10, he returns every year to visit the store and family. His passion for cooking, however, wouldn’t come until years later.  

His parents, originally from Vietnam, moved them to North Carolina, then Martinsville, Va. where he grew up. The food truck operator finally planted roots in Richmond in 2005 after transferring from UVA to J. Sarge in 2005 to study biology of all things.

When not in school, Nguyen spent his time working odd office jobs before realizing that wasn’t his true calling.

“I was like, ‘this is not me,’” he said. “All these office jobs I’m getting, I’m helping a lot of people, but I’m not helping myself, it’s not that fun,” he said. After that, he left school and tried out a career as a DJ in Richmond and Washington, DC for 10 years before finally deciding to take up the family business.

“I’ve always liked to cook at home or for my friends, so I thought why not open a food truck. I’ve always talked about it, but never pulled through.”

Nguyen often urged his family during his yearly trips to visit to expand the restaurant up north, and while they were content where they were, Nguyen took the leap to take on the venture himself.

From January to April 2017, he studied under the tutelage of his cousin and dad learning the inner-workings of Manchu. And his time may have been brief, but it was no easy task.

“I went down there and studied for like four months and did everything from the kitchen work, the recipes, the cooking of the fried rice, the chicken, and marinating,” he said.

In 2016, he bought his food truck and the following year, Manchu was up and running in Richmond, starting out in Ashland serving employees at Owens & Minor and Amazon, followed by weekly trips to SunTrust, and growing to regular gigs at local breweries like Ardent Craft Ales, The Veil Brewing Co., Hardywood, and Isley.

Richmond’s Manchu food truck is similar to the NOLA corner store, but with Nguyen ‘s spin on it. The truck sells traditional BBQ, sticky garlic, and ghost pepper wings, which he uses ghost pepper powder to make. “It’s not one of those that things really spicy, but you can taste the ghost pepper.”

As for the recipe for the wings, Nguyen is keeping most of that under his hat, only divulging that it is dry-rubbed and brined for 24 hours. And while the success this year-old food truck has received from the locals has been great for Nguyen, he said expanding with a store of his own was always in the cards.

“The plan was to get people to know who Manchu is, and why we’re here. I wanted to open a store in the first place, but we wanted something that was mobile,” he said.

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His new North Avenue restaurant, which he leased in January, will be takeout only, and while he eyed bustling neighborhoods like Scott’s Addition, he said after serving the Northside community, he knew it was the perfect place to set up shop.

“I felt like to be at home, just like our store down in New Orleans, we wanted to find a spot that caters mostly to the kind of people that fit our demographic, and Northside has been such a blast for us,” he said. “We park our food truck out there every now and then, its right next to a library, we made a huge impact in that area.”

All the residents that live there and the heavy foot traffic were another reason he wanted to open his takeout restaurant there.

“I like how people just walk around, that reminds me of home in New Orleans,” he said. “Just outside hanging out. We want to make that impact in that community.”

Since opening the food truck, Nguyen has used a commercial kitchen on West Broad Street, but will move operations to the new shop when it opens. And with only four employees, the roving truck will come home to roost for a bit while the takeout spot gets off the ground, but keep an eye out, as it could pop up at an event here and there.

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With the new takeout spot, Manchu will still serve up its signature wings and po’ boys, but Nguyen also plans to experiment with some new recipes and expand the menu.

“We’re going to have some specials too. We have a recipe for crawfish boils and daily specials such as Pho Boys, so basically all the ingredients of Pho, but you eat it like a French dip,” he said. “We do want to create a Mambo sauce, we’ve made it before, but we still want to play with it, it goes on the wings and the rice.”

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Manchu Pho Boy

His mother, who also worked on the food truck, has come aboard to be the chef for the restaurant. Nguyen handles all the seasonings and prep for the wings, and his mother makes the gumbo and roasted chicken for the business.

The New Orleans Manchu, which was once a Chinese restaurant, doesn’t have a logo, and is just labeled as Manchu Food Store. Nguyen plans to model his Richmond takeout restaurant after the flagship store with a mural of the NOLA sign, along with his unmistakable chicken logo, of course.

“I just want to make sure we are the staple wing place to go to in Richmond, that’s my goal, I’m just going to work my butt off to make that happen.” Manchu will be open sometime in August six days a week from 10 am to 8 pm.

Carytown Burgers & Fries Taking Over Nacho Mama’s Space

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When news broke that Carytown Burgers & Fries was slated to be knocked down and taken over by grocery-chain Publix, the community was both saddened and outraged, and rallied in hopes of saving the Richmond institution. Their efforts were unsuccessful, but lovers of the burger joint can relish the news that it has found a new place to call home.

Speaking to RVA Mag this afternoon, Operations Manager Jordan Leonard said the restaurant closed this week on the Nacho Mama’s building, located at 3449 W. Cary St., and will reopen in early fall.

“The timing has actually been really perfect given the close on this building, it’s been a pretty long process,” Leonard said.

For those that have been following their story, Carytown Burgers & Fries, along with the Carytown Martin’s building and 10 other shops in the surrounding area, were purchased by Publix, which gave Carytown Burgers only three months’ notice, leaving them scrambling to find a new space.

The restaurant, which has served the community in that same spot since Mike Barber opened it in 1999, was set to close June 30. Their lease has since been extended an additional six months to Oct. 31. A petition was launched in January by Carytown Burgers to rally the community to help save what’s become a beloved eatery and place to hang out; in just under a few days, they received 11,000 signatures.

But, while the community rallied, the clock on Carytown Burgers’ lease was quickly running out. Luckily, Nacho Mama’s owner Raul Cantu already had plans to move on to seek out other ventures. Leonard said Cantu recently got married and his partner had received a job offer in Florida, so the restaurateur was already thinking about selling. But, when Cantu got wind of the turmoil that was going on down the street from his business at Carytown Burgers, he reached out to Barber to help.

Mike Barber and Raul Cantu. “The Passing of the Margarita”

“They hit it off and it seemed like it was a perfect opportunity, the timing was perfect, they both had a specific need that the other fulfilled wonderfully,” she said. “Mike and Raul are both are really excited.”

In their new space, you can still expect the same delicious burgers and fries you have come to know and love, but Leonard said there will be a few changes. The restaurant has applied for a full liquor license so they will be able to expand their offerings beyond beer and wine. The new restaurant will also be full-service, a switch up from the original location, which was only counter-service.

“We’re really trying to get back to our roots with the family feel, bringing in some of the old school arcade games, and make it a really fun place for families to come hang out and people to come grab a drink after work,” Leonard said.

Nacho Mama fans shouldn’t worry, though; Leonard said they are keeping some of the restaurant’s décor and paying homage to them on their menu since they have served the Carytown community for 22 years.

“One of our burgers will be the Nacho Mama’s Burger and their salsa will be featured on it,” she said. “We’re also keeping their margarita machine, nothing will really change with Margarita Monday. We’re definitely trying to incorporate some of their art and some of the feel of Nacho Mama’s into our new space.”

And while Leonard said she’s a little sad about leaving the old space out of nostalgia, she and the crew are more excited for what’s to come at the restaurant’s new location.

“You kind of get attached, but truth be told it’s a really old building, we have our problems with it. There’s a little bit of feelings about having to leave, but more than anything, we’re really excited about the opportunities that lie ahead,” she said.

Nothing is set in stone, but Leonard is toying with the idea of holding an auction for some old Nacho Mama’s and Carytown Burgers & Fries items, with proceeds going to a charity, an aspect that was important to both business owners.

“Charity and community service work is something both Mike and Raul have always been very passionate about,” she said.

Nacho Mama’s will remain open until Aug. 31, and Carytown Burgers & Fries will come in the first two weeks of September to prep for their opening. The original Carytown Burgers & Fries will remain open until early September. Leonard said a soft opening is planned for Sept. 15 with a grand opening weekend by Sept. 29 or 30.

 

Pizza Peddlers Pop Up on Pine Street

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These days, more and more Richmond food trucks are planting roots with their own brick and mortar spots. Happy Empanada recently set up shop in Westover Hills, mobile Texas-style BBQ truck ZZQ expanded with a huge location in Scott’s Addition, and fried chicken truck Mean Bird opened their shop near Sticky Rice last spring. Adding to that list is Peddler on Pine Street, a new takeout, and delivery spot dishing out pizzas, paninis, pasta, and hoagies. Opening just a few months ago, the shop will be the answer to all your munchie needs, that is, if you can even spot it, as it’s tucked away on the backside of Fine Food market on Idlewood Avenue, in a small space with a tiny gravel parking lot.

Owners Mike Powers (left) and Kelly McCabe (right) opened up Peddler on Pine Street March 21, but the two are no strangers to the fast and ever-changing food game in town. 

“After coming together in 2011, we opened up our three Peddler food carts down in MCV. Mike had done all the footwork before we got together, getting the real estate and all. I then added my culinary expertise and we opened up Discovery Cafe in the Library of Virginia about six years ago,” said McCabe.

The two entrepreneurs, along with McCabe’s wife Catherine and over 10 other employees, run the food carts Mike’s, Taqueria Mexican Grill, and Toastie’s Panini Grill downtown, along with the Discovery Cafe. McCabe was originally an executive chef for the Philip Morris headquarters back in 2003 when they moved from New York to the West End. He then ran food service for SunTrust from here to Fort Lauderdale until partnering with Powers.

And with their new joint, they’re firing up hand-tossed pizzas like the Blanco, Margherita, Caprese and buffalo chicken along with Italian staples like lasagna, penne ala vodka, and baked spaghetti. Of course, cheese steaks and chicken parm sandwiches also grace the menu.

“I want to be known as the local, entrepreneurial, animal, and neighborhood-friendly takeout joint where you can come on down and have some homemade hot sandwiches and pizza made right in front of you for an affordable price, ” he said.

Everything is made from scratch, from the sandwich bread to the sauces, to their potato chips. “I don’t want anyone to have to put anything extra on top for taste,” said McCabe.

RVA Mag had a chance to try are their Caprese pizza, chicken pesto panini, and steak and cheese. Since then, I have ordered two of their buffalo chicken pizzas, which they deliver to my house for $2.00. Next on my list is their margarita shrimp pizza, screw Uber eats for this one. To me, nothing says Oregon Hill more than a take-out joint selling pizza for $2.00 a slice, look out Christians.

The menu is going through some change right now, the owners plan to drop about half their pasta entrees and replace with different types of barbecue. It’s quite obvious this panini and pizza shop is driven by the passion of running a local business and immersing themselves in the local community, not to just make money and keep up with the demand of their food trucks.

Since their opening, the two said they are averaging just around 700 customers a day. As for the future, they hope to extend the outside with picnic benches, and a tent to make it dog-friendly for patrons. 238 S. Pine St. 

Photos By: Ethan Malamud

 

Spoonbread Bistro Scoops Up Second Location

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“We opened September the 20, 2016. It was supposed to open for lunch, but we never got the chance to open for lunch because dinner took off like gangbusters and we could never get to the lunch, and we still haven’t gotten to lunch.”

Those are the words of Spoonbread Bistro’s owner and Executive Chef Michael Hall, describing the boom in business that occurred upon the opening of the first Spoonbread Bistro location in The Fan in summer 2016. Richmond took to Chef Hall’s fusion of Southern Comfort food and upscale French cuisine like wildfire, sparking incredible amounts of business and growth for the restaurant. 

And now, the man who was behind M Wine Bistro in Rocketts Landing, and the former chef at 2300 Club in Church Hill, will expand his business west with Spoonbread Deux this weekend in the former Patina Grill location.

The original location at Floyd Avenue has been a popular spot for Richmond residents, and a highlight of Richmond Black Restaurant Experience each year, but where on earth did such a combination of cuisine come from? Chef Hall, a Richmond native who grew up in Church Hill, said it started with his mother’s cooking. “My love has always been my mom’s cooking, so you know, corn pudding, you see us have collard greens, we do sweet potatoes, you know just everything you would see in the south.” He was learning the ropes of southern cooking for years at home, but it wasn’t until his first job in a restaurant called The Butlery in 1985 that he would find himself on the path toward combining his love for southern comfort food, with French cuisine.

Bourbon Bread Pudding

“[It] was a French restaurant in the far west end. was the dishwasher, and really was going to leave there and go to take a job as an assistant to a real estate agent, but the executive chef actually talked me into staying,” he said.

After that, he became assistant to the pastry chef at the restaurant, and his skills in the kitchen really began to heat up from there.

“They really thought I had talent, and they actually fired [the head pastry chef], and her husband the executive chef… they were husband and wife team, so they couldn’t fire one without the other, so I became the pastry chef for this fancy French restaurant at the age of 23.”

However, The Butlery was only the beginning of Chef Hall’s foray into French cuisine. He would go on to attend the Culinary Institute of America for Pastries, work for Ukrop’s as a recipe development chef, and served as Executive Chef for Shockoe Bottom’s None Such Place for five years.

Chef Hall with Mayor Levar Stoney

Hall ventured out on his own with a restaurant called The Vine, but after that closed, it was his position at the 2300 Club where his vision for Spoonbread, which had started in 2003, began to come to life.

“[The 2300 Club] gave me the chance to really hone recipes, because it really wasn’t that busy, so when I did do things, I had a chance to go back to my recipe development days,” he said. “I kinda knew that I would do my own thing again, but I just didn’t know when.”

Now with two years of success under his belt at the Spoonbread in the Fan, Chef Hall was content, until he got word from a friend that the former Patina Grill on Lauderdale Drive had shuttered, and after some encouragement from his friend to check out the spot, he decided to dive in.

“I gotta be honest with you, I never thought about doing a second Spoonbread, I didn’t and I really hadn’t.” He was semi-familiar with the area because of a friend teaching at the 9Round, but it wasn’t until he noticed the name of a former colleague on the real estate sign that things really got on a roll.

“Believe it or not, a friend of mine that I use to work with when I was 20 years old, who worked with me at The Butlery is the real estate agent for this particular building, so when I saw the name, I was like, ‘I know Robbie, let me call him and see what’s up, so I gave him a call, he showed me the building, and I was like, ‘wow I kinda like this…we could do another Spoonbread,” Hall said.

The location proved ideal since it is in a residential area, it sits about a mile off the main Short Pump Strip, and the larger space allows for a larger kitchen. “The kitchen is bigger here, which means the menu can be bigger,” he added.

So what can be expected on the new menu? Well, a filet coated with 24 karat gold. Because, why not?  “We aren’t doing it at the other restaurant, but we are doing it here…it’s like this gold nugget on your plate,” he said. “I think the menu is going to be a lot more fun because we have the room to do certain things.”

Some new options will include stuffed oysters, and a Carpetbagger, an oyster-stuffed steak. Of course, his other eye-catching dishes such as the duck dish with smoke, and their steaks on salt blocks, and the popular crab cakes and braised short ribs will also be coming over to the new spot. Hopefully, we will the more unique dishes such as the lobster pop tart and pork siracha and collard greens egg rolls come over to the second location as well.

Spoonbread Deux will open this Sat., June 16 for dinner from 5 pm to 11 pm, and expand with lunch hours after Father’s Day.

Photos By: Spoonbread Bistro

Review: Luther Burger

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What’s better than a donut? Two donuts. And a burger. And all the works–served in one convenient order. Last month, Richmond-based Sugar Shack Donuts opened new burger joint Luther Burger as an extension of their Chesterfield location at 1931 Huguenot Rd.  

Along with burgers, beer, and fries, Luther Burger promises to “Luther” any burger for a buck. The Luther Burger–named not for Superman’s arch-nemesis but for singer/songwriter Luther Vandross (get that story here)–is a simple concept. It’s a burger. But in place of buns is two glazed donuts. Despite no real connection to the infamous Lex, there is something diabolically ingenious about it.

Two donuts sandwiching a burger is so excessively, gluttonously American that it becomes almost ironic–cementing that trademark Richmond vibe. On my recent visit to the restaurant,  I ordered a beef smash burger and Luther-ed it for $6. The burger is exactly what it says on the tin, locally-sourced meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and sauce served between two Sugar Shack glazed donuts. Even if there were no surprises, I was thrilled with the end result.

RVA Mag first told you about Sugar Shack’s plans for the burger joint add-on in our Summer 2017 issue, which is the brainchild of founder Ian Kelley, alongside James Henderson, and Michael Goins. No word if Luther will sprout multiple locations, but Sugar Shack is well on its way to glazing over the entire city and beyond with 10 locations since launching in 2013. The donut shop now has locations in Hanover, Henrico, Alexandria, Arlington, Fredericksburg, two in Florida, Stafford and Virginia Beach. Charlottesville, Washington, D.C., and fellow spots in Chesterfield and Glen Allen are currently underway.

But back to the donut burger. It is a complete clash of flavors, but I’m not one to complain when two of my favorite foods are combined in a Frankenstein’s monster-esque love child. The donuts are light, sticky with sugar and glaze, and serve as a bizarre compliment to the patty. It’s a messy eat, best attacked head-on, so invest in some wet-wipes.  But if you’re not feeling up to the challenge, their non-Luther-ed burger, served between two Brioche buns, is fantastic. The buns, made from donut dough, are incredibly soft, savory with a faint donut sweetness, and there’s a wide range of options to choose from when it comes to protein–beef, vegan, turkey and crab–all ranging from $5-$7.

A vegan friend, often disenchanted with vegan restaurant options, declared Luther Burger’s non-meat patty a win. Despite most vegan burgers being a dead giveaway, she said this one was so good she had to get it double-tasted by a friend to be sure it wasn’t meat. It’s exciting to have vegan options outside the city.

Alongside my savory, indulgent lunch, came waffle fries, which Luther Burger serves up in more than a dozen flavors, such as Cajun, White Cheddar, and Dragon’s Breath, all to wash down with a milkshake which come in 17 flavors from Butterfinger to Oreo, and Birthday Cake. 

Though the Chesterfield Sugar Shack/Luther Burger combo location has limited indoor seating, a newly-built outdoor seating area is a charming addition. With aesthetically minimalist plywood benches, string-lights, and dark, painted brick, the booth-style seating promises a fun spring and summer destination.

Luther Burger is open every day 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Photos By: Sarah Honosky