It's 10 a.m. and the next few minutes will determine whether Barlow and her partner, Carly Herring, will be able to continue operating their fledgling restaurant, the Empress, from the building at 2043 W. Broad St.
They’re not alone in the insecurity of their circumstances. Instead, their restaurant is among a dozen businesses and organizations at the mercy of creditors determined to settle debts owed them by Richmond developer Justin French.
On Aug. 13, French, 39, was arrested on four counts of forging a public document and four counts of knowingly presenting a forged document, all felony charges. He has since been released from Richmond City Jail, after posting a $150,000 bond. But even as federal investigators continue to look into the French case, his properties are being sold to pay his creditors.
Today, 2043 W. Broad St. is on the block, and people in the crowd are straining to hear the terms of the sale. From the small storefront, Barlow and Herring have built a steady following since they opened the Empress earlier this year.
The auctioneer calls out, “Do I have any bids,” and a long silence follows.
Finally a man standing next to Barlow responds: "$225,000."
"Your name?" asks the auctioneer.
He is Carly’s father, Dennis Herring, who, with his wife, Connie, have mortgaged two houses to piece together money that they hope will rescue their daughter and her partner.
Another long silence follows as the auctioneer waits for a counter-bid. It comes from a representative of Paragon Commercial Bank, the bank that will put several of French's properties on the auction block today.
"I have a bid of $250,000 from the note holder," the auctioneer says. "Anybody wish to make another bid?"
But even though the well-dressed men are among Richmond developers who see opportunity in French's downfall, they remain silent.
Herring ups his offer, and Paragon Commercial responds by driving the price to $280,000.
Herring looks nervous. "$280,500," he says finally.
There are no other bids.
“Sold," the auctioneer says, prompting a collective sign of relief from the crowd.
Some of the developers present easily could have outbid the Herrings, but they chose restraint. Barlow and the Herrings, all of them teary-eyed, trade hugs.
Though she says she’s not one to cry, tears stream Barlow’s face as she walks away and then calls Carly Herring, who did not attend the auction, to share the news.
"We were so worried someone was going to outbid us," Barlow says. And it would have happened if the price had gone up just a few thousand more. "The thing is, [the Herrings] only had $290,000 to work with — that’s all they could get for collateral on their homes."
That worry that never materialized for a reason, says Kevin McFadden, a developer with Rebkee Co. He toured the Empress property the day before the auction to size up its potential as an investment and decided against it.
“[The Herrings] were the right people to get it. It seems like [Barlow and Herring] put their heart and soul into that building."
Sicilian-born chef Nuccio Giambanco has closed his 10-year-old Chesterfield County restaurant, Nuccio’s Trattoria and Pizza on Courthouse Road, and says he plans to open a new place at the Short Pump location in late September or early October. Giambanco says a steep rent increase, combined with the recession, prompted the decision.
He says the new location will have a different name, Osteria La Giara, and an emphasis on Sicilian specialties and fresh seafood.
His plans call for a central kitchen, two dining rooms, a bar and a patio with 30 seats.
Giambanco says he will serve the same kind of pizza that Nuccio’s offered — primarily New York style, though he may also experiment with offering true Sicilian-style pizza, with thicker dough, tomatoes, oregano, anchovies, onions and hard cheese.
He says he may also offer other authentic Sicilian dishes as specials. “One other Sicilian specialty is pasta with sardines, wild fennel, raisins and pine nuts,” he says.
He also plans to adapt popular dishes such as fried mozzarella. Just to give an example, Giambanco says, his new version would be called mozzarella frita: “I’ll take a loaf of cheese, cut it in half, make two triangles, stuff it with proscuitto or smoked salmon, [fry it] and serve it with a with sauce of capers, lemon and white wine.”
Before opening Nuccio’s, Giambanco ran a restaurant in the 1990s called Figaro’s, which served dishes such as upscale pizza, Caprese salad, bruschetta and fried calamari (made from fresh squid with tentacles) that weren’t as widely available then as they are now, he says. “I want to pick up where I left from Figaro’s — introducing new items in town."
“We’ve been busy,” Barlow says. “We’re just trucking through. We’ve been kind of waiting it out, trying to let the busy restaurant keep us occupied.”
Meanwhile, Gary York, who has said French terminated his lease last fall for the space that now houses The Empress, is still working on reopening his new location for Enoteca Sogno: 1223 Bellevue Ave. on Richmond’s North Side.
A New ‘Friend’
In other news, Justin Vaughan, associate art director here at Richmond magazine, was on hand for Friend or Pho’s grand opening last night in the former White Dog space (2329 W. Main St.). He gives a thumbs-up to the Vietnamese beef sandwiches and triple-fried chicken, as well as the selection of about 20 craft beers on tap. Owner Rob Kaplan has described his new restaurant (open for lunch starting today) as an Asian gastropub specializing in Vietnamese and Korean food.
And Plaza Azteca is coming to the former location of Max & Erma’s, at 6623 W. Broad St. The Hampton Roads-based Mexican chain’s Twitter posts suggest a late-September opening.
Disconnected
We’ve also learned of several closings:
- Ipanema Grill, at 3461 Cox Road near Innsbrook, has posted a message on its website saying that the Brazilian churrascaria has closed. “Due to conflicts with the landlord, we were not able to renew our lease.”
- Shackleford’s Restaurant has closed its year-old Midlothian branch near Chesterfield Towne Center, along with the Shackleford’s in Williamsburg. The location on Ridgefield Parkway remains open. Restaurant owner Kirk Poore says the decision to close two of the family-owned restaurants was partly economic, but also reflects a desire to scale back the operation. Poore, a father of two children ages 10 and 7, says he found himself spending too much time on the road between locations. "We thought it was a good time to downsize and focus on the main location," which has been open for 17 years. The two former locations, he says, are likely to be bought by other local restaurant operators. "We have an offer on each location that we're considering," Poore says. He adds that he's been encouraging customers to support local restaurants. "Corporate restaurants have grabbed a large share of the market, but the uniqueness comes from the local operators," he says.
- Shahi Kitchen, on West Broad Street near the Westland Shopping Center, has also closed.
Owens, 33, previously worked as executive sous chef at the Art and Soul Restaurant in The Liaison Capitol Hill hotel in Washington, D.C. At Liaison, he worked with head chef Art Smith, a former personal chef for Winfrey, author of three cookbooks and two-time James Beard Award recipient.
During President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Owens says, he cooked for Winfrey, who hosted her TV show from the hotel, and for her crew. He also prepared food for the Obamas’ Valentine’s Day dinner, which was featured on Inside Edition.
Earlier, Owens spent 15 years traveling between Hawaii and Las Vegas, where he gained experience cooking under Wolfgang Puck.
Karen Crawford, a pastry chef with Well Dunn Catering in Washington, says she worked with Owens in the fast-paced environments at The Source and at Art and Soul. She recalls that the during the Obama inauguration, "We had to stay at the hotel. I don't think we slept for five days to a week." Crawford praised Owens' cooking, saying his soups were what the staff often chose to eat at Art and Soul. She also says he handled himself well with the line cooks he oversaw. "Most of them would bend over backwards for him, because he'd do the same for them," she says. "He's great to work with."
Crawford says that Owens always talked about running his own restaurant. "It's a bit of freedom," she says. "You're not answering to someone. It's your own ideas. You're in charge. You get to have fun doing your own thing."
Owens says he learned about an opening for a chef/general manager at Dixie Diner through an ad on Craigslist. He plans to eventually take over ownership of the restaurant as well. After being shuttered for two months, the Dixie Diner reopened on Aug. 13.
“I love the historical value of Petersburg,” says Owens, a native of Surf City, N.C. He says he wants to keep the historical feel of the restaurant while making a few changes. Since his arrival at Dixie Diner, he says, he found a handwritten chili recipe from 1945 — the chili used with the restaurant's famous Dixie Dogs. "I made it Friday night and I sold about 200 hot dogs," he says.
For now, it’s only open Friday and Saturday nights, with live music on Fridays and karaoke on Saturdays. Owens says the menu will be expanded, along with the hours. Starting Sept. 1, the restaurant will be open for lunch Monday through Friday, with plans to eventually add breakfast. He is also working on getting zoning approval for a larger patio with an outdoor stage to expand the live music performances.
Owens says Dixie Diner is serving a partial menu — mainly bar food such as burgers, country-fried steaks and grilled pork chops. He plans to add more country-style cooking and comfort food. And in keeping with current “locavore” trends, Owens says he plans to use close-to-home products such as Hanover tomatoes: “One thing I’m big on is helping the local farmers.”
Having ended a six-month consulting stint with the two Richmond-area Boathouse restaurants (Sunday Park and Rocketts Landing), chef Jimmy Sneed is getting ready to open a new place with a partner who is especially near and dear to him — his daughter Jenna.
If things go according to plan, by mid-October, the space will house Fresca on Cary, a 1,000-square-foot restaurant with the tagline, “We’re not vegetarian, we just don’t serve meat,” Jimmy Sneed says.
The father-daughter team has worked together before at Carena’s Jamaican Grill, where Jimmy was a partner and Jenna was manager, and briefly at Southern Grill in the former Sixth Street Marketplace in late 2001 and early 2002.
“I sold my interest in Carena’s so we could do this restaurant together,” he says.
Fresca will have a custom-built pizza oven “like everybody else in the world,” Sneed says, and its menu will include rice salads, cous cous dishes, grilled vegetable sandwiches, Brie-and-grilled-pear sandwiches, and soups and stews.
The decision to go vegetarian was prompted in part by the fact that Jenna is a vegan (as is Sneed’s other daughter, Kalie, who is heading to Peru for a few months but may eventually join the family venture, he says: “I’d love to think she’ll be part of this one day.”)
“Really, that’s the way the whole food world has turned — sustainable, local, organic, healthier,” Sneed says.
Fresca won’t be vegan, but don’t expect to find meat or fish there. Still, there will be plenty of options, he says. “If somebody wants a BLT, there are tofu and tempeh products that are reminiscent of bacon, so carnivores won’t feel left out.”
Sneed, known locally for his days as owner of the Frog and the Redneck in Shockoe Slip, is a two-time James Beard Foundation nominee and previously ran the restaurant SugarToad in the Hotel Arista in Naperville, Ill.
His vision is for Fresca to be a neighborhood place. “It’s a neighborhood that’s clearly coming together,” he says, noting that he and Jenna are frequent customers of Lamplighter Roasting Co. down the street. He adds, “I’m very excited to be working with Jenna again.”
