Change of scenery
By Casey Gillis on May. 20, 2009
(434) 385-5525
The corner of Rivermont Avenue and Norfolk Street is something of a landmark in Lynchburg.
For years, the building that sits there has been home to restaurant after restaurant: T.C. Trotters, Shad’s and, just last year, Vines Café, which was later dubbed Rivermont Bistro.
Now it’s time for a new chapter in the building’s storied history.
Rivermont Bistro is no more, and, last week, a new eatery took her place. (FYI: Rivermont Pizza, located downstairs, hasn’t gone anywhere.)
Mangia, an Italian restaurant and wine bar, is the brainchild of Dave Ellis and Melanie Chalmers-Ellis, who also own dish in downtown Lynchburg.
The location, which Dave calls a “central neighborhood spot,” was the main attraction for the couple, as was the chance to open an Italian restaurant.
“I always wanted to have a trattoria type of place,” Ellis says. “The fact that there’s a pizza place downstairs seemed like (it would be) a symbiotic relationship.”
He says their goal is to have a “really good, simple, classic Italian restaurant (that’s) not stuffy.”
They’re open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday and serve brunch on Sunday.
Just like at dish, everything — from their breads to cheeses to desserts — is made fresh every day. The lunch menu features sandwiches and salads, while dinner includes pasta entrees like carbonara (pancetta, egg, wine and peas), putanesca (olives, anchovies, capers and tomatoes) and spaghetti and meatballs, as well as new specials, announced on the chalkboard out front, every night.
“With both of our restaurants, we want them to be flexible, so they can be something different every time you come in,” says Chalmers-Ellis, a Lynchburg native who once worked at T.C. Trotters.
“I do have a lot of memories,” she says. “I actually can’t believe it every time I come here: ‘Wow, Dave and I own this place now.’”
She says they’ve hired some of the old Trotters staff and have revived its signature Bloody Mary.
“I’m just really excited,” she says, “to be able to turn it around.”
An oasis
Mangia’s building isn’t the only one in the area to welcome new inhabitants.
Two other restaurants have relocated to the Boonsboro Shopping Center: Isabella’s Italian Trattoria and Poke-E Joe’s BBQ.
The two couldn’t be more different. Isabella’s, formerly located on Old Forest Road, has been offering up a fine dining experience for almost 10 years, while Poke-E Joe’s is a down-home barbecue joint that, until recently, operated out of an old trolley car on Lakeside Drive.
The owners of both restaurants love the area.
“I’ve always kind of said that it’s an oasis for Lynchburg,” says Andrew Barauskas, who owns Isabella’s with his wife, Cheri. “There’s really not a lot of areas in Lynchburg that have this kind of style. There are lots of opportunities here.”
Isabella’s took over its new space from sister restaurant Meriwether’s Market, which closed in January.
The relocation came about after plans were announced for the city’s second Wal-Mart — to be located in the same Old Forest Road shopping center that once housed Isabella’s, Vines, Mudpuppies and Jazz Street Grill.
Around the same time, it became apparent that Meriwether’s was in need of some renovations. Instead of taking on both a renovation and a relocation, the owners decided to focus their efforts on one restaurant, and Isabella’s was marked for survival.
Andrew and Cheri Barauskas took over as sole owners when it reopened in Boonsboro in April.
“It’s really unbelievable how things have come together. It’s all kind of a blur,” Andrew says.
“It’s been a long two-year process of going through all the indecision of Wal-Mart and having that hang over our head. To have everything turn out as well as we hoped it would, there’s a lot of satisfaction. We sleep a lot better.”
They’ve kept Isabella’s menu intact, for the most part.
Two Meriwether’s trademarks — flowerless chocolate cupcakes and a roasted red pepper and crab soup — made the cut, and Cheri says they added a few new items for the spring, including a roasted asparagus and arugula salad with local goat cheese and a grilled tuna entrée served with Israeli cous cous, pancetta and Italian hollandaise.
“All our customers’ favorites are still here,” she says. “It’s a hard balance … to be a little different but not change things so much that (customers) don’t come back every week.”
The renovated space can seat 150 people, a middle ground between Meriwether’s old 200 capacity and Isabella’s 100.
Cheri says they brought over the popular 6-seater booths from the old location, which join the new one’s sleek, black leather booths and zinc metal tabletops. (“We wanted to stay away from tablecloths and be more environmentally-conscious,” she says.)
There’s also a private dining room, a patio with cocktail tables, and a spacious bar with several pub tables and banquettes for customers waiting to be seated.
Before the move, Cheri says they worried that their Forest customers might not make the trek out to Boonsboro.
“Somehow, Old Forest Road seems not as far,” she says. “But we’ve seen our Forest customers. We feel like they’re coming with us.”
Lone Star State of Mind
Joining Isabella’s in the strip mall is Poke-E Joe’s, which opened about seven weeks ago.
Back when the barbecue was served out of the trolley on Lakeside and, later, a Chevron station, owner Walter Hughes often worked solo.
“I was working out in the weather, in the snow and ice,” says Hughes, who opened the new location with two partners. “Now I have sinks and air conditioning. It’s been awesome.”
The restaurant space itself probably isn’t much bigger than the inside of that trolley. Black booths line one wall, and a wooden counter runs along the other and faces the cooking area, from where Hughes and the staff offer customers a friendly, Texas-sized greeting.
“Everybody walks in the door, and everybody back there,” says Texan Hughes, pointing to the staff behind the counter, “says ‘Howdy.’”
All the meats — turkey, ham, chicken, sausage, beef and pork — are smoked under hickory wood for up to 16 hours and are served on their own or in wraps and sandwiches.
Other menu items include fresh cut French fries, macaroni and cheese, creamed corn, pinto beans, hush puppies and “what we think is the best hamburger in town,” Hughes says.
They also make their own barbecue sauces, rubs, seasonings, dressings and desserts.
Hughes says they want to offer quality food at affordable prices. At Pok-E Joe’s, a hamburger will run you $3.25, and the most expensive item on the menu is a plate with two meats and two sides for $9.95.
And they’ll likely never turn anyone away.
Hughes says they set their unique hours — 6:55 a.m. to 8:09 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 6:55 a.m. to 9:09 p.m. Friday and Saturday — with that in mind.
“A lot of times, you go up to a place, and you’re running a few minutes late, and they wave you away,” he says. “We’re open at 8:09, so you’re not going to get that wave off.”
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