Javier Lino Carranza preparing an order at Jalapeños Mexican Grill (Photo by Ali Jones)
Authentic Mexican
A U.S. immigrant achieves his American dream of opening a restaurant
Javier Lino Carranza’s new restaurant in Carytown, Jalapeños Mexican Grill, is a tribute to his mother, Bertha Carranza Morales, who still lives in Carranza’s hometown in Mexico.
“She’s very surprised,” Carranza says. “She cried when I told her.”
Carranza came to the U.S. in 1994, first settling in New York City, translating the cooking lessons he learned at home into real-world experience. He moved to Richmond in 2014, further refining his skills at restaurants such as Morton’s The Steakhouse, Mary Angela’s Pizzeria and La Grotta Ristorante. Now, he’s finally doing what he wanted to do all along: helm his own eatery.
“This is my dream, to open a restaurant,” he says, crediting a silent investor for giving him both the moral and financial support to make the dream a reality.
Located in the space formerly occupied by Coriander at 3125 W. Cary St., Jalapeños is a quick-service Mexican restaurant, says Brittney Camden, the general manager. “This is a concept Richmond has never seen before,” she says, with guacamole, salsa, sauces — everything — made fresh every morning.
“It’s my own menu; I make everything myself,” Carranza says. “It’s fresh, not greasy; we have only sliced, marinated meats, no ground beef.”
In fact, Camden says, Carranza sometimes goes rogue on weekends, offering dishes not regularly found on the menu.
“The food speaks for itself,” Camden adds. “People come in and say this is the best Mexican food they’ve ever had.”
Havi Nguyenhut (left), holding a Matcha Milk Green Tea, with Seri Kesuma (right), one of Kokee Tea's owners (Photo by Ali Jones)
Modern Food Court
Zzaam! expands to include several eateries and a draft room in one location
Derek Cha is at it again. The Sweet Frog founder and serial entrepreneur is trying something new at his Korean barbecue restaurant in Carytown. He’s transforming what was once a single eatery, Zzaam! Fresh Korean Grill, into the neighborhood’s first food court, at the corner of Cary and Dooley.
New food options include Sweet-N-Sassy Barbecue Co., which originated in Fredericksburg and serves “classic American barbecue,” Cha says, and Kokee Tea, from Northern Virginia, with dozens of varieties of tapioca-infused bubble tea plus a signature dessert item: the “puffle,” an egg waffle topped with ice cream.
“People can come to one place and have different options for the whole family or whole party,” Cha says.
For the over-21 crowd, Cha has created the RVA Draft Room, where customers serve themselves from any of 50 taps dispensing beer, wine and hard cider.
“People are really enjoying” that experience, he says.
Once guests present their IDs and open a tab, they are given chip-embedded cards to use at the taps. The cards have a four-pint limit, at which point access is denied.
“[Customers] can control the portion,” Cha says. “Sometimes you want to drink 2 or 4 ounces, not a full glass.”
Once warmer weather arrives, Cha plans to add outside grills and serve kimchi plates. Other possible additions include Tangier Island Oyster Co., a chicken-wing place and a poke bar, serving the popular raw-fish salad.
Ultimately, as Cha notes, it’s all about choice
Break Bread Together
“My happiest times have been around the table with people eating dinner.”
So says David Crabtree-Logan, co-owner, with wife Sariann Lehman, of the new Broken Tulip Social Eatery, where diners eat at communal tables, and the $50 prix-fixe menu is determined by what fresh foods are available.
Located in the former Amour Wine Bistro location at 3129 W. Cary St., the restaurant has two dinner seatings nightly Thursday to Saturday, and three brunch seatings on Sunday. For those not wanting to commit to the dinner experience, the bar is open Thursday to Saturday, offering small plates, beer and wine from Amour’s well-regarded collection.
Other evenings are different. “We want to use those nights where we’re not doing our own thing to be a springboard for chefs who aren’t at the stage where they can open their own brick-and-mortar [restaurant],” Crabtree-Logan says.
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Mattias Hagglund at The Jasper (Photo by Ali Jones)
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The Jasper's Fear and Loathing cocktail (Photo by Ali Jones)
Neighborhood Sip
The stars behind Carytown’s newest watering hole have a simple goal: to create a space where they would want to hang out.
“Yeah, we have a reputation, and we wanted to do something that reflected that,” says Mattias Hagglund, former owner of Heritage. Friend Kevin Liu, owner of The Tin Pan and Carytown Cupcakes, told Hagglund about an open space next door to his cake shop. The pair added Thomas Leggett, formerly bar manager at The Roosevelt, and they were off and running with The Jasper, at 3113 W. Cary St.
“We want to be the best of a neighborhood bar crossed with a cocktail bar,” Hagglund says. “We just want to have a little bit of something for everyone, and we want it to be the best of that we can be.”
