Kampot in Balliceaux is closing soon, so stop by within the next week and a half to enjoy this grilled pork shoulder one last time. (Photo by Ash Daniel)
Happy holidays, but perhaps even more felicitous, happy END OF 2016! This week's Food News is full of exciting new mergers, updates to old mergers, and the best ways to ring in the New Year and make sure you're kicking off 2017 in the best and most delicious ways possible:
- Often, the announcement of a restaurant's closure precedes the announcement of whatever will fill the restaurant's space, but today, the news is simultaneous: Balliceaux, the Fan stalwart for dancing, live music, craft cocktails and dining, will close shortly, and along with it, Kampot, one of our picks for 2016's Best New Restaurants. In late winter or early spring of next year, a new restaurant from Pasture and Comfort owners Jason Alley and Michele Jones and Saison/Saison Market co-owner Jay Bayer will open at 203 N. Lombardy St. Once it does, expect Flora to serve upscale-casual Mexican fare. "We all love the lively, delicious cuisine and cocktails of Mexico, and we are excited to bring our version of hospitality and service to this style of restaurant," the trio says in a news release. "Authentic versions and creative takes on dishes of coastal Mexico, and the state of Oaxaca in particular, will be the focus in the kitchen. The fruit-forward and complex drinks and spirits of Mexico will be front and center behind the bar. This new partnership is such a huge and exciting thing for us. We’ve been such good friends for years, and all of us have a like mind when it comes to the hospitality industry."
- One of Church Hill's most popular bakeries is now under old ownership, or new ownership, but really, it's a little of both: WPA Bakery, at 2707 E. Marshall St., is now entirely owned by baker and co-founder David Rohrer. He opened the bakery with restaurateur Kendra Feather in 2012, before launching a Forest Hill location on his own earlier this year. "With the opening of Laura Lee's, it was time to let go of WPA and simplify a little bit," Feather says in a news release. Feather's been busy with Ipanema Cafe and The Roosevelt as well as Laura Lee's, her new, Elby-nominated restaurant in Forest Hill. Rohrer himself has ties to our regional restaurant awards, winning the Elby for Best Pastry Chef/Baker in 2014. The two will remain friends as well as neighbors; WPA Southside is just two doors down from Feather's latest venture.
- STOP. You don't have to drink cheap Champagne or sparkling wine that's so tinny and one-note it hurts. This New Year's Eve, serve your guests — and yourself because hey, you deserve it — something fabulous that won't break the bank. Here, a few local beverage pros and wine aficionados recommend what to pour and how to pour it and talk trends in the wine world. Put down the André. I believe in you.
- If you enjoy that sparkling wine and champagne a little too much, there's nothing that can wake you from the dead quite like a solid brunch the morning after. Fortunately, Richmond Times-Dispatch has a handy roundup of where you can find bacon, eggs, biscuits, Bloody Marys and other brunch items that'll get you back on your feet again and feeling as good as new, or at least as close to it as a body can feel on Jan. 1.
- If your resolution is to get out of the house, allow us to make your 2017 goals all that much more attainable. (Unless, of course, your goal is to lose weight; if you came to Food News for that, you're in the wrong place.) Richmond is full of community dinners and other savory ways to meet your neighbors, rub elbows and experience some great cuisine while you're at it. Here are just a few ways to get out there and engage with like-minded food fans.
- In more New Year's-related content, two members of RVAdine are getting hitched tomorrow night, just after midnight: John Maher, owner of The Rogue Gentlemen, and Drew Thomasson, baker for Idle Hands Bread Co. and The Rogue Gentlemen, will tie the knot at their Jackson Ward restaurant. While their officiant isn't also a member of RVAdine, he's more than notable in another arena: Presiding over the ceremony, as his first act as Mayor of Richmond, is mayor-elect Levar Stoney, who'll be wedding the two in a personal and professional statement in support of marriage equality. MAZEL TOV! (Style Weekly)
- AN ELBYS PSA: We've hit a snag with our new ticketing system, and tickets to the 2017 Elby Awards will not, in fact, be available for purchase on Jan. 2. (We are sorry, truly.) But don't let that get you down! They'll be available in the coming week or two, and rest assured that we'll keep you updated. Look for them soon at Richmondmag.com/elbys, and in the meantime, check out nominations if you haven’t already.
Till next time, I'll be making Mama J's Hoppin' John just like I did last year, and you can, too.
