Owner David Hahn plans to open Salt & Forge at 312 N. Second St. in Jackson Ward the week of April 3. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
When David Hahn, owner of the forthcoming Salt & Forge in Jackson Ward, approached Chef Walter Bundy before the chef’s Shagbark opening in early 2016 and asked to work in the kitchen, Bundy’s response was "Why the f--- do you want to be a line cook?"
Hahn didn’t want to be a line cook. He wanted to be a restaurant owner, one who fully immersed himself in every aspect of the business.
“I wanted to be hands-on, I didn’t want to just dabble in it,” Hahn says. “[Bundy] said, 'We’re going to throw you to the wolves, and if you fail, you’re going to fail in the first week and just get run over by a car, and if you get through, then you succeed.' ”
Succeed he did. For nine months Hahn worked the saute station at Shagbark Thursday through Sunday — learning the restaurant’s ins and outs and mapping goals for his own project along the way. Hahn developed a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish.
Local products. Open kitchen. Small staff. Approachable menu. Iconic logo. Taking things one step at a time.
Fast-forward almost two years later, and Hahn is opening Salt & Forge, a breakfast and lunch spot at 312 N. Second St. in Jackson Ward with a strong focus on utilizing local resources. Salt & Forge is set to open the week of April 3. Find the menu here.
The kitchen at Salt & Forge will be visible from the dining room. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
Hahn has more than 15 years in the restaurant and food industry under his belt. He worked for small independent restaurants in Denver, was an executive for Chipotle, and served as training and operational development director for Taylor Gourmet in Washington, D.C., and Italio in Florida.
When Hahn, an avid but “out-of-shape” cyclist, visited Richmond for the UCI World Road Cycling Championships in 2015, life took an unexpected turn — he fell in love. Hahn’s contract at work was up for review, and he knew he wanted to leave Florida. The dream of opening up a restaurant had never left his mind.
“The question was, do I find a job and work for someone else or say, ‘Hey, I’m young enough that if I goof this up, I have time to recover’?” Hahn says. “When you see a good risk, you have to take it.”
“The biggest lesson I learned is how easy it is, especially in this area, to find really great local purveyors for different things,” he adds. “I don’t want 150 different suppliers; I really try to focus on the things I can’t do myself, or that we can highlight from the local producers.”
That means pairing with Idle Hands Bread Company and Flour Garden for bread and buns; reaching out to breweries like Three Notch’d and Virginia Beach's Commonwealth; partnering with Four Forks for desserts; using only Quickness RVA for delivery; hiring dependable and knowledgeable staff like chef/butcher Adam Musselman; and listening to his gut (and his fiancee’s).
He is keeping the menu simple yet distinctive.
“It’s a lot of different dishes I’ve had throughout my life, and since we're doing breakfast and lunch, I wanted to keep the majority of the menu highly accessible,” Hahn says. “You need to have a turkey sandwich, but it should be the most phenomenal one people can get. Outside of that, we wanted to take each of those items and have fun and elevate it.”
Menu items include a Madeira-and-caramelized-onion-braised brisket sandwich with Gruyere fondue, crispy shallots, whole-grain mustard, and arugula with a choice of side (chips, coriander slaw, potato-bacon salad or fruit); a roasted beet salad with arugula, herbed goat cheese, candied walnuts and a house-made balsamic; and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with brown-sugar bacon.
“We’ll add complexity as we go,” Hahn says. “Breakfast and lunch are my niche. The intent is to add dinner and add Sundays, but this being the first time I’ve owned a restaurant, I didn’t want to set myself up for burnout. When I moved to Richmond a few years ago, the intent was to open a restaurant, and I wanted to do everything here, in house.”
The hardest part so far has been deciding on a name, and, Hahn says jokingly, “That’s the one thing you can’t really change.” He knew he wanted the name to highlight his journey and relate it to cooking. Salt is an essential kitchen ingredient, and forge pays homage to craftsmanship.
Salt & Forge opens the week of April 3 at 312 N. Second St. in Jackson Ward.
