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Cahoots is located at 2526 Floyd Ave. in the Fan.
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Chuleta Milanesa (pork loin cutlet) with tonnato and arugula, plus a Cosmopolitan, at Cahoots
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[From top] Pan-seared mushrooms, chicken a la plancha with salsa verde, and Caesar salad
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Pay Rent Brass Band performing in August
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Gildas, Spanish chorizo and quicos
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Neighborhood bars and restaurants are cornerstones of the community. They’re worn-in places that seem immune to change, where generations of patrons have walked in looking for a balm or a bite. So, how do two transplants create a space that feels unpretentious and customers can frequent any day of the week? How do these new kids on the block put their mark on the scene? At Cahoots, a Fan bar and restaurant that opened in November, the answer is slowly and with intention.
“A neighborhood bar is what I was looking for a lot,” owner David DeLuca says. “It’s the place I’ve spent my life. It’s where I eat food, have drinks, celebrate, get sad and have a lot of fun.”
DeLuca is a third-generation restaurant owner. During graduate school in New York, he discovered a life-changing bottle of wine that led him to Sonoma, California. Settling in Los Angeles, he leased an old Chinese American diner and in 2012 turned it into Ham & Eggs, a punk rock dive bar known for serving natural wines, followed by the bar LA Wine. Both were casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When [my wife and I] started having real conversations about family planning, what was important to us, we came to the conclusion that now is the time to move to Richmond,” DeLuca says, noting the city’s quality of life appealed to them.
Since then, he’s done the unthinkable: signed a 30-year lease. Defiantly rejecting the turn-and-burn mentality, DeLuca says, “That makes this all more interesting to me, honestly. I’m not trying to pour my guts into something, not be at home with my kids, and then have to renegotiate in four years.”
Inside Cahoots, dark wooden booths ideal for lingering frame the space. A disco ball hangs front and center, alongside a retro-lettered marquee and a neon martini glass. Though the atmosphere and a simple menu were in place, DeLuca says, it wasn’t until he connected with chef Ryan Diaz in recent months that everything felt right.
Cahoots chef Ryan Diaz and owner David DeLuca
“I didn’t want to push the food because it didn’t have an identity,” DeLuca says. “I wasn’t ready to tell that story until now. I wanted [Diaz] before I even opened, but he was busy doing his thing. It was very quick in our conversation that I was like, this is the person.”
A disciplined chef, Diaz has worked in some of the best kitchens in the country. He grew up in Clearwater, Florida, and says his earliest food memories trace back to fishing with his uncles, cooking catches over an open fire and sitting on the couch while his dad watched “No Reservations.” He followed his family’s path and joined the Air Force for six years while picking up restaurant shifts on the side.
That trajectory shifted when Diaz landed a stage — an unpaid apprenticeship — at McGrady’s in Charleston, South Carolina.
“I did everything and anything,” he says. “I never thought I’d make it out of Florida. I kept my head down and said, ‘Yes, chef.’ All my spare time was in the kitchen. From the first dish, I was in.”
He went on to cook at the three-Michelin-starred Vern’s, The Ordinary and other acclaimed Charleston restaurants before moving on to kitchens in Los Angeles. Looking for a change of pace, he and his wife moved to Richmond in 2023, where he joined Scott’s Addition’s Lost Letter and the opening team for The Brooklyn.
Finding common ground with DeLuca at Cahoots, Diaz was looking to take himself a little less seriously and not be bound by traditional fine-dining rules. In August, he introduced a casual menu there called Manana, drawing on influences from his Puerto Rican heritage.
“It sucks when you want your friends to come eat your food, but it’s $400,” Diaz says. “I want to do something for the common man but take the same ethos and values that I’ve kept and learned from all those other restaurants.”
“We kept on going back to real food by real people that reflects seasons and farms,” DeLuca adds, “and that’s what was in his head, too.”
The menu at Cahoots is a snack-heavy combination of textures and flavors from crunchy, salty moments via quicos, or Spanish corn kernels (a modern-day bar nut), to briny gildas (a skewer of Spanish olives, peppers and anchovies) and chorizo — all pairing perfectly with beer, classic cocktails and thoughtfully chosen but affordably priced wine selections.
Mains range from $14-$24 and include a chuleta (Spanish for chop; in this case, pork) Milanese served on tonnato sauce and topped with a fennel and arugula salad, and chicken a la plancha, griddled chicken thighs with a bright salsa verde. Sherry vinegar and chives accent pan-seared mushrooms, and toasted sesame seeds are sprinkled on a Caesar salad.
“It’s been so fun seeing this food executed at this level, but at a price point that is accessible and puts its name on the neighborhood,” DeLuca says. “It’s not super pretentious, just lighthearted and delicious.”
Diaz says offerings will flow with the seasons. This summer, that meant specials like a cantaloupe salad with tzatziki, toasted walnuts and delicate sprigs of dill; tomato salad with fruit from Old Tavern Farm, olive tapenade and feta; and beef picadillo empanadas with cilantro verde and pickled shallots.
“Is it confusing that we are completely pivoting into a different food program? Absolutely,” DeLuca says. “Is now the time to ask for a second chance? Absolutely. Rather late than never.”
