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(From left) Chefs Tuffy Stone and partner Josh Loeb opened the doors of The Westover last week.
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The Westover has a full coffee menu and also serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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Grocery shelves at The Westover
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A view from the second floor of the space, where live music may take place in the future
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With beer on tap, The Westover offers pours by the pint and growler fills.
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An outdoor dining space at The Westover
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Part of the market space at The Westover
Tuffy Stone has accomplished a lot in his tenured career. The world champion pitmaster has traveled the globe and cooked with some of the top chefs in the country, established a successful catering company and multiple locations of the Q Barbeque restaurant, published a book, and even launched his own line of rubs.
But when Stone introduced his new venture, The Westover, at the end of July with co-owner and wife Leslie Stone and chef and business partner Josh Loeb, he says it was one of the happiest moments of his culinary journey.
“I started cooking when I was in college at a French restaurant in 1987, and here I am 33 years later, mopping floors and making food, and I got to tell you, I don’t know if I was ever happier cooking in the kitchen as I was last week after being closed for four months," Stone says, noting that it has been a humbling experience.
Stone — who sold his interest in Q Barbeque in 2018 — and Loeb officially took over ownership of the former Westover Station cafe, located at 5047 Forest Hill Ave., from Ben Spencer in December. Originally, the plan was to operate the business with minimal changes, but in mid-March the pandemic forced them to close their doors and gave the two chefs time to think, and to paint.
"When we painted, we just kind of thought, 'What does this place need to be with everything that’s happened in this industry?' ” Stone says. “That all started through conversations while we painted the walls.”
The Westover is a reunion for the two chefs, who met over two decades ago. Loeb served as executive chef at A Sharper Palate, which Stone opened in Lakeside with Leslie in 1993 and continues today. Loeb's resume lists stints at The Berkeley Hotel with chef J Frank, at The Phoenician in Arizona, and in California at The Lodge at Pebble Beach and the Highlands Inn. When Loeb returned to Richmond, he was the opening chef at another Forest Hill Avenue venture, Laura Lee’s, before eventually reuniting with Stone.
“We always had this belief that, being cooks and chefs, we would be able to take care of our staff and family, and COVID-19 kind of disrupted that and made us have to re-look at how do we do things,” Stone says. “What does food service need to look like during this pandemic to survive?"
Their answer: a neighborhood eatery, market and coffee shop. Over the course of several months they completed renovations, added groceries for sale, introduced a new menu and set up an outdoor dining space for patrons.
In the morning, bagels from Cupertino’s, a classic egg and cheese breakfast sandwich with choice of bread, and a yogurt parfait with fresh fruit are among the menu offerings. Currently, diners can find a variety of salads and sandwiches for lunch, from an Italian sub or pastrami sandwich to a spinach salad topped with salmon, pickled onions, egg and a chive cream dressing, along with build-your-own grain bowls. The dinner menu presents braised chicken leg quarters and Chesapeake blue crabcakes with sweet corn succotash, in addition to multicourse meal packages complete with beer or wine.
“We want to make this something different, a different perception than just a coffee shop, and offer things that are interesting,” Loeb says. “If you live in the area or just find us and stop by, you can find something no matter what time of day it is.”
The market shelves are lined with gochujang chile sauce, Maldon sea salt and polenta, mixed in with supermarket staples such as cereal, pasta, popcorn, flour and toilet paper, and local items including Reginald's Homemade Peanut Butter and Roastology Coffee. The Westover also offers growler fills, Gelati Celesti ice cream by the pint or in scoop, milkshake, sundae or float form, along with Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches and, soon to join, King of Pops ice pops.
In the future, the duo say The Westover will begin to offer food and grocery delivery for nearby residents, as well as meal replacement options. But for now, Stone says they’re simply happy to be back in the kitchen.
“It’s so good to see some of our staff back,” says Lynchburg native Stone, adding that they have hired some employees from The Sharper Palate and have yet to pay themselves. “Our industry has just been wrecked, so to get back to doing what we like to do, which is feed and serve people, was really positive for us.”
A Westover Hills resident for the past 20 years, Stone says they are starting slow and intend to continue to grow their menu and market offerings and carve out their own corner in the area.
“I believe that there is a large population of people out there that would still like to have an opportunity to buy a meal that is made for them, and we’re going to fill that need the best we can,” he says.
When asked if it feels like he’s come full circle with Loeb and his career, Stone responds, “It is full circle, and I hope the circle keeps going. I’m going to work my ass off, and Josh is going to work his ass off and try to accumulate enough people to come in so we can at least pay our staff and our rent — we’re not quitting.”
The Westover is open Wednesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is currently offering carryout and limited indoor dining.
