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Inside Janet’s Café & Bakery, now open in Richmond’s South Side (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Janet’s is part of the Evelyn mixed-used development at 4701 Forest Hill Ave. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Janet’s will offer coffee and pastries during its first week of operations, then serve the full menu beginning Aug. 19. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Additional seating inside the cafe (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
Flaky, butter-laden croissants; crusty, rustic boules; seed-studded loaves; pillowy, dimply focaccia; baguettes that pass the knock test; seasonally adorned pastries. We’re living in what has been described as the “golden age of bakeries,” a carb-centric era where treats made from local ingredients and morning moments reign supreme. While friends and business partners Will Darsie and Janey Gioiosa will happily ride the baking wave, their new project represents the culmination of more than a decade spent in the industry.
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, the duo debuted Janet’s Café & Bakery, specializing in fresh bread and pastries, focaccia sandwiches, salads, and sweet treats, at 4701 Forest Hill Ave. For the first week, they plan to offer coffee and pastries before launching the full menu on Aug. 19.
Janet’s Café & Bakery owners Will Darsie and Janey Gioiosa (Photo by Abigail Grey Johnston)
“We’re a casual bakery with a little bit of everything,” says Gioiosa, the baker in this effort. “We just want to be a space for everyone, no pretense. You can have the simplest coffee and pastry, or you can have a really nice ladies-who-lunch moment.”
Darsie and Gioiosa share the same birthday, and with it, a similar mindset for executing their freshly minted yet nostalgia-inducing cafe. The pair met a decade ago while working together at MarieBette, a European-inspired bakery with two storefronts in Charlottesville.
Gioiosa, a culinary school grad and former line cook, had been stoking the flames and working with wood-fired ovens for her pop-up, Janey’s Bread, prior to this venture. She says she was “married to the oven,” and, despite the beauty and the art behind the practice of wood-fired baking, she’s ready to play with her shiny mixer in an air-conditioned environment — and no longer lose her arm air.
“I’m very happy with the transition. I’m leveling myself up with learning how to use all these new things,” Gioiosa says.
The venture also marks a next step for Darsie, a California native who grew up with parents who worked as a chef and a farmer. Moving to Virginia post-college, he originally landed at MarieBette Cafe as a busboy before climbing the ranks and opening the offshoot Petite MarieBette as co-owner. That stint provided a solid foundation for opening Janet’s.
“It feels good because this is fully ours, an expression of what we want,” Darsie says, noting that the cafe is a mashup of all their favorite elements of restaurants.
A timeworn window offers a peek into the prep area, where Gioiosa can be spotted methodically laminating and slicing dough. She jokes that her natural aesthetic is “grandma farmhouse,” and that it’s on full display throughout the space. “We’re trying to make this place seem like it’s not as new as it is, and we’re trying to have a lived-in feel,” she says.
Gioiosa laminating dough at Janet’s Café & Bakery (Photo by by Eileen Mellon)
Bread peels from Gioiosa’s wood-fired oven days and black-and-white photos of her grandparents dot the walls, along with watercolors from local artist Molly Reeder and mementos including a Peanuts lunchbox, a lace doily that reads “BREAD” and vintage cake stands.
Janet’s has a diner-meets-bakeshop atmosphere, managing to feel simultaneously established and brand new. Natural light pours through the cafe, casting a gentle glow onto the wine-and-ivory checkered floors, accented by retro round pendant lights that hang above the counter and atop padded booths along the front windows. A personal touch in the restroom: the owners’ dogs, Tully and Obi, immortalized in wallpaper.
Gioiosa, a bread baker at heart, says they’re focusing on using local grains and currently source from Grapewood Farms, Deep Roots Milling and Sub Rosa Bakery. On the bread board, expect a varied lineup including olive, sesame and classic baguettes and sourdough sandwich loaves, along with country and seeded loaves and a rotating seasonal sourdough batard. The pastry case, an assortment of sweet and savory, will showcase buckwheat chocolate chip, corn-sugar and chocolate crinkle cookies; almond, chocolate, ham and cheese, and traditional croissants; sourdough cinnamon rolls; coffee cake; and seasonal hand pies.
Those seeking something beyond pastry can start the morning with a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich or braised pork with fried egg and salsa verde on an English muffin. Other a.m. options include an everything-seasoned avocado bowl with pickled onions and roasted tomatoes or a yogurt parfait.
Soon-to-appear items include weekend-only bagels, and a classic white bread Gioiosa describes as “soft and fluffy and good for the kids.” The lunch menu features classic salads and sandwiches — a Caesar, muffuletta, turkey club, tuna melt and more, along with chicken and veggie pot pies and a focaccia square special.
Janet’s will serve La Colombe coffee for drip and espresso beverages. The drink menu offers all the classics, along with housemade chai, Arnold Palmers and a seasonal espresso tonic with cherry cold foam. They will also offer wine and beer.
The real question on everyone’s mind, though: Who is Janet?
Darsie says that when he attempts to text his counterpart, his phone always autocorrects Janey to Janet, and now, the duo are leaning into the quirky anecdote. Find pictures of “Janet” throughout the bakery, posing in front of a souped-up pink car and picnicking near a lake.
Janet’s is the first business to open in the three-story mixed-use Evelyn development, with yoga studio Taou 2 and an outpost of Eat Restaurant Partners’ Asian fusion concept Lucky AF to follow. In this age of a bakery boom, Darsie and Gioiosa want to ensure they have staying power and that they’re tuning into their patrons’ wishes.
“I think people have an appreciation for fresh-baked bread and can really notice a difference,” Darsie says. “We want to start small and grow into it. Bakeries are where people go to gather.”
“Yes,” Gioiosa concurs. “Like a morning watering hole.”
Janet’s Café & Bakery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
