(From left) Lafayette Tavern chef Bobo Catoe Jr. and Creative Director Constantine Giavos
It’s been seven years since the Giavos family — one of Richmond’s most revered dining dynasties — introduced something new. Responsible for city staples including beloved Greek restaurant Stella’s and tropical hideaway Little Nickel in South Side, the proprietors have established neighborhood anchors across the city.
With their latest venture at 1011 Lafayette St., they’re looking backward to move forward. Lafayette Tavern draws from the playbook of classic American chophouses, with leather banquettes, low lighting and a straightforward menu. The Giavoses are aiming to create something simple but rare these days: a restaurant built to last.
Slated to open in January, Lafayette Tavern will bring its golden-age spirit to a Rockwellian stretch of Malvern Gardens that includes Stella’s, the boutique Our Life by Stella’s and an outpost of Stella’s Grocery. “This is something I’ve been passionate about for as long as I can remember,” says Constantine Giavos, creative director for the family’s portfolio of businesses. “My parents, my wife, all of us love that idea of the classic American restaurant, the food and the feeling.”
Every detail of the former Lafayette Pharmacy space has been thoughtfully considered: vintage Italian light fixtures, a curved black quartzite bar, checkerboard marble floors, art on the walls and the soundtrack that will play through the speakers. Giavos (who is also a DJ) is undoubtedly setting the scene and curating the vibe, but the true direction of the concept is dictated in the kitchen. While the space will contain the experience, the food will electrify it.
Enter Bobo Catoe Jr., the tenured chef known for stints at Alewife; the now-shuttered Southbound, Heritage and Odyssey; and, most recently, The Emerald Lounge. In his early career, he worked at Husk and the bygone McCrady’s restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina.
Coincidentally, Catoe once lived around the corner from Lafayette Pharmacy. He’d bike around the neighborhood with his young son in tow, stopping for ice cream. During his time at Odyssey on Patterson Avenue, he got to know restaurateurs Katrina and Johnny Giavos (parents of Constantine), who were regulars. When the couple began moving forward with Lafayette Tavern, they encouraged their son to reach out to him. Giavos says, “We really hit it off. It’s been a joy just shooting ideas back and forth; it’s exciting.”
A Mississippi native, Catoe attended the University of South Carolina in Lafayette — a coincidence that makes the new arrangement feel like serendipity. “It’s full circle for me. I feel as good about this as I’ve felt about anything since I was living in that house around the corner 18 months before Alewife opened.
“It’s certainly different from anything I’ve done. The important thing in this place is that there’s not going to be a lot of hiding behind technique. The point here is this is the best one of those [classic dishes] you can get.”
The challenge has unearthed an excitement in Catoe as he revisits the fundamentals, feverishly flipping through cookbooks and planning R&D visits to New York City restaurants with Giavos. Once dubbed “the fish man,” Catoe says of the new restaurant, “It’s maybe not what people think of when they think about me, but I feel super positive about it. It’s so different from anything in town — this block is the coolest block in the city.”
The location is Lafayette Tavern’s underlying “it” factor, tucked away on a charming and compact street in a residential neighborhood. In an age of new builds, it’s a nostalgia-inducing gem, with vintage cars parked across the way, a continuous stream of families walking dogs and staffers carrying trays of fresh-baked bread from Stella’s Grocery over to Stella’s. “Everybody asked, ‘What are you going to name this place?’” Giavos recalls. “I was like, ‘It’ll be Lafayette Tavern. Let’s honor the street.’”
The intent to honor extends to the plate. Guests can expect American dining archetypes done right: shrimp cocktail, wedge salads, tavern-style burgers and fries, prime cuts, and a proper ice cream sundae. “There might even be a guy in a white shirt and bow tie,” Giavos adds.
In the kitchen is a Montague broiler, the same type found in New York’s legendary Peter Luger Steak House, a beast of a machine that cranks out 800-plus degrees of intense heat, enabling a stellar sear.
In recent months, Catoe and Giavos have been deep in collaboration, talking menus and matchboxes, dishware and pacing, lighting, and the little touches that give a place its character. “We’ve been really just kind of talking about our favorite parts of restaurants like this — older restaurants that we love — and the lost art of some of this,” Giavos says, mentioning destinations including the Pine Club in Dayton, Ohio.
Aiming to achieve that connective tissue such restaurants share, Catoe adds, “They’re all different, but they’re all the same. It’s finding the parts of it that we want to really make sure we nail here.”
For both, the heart of Lafayette Tavern lies in the details, the small moments that define great dining. “Dessert matters,” Catoe says. “The coffee service matters. The way the check comes matters. The food needs to be great, but it’s really about the whole experience. ... We’ve got to make it right from the beginning.”
Giavos adds, “You bring that experience into these classic dishes — that’s where the magic happens.”
Despite the attention to aesthetic, the pair stress that Lafayette Tavern isn’t meant to feel exclusive. “It’s in the neighborhood; it should be a place for the people in the neighborhood,” Giavos says. “There should be an expectation that we’ll have something you want. It’s important to me to have this as a place where you can come in and have a business lunch, a power lunch or just pop in when walking by.”
The initial plan is to open four days a week, before expanding hours and adding lunch and Sunday dinner service.
In a city that’s always evolving, Lafayette Tavern feels like a promise — a place that’s not chasing the next thing but striving to perfect the tried and true.
“Nothing will be cold there, except for the drinks,” Giavos says. “It’s that warmth, it’s the hospitality. Those are the pillars of what we bring.”
