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Oak & Apple from Historical Restaurant Concepts is located at 1814 E. Main St.
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The inside bar area at Oak & Apple
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Oak & Apple will offer sandwiches, smoked meats and platters, and fun barbecue bites.
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Fans of cider can expect international, Virginia and local varieties at Oak & Apple.
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An indoor dining area at Oak & Apple
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The right side of the patio is dog-friendly and features corn hole boards.
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The outdoor patio area at Oak & Apple and a pile of oak for the smoker
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The outdoor patio at Oak & Apple features a separate bar and tap system, along with benches and umbrella-shaded tables.
Oak & Apple, a new restaurant at 1814 E. Main St. from Historical Restaurant Concepts, hopes to spread the barbecue love to Shockoe Bottom and unite it with cider when it opens its doors on Thursday, June 6.
“There isn’t a cider bar in town, but cider and barbecue go hand in hand” and also happen to be gluten-free. So explains Ron Morse, a partner in HRC, the team behind restaurants Station 2, Postbellum and Root Stock Provisions, the latter of which opened in March 2018 and neighbors Oak & Apple. “We think we can really fit and fill a niche in this area.”
Oak & Apple will be led by HRC’s executive chef, Kevin Church, but Kat Nielsen, a five-year veteran of Postbellum, is the one diners will find helming the pit.
In fact, it was Nielsen’s barbecue, specifically her beef ribs, that sparked the idea for a barbecue-focused restaurant following a wildly successful summer rooftop deck party at Postbellum.
“For the fun of it, we wanted to see how people responded to barbecue,” says Ryan Koontz, another partner at HRC. “It was really positively received, to the point where we said, ‘Hey, let’s do it.’ That was the sparking point.”
“It killed our regular menu,” Morse says, laughing. “Everyone was ordering and asking for barbecue — it was a good test, and we are excited to go deeper.”
Nielsen, a 28-year-old Virginia Beach native and VCU classical music performance graduate, became interested in barbecue after her father, both a chef and pitmaster, purchased a Big Green Egg, a combination grill and smoker, while she was in high school. The duo began to experiment and eventually went on to enter barbecue competitions.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, and to be able to put that idea into a whole concept is awesome,” says Nielsen, who plans to use oak in the smoker.
The “From the Smoker” section of Oak & Apple's menu features chicken, Virginia Angus beef brisket, spare ribs, red Fresno jackfruit, house sausage and pulled pork from Goochland's Pig Crafters, while a “From the Chef” section is comprised of more playful items such as a “que-tine” — steak fries topped with cheese curds, pulled-pork barbecue and homemade pork gravy — along with barbecue tacos, lettuce wraps, nachos, wings and pastrami-style beef ribs.
Sides, available by the pint and quart, are a mix of traditional — cornbread, mac and cheese — and twists on classics including tea-braised collards, apple and jalapeño slaw, and burnt-end beans.
Root Stock Provisions will provide the bread for sandwiches such as the smoked turkey breast, BBQ Bahn Mi and Pepper Melt, along with pie for dessert; frozen custard prepared at Postbellum is available as well.
The restaurant features an almost 1,500-square-foot outdoor patio and bar with corn hole boards and an area designated as pet-friendly for diners who want to bring their furry companions.
As for the “apple” in Oak & Apple, Morse says 75 percent of the drink menu will be focused on hard cider, an assortment covering Richmond-based cideries Buskey and Blue Bee, along with Virginia offerings such as Potter’s and Sly Clyde and domestic and imported cider from New York; Austin, Texas; and France and Spain.
Other boozy options consist of draft and bottled brews; a handful of white, red and rosé wines; and a collection of punches and sangrias: Caribbean coconut punch, spiked raspberry lemonade and herbaceous cucumber-mint, which are available in single or four-person servings. Nonalcoholic beverages include fresh-squeezed lemonade, basil lemonade and raspberry-peach tea.
Of the barbecue that anchors this new venture, Nielsen says, “I love that it brings family together, and I hope we can build a good community down in Shockoe.”
Oak & Apple will be open from 3:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
