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Hans Doxzen, chef and founder of Quarter Horse (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Teufelseier eggs with Duke’s mayonnaise, Düsseldorf mustard, herbs and speck two ways (Photo courtesy Quarter Horse)
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Eye of round with Düsseldorf mustard, shallot, marigold and herbs on brioche (Photo courtesy Quarter Horse)
After running a nomadic pop-up for the past two years, Hans Doxzen will soon strike chef’s gold, gaining a commercial kitchen space of his own. On April 7, Quarter Horse, his German-influenced pop-up with a local-leaning menu, will host a welcome dinner with wine pairings at The Kitchen Classroom, where he aims to host one to two events a month. The kickoff meal marks his shift into the space and a level up for his business.
Following a nearly two-year residency at Kitchen Classroom, Detroit-style pizza pop-up Secret Squares will host its last pickup on April 2, as owner Willoughby Obenchain prepares to introduce his forthcoming restaurant. The final menu will feature a nod to the new tenant, a schnitzel-topped pie with mustard aioli and roasted shallots.
Warren Haskell, owner of The Kitchen Classroom, whose primary focus is hosting cooking classes, says he enjoys being able to provide a space where food businesses can navigate their next steps.
“Having a resident pop-up here, it’s more than a pop-up; it’s someone who has long-term goals and needs some space to figure things out, have a kitchen to work in that’s certified, and they can actually start the business aspect of things,” he says.
Originally launching Quarter Horse in the fall of 2022, Doxzen has since held brunch pop-ups at North Side’s Neighbor, slung currywurst smash burgers at Spotty Dog Ice Cream Co. in Union Hill, celebrated Duke’s Hot Tomato Summer, hosted chicken dinners and sold brats at Westray’s Cafe in the Fan. Dishes have included strudels studded with Gold Rush apples plucked from local trees, spaetzle with Blue Ridge truffle aioli and foraged wild mushrooms, and crispy potato dumplings with squash soubise and sorghum. Doxzen recently left a job in the kitchen at Church Hill’s Grisette to commit fully to his growing pop-up. He also plans to teach classes at The Kitchen Classroom.
“This is about independence and freedom and growth,” he says. “My main focus there is having dedicated space and a walk-in refrigerator, and having dedicated time that I can be there.”
Doxzen is a little country, a lot locavore. He grew up in Rappahannock County, in a town with a population of 7,000-something. His mother owned a quarter horse named Duckling, and down the street from his childhood home was one of the most renowned restaurants in the country, the three-Michelin-starred Inn at Little Washington. And while he can recall scoring unsold pastries that the restaurant left in the window of the local post office, and how he started cooking for himself at a young age, it was his grandparents, Hans Gerhard and Anne Lorre, that were a true source of inspiration.
“When I really got interested in food was when my mother’s parents, who were immigrants from Germany, moved here,” Doxzen says. “I spent a lot of time in the kitchen; [my grandmother] was an absolutely incredible cook. I always had so many questions, and she always had answers, and I’ll never really forget those meals.”
Quarter Horse is a combination of what Doxzen knows best: Virginia ingredients scored straight from the source and potato-heavy, German comfort foods linked to his heritage. Southern classic Duke’s mayo and German Düsseldorf mustard have been known to join forces on the plate at his pop-ups.
The menu for the April 7 wine dinner features eye of round tartare with salt and spice-cured egg yolk. There will be carrots with obatzda (Bavarian cheese dip), arugula and peanut, and cider-braised pork strudel with leeks, turnips and wild garlic mustard. Dessert is the ultimate balancing of cultures: baumkuchen (a ringed, many-layered German spit cake) made with King Dent corn — a cherished variety native to Virginia — along with buttermilk mousse and spicebush.
“A lot of these things have real-world and real-life connections to me, but a lot more of it is me just trying to get in touch with them,” Doxzen says. He can remember the dumplings and apple tarts his grandmother made and how their house was a museum of artifacts from Germany, including a collection of Black Forest clocks. “I feel like I lost her too soon, and I feel like that’s probably the case with a lot of people and their relationship with their grandparents. They just had a wealth of culture and life experience.”
Since relocating to Richmond in 2013, Doxzen has been working in a variety of area restaurants. His resume includes the bygone Camden’s Dogtown Market and Pasture, as well as Brenner Pass, Southbound, ZZQ, Belmont Butchery and Common House, and most recently Grisette and Jardin. The summer he will travel to Troddenvale Cider in Warm Springs for a pop-up with their Airstream dinner series Foodlore Provisions.
“I want everything to be very intentional, very mindful and tell the story,” Doxzen says. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do but was hesitant. I wanted to make sure when I did something, that it was representative of myself.”
