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Photo by Stephanie Breijo
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Now with more square footage, Sally Bell's Kitchen can accommodate dining in. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
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Staffers discovered antiques and Southern-food artifacts, like this carousel of sandwich stamps, when they made the move to Broad Street. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
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Owners Scott and Martha Jones hope to hang the sign at their restaurant's new home this week. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
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Photo by Stephanie Breijo
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Photo by Stephanie Breijo
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A 1930s industrial mixer, which had been gathering dust at the back of the old kitchen, will be on proud display in the new space. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
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Photo by Stephanie Breijo
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Soon, the dining room will feature tables, chairs and walls filled with photos of the business and employees through the years. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
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For just fifty cents more, you can get your lunch box wrapped with antique green ribbon, as opposed to the standard twine. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
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Photo by Stephanie Breijo
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The new Sally Bell's location features a large kitchen that will allow for hot foods, which the restaurant hasn't served in years. (Photo by Stephanie Breijo)
[UPDATE, Oct. 24, 2016: Sally Bell's Kitchen opened this morning at 10 a.m. and is now serving at 2337 W. Broad St.]
Moving is a chore, especially if you've lived in the same space for a handful of years. But imagine moving when you've inhabited someplace since the late 1930s. Sally Bell's Kitchen, the James Beard Award-winning, iconic takeout stalwart famous for its boxed lunches, packed up the recipes and kitchen equipment, the belongings and nearly a century of memories, and closed shop at 708 W. Grace St. last Friday. As early as tomorrow, it reopens in its new, spacious home at 2337 W. Broad St. across from the Science Museum of Virginia.
"[The last day] was pretty emotional," co-owner Martha Jones says, and pauses. "It was really emotional. We all got choked up just walking out the door and driving off. It was bittersweet."
As is common in a large move, Martha, who runs the restaurant with her husband, Scott, has been finding forgotten and hidden belongings as she packs. But when you're boxing up Sally Bell's Kitchen, a business with 92 years of history, these items aren't your average lost socks or greeting cards. Treasures long tucked away in cabinets, hutches and the basement harken back to the restaurant's 1924 beginnings, when Sarah Cabell Jones and Elizabeth Lee Milton founded Sarah Lee Kitchen after meeting at the Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work. The pair made from-scratch goods daily without a brick-and-mortar location until they landed a spot at 701 W. Grace St. in 1926, then moved to 708 roughly one decade later. A recently discovered carousel of rubber stamps reading "corned beef spread," "egg salad" and "ham spread" — most likely used to denote sandwich type on a lunch's wrapping — recalls menu items both long gone and still available. There are recipes and bakeware, photos and antiques, and many will make their way to the new location.
"It's overwhelming," Martha says. "I mean, we're finding things like Sarah Lee stickers, all kinds of things: old pans and so on, old recipes we no longer use." These handwritten recipes for croquettes, meat pies and old-fashioned hermit cookies might help the items find their way back to the menu, along with a few options never before prepared at Sally Bell's. An expansive new kitchen lends space for a flat-top grill and a fryer, allowing the restaurant to offer hot food items such as a pimento cheeseburger, a club sandwich with Smithfield ham, a fried pork chop on white bread, or stewed tomatoes. "Just kind of Southern Sunday supper or dinner," says Martha. "Of course we're gonna keep the basics, and then we're just gonna gradually add one or two things and see if they go over."
To accommodate the evening-fare additions, as well as the proximity to the Science Museum, the new Sally Bell's Kitchen will most likely tweak its hours. On Grace Street, the weekday-only restaurant opened at 8:30 a.m. and closed at 4 p.m., but will potentially open at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. on Broad, and even offer some Saturday hours. A parking lot out back sweetened the deal for the new location, as did the extra square footage, which will allow customers to enjoy their cupcakes and deviled eggs at tables that look out onto the busy street. There are 36 seats spread between booths to the right of the entrance, and the tables and chairs in a separate dining room. In the corner of that room sits an antique hutch, which Martha believes belonged to Scott's ancestor, originator Sarah Cabell Jones herself. The antique glassware on display within it is most certainly hers, as are the plates. Soon, the walls will feature photographs of the business and employees throughout the years, along with newspaper clippings from The New York Times and local publications, and, of course, there will be pictures of Cabell Jones.
It's all a nod to the past, tying together nearly a century of history with an aesthetic continuation of Richmond's beloved carryout establishment on Grace — the same checkered floors, the same accent hues — and we'll be able to take a bite out of its history as early as tomorrow, final inspections pending. Keep an eye on the Sally Bell's Kitchen Facebook page over the coming days for an announcement on the restaurant's opening date. In the meantime, you can visit the restaurant's location at The Valentine, or pick up a few of its prepared items at Libbie Market, Tom Leonard's Farmer's Market, or Perk! Coffee + Lunchbox.
Sally Bell's Kitchen reopens soon in its new location at 2337 W. Broad St.
