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Scuffletown Garden opened in June in the former Strawberry Street Cafe space. (Photo by Kate Thompson)
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Executive Chef Adam Campbell, formerly of Rappahannock (Photo by Kate Thompson)
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The dining room at Scuffletown Garden (Photo by Kate Thompson)
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The plant wall inside Scuffletown (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The interior of Scuffletown Garden features natural wood and live greenery. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The rooftop garden at Scuffletown Garden (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Catfish and grits from the brunch menu. Scuffletown will close following brunch service on Nov. 17. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
If you're a fan of the enticing cocktail roulette wheel, the greenhouse aesthetic, or Executive Chef Adam Campbell's pork and pickles at Scuffletown Garden, you'll want to carve out time for a visit to the restaurant sometime this week.
Scuffletown, which took over the 421 Strawberry St. space once occupied by 40-year Richmond institution Strawberry Street Cafe, will close following brunch service on Sunday, Nov. 17, after five months in business.
The Fan eatery was purchased by co-owners Derek Salerno and Octavio Camacho last November; the original plan was to keep operating under the same name and menu. After a few months, the team opted for a fresh start and a rebrand, transforming the space into a neighborhood restaurant/plant sanctuary complete with a rooftop garden.
The name Scuffletown is a nod to a nearby tucked-away park. The restaurant officially opened its doors on June 14, offering a menu with accessible items that included daily cuts of meat, house-made pastas, and dishes tinged with Asian and Spanish influences through ingredients such as miso, kimchi rice, hoisin, mushroom dashi and crispy calasparra rice.
Scuffletown eliminated lunch service last month.
The restaurant made the announcement about its closure via social media, citing the inability to “provide acceptable return on investment” as the cause.
The post states: "We survived summer, generally the slowest time in restaurant business, and were looking forward to sharing our fall and winter favorites with you. But we haven’t been able to provide acceptable return on investment to our investors. Please join us in the upcoming week for drinks, bites and see-you-laters. All of us at Scuffletown Garden is grateful for your patronage. Thank you for being a part of our story.”
There is no word yet of what will happen with the space — or the famed bathtub.
