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Smoke in Chimneys trout with pickled leeks, potato rosti and “everything seasoning” creme fraiche from Stock
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Txtur made its start in Roanoke before debuting a Richmond furniture showroom with attached restaurant, Stock, at 604 Hull St. in Manchester.
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The dining room at Stock
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The bar area at Stock
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The menu at Stock features smørrebrøds, open-faced Scandinavian sandwiches.
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Mustard-brined chicken with baby Hasselback potatoes and lingonberry jam
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A wedge salad at Stock with rye croutons and crispy shallots
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The Txtur showroom is attached to Stock restaurant.
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The Txtur showroom
On a recent Friday night at a newly opened restaurant in Manchester, an animated party of six entered in search of dinner. When the host went to seat them, instead of guiding the group to the dining room, she led them into the attached furniture showroom and put down menus at a beechwood table for sale. Beyond them, a couple was testing out contemporary couches, cocktails in hand.
Located in the former Seaboard train depot at 604 Hull St., the two-in-one restaurant-retail combo with a sister concept in Roanoke opened last week. Enter the building and cut left, and you’ll arrive at Txtur (pronounced texture), a contemporary and customizable furniture store. Cut right, and you’ll pass the Scandinavian-inspired kitchen before entering the dining room at Stock.
If the not-your-average approach to the bistro and bar is a little hard to wrap your mind around, you’re not alone.
“Sometimes customers would come to me at the Roanoke store and say, ‘Just so you know, someone is drinking a glass of wine in the showroom,’ and I’m like, ‘Great, that’s what I want to happen, this is the point,’” says General Manager Steve Terrill. People have also told him that Google accidentally brought them to a furniture store.
The uniquely modern concept is the result of a family business that made a pandemic pivot. With a hospitality background, Terrill operates the business with brother and CEO Greg. Their family lineage is rooted in lumber. The origin of Txtur dates back to a furniture frame manufacturing company, Frank Chervan Incorporated, started by their late grandfather in the 1930s. Their father was also at its helm, and Greg took over more than 20 years ago at age 28. They have since added finishing and upholstery services into their model, and Txtur is the largest shop in the nation that crafts its products entirely in the U.S.
“This is our first direct-to-consumer thing we had done, and I think partially a reaction to the pandemic,” Terrill says, noting that during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the furniture company had to engage with customers in a fresh way. “I think the notion of getting the restaurant and things in there is, how do you make this a place that people actually want to be?”
The answer: Add coffee, food and cocktails and encourage customers to nosh on a Stock Board of house-smoked fish, Nordic cheeses, pickles and other accoutrements while drinking a bottle of wine with friends and playing games in the showroom.
On the menu, starters include lightly fried smelt with spicy salt and vinegar and dill-based tartar sauce; Virginia oysters with rhubarb vinaigrette; and wedge salad with crispy shallots, Danish blue cheese and rye croutons. There is also a section dedicated to smørrebrøds, open-faced Scandinavian sandwiches eaten with a knife and fork. Find rye bread loaded with accompaniments from gravlax, red onions and capers to a melange of local wild mushrooms, braised leeks, goat cheese and crispy shallots or a tarragon-vermouth chicken salad with bacon, served with a zippy cucumber salad.
Mains include pan-seared Smoke in Chimneys trout atop a crispy potato rosti, braised leeks and “everything seasoning” creme fraiche; a hanger steak with hand-cut fries and bacon-gouda fondue; mustard-brined chicken with cabbage, baby Hasselback potatoes and lingonberry jam; and mushrooms and knoepfle, a Swiss version of spaetzle, with caramelized onion soubise and sheep’s-milk gouda. For morning visitors, they plan to offer pour-over coffee and pastries.
“We weren’t starting from scratch,” Terrill says, “we had some things we knew worked [at Stock in Roanoke], but already executive chef Kevin Coleman has come up with his own dishes, and there will always be common dishes between the two but not an intention for them to be the same restaurant.”
While Terrill says he never imagined working for the family business, much like his late-in-life infatuation with the food and beverage industry sparked by a trip to France, he’s enjoying the unexpected ride.
“Greg has been running the company for 20-plus years, but this really has been nice to see the enthusiasm that this project has brought to him,” Terrill says of Stock. “I have noticed in Richmond already that people want to eat in the showroom. Apparently we’re already thinking about where we’re going next.”
Stock is open Monday to Saturday for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.
