Ahh. That’s Restaurantarama sighing with relief for two reasons. First, we may have a restaurant and bar smoking ban as soon as this summer. As of press time, Virginia’s House of Delegates was scheduled to vote on a compromise House bill agreed to last week by Governor Tim Kaine and Republican House Speaker William J. Howell, which provides exemptions for private clubs and restaurants with designated smoking rooms with separate ventilation. Second, we actually have something exciting to report other than a closing, departure, sale or rumor of a sale. The original restaurant mavericks—Tim Burgess and Vincent Derquenne of Bizou, Bang and (former) Metropolitain fame—are shedding their owner/manager hats a few nights a week to don aprons and get their hands dirty again. “Vincent and I are working side by side on the stoves at Bang every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The focus is on new menu items and just having some fun in the kitchen again,” says Burgess.
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Why not? For a few nights a week, Tim Burgess (left) and Vincent Derquenne are shedding their owner/manager hats to have some cooking fun in the kitchen at Bang. |
Burgess and Derquenne did the same thing at Bizou last year and say it really paid off. At Bang, getting back on the line has allowed the chef/owners to go back to a nightly menu and experiment with new ingredients and dishes. “I brought in some black cod…just to check it out. It was gorgeous, though very very pricey. Something like that we will try just for fun,” says Burgess. “We’ve also had success with orange and blue marlin, barramundi, octopus, cold water crab…and a crazy-named fish (Asian ling fish) that was really amazing.”
Sublime is closing
Oh, but the good news doesn’t last. We’re sad to report that Sublime All-Natural Food & Juice Bar is closing this Saturday. Owner Geoff Robinson tell us: “We’ve had some great regulars. Some people loved us. We just couldn’t get enough of them in here.”
Since the organic juice bar opened on the Corner in late 2007, the place has expanded to include a larger food menu of raw and organic salads and wraps and even added a mobile unit for Fridays After Five. Though it has many fans, Sublime’s tiny, out-of-the-way location on UVA-student-laden, parking-challenged Elliewood Avenue just wasn’t sustainable. “We didn’t intend the Corner to be our only location,” says Robinson. “We hope to reopen at some point in a bigger store with more seats and a full kitchen where we can serve the health food clientele more than just rely on students.”
Sublime will hold a farewell celebration on Thursday. “We’ll probably stay open a little bit late for our regulars, and all of the owners will probably be there,” says Robinson. After that, Robinson says, Sublime may go into hibernation mode but will still be available for catering events. For more information, contact Robinson at 242-3204.
Baseball at Blue Light?
Could it be true that Blue Light will soon become a sports bar? That’s what we’ve been hearing, so we asked Stu Rifkin—the man who temporarily has replaced Michael Keaveny as Coran Capshaw’s director of restaurants—for a comment. Here’s what he said: “I believe any discussion of new menus or concepts would be a little premature right now. I will be sure to contact you when we have formulated our plans for the spring.”
