The guys at JM Stock Provisions don’t seem to be able to sit still, and now their restlessness is expanding into Richmond.
Since Matt Greene and James Lum opened their whole animal butcher shop on West Main Street last October, they’ve added lamb to their butchery menu and beer and wine to their dry shelves, grown their prepared foods offerings, started serving burgers and sausages on Easy Sundays at Champion Brewing Company, launched Sandwich Saturdays featuring house meats and local bread and added breakfast service seven days a week from 7:30am to noon.
The new breakfast options, available since October 26 at the shop’s new six-seat breakfast counter or to go, include Lamplighter coffee, pie and ham biscuits. Greene says the inspiration behind the morning food service was the sight of throngs of morning pedestrian commuters walking past the shop. A hot sandwich option may be coming in the near future.
“We do feel like breakfast options to-go are sort of limited, and we’ve had such a good response to our breakfast sandwiches, we figured this would be a great way to ease in,” he said.
JM’s latest announcement (they’re an entertaining follow on Facebook, by the way) is the opening of a new butcher counter in Richmond, a joint effort with Harvest Grocery. Starting January 10, the good people of Richmond will be able to get the same products that are available at JM’s C’ville store.
But enough about the good people of Richmond. Back to the stuff we get to enjoy.
While Greene and Lum wrapped up their Easy Sundays for the year on November 2, Greene said they will return in the spring. In the meantime, Sandwich Saturdays at the shop are still going strong, and the team continues to grow its prepared foods line, which includes several different kinds of chili, chicken and pork soup, baked beans, pulled pork barbeque, cooking stock and “a few other odds and ends.” JM has hired a new chef from New Orleans to head up the division going forward, and Greene hinted that catering may be available at some time in the future.
If you want a taste of the local lamb JM is now butchering up, Greene said it’s best to order ahead, as the smaller shipments tend to go quickly. And if you’re gearing up for some carnivorous holidays, call ahead to stock your provisions, as well: JM’s pasture-raised turkeys and Christmas hams aren’t likely to be on shelves for long either.
Pho real this time?
Ever since the short-lived Moto Pho Co. closed its doors in March of this year, we’ve had to either trek to Richmond for a bowl of the hearty rice-noodle soup, or just settle for generic pan-Asian broth with noodles here in town. But as of a couple weeks ago, a new restaurant near Stonefield is serving up the classic Vietnamese favorite.
Thai Cuisine & Noodle House is a small, casual restaurant tucked away in the Village Green shopping center, just west of Stonefield at the corner of Hydraulic Road and Commonwealth Drive. Bangkok native Pong Punyanitya, who’s also the former owner of Thai 99 II on Route 29, said he saw a void in Charlottesville’s food scene that he was eager to fill.
“There are lots of great Thai restaurants in town,” Punyanitya said. “But it’s lacking noodles, which lots of people are looking for.”
A full page of the extensive menu is dedicated to noodle soups. Pho, the clear soup with rice noodles served with a plate of fresh bean sprouts, basil, jalapeños and lime, is traditionally made with beef broth. Thai Cuisine offers 17 types of pho, all of which were created by a local friend of Punyanitya’s from Vietnam. Most of Thai Cuisine’s pho is beef-based and features some combination of eye round, flank, brisket, meatballs, tendon and tripe. There’s also chicken, tofu and seafood pho. On the same page is a list of Thai noodle soups, which are more versatile. Guay tiew nam yum comes with either chicken, beef, pork or tofu, a choice of thin or wide noodles, and minced pork, bean sprouts and chopped peanuts in tom yum broth.
Punyanitya and restaurant consultant Pim Little, who’s also from Thailand, could go on for days about their favorite Thai dishes, only a fraction of which can be easily duplicated in the states. But they’re hoping it’s the pho-nomenal soup that will bring customers through the door.
Bring me bagels!
We’ve been waiting for this for years. As of Wednesday, November 5, Bodo’s is officially delivering.
The local bagel spot with three locations and a cult following teamed up with online delivery service OrderUp, and recently announced that the entire menu is available for delivery Monday-Saturday. Unfortunately they’re only doing lunch and dinner (2-8pm), and only within a one-mile radius. But a press release and Facebook page promise that both the hours and radius will expand, so hopefully it’s only a matter of time before you can find an everything-wheat BLT with jalapeño-lime cream cheese on your doorstep at 9am on a Sunday when you can barely see straight. In the meantime, OrderUp has also brought local favorites like Christian’s, Guadalajara and Wild Wing Café on board.
