By the time you read this, our newest restaurant, The Local, will have opened to the public. Restaurantarama stopped by during the final days of opening preparations to get a bit more dish on this latest dining addition to the Belmont area. Despite being bleary-eyed from his previous night’s soft opening for friends and family, owner Adam Frazier gave us a tour of the renovated circa 1912 property on Hinton Avenue, which still smelled of fresh wood and polyurethane—such clean and sterile scents that we unfortunately know we’ll never experience again now that you people have gotten in there. But that’s O.K., because you people is who Frazier would really like to see coming in and becoming, well, locals.
 Rising to the task: Matthew Hart, The Local’s chef, looks out over Belmont from the renovated circa 1912 property. |
“We want to be a place where people can come on a regular basis and it doesn’t need to be a big night out,” he says.
In other words, he wants to provide a price point that doesn’t break your bank, and an atmosphere that’s inviting and accessible. His hope to appeal to a “regular” crowd may be a result of dealing with very transient types during his previous life—for eight years Frazier worked in hotel restaurant management for Marriott, most recently in Dallas.
Frazier says he always dreamed of owning a restaurant (don’t we all?), and he actually has some culinary ties to the area—his uncle is David Simpson, owner of C&O Restaurant—but Frazier says he was initially drawn to Charlottesville simply for a change of venue and vocation. He was working as a carpenter and wasn’t actively looking for a restaurant space when The Local location became available for sale from wildlife photographer Hal Brindley, who operated Creature Gallery downstairs and lived upstairs. The building’s vintage charm apparently called out to Frazier, and with the help of Sage Carpentry, he has completed a stunning renovation. There are two levels of bars and seating; a second-story deck is in the works and there are plans for another second-story balcony.
As for how Frazier is going to get a return on those investments and still keep the menu fit for a regular joe’s wallet, he says he’s using many menu items that are often overlooked by others—beef shanks, for example. Frazier and his chef Matthew Hart are getting their shanks (served braised with Gnocchi for $13) from a local purveyor, and by using an often neglected animal part, Frazier says he’s able to balance a desire to use the highest quality, local and organic ingredients against the price point. Another example is The Local’s appetizer of salmon collars (grilled with soy, ginger and yuzu for $6.50), which Frazier says is a very tender and juicy part of the fish that’s often discarded because it takes a lot of work to de-bone that particular area. And speaking of hard work, Chef Hart is making gnocchi in-house.
From pizza to Phuket
Casella’s Italian, the New York-style pizza, sub and pasta shop started by the Casella family in 1990, in the Barracks Road Shopping Center, may be homeless as of this August. Longtime manager Lori Jones reported to us that the current restaurant owners—Courtney and Eric Pfister—are scrambling to find a new location because Federal Realty, which manages the shopping center property, will not renew their lease. Deirdre Johnson, director of asset management for Federal Realty, confirmed to Restaurantarama that Casella’s was not offered a lease renewal, but said it would not be appropriate to comment on the reasons because of the confidentiality concerns of all parties. Johnson also confirmed that a new local chain tenant is scheduled to take over the space from Casella’s—that new tenant is Tara Thai, which already has eight locations in Richmond (at Short Pump Town Center), Northern Virginia and Maryland.
Quick bites
This just in: The space upstairs of Escafe, which used to house Al Dente, shall henceforth be known as…The Upstairs—with a capital U, that is. Escafe manager Chip Sawyer tells us the place will serve prime beef, fresh seafood and wine, wine, wine (no glasses, just bottles and half bottles). Stay tuned for more info.
Got some restaurant scoop? Send tips to restaurantarama@c-ville.com or call 817-2749, Ext. 48.
