Tupelo Honey Cafe - Virginia Beach, VA

July 13, 2015

Tupelo Honey Cafe has opened in Virginia Beach Town Center. What is Tupelo Honey Cafe? I'll be honest and say I've never heard of it before I received an email from someone representing them in the area. She asked if I would be interested in learning more about the Cafe and attend a soft opening and then a media session later that week. Of course I said “Yes!” because who doesn't like a free meal and I love soft openings; there is always a level of energy and excitement in the air at these things. Tupelo Honey Cafe officially opens 13 July 2015, today!

I did a little research and saw that Tupelo Honey started out in Asheville, NC and has expanded into 11 locations in operation. There are two more spots opening soon in Atlanta, GA and Franklin, TN. Tupelo Honey Cafe prepares its menu using classic Southern and/or Southern influenced style. So of course you're thinking okra, grits, fried chicken, greens, etc... They do have those on the menu, but there is a lot more.

First what is Tupelo Honey? Tupelo Honey comes from the White Tupelo is harvested in Florida and Georgia. It's said to be the purist honey you can buy and to harvest it takes a lot of work, read more about it in this great article at Garden & Gun.

The Virginia Beach Town Center location is pretty sweet. It's on the corner of Main St. and Constitution Dr. Lots of windows and a covered, outdoor seating area. The inside of the restaurant is spacious with walls dotted with local and regionally significant art. There is even a WW II era navy uniform on display.

See more photos here.

The bar is large and currently has 20 taps setup. They will eventually be serving kegged cocktails and have an exclusive Virginia mead they'll help get shipped to the restaurant. During the soft opening there was a good selection of local brews on tap in the craft beer line-up; while waited for our seats I grabbed a Tupelo Honey Rye Ale made for Tupelo Honey Cafe by RJ Rockers Brewing Co. Not a bad beer, I enjoyed it. Shelby wanted to try a fancy drink and ordered the “Violet Beauregarde” Champange Cocktail. She loved it. I was able to get a little sip of it too and it was pretty tasty.

After we were seated our server, Tiffany, she went over the limited menu for the soft opening. We had a choice of one appetizer to share, individual entrees and then a shared dessert. From the “Southern Small Plates” section we had a few choices, wrestling with the decision between the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake and the Pecan-Crusted Goat Cheese. We settled on the crab cake. For entrees (with two sides) Shelby chose the broiled Jumbo Shrimp, there was a fried option too, Sauteed Greens and Goat Cheese Grits. I ordered Beef & Bacon Meatloaf with Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Mac-n-Cheese. We sipped our drinks waiting for our food to be brought out.

While we waited I looked around – there were plenty of servers and floor supervisors making sure things were running smoothly. We were at a window table which I requested, I need light for the photos. I didn't like that we sat directly beneath an air vent, I was being blasted by cold air and this proved troublesome for our hot food too.

Tiffany brought out a couple of hot biscuits with a blueberry preserve and some Tupelo honey! Mixing the preserve and honey on the biscuit the way to go. The honey wasn't too sweet and was floral, it was a perfect paired with the blueberry. The biscuit had a lightly crunchy exterior and a moist, light consistency on the inside. We were enjoying our biscuits still when the crab cake came out. The crab cake was good, but living in Virginia Beach where seafood is king, we've had a lot of crab cakes. I would say it's definitely worth a try. Flavor was good and there was a good amount of lump crab inside a breaded coat.

Our “supper plates” as they called them, were decent portions the shrimp were cooked nicely and the cherry pepper buerre blanc sauce was good. Shelby's goat cheese grits were very tasty and I would like to have them again next time we visit. The greens were sauteed perfect and served in a broth – lots of flavor! My meatloaf was covered in a chunky rosemary shallot gravy, it complimented the meatloaf that was flecked with bits of bacon throughout. Shelby and I both loved the Mac-n-Cheese. Some people might think you can mess that stuff up, but you can. Their Mac-n-Cheese had browned bits on the corners and you could taste the cheese consistently with every bite. Serious stuff. My shaved Brussels Sprout salad was good too. It was a cold, raw salad and would be perfect out of the cooler and put out on the picnic table.

Jumbo Shrimp cherry pepper buerre blanc sauce — Jumbo Shrimp cherry pepper buerre blanc sauce

After chatting with Tiffany about the food I mentioned that I was taking photos for the blog she had another server named Matt come to the table. He happened to be in town to help get the Virginia Beach store off to a running start. Matt was a wealth of information about Tupelo Honey Cafe, the people, food and future plans for the site. As he was explaining how things worked around there a sous chef named Caleb came to the table with a restaurant favorite NC Country Ham Wontons. The light, crispy wrappers held a delicious, creamy mixture of ham and cheese. They might have been my favorite bite of the night!

We finished our drinks and ordered another round. I got a Young Veterans Brewing Co. Jet Noise and Shelby tried another cocktail, the tart Honeysuckle & Lavender Flip. She loved this drink too and said they're perfect Summertime drinks.

After trying the wontons we got to meet the Chef du Cuisine, Chris McLeod. I spied him earlier running the line and getting the plates out in order. They brought out more food for us to try, this time some tacos! One plate had a spice encrusted chicken and other had crumbled meatloaf, similar to what I had in my entree. Thin slices of jalapeno, some cilantro and slaw topped the meat and fresh squeezed lime on top finished them off. There were good too, but I would have liked a thinner tortilla. The apple salsa on the chicken tacos was very nice and different.

While trying to work our way through the mountain of food we were accumulating, they brought out more! I'll give a quick run down:

Shrimp and Grits – A lot of flavor, loved how the grits were creamy and had goat cheese in them. There was a roasted red pepper sauce in the center of the bowl that was surrounded by some plump shrimp. We let a friend try some and he said he's had better, but I do think they're worth a try. Eat it hot!

Pan-Seared Scallops with Brown Butter French Green Beans and Spring Green Pea Risotto – The scallops were cooked nicely with great texture. My favorite part of this dish was the risotto. Creamy and seasoned perfectly.

Herbed Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Curry with Feta – Shelby loved this one. She loves lamb and meatballs, so this was the best of both worlds. Great sauce, very good over all.

You could probably guess that we didn't eat all of this. Luckily we bumped into some friends who were there and we were able to share a good bit of our food with them. Sharing was highly encouraged by Matt early on. We did want to try dessert and ordered a slice of Brown Butter Pecan Pie with Dark Chocolate Sauce and the Heavenly Banana Pudding.

The pecan pie was warm and gooey, the chocolate sauce was delicious, it was put together really well and I'd like to try it again when I wasn't so full. The banana pudding was good too, but the thought of eating another bite seemed like an impossible task. We boxed up what was left over and headed home.

After getting in the house I almost passed out on the couch from a food coma.

Tupelo Honey Cafe opens 13 July, 2015. Virginia Beach Town Center on the corner of Main St. and Constitution Dr.

Check it out, it's a nice little addition to our area and the food is good! We definitely plan on visiting again and trying out more of the menu. Here's the little blurb they sent me originally:

Originally opened in 2000 in downtown Asheville, Tupelo Honey Cafe has grown to become a beloved Southern staple serving fresh, made-from-scratch dishes. The Virginia Beach location of Tupelo Honey Cafe is located at 4501 Main St. in Town Center. Upon opening this July, lunch and dinner will be available Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Brunch will also be served from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Known for its incredible Southerncuisine and locally inspired décor, ten Tupelo Honey Cafe locations are currently open in the Southeast with three future openings planned for Virginia Beach, Virginia; Franklin, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia. Two nationally distributed Tupelo Honey Cafe cookbooks are available for purchase on the website and in stores. For more information, reservations and menus, visit tupelohoneycafe.com.

See all the photos from our visit HERE.

Christina, Jonna, Nicole, Shelby and Kristen at the new West Elm in Virginia Beach

West Elm Virginia Beach

April 30, 2015

Last month Virginia Beach got its own West Elm! We were contacted to come out for a private, guided tour of the new store with a few other local bloggers in the area:

Kristen - Staying Anchored

Jonna - Naturally Glam

Christina - christinaprock.com

(Check them out!)

Nicole Sutliff, Director of Public Relations at West Elm, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. was in town for the RSVP Grand Opening party and offered to take us through the store before the event started later in the evening. We got to leisurely walk about the store and Nicole answered any questions we had about the product or the store itself. While we strolled along I thought about how nice it is to have a West Elm in our little town. The closest store we had was in Richmond and it closed a while ago. When that store was open, it was a regular stop for us when we visited Marleigh while she was attending VCU. It was always nice to browse around, actually sit on furniture or touch textiles; actually seeing something in front of you is totally different than a photo in a catalog. When we were shopping for a bed frame we could spend time sitting on different models to see which one was right for us. Again, the benefits of having this stuff in front of you.

While we were touring the store, new employees were applying finishing touches and construction for the grand opening. It was fun watching them get last minute instruction on how the night was going to work. West Elm Virginia Beach is also featuring local artists in the store. It was cool seeing our friend, Cassie Rangel of Twittering Bird and others who showed up to support her. Check out her prints, we've bought a few for the house and as gifts to others. The caterers showed up and got champagne and finger food ready, positioning themselves for easy access. When the doors opened there was a line waiting to get in, eventually the place was packed with curious, excited people.

I wanted to mention some of the other local artists that were featured during the opening:

Maple & Belmont

The Perch Shop

They plan on bringing more local talent to feature in the store and tonight (April 30, 2015) they'll be launching their West Elm Local initiative which is kind of a pop-up shop in the store featuring local art and products. Should be fun and I heard Handsome Biscuit is catering it! Check it out!

Cindee, Amy, Shelby and Cassie with Orson

Quick shout out to Anne Hazard from The Scout Guide and Amy Taylor of Lil' Milli Jayne, always good to see them out and about.

Check out the rest of the photos HERE.

O'Connoroo!

June 5, 2014

The new O'Connor Brewing Company facility is huge, especially compared to the old building the next street over. Standing on top of the roof you can see for miles over the low rooftops of the industrial area, past the neighborhoods and beyond. Taking in everything around the building, getting a bead on the location. What caught my interest was the old coffee roasting plant a couple blocks away. It used to house First Colony Coffee & Tea, the 109-year-old business closed it's doors in 2011. I asked brewer Skylar Sickles what he thought about the new place.

“I love it.” he said.

I stopped by O'Connor Brewing Co. to check out the new spot before the huge grand opening dubbed “O'Connoroo.” I was greeted by their marketing director, Hannah Serrano, who gave me a quick tour around the warehouse. She then handed me off to the brewers, James Moriarty, Brian Mandeville, and Skylar Sickles who were there getting the new tanks hooked-up. The 211 W. 24th Street location started out as a food processing plant, then furniture warehouse before being converted into a brewery. The wide, open space allowed O'Connor to triple the annual output to 15,000 barrels. The building houses a cooler and docking area too; this will allow them to produce and hold more beer in addition to convenient shipping. This all equals higher product output.

The extra space will allow the brewers to experiment with small batches. They've done this in the past, but they'll have more to share and they can test out barrel aging. Barrels are going to be brought in from distilleries in the surrounding area. The brewers said they're going to love the extra space and the large windows that line the brewery's walls can be opened to let air in. I remember spending a couple hours with the brewers in the old location a few years ago. It was summer and it was hot, damp—the new space will be a lot more comfortable. The old spot on 25th Street has been shuttered up and the tanks there will be going to Midnight Brewery outside of Richmond, another craft brewery that started in 2011.

Kevin O'Connor, said, “I just love the way the place looked, architecturally, and how the place felt.” I can understand the feeling. The space allows the brewery to add a lot more the O'Connor experience. There is a mezzanine “VIP” area above the taproom bar. The bar is housed in what was formerly a refrigeration area—you can still see the large doors that was used to access the units. Twenty-one taps will be behind the warmly lit, wood-worked and corked lined walls. For the curious, the cork walls are original to the building, insulation for refrigeration units. As I was leaving I couldn't wait see how this place would be put together in a week for O'Connoroo!

The weather was perfect. We showed up to O'Connoroo around 3:30 PM, this was the official grand opening of the new location. We missed the 2:00 PM kick-off—pipers, ribbon cutting and the small crowds. The place was packed already with lines for beer tickets winding out of the gate! The docking courtyard was lined with food trucks and pop-up restaurants. The trucks included Karnage Asada, CXB BBQ and Eats, Granby Street Hot Dogs; the pop-ups were from Waffletina, Belmont House of Smoke (the brisket was very good!), Cogan's Pizza, 80/20 Burger Bar and Colley Cantina. In the center were spots to hang out and play cornhole. Speaking of games, if you go inside, there is a gameroom. They still have their oversized Jenga from the old joint and there is a shuffleboard court to boot. More games will be added in the future.

A proper stage has been built in the brewery to host their weekly performers. The O'Connoroo had four bands to check-out: The Framers, DJP and MrT, The Dahus, Big Virginia Sky. Between the stage and taproom are long tables and a bar with stools that runs the length of the lined-up tanks. The seating allows patrons to check out the brewing area and equipment in addition to anyone on stage. We moved around the facility a bit and made our way up to the mezzanine. A smaller bar was up stairs to cater the VIP area. A good number of people from the area's craft beer scene were there to help celebrate O'Connor's big day.

Approximately there were 5,000-6,000 people who walked through the gates to attend O'Connoroo. This made for long lines for beer and the brewery posted an apology and promised to make good in futures events. They will definitely honor any beer tickets people held onto. So if you have some, don't throw them away! All the tickets O'Connor had available were sold by 8:15 PM that night. 42.5 barrels of beer was consumed, which roughly translates to over 10,500 pints poured! So much beer was pulled that the tasting room will only be open Friday and Saturday the week after O'Connoroo to allow them to refill the kegs.

Even though there were lines for drinks, everyone took it in stride. It was great seeing the community come out and support the area's spearhead unit into the craft beer scene. They've come a long way since opening in March 2010. Here's a little traditional Irish toast to close:

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, beer beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

I changed that a little bit, hope you don't mind. See all the photos from the event here.

(Special thanks to Michael Palfrey Jr., OBC Tasting Room Mgr., who let me ping him for information.)

Back Bay Brewing Co. Grand Opening

April 24, 2014

Back Bay Brewing Co. soft opening a few weeks back let everyone know—in a big way—they were setting up a permanent location in Virginia Beach. It was packed. There was a line out the door with people trickling in and out most of the night. Zeke's next door was open with a live art demonstration, good coffee and poke bowls, then there were several food trucks out back hooking up everyone with everything from fish tacos, BBQ, all the way to cupcakes.

I've been excited about the news coming from Back Bay ever since they chose Norfolk Ave. location for their operation and brought on local beer nerd Dan Yarnell as head brewer/COO. You can find Back Bay beer in the area restaurants and they have participated in both the Battle of the Beer events in Hampton Roads, but I realized I didn't know a whole lot about Back Bay Brewing Co. in general. I figured I'd send some questions to them, picking their brains for a little info.

I was answered by Josh Canada. He's a Beach local whose first job was at WRV back when it was on Norfolk Ave., right where Back Bay has settled-in. Only this was a few years back. He said building Back Bay in the same spot of where he first worked at 14 had historical significance. Not mentioning the location, sandwiched between a couple of popular eateries near the Beach. The popular Shadowlawn neighborhood will definitely have Back Bay on the radar as the local watering hole, they'll walk to the tasting room.

Back Bay Brewing Co. was founded in 2011 by a group of friends in Virginia Beach. Sitting in a duck blind, Josh Canada and Charlie Burroughs brainstormed ideas that might help them see their dreams of brewing beer a become a reality. They selected three more local friends—George Powell, Will Yearick, and Josh Malbon who all shared their love for the outdoors and beer. The five of them worked to put out their first beer, False Cape Ale.

In the early days they brewed where they could, eventually contracting with St. George Brewing Co. in Hampton. This is a common practice for small, start-up brewers; local, larger companies will share their facilities to help the little guy out. Back Bay's new facility will have their own tanks for brewing but the lagers will probably continue to be brewed in Hampton for now. Having the capability to brew on premises will allow them to experiment more with their recipes. They would like to poll Shadowlawn and the surrounding area to get a feel for the types of beers their neighbors would like to drink. Once they know what the people want, they plan to have it brewing within two weeks Josh said.

They want to keep things moving and be innovative with their product. Experimental brews like a Coffee Coconut Stout will be offered and most breweries offer seasonals that change with the weather. They currently offer their signature red ale, lager, pale ale, and a porter. Dan told me they're working on a German style beer that could be similar to a Helles. The facility has a gourmet beer permit which allows home brewers to brew small batches on-site. Back Bay can keg it for them too.

Back Bay Brewing Co.'s Grand Opening will be Saturday, April 26, 2014. The doors open at 1:00 and there will probably be a line to get into the tasting room. There is a 100 person capacity for the tasting room. From what I saw at the soft opening they'll have a good system in place to have the beer orders out of the tap and to the patron's hand in no time. Again, like the soft opening, there will be food trucks and even some live entertainment on site. There will be at least one new beer for everyone to try too. Don't miss it!

Young Veterans Brewing Co. Grand Opening

September 10, 2013

Young Veterans Brewing Company opened its doors to the public this past weekend. The turn out was great and the beer spectacular. The taps were all manned, offering a taste of what the area will be enjoying at their local bar or grocery.

Malbon’s was there with their truck selling tacos and BBQ, the line to get inside to order a beer snaked past it. People were chatting and excited about the new Virginia Beach brewery. The 1st place winner in both local Battle of the Beers “Jet Noise” was popular, as was the Pineapple Grenade, and Semper Fi.

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