Welcome to our food column, Corner Booth, where each month Layla Khoury-Hanold will guide us through what’s happening in Roanoke’s food scene. We’ll feature restaurant openings and closings, trends, changes in cuisine concepts or locations, a first-impression of a new eatery, and our Ask Layla section, where Rambler members can get their burning questions answered on the best places to eat or drink for any occasion. Simply leave a comment with your question or email us at editor@roanokerambler.com. Enjoy! 😋

Dorothy & Frank’s Opens for Lunch and Dinner

The wait is over: Dorothy & Frank’s is now open at 21 Church Avenue SW in downtown Roanoke. The dual-concept restaurant/bar is helmed by chef Nate Sloan (of bloom) and business partner Thomas Ceddia, a multi-hyphenate whose experience spans hospitality, music, marketing and photography. Dorothy, their first-floor concept, first opened for lunch on Feb. 10 with a menu of homey soups ($7 to $8.50), salads ($14.50 to $15.50, with optional protein add-ons ranging from $5 to $9), sandwiches ($13 to $16.50), kebabs ($15.50 to $19.50), and roasted chicken (a quarter bird is $15.50, half bird is $27.50; both come with sauce and a side). (For more on lunch, scroll down to my First Impressions review.)

The lofty space once housed Fallon Florist and the original flower counter now serves as Dorothy’s bar, outfitted with handsome vintage stools sourced from Black Dog Salvage. There are other repurposed fixtures and nods to Roanoke history throughout the space, including an upholstered and refinished local church pew that anchors one wall of seating, where Ceddia plans to hang an artful collage of hangings and photographs – perhaps including some of famous Dorothys throughout history. The walls are painted in shades of white and Parisian green, which, together with the mismatched black Thonet-style bistro chairs and retro wooden chairs, give the space a stylish flair. 

I imagine that the moody lighting will be particularly well suited to dinner service, which launched on Feb. 19. Ceddia says that the dinner menu reflects a modern way of dining, with mezze-style sharing plates – like broiled Virginia oysters with tarragon béchamel (3 for $11, 6 for $20), harissa halloumi with cauliflower ($16) and crispy tater tots dusted with za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend ($9), alongside approachable composed mains with cheffy touches, like grilled Stone in Chimneys trout with green chermoula, cashews, sumac and Carolina Gold rice, or Bistec, featuring steak paired with grilled onion relish, schmaltz potatoes and aerated béarnaise (Sirloin is $48, butcher’s cut is market price).

Frank’s, the upstairs listening bar with a late-night menu, is slated to open later this spring. 

Bent Mountain Winery Debuts at Area Wine Shops and Restaurants

Tom Larochelle and his wife, Christina, first imagined operating a winery as a future retirement project; but the opportunity to lease an existing vineyard in 2023 and transform an old produce market into Bent Mountain Winery was too good to pass up. After spending the first year completing recovery work on the vines and putting in a lot of maintenance hours, including help from Christina’s brother, William Eich, the pair bottled their first batch of white wines last fall. 

The vineyard was originally planted by Russ AmRhein of the former AmRhein Winery, though cultivating it stopped a year or two before the Larochelles took over the lease, held by a local Franklin County family. Tom says that initially, most of the white grapes – Traminette, Petit Manseng, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat – were too far gone, so it was a small harvest. Thanks to last year’s harvest, this year’s bottling will be more robust, including two styles of Sauvignon Blanc, one New Zealand-style, grassy with notes of grapefruit and lime, and a more structured French-style one. On the reds’ side, the Larochelles currently grow Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Aglianico, a varietal from south Italy that Tom describes as having the structure of Pinot Noir and the peppery, spicy notes of Malbec. 

In February, Bent Mountain Winery began distributing its wines locally; look for bottles on the shelves at Roanoke shops Wine Gourmet and The Jolly Grape, and on the menu at Treehouse Tavern in Bent Mountain. The pair hope to open a tasting room soon, though they’re still deciding if they will have regular business hours or operate monthly events open to the public or wine club-exclusive events. To join the wine club or purchase bottles directly from Bent Mountain Winery (9513 Bent Mountain Road), email Christina@BentMtn.com.

Spring Seed Swap Event at Blindhouse Beer on March 14

Mark your calendars for a free community seed exchange event on March 14 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Blindhouse Beer (534 Salem Ave SW, Roanoke). 

The event is organized by local Roanoke artist and farmer DeHanza Kwong; the seed swap is a natural extension of her monthly Drink & Draw events (held at Blindhouse Beer from November to February), which seeks to provide a safe, nonjudgmental community space and art supplies for drawing, and to showcase a local nonprofit, which has included Southwest Virginia Wildlife Association, Ladies and Gents of the Blue Ridge Transgender Alliance and Saint Francis Service Dogs. A portion of the evening’s beer sales benefit the featured nonprofit, and representatives are also invited to attend, talk about their organization and bring representatives to inspire attendees’ drawings (like portraits of drag queens or guide dogs, for example).

“We've had incredible success so far,” Kwong says. “People of all skill levels show up, connect with their neighbors, learn about important local causes and discover their creative side in the process.”

Last year, Kwong, who operates Bird ‘n’ Farm in Bent Mountain with her partner, hosted a seed swap as part of a Drink & Draw event in partnership with LEAP. She noted that folks seemed most interested in exchanging seeds and learning about gardening, so this year’s event won’t include a nonprofit beneficiary or drawing focus. Bringing seeds to swap is optional; free seeds will be offered by Wild Ones Roanoke Region Chapter, which specializes in native plants, and the Salem Public Library’s free seed library. “I used to manage a seed library as a reference library,” Kwong says. “It can be a lot of money for an upstart [garden]; if people get free seeds and information, it may give them the courage to start.”

First Impressions: Dorothy & Frank’s

On a damp, rainy Thursday in February I dropped in for lunch at Dorothy (the first-floor restaurant of Dorothy & Frank’s), the new downtown Roanoke restaurant from chef Nate Sloan (of bloom) and business partner Thomas Ceddia. A bowl of comforting chicken and dumpling soup, fragrant with dill and brimming with tender pieces of chicken and tender matzo ball dumplings, evoked the kind of culinary nostalgia that the pair are aiming to capture with their eclectic menu. On paper, it seems like standard lunch fare: soups, sandwiches and salads, but there are nods to culinary traditions ranging from Jewish to Middle Eastern to New York deli culture. 

Among my favorite dishes were the arugula and fried artichoke salad, with the warm, golden-crisp artichokes contrasting nicely with the cool greens, punched up with slivered curls of citrus peel and thinly sliced red onions, all dressed in a creamy Caesar-esque dressing ($14.50; Sloan recommends adding grilled shrimp, $8). The hot coppa (one of Ceddia’s favorites, $15.50) was another highlight, a flavor bomb sandwich starring sliced roasted pork shoulder with mozzarella, a duo of a peppery arugula and nicely bitter radicchio, all piled onto Breadcraft focaccia slicked with sundried tomato-'nduja and honey-aïoli. I could put Sloan’s red pepper-based, savory yet bright chimichurri rojo on everything, but per my amiable server’s suggestion, it was indeed delicious with the roasted chicken (I ordered the quarter-bird, which comes with a drumstick and thigh; $15.50).

I’m eager to return for dinner to sample the trout and steak dishes I mentioned previously, and to see how some of the lunch staples take on new forms as mezze and composed entrees; for example, the house-made falafel sheds its pita and is plated with green goddess-pea hummus, sheep’s milk feta and sumac pickles, and the roasted chicken, accompanied by schmaltz potatoes (roasted in chicken fat), comes as a breast ($23) or half bird ($32). I’d also like to dine at the bar, which has its own vibe, perhaps for a solo lunch or early evening cocktails and small plates. Overall, the Dorothy’s part of the restaurant is a welcome addition to downtown Roanoke’s dining scene, with intentionally crafted dishes rooted in local food, served with a hearty helping of warm hospitality. 

Ask Layla: Where to Eat

“My girlfriend and I have recently gotten a little obsessed with making our own grits. Where can we find legit grits in Roanoke?” –Jay W., Roanoke

I love this question because I think it reflects that more people are cooking at home rather than dining out, though you’ll see suggestions for where to find some of these grits on area restaurant menus. First, I’ll make some assumptions: that by legit grits you mean stone-ground grits, and that you would likely delight in experimenting with cooking heirloom varietals. 

For restaurant-worthy grits, seek out Gracious Grains, a small-batch, Check-based artisanal milling operation helmed by Thomas Maxey; the yellow grits are milled from an heirloom corn varietal called Wapsie Valley, which he says is a cross between Yellow Boy native and Reids #4. He currently supplies grits to Roanoke restaurants such as River and Rail, Crystal Spring Grocery, Lucky and Fortunato, and Brood in Salem; the grits and cornmeal are also sold at the Floyd Country Store.

Flour to the People, out of Floyd, mills white and yellow corn grits; they typically sell at the Grandin Village Farmers Market, and Basil’s Farm Market & Gifts hopes to restock their shelves with the heirloom grits soon. Deep Roots Milling, a multi-generational family-run operation based in Roseland, sells its heirloom white and yellow corn grits online and at the LEAP Community Store in Roanoke.

From further afield, Marsh Hen Mill, a company in Edisto Island, S.C., that specializes in heirloom grains and stoneground milling, currently sell their grits at Earth Fare. I’m intrigued to try their heirloom Unicorn Grits, a naturally pink-tinted varietal which they describe as balanced and bright, with a sweet creaminess, gentle toastiness and soft buttered-corn character that lends itself to savory and sweet dishes.