The previous Bistro Bobette house has been vacant for almost three years. (Mike Platania picture)
A shuttered French bistro in Shockoe Slip is getting new life, due to a Northern Virginia vineyard.
Echelon Wine Bar is making ready to open within the former Bistro Bobette house at 1209 E. Cary St., its second location.
Behind Echelon are wife-and-husband group Aimee and Todd Henkle, who additionally personal The Vineyards & Vineyard at Misplaced Creek, in Leesburg.
In 2020, simply days earlier than pandemic lockdowns went into impact, the Henkles opened the primary Echelon in downtown Leesburg. Aimee Henkle stated they obtained the thought to open a satellite tv for pc restaurant from West Coast wineries.
“Once we’ve visited California, a number of wineries and vineyards are out fairly far, so they create in tasting rooms which might be nearer in and within the cities, to allow them to get extra guests uncovered to their wines,” she stated. “That’s the place the thought for Echelon began.”
Todd and Aimee Henkle (Courtesy Echelon Wine Bar)
Along with a whole lot of wines from Misplaced Creek and elsewhere, Echelon presents a rotating meals menu, typically with loads of tapas, salads, steaks and seafood dishes. Some choices embrace parmesan grits with brussel sprouts, lobster salad tacos and black garlic gnocchi.
Henkle stated the menu at Richmond’s Echelon will probably be equally structured.
“We’ll carry near 300 wines and have 30 wines by the glass,” she stated. “After which a small tapas menu. It received’t be the identical menu as Leesburg. We’re planning to design delicacies across the space we’re in. We like to make use of native produce as a lot as we will.”
Misplaced Creek opened in 2002 and the Henkles purchased it in 2012. Henkle stated they’d frequently go to Richmond for Virginia Wine occasions and different business commerce reveals, and that it was on one such journey that they determined to carry Echelon to Richmond.
“We occurred to be staying at The Berkeley Resort and walked to City Farmhouse to get espresso. That’s the place we sat and we stated, ‘We love this avenue, the cobblestones, the vibe and the texture of Richmond, the historical past of it,’” Henkle stated. “Once we put Echelon in (Leesburg), we knew we needed to do extra of them. It was a matter of the place the subsequent was.”
Over the summer season the Henkles leased the two,200-square-foot house that’s been vacant since Bistro Bobette closed in 2020 after a roughly eight-year run.
Henkle stated they’ve gutted the constructing and wish to have it rebuilt and able to open in spring 2023. Fultz & Singh Architects is designing the brand new house and M.L. Bell Development dealt with demolition of the Bistro Bobette house.
Echelon’s arrival will come months after one other wine bar closed its doorways in Richmond. Earlier this 12 months, Secco Wine Bar closed in the Fan after over 20 years in enterprise. The house owners of Italian restaurant Gersi recently opened a new eatery, Uliveto, in Secco’s previous house.
