Plate & Goblet: Virtual food hall, new seafood restaurant, ice cream and dumplings

ChefSuite, a full-service commercial cooking facility and fast-casual food hall, opened its flagship location March 15.

Located at 4711 West Broad Street, between Willow Lawn and Scott's Addition, ChefSuite has 16 rentable kitchen suites. The former TitleMax building has been fully renovated and suites can serve as ghost kitchens for first-time restaurateurs, food truck operators, caterers and more.

For the initial launch, ChefSuite offers three restaurant concepts: On a Roll Italian Subs, Latin Quarter Kitchen, and A Pinch of Sugar. Orders can be placed through DoorDash and other apps for delivery, or customers can use the on-site kiosk. (Dining in is not an option.)

On opening day I took a stab at the kiosk, and found it remarkably easy to use; even technophobic senior citizens can figure it out. I ordered a bowl and side dishes from Latin Quarter and would return for the yucca side dish alone. Served with a house-made creamy cilantro sauce, it was a satisfying snack that could almost stand alone as a meal.

More restaurant concepts will be added in the months to come, beefing up the choices at the virtual food hall and providing options for Midtown-area workers with varied tastes – or hungry passers-by who can't make up their minds and just want to "sample." Check it out at chefsuite.com.

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The new seafood restaurant in the former Billy Pie space at Patterson and Three Chopt is now open. Owned by the same culinary team that has made Church Hill's Alewife a perennial award-winner, Odyssey primarily offers seafood from sustainable sources, but also features N.Y. strip and a dry-aged pork chop – not to mention a unique menu item that is already winning raves: a half-dozen dinner rolls. The Parkerhouse-style rolls come with smoked trout roe, yuzu jam (an Asian citrus fruit), and sour butter.

Odyssey's website notes that pizza will be added to the menu soon. Until the restaurant is fully staffed, Odyssey will be open Thursdays through Sundays.

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Blue Cow Ice Cream also opened recently in Greengate Shopping Center, with a free-scoops giveaway on March 24.

The Short Pump location is the second in Henrico for the Roanoke-based chain, which opened at Village Shopping Center shop in August.

Among the popular flavors at Blue Cow are classics such as Cookies & Cream, Birthday Cake, and Chocolate Brownie – but unique flavor combos like Blue Cow Patty and Goat Cheese with Blueberry Swirl also have a following.

Blue Cow's owners like to partner with local coffee roasters in each market and have teamed with Ironclad Coffee for its Richmond locations. Both the Village and Greengate sites offer coffee-flavored ice cream: Ironclad Coffee with Bittersweet Chocolate Chips.

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Speaking of Ironclad Coffee, the local coffee house has also partnered with airport food service manager Delaware North to bring its product to Richmond International Airport. Three new outlets – a pre-security cafe and sites in both A and B concourses – are now located in former Caribou Coffee spaces.

The award-winning coffee roasters opened their first café in Shockoe Bottom in 2018, and followed it with a western Henrico café in John Rolfe Commons last year. In a press release, Ironclad owner Ryan O'Rourke pointed out that Ironclad's batch brew, or drip coffee, is known as JetBrew – an especially fitting name for the airport site.

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A number of Henrico County establishments earned shout-outs from a Richmond Times-Dispatch food writer for their Irish fare in the run-up to St. Patrick's Day, including fish and chips at Thai Won On (mentioned in the November 2022 Plate & Goblet), and Irish Guinness gingerbread and Guinness and chocolate porter cake at Two and a Half Irishmen (mentioned in the April 2022 edition).

At Park Lane Tavern, located in the West Broad Village space formerly occupied Keagan's, the menu highlighted bangers and mash, a corned beef sandwich and a corned beef burger. But what intrigued me on my recent visit to Park Lane Tavern was the Wednesday evening special, a "Wednesday Wellington" for $20. It looked really tempting, and if I hadn't already been halfway out the door when I spotted it, I would've grabbed one to go. Next time!

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Hamid Noori, owner of Mantu Market on West Broad Street (and his original restaurant, The Mantu in Carytown) was the featured speaker at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Lenten Luncheon March 22.

Noori has been mentioned before in this space (June 2022), but his story bears repeating. At the St. Paul's event, he was interviewed by the Rev. Dr. Charles Dupree about his early years and his culinary career, which he began in his native Afghanistan at age 18.

Noori described a childhood marked by scarcity and a struggle to survive. Some days, he said, his mother gathered potato skins from various restaurants and seasoned them with salt and pepper – and that served as their dinner.

"It was my dream," he said, "to one day have a full meal in me."

Now an established restaurant owner, Food Network contestant, and subject of a New York Times story about his efforts to feed refugees, Noori says that he is at his most peaceful when serving others; he grows restless and cannot sleep when he is idle.

"Other restaurant owners count their money," he said. "I count how many people I serve."

Asked to name his most special menu item, he finally admitted that if he had to choose a favorite, it would be his signature dumplings. Famed for their flavor, the dumplings are also the restaurant's namesake.

As Noori explained to Dupree, "mantu'' has a double meaning. Not only is it the word for "dumpling" in Afghanistan, but it is a combination of the word for "me" and "you."

Noori also pointed out that he learned early to roll dumplings into the shape of roses, or blossoms – which is why the Mantu logo features a rose.