Sunday, January 07, 2007
Capt'N Paul's has new name
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
Recent stories
Dining news is on the menu lately in the Roanoke Valley retail scene.
The former Capt'N Paul's Seafood off Colonial Avenue in Roanoke has been transformed. Customers open the doors to the logo of The Seafood Co. sketched onto a shiny floor. The space at 2626 Broadway Ave. has become an order-out and sit-down dining establishment, with black booths and small round tables on one side and a deli area serving fresh seafood on the other.
On the restaurant's menu you'll find various seafood entrees, such as spicy Thai shrimp and mussels and Chilean sea bass, both for $16.95. They're popular because of a blend of hot and sweet tastes, according to sous chef William Popchak.
There's also fried shrimp for $8.95 and fried calamari for $7.95. Soups include crab bisque and island seafood chowder.
Steve Van Metre, who formerly owned Angler's Cafe in downtown Roanoke, is owner of The Seafood Co., along with, Frank Guilfoyle, who also operates Heavenly Ham next door.
Krystal
A Krystal fast food eatery in Salem is set to open Jan. 29. Construction on the 16,000-square-foot restaurant has begun, and the finishing touches, including training employees, will happen in the last two weeks of this month, said Rich Pappas of Radford, owner of the new Krystal. It's going up on Wildwood Road, near Interstate 81.
Krystal restaurants are known for frying up square hamburgers. The nearest Krystal is located in Bristol, Va., and the company is based in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Taaza Indian Cuisine
The Roanoke Valley's Indian food choices are expanding.
Taaza Indian Cuisine opened in November in Roanoke, off Franklin Road at 117 Duke of Gloucester St. at the former location for D.J.'s Brasserie restaurant.
The general manager at Taaza, Naveen Reddy, said many of the restaurant's entrees are made with Southern Indian style spices. The menu includes some dishes with an Indo-Chinese fusion, such as chicken with cashew nuts. Two popular Indian dishes, according to Reddy, are kashmiri lamb with apricot for $15, and a dessert, orange kulfi, for $6.
The eatery serves lunch and dinner, including a lunch buffet seven days a week.
Howard's Soup Kitchen
Howard's Soup Kitchen in downtown Roanoke has closed, and according to a local commercial real estate firm, a new restaurant may reopen in its Church Avenue space.
Brothers Eddy and Jerry Howard, owners of the popular lunch restaurant that served up 10 different kinds of soup, sold the building at 24 W. Church Ave. for $490,000, according to Michael Waldvogel of Waldvogel Commercial Properties, which marketed and handled the building's sale.
The Howards opened the restaurant in 1979 in downtown Roanoke, and it moved to the Church Avenue spot in 1992. The restaurant closed in 2003, but it reopened in 2005. Eddy Howard did not return a call about whether the soup kitchen would move to another location.
Waldvogel also did not have information about the new eatery that might open on Church Avenue.
Kneadful Things
Another Roanoke lunch restaurant will shut down in January.
Kneadful Things opened at 1910 Memorial Ave. in the Grandin Village area five years ago, but its owner, Alexis Hinchey, said she's planning to close it. The cozy and eclectic shop serves up lunches and baked goods and also sells gift items. Hinchey was reluctant to discuss the reasons that she is closing the shop, but she mentioned that she needed a larger regular customer base, not only those who order baked goods during the holidays.
All items in her store are marked down by 40 percent, and Hinchey said she may discount items even more, except for consignment merchandise, as the store nears closing time.
"It's time for a change," she said.
She has taken a job as a chef at a new restaurant that is opening in the spot of the former Ye Olde English Inn on Bent Mountain Road in Roanoke County. It will be called Back Creek Grill.
