by Laura Greenleaf, photos by Molly McDonald Peterson
No one can accuse Richmond’s Broad Street of putting on airs, but nine years ago it was an even more unlikely choice for a new restaurant. Fortunately, the banker across the desk from the would-be restaurateurs Jason Alley and Chris Chandler remembered the street’s prosperous days, before Richmonders deserted its iconic department stores for suburban malls. Alley, now the chef of Comfort, recalls telling the suit: “’We want a bunch of money to make meatloaf on a desolate corner of Broad Street on the edge of Jackson Ward’ but he got it.”
Since then Comfort’s banana pudding has become the stuff of legend. Its side dishes are entrée-worthy, and at its popular bar Pabst Blue Ribbon keeps company with Chimay on tap, alongside scores of American bourbons and whiskeys (including Virginia natives). Alley and Chandler’s gamble has become the city’s tried and true place where regulars bring out-of-town guests to introduce them to Southern cuisine.
Back to Basics
Jason Alley was cooking at an age when most kids aren’t yet tying their own shoes. Home was southwestern Virginia, in the towns of Dublin and later Pulaski, and times were mostly tough. He whipped up his first batch of scrambled eggs in bacon grease, a staple occasionally displaced by the rare luxury of butter. His grandparents’ garden (and his granny’s canning) provided for the family year round. Apples from their backyard trees along with potatoes and onions were kept in a root cellar through the winter. On Sundays, “there was always a big sit-down supper and there was always family.”
Alley’s culinary career would take him from a Harrisonburg country club to a sous chef position in Champagne, Ill., and then to Atlanta where he earned his executive chef wings while cooking at 1848 House, Blue Ridge Grill, and ENO. Then he and his wife headed back home to Virginia, where he met Chris Chandler at Richmond’s Europa Café and Tapas Bar down the hill in Shockoe Bottom.
When it came time to open his own restaurant, Alley returned to his roots — building Comfort’s reputation on technique and flavor, not “more squiggles of goo.” The Southern food Alley specializes in is “arguably one of the only indigenous American cuisines…it deserves a great deal of respect,” he says. For Alley and Chandler this has always meant cooking the freshest, best-tasting food available from farms and ranches in central Virginia whenever possible, and rarely loking beyond the Chesapeake Bay watershed when not.
Balancing Act
Alley explains that their goal — “to do as much seasonal, local as we can and still keep the business as fiscally healthy as we can”— means keeping their customers in fried green tomatoes year round. But “in summertime, when Hanover is in full bloom, our produce companies take a hell of a hit.”
It all plays out on a menu built on the Southern “meat and three” standard (with a lower priced two-side option) that features both reliable standards like roasted chicken and pork tenderloin and a rotating roster of what strikes the chef’s fancy. A recent menu featured rabbit, top sirloin, and tile fish.
To balance seasonal and local with the demands of the customer, Comfort relies on suppliers of all sizes. Winter menus were heavy on sweet potatoes, winter squash, and dried beans (including the “October beans,” or pintos, that Alley used to pick in his grandmother’s garden), but he still delivers the green beans many customers expect. Those attempts are not always successful, he said, noting one customer furious to learn there was no squash to be had during last winter’s brutal weather.
Volume poses challenges: local products are often reserved for sauces, condiments, and relishes rather than the big sides (Alley and assistant chefs Troy Dewees and Sergio Gomez braise six to nine bushels of swiss chard and mustard and turnip greens every week). Lexington’s Buffalo Creek Beef is destined for lunch’s hamburgers but not dinner’s meatloaf. Dominion Harvest, Pat Boyle of Hanover County, and impromptu summer surpluses are primary sources of fresh produce.
Cornmeal, flour, and stone ground grits all come from Byrd Mill up the road in Ashland. If you like your brunch heavy on the ham, sausage, and bacon, thank S. Wallace Edwards and Sons of Surry. Strawberries bound for Comfort are ripening in the fields at Surry’s College Run Farms, also its source for sweet corn and pumpkins. Bearer Farms in Goochland County is now providing honey, and a Comfort bartender’s family farm, Smith Brothers, supplies the restaurant with lamb. Alley also credits Gryffon’s Aerie, Jamerson Rabbit Farm, and Caromont Farm for the raw materials of his craft.
This patchwork style of sourcing adds up to “a lot of paperwork,” acknowledges Chris Chandler, “but it’s worth it.”
Around the Corner
A second Comfort in Portsmouth was no match for the recession that followed immediately on its heels; it closed in 2009. Alley and Chandler regrouped for something a little different and a lot closer to home. Pasture, their new venture, soon will open in a former women’s clothing store on East Grace Street. Alley describes its offerings as “southern small plates with a French slant.”
That nod to the Continent may surprise some, but Alley’s palate is a little unpredictable.
“I’d probably get my Southern membership card revoked by saying this,” chuckles Alley, “but I don’t really care for catfish.”
Comfort
200 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220
804-780-0004
comfortrestaurant.com
Laura Greenleaf is a Virginia Master Naturalist and freelance writer. She lives in Richmond’s Bellevue neighborhood with her husband and young son.
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Comfort’s Fried Green Tomatoes with Cajun Remoulade (Serves 4)
4 very green tomatoes
2 cups yellow cornmeal
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
2 cups buttermilk
3 whole eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup Creole or other grainy mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 ribs of celery, minced
2-3 shallots, minced
1 lemon, juiced
Vegetable oil for frying
Hot sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
For the remoulade:
Combine mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, celery, shallot, and lemon juice. Season as desired with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Chill and reserve until serving.
For the green tomatoes:
Combine cornmeal, flour, Old Bay, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Whisk together the buttermilk and egg, until well blended. Slice tomatoes into ½ to ¾ inch disks. Place the slices into buttermilk wash, then into dry breading, pressing firmly to ensure even coating. Heat vegetable oil to 360 to 370 degrees. One at a time, gently place tomatoes in oil and deep fry until golden and crispy. When finished, drain thoroughly on paper towels. Serve with remoulade.
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