Lynchburg’s First Latin Café

Recently opened El Mariachi Café and the adjacent El Mariachi Restaurant provide downtown Lynchburg residents with a taste of Latin American culture through stellar beverage offerings as well as authentic Latin cuisine. 

For cousins and El Mariachi owners Daniel Sanchez and L.J. Pumagualle, the restaurant business has been a longtime family affair. The duo’s family opened its first El Mariachi restaurant in 2008 in Amherst County before starting a second 10 years later in Lovingston, Virginia. In August, Sanchez and Pumagualle decided to open a branch of their own, but this time with the addition of a café.

El Mariachi Café, the first Latin American café in Lynchburg as well as the first café for the El Mariachi brand, offers a robust selection of caffeinated beverages and desserts to customers. 

“We live in a diverse world, so it’s nice to have something for each area,” said Pumagualle, who is Ecuadorian. “Lynchburg didn’t have a Latin café, so we are pushing Honduran coffee, Guatemalan coffee, we want to start pushing Ecuadorian coffee, and Mexican bread and food. The Latin style is very important to me because you can do so much with it.”

While the restaurant provides patrons with a wide selection of lunch and dinner items, as well as a fully stocked bar, the café provides a more laid-back atmosphere for customers as well as includes breakfast options that aren’t available at the restaurant. It also offers specialty drinks that combine coffee with staple Latin favorites such as “horchatte” (horchata and latte combination) and a churro affogato.

Through these offerings, the business looks to share its passion for Latin culture with residents of Central Virginia as well as anyone else passing through the area. 

“I’m Mexican and I’ve kind of been disconnected from my heritage for a lot of different reasons, but this has been a way for me to connect back with my heritage through something I love, which is coffee,” manager Jeremy Angione said. “Not only are you getting the influence through the food and the aesthetics, but you’re also getting it through the people.”

As the café begins to grow and find its niche in the downtown scene, it will continue to evolve as it seeks to best serve its customers. Yet, its focus on authentic Latin cuisine will not change.

“We’re a people with a rich heritage that we like to pull from, with fresh ingredients,” Angione said. “We want to be seen as something more than just a theme or a character in a restaurant. We want to be seen as a people with a rich and diverse culture that we want to share with the people of Lynchburg and Virginia overall.”  

El Mariachi Café and El Mariachi Restaurant are located at 1001 Jefferson St., Lynchburg, VA, and customers can also visit the business’ website at www.elmariachimexfood.com.

Fleming Mountain Grill breathes new life into an iconic space

It isn’t a surprise that when the name “Mitchell” is used in conversation within the Hill City, it is most often answered with one question, “As in Mitchell’s Grocery?” 

With the opening of the beloved location’s doors in 1949 came residents from all across town to fuel their tanks, catch up with a friend, or grab some of Mitchell’s famous fried chicken. From their warm atmosphere to their warm meals, the spot became a home for any and all. 

The grocery stood firmly at 1060 Lee Jackson Hwy. for sixty-five years until the closing of its doors in 2014. Today, most Lynchburg locals still recall both the authentic fried chicken and friendship that came from within Mitchell’s Grocery walls; a place that offered up much more than just a meal to anyone who went there for gas or grub. As of January 2023, however, the place has been made anew. Today, sitting within Mitchell’s Grocery Store’s footprint is Fleming Mountain Grill—a revamped version of the old, treasured space, now serving hospitality, smiles, and the best ribeye in town. 

This chapter of the story began years ago after the Mitchell’s Grocery chapter came to an end. Somewhere in Wilson, North Carolina sat Roger Keeling, a baseball coach who had stumbled into a run-down steakhouse in a cinder block building. Despite the appearance of the restaurant, the food was impeccable. So impeccable that Keeling, upon returning to his home in Lynchburg, thought,
“We need something like that in Lynchburg.” Going back to the Wilson spot soon after, Roger knew. “The old Mitchell’s Store,” he said to his wife, Carolyn. “That’s where we need to put a steakhouse.” 

After deciding to make those thoughts a reality, the Keelings knew they couldn’t be the sole operators. Enter Kevin Smith, an experienced butcher who was told of the idea and posed the question, “Are you interested?” He visited that same place in Wilson that sparked Roger’s vision and replied, “Yeah, I like it.”

The Keelings’ dream soon transpired from an idea, to purchasing the old Mitchell’s Grocery building in April of 2022, to finally turning it into the restaurant they imagined. With Roger’s background in construction, Carolyn’s superior design eye, and Kevin’s knack for “physically destroying things,” as Roger jokes, the process took from the end of May 2022 to the end of December 2022, about 8 months. 

Throughout the renovation, they strove to bring a new look while keeping the roots of the old grocery there. 

“Mitchell’s was such a centerpiece of our community,” Keeling noted. “We wanted to build around some of the existing building—to create a space where people would walk in the doors and feel like they were home.”

“Country elegance,” Keeling deemed the atmosphere of the space. “It’s meant to feel like you’re just outside of the city and heading into the mountains, like you’re sitting in our living room, having dinner.” 

Due to Smith’s familiarity with meat and the Keelings’ previous ownerships of two restaurants outside of Virginia, the owners knew their place would be a steakhouse. But when the future opening of Fleming Mountain Grill was announced, there was one question on everyone’s mind: “Is Mitchell’s fried chicken coming back?”

The owners got connected with Kay Mitchell, the last owner of the store. 

“We brought Kay on as a small partner to ensure we got the old chicken right,” Roger Keeling explained. 

“It’s the real deal!” Smith chimed in with agreement. “There would be no way to do fried chicken without it being Mitchell’s.” 

The original fried chicken isn’t the only staple on the Fleming Mountain Grill menu, however. They specialize in high-end meats across the menu, including rib eyes, tenderloins, and filets. Table cut by Smith himself upon ordering, the popular 1920 rib eye from Greater Omaha Packing Company is one of the top signature meals at the restaurant. 

“It’s a very high-end steak,” noted Smith. He tells customers who order it, “The royal family of Dubai gets their meat from Greater Omaha Packing Company, so here, you’re eating like royalty.”

The excellence of Fleming Mountain Grill doesn’t stop with their menu, either. 

“When people come in, we have a beautiful live edge bar,” Smith stated. “No one else in the Lynchburg area has that.” 

Behind the bar is Mixologist and Bar Manager Michelle Simmons, who has been in the community for twenty years and excels in making craft cocktails. 

Keeling and Smith emphasize how important each of their customers’ experiences at Fleming Mountain Grill is to them, and they aren’t shy to give credit to each of their thirty-two employees. They think all of their staff members are “in the right seat on their bus”; everyone is vital to the success of the restaurant. 

Most of the staff is handpicked, for that matter. Keeling and Smith sang the praises of their team members, including Alice Ritchey and Tommaso “Tommy” Crouse, employees who have been in the service industry for years. The younger servers just starting out are equally important to the operation as well. Keeling and Smith emphasize how they are constantly working with and investing in the next generation. 

Smith voiced that the restaurant is always progressing, and that clearly is rooted in the passion exuding from all parts of the operation: from behind the bar to front of house, from steaks to cocktails, from the staff to the owners. 

“We’re barely eight weeks old [at the time of this writing], but we’re always learning and evolving,” said Keeling. “Our goal is to get better every day. We know we will occasionally mess up, but we want to strive to get better and better, so we become a long term staple in this community.”

Fleming Mountain Grill is the perfect blend of old and new, a mixture of nostalgia and novelty. It serves as a fresh breath of air and a commitment to the community that even when one door closes, another one opens—and sometimes, it’s a familiar door that calls you back home.  

A cozy cafe inspired by a beloved children’s book

Deep within a whimsical bookstore, and among the pages of an old children’s book, lives a stuffed bear named Corduroy. The little Corduroy bear was the inspiration for Lynchburg’s latest cafe, of the same name, nestled in the back of Givens Books and Little Dickens.

Longtime patrons will remember the Drowsy Poet in that space. After the owners of the Drowsy Poet retired, Givens approached Jordan and Holly Nickerson—owners of Rookie’s and Bacon St. Bagels—to fill the space.

“The idea was initially for another Bacon St. Bagels. I didn’t think Bacon St. made sense for the space,” Creative Director Holly Nickerson said.

Before Corduroy the bear, friend and manager at Bacon St. Bagels Court Smith served as the initial inspiration for Corduroy Coffee + Kitchen.

“I got involved with these guys at Bacon St. The coffee scene has always been something that I’ve really dreamed about. I got into coffee when I was in college,” Smith said.

Smith’s love for coffee and his aptitude for leadership helped to define what would eventually become Corduroy. Not only was Smith made general manager of the cafe, but he was also brought on as part owner.

“We really want to invest in our people. We want to leave them better than we found them. That was why, when this opportunity presented itself, my first thought was for Court,” Corduroy Regional Lead Jordan Hawkins said.

Hawkins acts as the creative force behind the kitchen aspect of Corduroy. With an offering of familiar and unique dishes, Hawkins feels Corduroy’s menu sets them apart from most cafes in the area.

Although Rookie’s and Bacon St. have proven to be successful, Hawkins felt that their concepts called for a more limited menu.

“What was exciting about Corduroy was the opportunity to have a little more creative freedom to do what we wanted to do with the menu,” Hawkins said.

Before the coffee and food were implemented, Holly designed the cafe with the existing space in mind.

“There’s this added element of everything that Givens and Little Dickens contributes to this space,” Holly said.

Corduroy recently added a unique snack menu for afternoons and evenings and hopes to add wine soon as well.

The design is purposeful and evocative. Deep greens and stark whites adorn the space, and the added lighting keeps the space vibrant without interrupting the cozy atmosphere of the book shop. The seating is soft corduroy, and even the wood paneling at the front counter evokes the gentle ridges of the fabric.

“There’s a lot of DIY stuff on this project,” Holly said.

“I’ve loved working on the space and making it look like a fresh cafe in Lynchburg.”

Having just opened in November of 2022, the Corduroy team is excited to expand and serve the community they already have established.  

At A Glance:

Corduroy Coffee + Kitchen
Located in Givens Books & Little Dickens
2236 Lakeside Drive, Lynchburg VA 24501
(434) 385-5027 • corduroycoffeekitchen.com

Brings New Take on Lynchburg’s La Carreta

While Lynchburg locals may be quick to recognize city staple restaurant La Carreta, residents of central Virginia may not be as familiar with Papa Gallo, the newest offshoot of La Carreta located in River Ridge Mall. 

Started by co-owner Jesus Roberto Arellano, Papa Gallo aims to provide many of the same favorites as La Carreta, but with a slightly different presentation. Instead of a full menu found at a typical La Carreta restaurant, Papa Gallo chose to further perfect its commodities.

“We’re still La Carreta,” said Arellano. “We want to bring in the good that La Carreta has to offer—customer service, the great food. We tweaked a few things and added a few more and it’s turned out great.”

Even though Papa Gallo attempts to distinguish itself slightly from La Carreta, it remains close due to family ties. Part of the reason for this is the shared ownership, with Arellano’s father being one of the owners of La Carreta. Arellano’s cousin, Venessa Gomez, also plays a large role in the food and bar menu.

“It’s very meticulous. A lot of thought has gone into every little thing that we have on our menu. We took no shortcuts,” Arellano said.

As diners enter the restaurant, they are quickly greeted with lively music and authentic Mexican decorations. In order to bring as much authenticity as possible to his new restaurant, Arellano said that he took several trips to Mexico and drew inspiration from eateries and cafes in Guadalajara, Mexico, resorts in the Riviera Maya, and from movies such as Disney’s Coco.

Due to the large number of different aspects at play in creating a restaurant, it may be easy to become overwhelmed or to make mistakes, but Arellano emphasized the importance of striving for perfection.

“It wasn’t ‘go and get everything at once.’ It was literally ‘take your time and do things right,’” Arellano said. 

Customers can find out more about Papa Gallo by visiting the restaurant’s website (papagallova.com) as well as the restaurant’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Arellano also owns Bandidos Tacos and Cantina, located in Farmville, Virginia.   

At a Glance:

Papa Gallo
Located in River Ridge Mall
3405 Candlers Mountain Road, Suite A-33, Lynchburg, VA 24502
(434) 219-5820 • papagallova.com

Sweet Poppa’s Serves Up Southern Sweet Tea with a Hint of History

For the average Lynchburg Community Market visitor, Sweet Poppa’s Sweet Tea may seem to be just another local business (with some of the best sweet tea you’ll ever taste). For co-owner Ericka Ennis-Harris, however, it holds additional significance: furthering her father’s legacy.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Ennis-Harris held a strong bond with her father, David Ennis. As she reflects on her childhood, one fond memory she has is her father’s incredible sweet tea (a recipe that Ennis kept tightly guarded). “‘If I tell you [the recipe], I’ve got to kill you,’” Ennis-Harris said her father would jokingly tell her when she was younger.

Ennis-Harris did not learn the recipe herself until later in life from her stepmother after her father’s death. Since then, Ennis-Harris has perfected the recipe by adding fruit flavors to the original concoction. These flavors include peach, lemon (sweet or unsweet), raspberry, cherry, and mango—all of which are deliciously sweet, with a bright, fruity finish.

Prior to opening Sweet Poppa’s Sweet Tea, Ennis-Harris was hired as the director of security for River Ridge Mall. After an unforeseen disability, Ennis-Harris found herself in need of a new career. The solution arose when her children suggested she sell her sweet tea.

Harkening back to her father as inspiration for Sweet Poppa’s, Ennis-Harris takes a family-oriented approach in running the business. Ennis-Harris’ sister, Mariann Clark, co-owns Sweet Poppa’s, and her children work for the business.

While Ennis-Harris recognizes the importance of fiscal responsibility in maintaining a thriving company, she also acknowledges that money is not the sole purpose of her business. She emphasizes serving others and demonstrates this by donating any leftover tea to the Salvation Army.

“I still feel that community is important, and that God leads me to give back to those who need it,” Ennis-Harris said. “So, that’s why I donate to the Salvation Army. Every week, they expect it.”

In order to broaden her clientele, Ennis-Harris offers shipping options for those in Lynchburg as well as out-of-state. As an added incentive to purchase her products, Ennis-Harris often pays for overnight shipping out of pocket.

At a Glance:
Sweet Poppa’s Sweet Tea
Customers can find Sweet Poppa’s by visiting their booth at the Lynchburg Community Market, or they can contact Ennis-Harris via email: sweetpoppas@gmail.com
and phone: (434) 329-2812.

In early January, the city’s newest Asian eatery opened on the newly revamped Main Street in downtown Lynchburg. Located under one roof is Japanese fusion restaurant Mizumi Japanese Bistro and local boba tea staple Moon Tea of Lynchburg, which debuted as a food truck in July 2021.

“As Moon Tea got famous, we needed a local location or building,” Manager David Kang said. “So, we decided to combine the two restaurants together.”

According Kang, they purchased the Main Street property in October 2021 and renovated the building over a two-month span. When deciding what to name the restaurant that would accompany Moon Tea, he says they were inspired by the nearby waterfall in Hollins Mill Park.

“‘Mizumi,’ in Japanese it means ‘waterfall’,” Kang said.

The restaurant is across the street from the Lynchburg Community Market and in walking distance from the city’s business hub, making it poised to benefit from the recent completion of the Main Street Renewal Project.

Since the grand opening on Jan. 8, Kang said Mizumi and Moon Tea have enjoyed a consistent stream of 300 to 400 customers each day. The busyness picked up even more when students from local universities returned to Lynchburg to start their spring semesters.

Many customers enjoy the 30-plus flavors of bubble and fruit teas Moon Tea offers, while others are drawn to the go-to Japanese cuisine—hibachi and ramen, among other dishes—served by Mizumi. What keeps them coming back is not only the clean, bright atmosphere of the restaurant, but also the quality and freshness of the fare.

“I know the other places do it well too, but I can say that [our] taste is different, our freshness is different,” Kang said. “Also, for bubble teas, we have our own recipes.”

What’s the secret? According to Kang, nearly every tea and food item on the menu—everything from Thai tea to teriyaki sauce—is made fresh daily from Mizumi and Moon Tea’s unique recipes.

“Every day we boil fresh milk teas, unsweet teas, unsweet milk teas and we make our own green teas and everything,” Kang said. “So, we don’t buy it from other places, we just make it our own.”

At a Glance:
Mizumi & Moon Tea
1125 Main Street, Lynchburg
mizumiva.com
Hours: Monday – Sunday
11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Photos Courtesy of Downtown Lynchburg Association

Adding another unique brewery experience to Central Virginia

There is a new future for a historic landmark in Amherst.

Camp Trapezium, the western outpost of Trapezium Brewing Company in Petersburg, opened up in the renovated Amherst Milling Co. in June, offering small-batch craft beers, brick oven pizzas, wings and salads.

Amherst Milling Co., a mill and farming supply store built in 1890, ceased operations in 2017 and was purchased the following year by the Petersburg-based Waukeshaw Development. The company renovated the mill, farmhouse and land into a haven for family-friendly fun, craft beer and an immersive experience drawing much praise and appreciation from the local community.

“One of the most fun parts about getting [Camp Trapezium] open [was] the number of people who drove past every day for months, well before we were open, and just wanted to pop their heads in and take a look,” said Rachel Jesten, hospitality manager. “Everyone tells us the same thing. They say, ‘Boy, I used to buy my grain here for years. This was our local farm shop… they used to sell everything here.’”

Camp Trapezium’s beer menu currently features award-winning ales brought in from the Petersburg location, but the ultimate goal is for the brewery to also become a producer of its own beers that will incorporate ingredients grown on their farm. According to Jesten, head brewmaster James Frazer’s idea is to use the local flora to influence the fermentation process.

“[Camp Trapezium] is almost the even artsier cousin of [Trapezium Brewing Company],” Jesten said. “So, we are doing a lot of wild fermentation, mixed-culture ales. Basically, anything James Frazer wants to try… This is really a cool playground for that.”

In addition to the brewery and restaurant, the 76-acre property is open for guests to walk around and explore. Featuring a farmhouse that has been renovated into an AirBnb with eight suites, a permaculture farm, live animals roaming around and a water wheel that Waukeshaw hopes to make operational for hydroelectric power production within the next few years, Camp Trapezium is as much a historic site as an eatery.

“We want [Camp Trapezium] to be a really immersive experience,” Jesten said. “We love the idea of people coming down to the area and not just making a day trip out of it but making
a weekend.”

By Christian Weaner | Photos courtesy of Trapezium Brewing Co.

Camp Trapezium
140 Union Hill Rd., Amherst
(434) 381-2635
www.trapeziumbrewing.com/amherst

The iconic T.C. Trotter’s has a new home for its must-have, multi-use Moose Mix

When Lonnie Hoade and Paul Webster received a call from Virginia ABC last October, the owners of T.C. Trotterʼs Moose Mix for Bloody Marys were equal parts thrilled and intimidated. “We suddenly had an order for 18,000 bottles to be delivered by the first week in December,” Lonnie explained of the very tight timeline.

But when you’ve invested so many years into a product, a little hard work doesn’t scare you off. Many who have lived in Lynchburg over the past few decades have watched the evolution of Moose Mix—from its local restaurant roots to its current location on Commerce Street, which serves as a manufacturing center and tasting room.

Lonnie and Paul’s tried-and-true Bloody Mary recipe, now recognizable across the country, was born at T.C. Trotterʼs Restaurant where Paul was the bar manager.

Casually known as “Trotterʼs,” the restaurant was located in what’s now Rivermont Pizza on Rivermont Avenue for three decades.

“[Our Bloody Mary] became very popular and was served in that glass,” Paul said, pointing to the stemmed and slightly fluted glass on the tasting room counter. “It was five dollars a glass and came with two shots of vodka. We just had cases and cases of those glasses because on weekends, we would serve so many of them.”

“When we first started to notice the demand for it [outside the restaurant], it was around 2004,” Lonnie explains. “Lynchburg College students would call us and want some so we were delivering it around the state. It wasn’t even shelf stable at that point.”

Photo by ASHLEE GLEN

Back then, everyone knew it as “Trotterʼs Bloody Mary Mix”—but eventually they decided on a name change that combined autonomy from the restaurant with a bit of personality.

“We licensed it as Moose Mix because he makes it,” Lonnie said, referring to Paul and his nickname. They started bottling it for sale in 2007.

That same year, the owner of T.C. Trotterʼs decided to close the restaurant, but Lonnie and Paul didn’t let Paul’s famed Bloody Mary mix die out. Back then, and still today, each bottle is prepared by hand, every step of the way.

“From the labor to the packaging and then we put it on pallets and deliver it ourselves,” Paul explains. Each batch of Moose Mix takes about 2.5 hours from start to finish. The bottles are capped at high heat so there are no preservatives.

Now, the demand for their product reaches as far as New York, Florida, and California, with plenty of customers in between.

What makes the mix so popular, Lonnie and Paul believe, is its homegrown taste.

“When we are at festivals, people say, ‘This tastes fresh.’ Some brands can taste manufactured,” Paul says. “It is very flavorful. It has spice as in flavorful spice, not burn-your-mouth spice.”

Lonnie also believes their mix “holds up” better than other brands, making your classic Bloody Mary taste good down to the last drop: “We don’t add any water so it doesn’t water down. The end of the your drink, it’s just as good as the beginning.”

Photo by ASHLEE GLEN

In 2016, Lonnie and Paul took what they learned from their experience at T.C. Trotter’s and opened Moose’s Café in Boonsboro. There, they continued making and selling their Moose Mix but also let it inspire some culinary creations as well—from the “Moose Island” dressing they used on their popular Reuben (a homemade Thousand Island with Moose Mix in place of ketchup) to a Gazpacho made with fresh local vegetables.

“We’ve done chili with it. We’ve done spaghetti sauce. People have told us about ribs that they have done,” Lonnie explains. “There are so many possibilities aside from the Bloody Mary.”

In fact, marketing their Moose Mix as more than just a base for a Bloody Mary has been an important step in their business model.

“At festivals, invariably, people would come to our booth and say ‘what is this’ and we would say ‘Bloody Mary mix’ and one of them would go ‘yeah!’ and the other would go, ‘ew, no.’ But we would let that person taste the shrimp we grilled in it. It would give us another avenue to reach people and find new customers,” says Paul.

In 2020, they made the decision to close Moose’s Café so they could focus even more on their Moose Mix.

Because when you are this husband-and-wife team, you like to be busy—even if it means bottling 18,000 bottles of Moose Mix by hand in less than two months. A deadline they met, by the way.

Photo by ASHLEE GLEN

Now, they are able to enjoy a much slower pace as they maintain their case count at the ABC distribution center in Richmond. They’ve also had Absolute Vodka show some interest in doing a new promotion in 2021.

So slower, but not too slow, they hope. Lonnie and Paul are looking forward to the start of spring and warmer weather that will bring increased foot traffic outside of their Commerce Street location. “That’s why we are excited to be here. We get the impression it will be like a festival once it’s warm. We want to have tasting trays outside,” Paul says.

As Lonnie and Paul can attest through their journey, it doesn’t take much to bring people together in Lynchburg.

But a good cocktail never hurts.

“People can criticize it, but I’ve lived in a lot of places and this city is so great,” says Lonnie. “There is a connection here, something wonderful.”