Exciting news, Richmond beer and burger lovers - Jack Brown's Beer & Burger Joint is opening its first Richmond location in the former Phil's Continental Lounge space.
Jack Brown's started in Harrisonburg in 2009 and now has four locations in the country (Harrisonburg, Roanoke, Elkton and Birmingham, AL).
"I get emails all the time from people asking us to open in their city," co-owner Aaron Ludwig said. "The most requested location is Richmond."
Ludwig said he and partner Mike Sabin had been looking at restaurant spaces in Richmond for over a year when a friend told them about the Phil's space.
"I fell in love with that Libbie Grove-area," Ludwig said. "I call it a little oasis."
It took a few months to hash out the deal (Phil's closed earlier this month), but now the deal is done and Ludwig said they plan to open in early 2015.
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First up, a gut-job. Ludwig said they're replacing everything and then bringing in the beer can collections, wagon wheel and other kitsch that make Jack Brown's Jack Brown's.
"We spend a lot of time, creativity and effort on the interior," he said. "We want it to be a good escape."
As for the menu, Jack Brown's serves three things, and its goal is to serve them well.
The menu is: beer, burgers and fried Oreos.
That's it. (Fine. There's a small wine and french fry selection, but then that's really it.)
There are more than a dozen burgers on the menu, including "The Elvis" (with peanut butter, mayo, Applewood smoked bacon and cheese), "The Chiflet" (Applewood smoked bacon, egg, and cheese) and the most popular burger, "The Greg Brady" (house made mac n’ cheese and Martin’s BBQ potato chips).
All of the burgers are made using Wagyu (AKA American-style Kobe) beef.
On the beer side, Jack Brown's offers over 100 beers, serving everything from PBR to Belgians - and all of the servers and bartenders go through Cicerone training to ensure they're experts on the beer front.
Ludwig said they're planning to embrace Richmond's growing craft beer scene and have a large local selection. In fact, he said they crew took a field trip to Hardywood last weekend.
But now it's back to work for the Jack Brown's team. Permits have been filed and construction should begin shortly on the 5810 Grove Ave. space.
We'll keep you posted on the progress.
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Karri Peifer is the editor of Richmond.com and the site's senior food writer. Follow her on Twitter @KarriPeifer.
