Black Lodge in Scott’s Addition, from Brittanny Anderson and business partners James Kohler, Brad Hemp and Nathan Conway, deliciously embraces grunge and refinement and highbrow and low, with dishes that range from hot dogs — the Alpine (from left), Fancy and Chicago — to caviar shots.
Black Lodge is located at 3200 Rockbridge Street #101. Photo was taken on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
Black Lodge, bizzaro cousin of Alpine restaurant Brenner Pass, is a confident hitmaker of indulgent food.
Should you find yourself in the doorway of a dark and empty coffee shop in Scott’s Addition, you’re in the right place. Step inside; the super-secret world of Black Lodge awaits.
The bizzaro cousin of Brenner Pass, chef Brittanny Anderson’s Alpine restaurant located next door, lurks in the shadows, beyond the espresso machine and cluster of cold cases stocked with cheap beer.
Black Lodge is located at 3200 Rockbridge Street #101. Photo was taken on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
Unlike Brenner, whose nature is so ethereal and full of light, Black Lodge embraces the dark side. The imposing Darth Vader-black bar beckoning us into the void. The alien glow of neon signage and aseasonal Christmas lights and Japanese anime playing on TV screens overhead. The ambient screams of heavy metal jams over the speakers.
When Anderson and business partners James Kohler, Brad Hemp and Nathan Conway debuted the Black Lodge brand back in January 2021, it felt like a rough sketch at best. I blame that on the pandemic. The takeout concept, centered on an all-day menu of upscale casual fare, didn’t quite click.
But that was then; this is now. The original concept was in search of a reason for existing. The new concept, unveiled last October, simply lives its truth and invites us all to vibe along.
It’s grungy; it’s refined. Highbrow and low. A gas-station convenience store and fancy speakeasy bar. The start of a very good night and the end of one, too. Get the picture?
Foodwise, Black Lodge 2.0 is a confident hitmaker. The menu, printed up like a flyer for a local “battle of the bands” concert, is an unapologetically loud eight-track of caviar shots, funked-up dogs, and sloppy finger foods.
Caviar service is a perfect opening act, with its soft flecks of sturgeon roe, potato chip shards, sour cream and chives, and gin served in fancy glasses.
Consider the caviar service ($30). It might seem laughable wielding a pearl spoon with your one hand to daintily scoop soft flecks of sturgeon roe, while clutching a potato chip shard smudged thick with sour cream and chive in your other, far greasier hand. But this juxtaposition is exactly what Black Lodge is all about. The caviar-accented crisps make for explosive little hors d’oeuvres of salt and fat. Chased down the gullet with brisk sips of gin from ornate chalices, they’re a perfect opening act.
Basic roller dogs ($10-$12) come fully accessorized as well. One receives a lavishing of fixings worthy of a tsar: gem-toned beets, swelling with natural sweetness; golden egg crumbles; and firm, brackish beads of trout roe strewn like a string of pearls.
Another gets heaped in dill pickles, outrageously juicy tomato wedges, pickled sport peppers, and raw onions, a welter of ingredients that supercharges every bite with the same freshness and vitality of Italian giardiniera. A squeeze of yellow mustard, the kind notorious for leaving garish streaks down the front of your shirt, gives it an extra jolt.
A third plays on a theme that Anderson has become famous for as a chef — which is to say, “all-things-fondue.” Adorned by spools of prosciutto and genteel grain mustard and a snowdrift of gooey Alpine cheeses, the creation somehow distills all the dreamiest qualities of fondue and fits them into the palm of your hand.
For those who yearn for meatball subs that don’t fall flat as they often do at other places, Black Lodge’s version ($14) rises to the calling. The shotput-sized meatballs radiate the aura of fennel seed and are so hefty that, when you bite into them, they almost shoot straight out of their bread-encased cradle of melted provolone and red sauce. So as not to pull focus from the title ingredient or turn the bread soggy, the sandwich keeps it light on the other toppings.
A makeover of the patty melt at Black Lodge tempers the greasiness of the classic sandwich.
Another classic sando, the patty melt ($12), also gets a makeover. It’s a straightforward construction — a flat, round pad of beef ensconced under caramelized onions and strands of Gruyere, wedged between butter-griddled bread slices, finished with a flourish of elegant Dijon. But theirs performs an incredible feat, preserving the indulgence of a patty melt without giving you that same greasy, dirty feeling you typically get from one.
The Black Lodge team has tweaked its playlist since my first visit last year — on occasion, with mixed results. Once heating up the menu were Calabrian chile-spiced wings, whose flavors were as catchy as they were robust and complex. Sadly, they’ve been replaced by a more muted, honey-heavy version ($12) that doesn’t strike the same chord.
Fish and chips, featuring meaty blocks of cod that flake to the touch, is a newer addition to the menu.
With any luck, a newer addition to the mix, the fish and chips ($18), will stick around. Cod, neatly apportioned into meaty blocks that flake to the touch, are hemmed in by sheets of breading, shattering with such delicateness and precision that the sound dissipates almost instantly. Give the fish and salt-blitzed fries a caustic dousing of malt vinegar, and activate that third dimension of deep-fried nirvana, a portal that can only be unlocked with a small acid hit.
I must admit, I’ve never been to an underground party — you know, the ones hidden behind some password-protected gate at the back of a pawnshop. Through the trap door of a coin-operated laundromat washer.
But Black Lodge might be the closest I’ve gotten to anything like it. Unassuming location? Check. Playful sophistication with a hint of irony and vice? Check. License to indulge your deepest, darkest desires? Double check.
Caviar service is a perfect opening act, with its soft flecks of sturgeon roe, potato chip shards, sour cream and chives, and gin served in fancy glasses.
Black Lodge in Scott’s Addition, from Brittanny Anderson and business partners James Kohler, Brad Hemp and Nathan Conway, deliciously embraces grunge and refinement and highbrow and low, with dishes that range from hot dogs — the Alpine (from left), Fancy and Chicago — to caviar shots.
Fish and chips, featuring meaty blocks of cod that flake to the touch, is a newer addition to the menu.
A makeover of the patty melt at Black Lodge tempers the greasiness of the classic sandwich.
Black Lodge is located at 3200 Rockbridge Street #101. Photo was taken on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
Black Lodge, bizzaro cousin of Alpine restaurant Brenner Pass, is a confident hitmaker of indulgent food.
Black Lodge is located at 3200 Rockbridge Street #101. Photo was taken on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
Justin Lo writes freelance reviews for the Times-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram @justinsjlo.
Open: 5 p.m.-midnight Tuesday-Thursday, until 2 a.m. Friday-Saturday; closed Sunday-Monday
Vibe: A quirky, super-secret bar eatery
Ideal for: Caviar shots, funked-up dogs, finger foods and booze
Service: Excellent, especially when Justin Ayotte and Steve Yang are tending bar
Noise level: Moderately loud to loud, depending on the soundtrack
Best seat in the house: The Darth Vader-black bar
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Black Lodge in Scott’s Addition, from Brittanny Anderson and business partners James Kohler, Brad Hemp and Nathan Conway, deliciously embraces grunge and refinement and highbrow and low, with dishes that range from hot dogs — the Alpine (from left), Fancy and Chicago — to caviar shots.
Caviar service is a perfect opening act, with its soft flecks of sturgeon roe, potato chip shards, sour cream and chives, and gin served in fancy glasses.
Fish and chips, featuring meaty blocks of cod that flake to the touch, is a newer addition to the menu.
A makeover of the patty melt at Black Lodge tempers the greasiness of the classic sandwich.
Black Lodge is located at 3200 Rockbridge Street #101. Photo was taken on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
Black Lodge, bizzaro cousin of Alpine restaurant Brenner Pass, is a confident hitmaker of indulgent food.
Black Lodge is located at 3200 Rockbridge Street #101. Photo was taken on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.
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