Smoke & Barrel now open in the Fan

The new restaurant serves elevated Southern cuisine with a whiskey focus on the dishes and the cocktails.

Smoke & Barrel is the first restaurant from popular Richmond bartender Kevin Sheffield and his friends, Jordan Noble and Joseph Hadad, whose family owns Varina waterpark Hadad’s Lake.

The three grew up in Hanover and Mechanicsville and moved to Richmond, where they all bartended at local spots such as Cha Cha’s Cantina, F.W. Sullivan’s and Lady N’Awlins.

While Noble and Hadad went on to work in other businesses, Noble as an entrepreneur and Hadad as a general manager for a hospital couriers service, Sheffield continued to bartend, most recently at New York Deli.

When Lady N'Awlins closed in 2022 after an 11-year run, New York Deli owners Demetrios and Rodion Tsiptsis and their partner purchased the building. After plans with another operator fell through, Demetrios Tsiptsis approached Sheffield about taking over the lease.

“I’ve been wanting to open my own restaurant for a long time,” Sheffield said. The trio had been looking for restaurant space in Mechanicsville, but the space at 2329 W. Main St. felt like the perfect fit.

When they were in their 20s, the three friends would hit the bars on Main Street. For the past few years, the buzz has been all about Scott's Addition, but the trio is looking to bring some excitement back to Main Street.

"The Fan has grown up. It's matured," Rickee Jones, general manager for Smoke & Barrel, said.

Now in their 30s, the trio said they wanted to launch a restaurant that pairs elevated Southern dishes like brisket carbonara ($19) and pork ribeye and grits ($19), with expertly crafted cocktails.

Chef Andy Jones, who served as a sous chef at Lady N’Awlins before moving on to stints with the Richmond Restaurant Group and Cooper’s Tavern, is running the kitchen.

“I’ll be putting a twist on all your Southern classic favorites,” Jones said. “But my grits won’t be your stereotypical pimento cheese grits, they’ll be smoked tomato grits.”

Jones employs other tricks, such as rendering the fat from the pork ribeye then re-injecting it into the meat for a juicy dish and finishing it with an apple gastrique. The kitchen is also equipped with a smoker for the house-smoked brisket in the carbonara, the smoked wings and other dishes.

For him, elevated Southern cuisine is upscale, but approachable. “I don’t want anyone to have to Google anything on the menu,” Jones said.

There are several burgers and sandwiches on the menu, including the Smoke & Barrel burger ($15) topped with smoked gouda, bacon onion jam and garlic aioli, and salads.

The menu is also appetizer heavy, Jones said, “so you can sit at the bar, enjoy one of Kevin’s incredible cocktails and a starter.”

Popular appetizers include the Barrel rolls ($10) which are crispy egg rolls filled with pulled pork, caramelized onions and cheddar cheese, smoked wings ($14) and Marie’s hummus ($12) based off Hadad’s mom’s signature recipe.

As for cocktails, Sheffield, who was named Style Weekly’s best bartender from 2016 to 2020, flexes his chops with signature cocktails like the old fashioned and the smoked old fashioned ($15) finished with smoked cherry wood.

General manager Martin has come up with several fresh and creative cocktails such as a bourbon-based spiced espresso martini ($13) and the Kentucky painkiller ($13) with banana bourbon, pineapple juice, orange juice and cream of coconut.

Smoke & Barrel completely renovated the space, leaving no trace of the Cajun cafe behind. The corner building has a step-down entrance to a long granite bar, white walls, warm copper tones that reflect the bourbon setting and seating for 55.

Smoke & Barrel will be open for dinner seven days a week, as well as Saturday and Sunday brunch.