Sidecar Cocktail Lounge offers a rum-focused drink menu. (Photo courtesy of Sidecar Cocktail Lounge)
The boozy sidekick of a Midlothian-area restaurant has opened its doors.
Sidecar Cocktail Lounge opened in February at 3730 Winterfield Road, Suite 200, in the Winterfield Place shopping center.
Sidecar has a Caribbean theme and a cocktail menu of offerings built around rum in addition to cocktails made with other spirits.
True to its name, Sidecar shares the kitchen of next-door neighbor Toast New American Gastropub, and serves to complement the restaurant’s dinner service.
“It’s a before- or after-dinner spot,” said Jessica Bufford, who owns Toast and Sidecar with her husband, Josh, along with Chris Staples and Greg Hill.
Jessica and Josh Buford
Bufford said Sidecar hasn’t suffered for its emphasis on rum. She said that customers thus far have been trying out and enjoying the concept’s rum drinks without retreating into old standby cocktails.
“That’s been cool, and I think that shows Chris’s and Greg’s expertise at finding these rum spirits that will be acceptable to every drinker,” Bufford said.
“I think how much people are enjoying the rum drinks and saying, ‘I never expected to like this this much,’ speaks to their expertise,” she said. “When you open, you expect people to come in and order the frou-frou drink you’re known for, and then order a bourbon and coke.”
Among the lounge’s rum cocktails are the 1941 Test Pilot, a $13 cocktail that features Appleton and Plantation 3 Stars rums, falernum, lime, Cointreau, bitters and absinthe; a $12 painkiller with Pusser’s Rum, pineapple, orange and creme de coconut; and Bill McCoy’s Rum Runner, a $14 cocktail with Virago White and Pusser’s rums, creme de banane, blackberry, lime and grenadine.
Sidecar also serves flights of rum, with prices ranging from $16 to $82.
The bar’s food menu includes sweet and spicy Brussels sprouts ($9), ham and pineapple flatbread ($12) and Costa Rican pork tacos ($8).
Bufford said there aren’t immediate plans to expand the Sidecar concept with a second location, due in part to how it is designed to piggyback off another restaurant’s kitchen.
“I need 1,000 square feet next to an operating kitchen with the ability to create access to that kitchen. There are a lot of nuances to making something like that work,” she said.
Looking forward, Bufford said they plan to expand Sidecar more fully into private and corporate events to grow business.
Sidecar occupies a former dry cleaners at the Powhatan shopping center near the border with Chesterfield.
While planning Sidecar, the owners played around with the idea of serving coffee in the space during the cocktail lounge’s off-hours. However, they haven’t taken any steps toward implementing that idea at this time, Bufford said.
The Buffords sold the Village Shopping Center outpost of Toast last year to Sidecar co-owner Staples, formerly of EAT Restaurant Partners, and Bob Graham. Staples and Hill co-own the Royal Rum Society, a local group that holds rum events and offers a sommelier-like certification program for rum.
Sidecar is open 4-10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, per its website.
Sidecar Cocktail Lounge offers a rum-focused drink menu. (Photo courtesy of Sidecar Cocktail Lounge)
The boozy sidekick of a Midlothian-area restaurant has opened its doors.
Sidecar Cocktail Lounge opened in February at 3730 Winterfield Road, Suite 200, in the Winterfield Place shopping center.
Sidecar has a Caribbean theme and a cocktail menu of offerings built around rum in addition to cocktails made with other spirits.
True to its name, Sidecar shares the kitchen of next-door neighbor Toast New American Gastropub, and serves to complement the restaurant’s dinner service.
“It’s a before- or after-dinner spot,” said Jessica Bufford, who owns Toast and Sidecar with her husband, Josh, along with Chris Staples and Greg Hill.
Jessica and Josh Buford
Bufford said Sidecar hasn’t suffered for its emphasis on rum. She said that customers thus far have been trying out and enjoying the concept’s rum drinks without retreating into old standby cocktails.
“That’s been cool, and I think that shows Chris’s and Greg’s expertise at finding these rum spirits that will be acceptable to every drinker,” Bufford said.
“I think how much people are enjoying the rum drinks and saying, ‘I never expected to like this this much,’ speaks to their expertise,” she said. “When you open, you expect people to come in and order the frou-frou drink you’re known for, and then order a bourbon and coke.”
Among the lounge’s rum cocktails are the 1941 Test Pilot, a $13 cocktail that features Appleton and Plantation 3 Stars rums, falernum, lime, Cointreau, bitters and absinthe; a $12 painkiller with Pusser’s Rum, pineapple, orange and creme de coconut; and Bill McCoy’s Rum Runner, a $14 cocktail with Virago White and Pusser’s rums, creme de banane, blackberry, lime and grenadine.
Sidecar also serves flights of rum, with prices ranging from $16 to $82.
The bar’s food menu includes sweet and spicy Brussels sprouts ($9), ham and pineapple flatbread ($12) and Costa Rican pork tacos ($8).
Bufford said there aren’t immediate plans to expand the Sidecar concept with a second location, due in part to how it is designed to piggyback off another restaurant’s kitchen.
“I need 1,000 square feet next to an operating kitchen with the ability to create access to that kitchen. There are a lot of nuances to making something like that work,” she said.
Looking forward, Bufford said they plan to expand Sidecar more fully into private and corporate events to grow business.
Sidecar occupies a former dry cleaners at the Powhatan shopping center near the border with Chesterfield.
While planning Sidecar, the owners played around with the idea of serving coffee in the space during the cocktail lounge’s off-hours. However, they haven’t taken any steps toward implementing that idea at this time, Bufford said.
The Buffords sold the Village Shopping Center outpost of Toast last year to Sidecar co-owner Staples, formerly of EAT Restaurant Partners, and Bob Graham. Staples and Hill co-own the Royal Rum Society, a local group that holds rum events and offers a sommelier-like certification program for rum.
Sidecar is open 4-10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, per its website.
Sidecar has been a very welcome addition to our area!