Prior to Odyssey Fish, the space was home to Billy Pie. (Mike Platania photo)
A restaurant space at one of the Near West End’s busier intersections has a new user lined up.
Jessica Wilson is preparing to open Grace at 6919 Patterson Ave., the standalone building that was most recently home to Odyssey Fish and Billy Pie prior to that.
A Vermont native, Wilson’s been a chef for over 30 years. She said she’s helped open and run the kitchens of nearly a dozen restaurants in New York City, and that she’s also cooked professionally on yachts, trains and at Alaskan heli-ski lodges.
She’s been in the local dining scene for a few years, having run her pop-up, Gather For Grace, at the now-closed Broken Tulip space in Carytown and former Manchester food hall Hatch Local. Wilson said she’d initially been eyeing a space in Church Hill for Grace’s first stand-alone home, but that plan fell through last summer. When Odyssey, a seafood-focused concept from Alewife’s Lee Gregory and Bobo Catoe, closed last fall, Wilson took over the space.
Jessica Wilson
Wilson described Grace as a “vegetable-forward” farmhouse-style restaurant, and that she’s planning to build the menu based on ingredients she’s able to source from farmers in the area.
“That’s always what people ask: ‘Like, what is your menu?’ And I understand, because that’s what you want to know,” Wilson said. “But it’s like if you go to a farmers market then you see something and you’re like, ‘Oh,’ and then you kind of play around with that.”
Wilson has retained the wood stone oven that once cooked Billy Pie’s pizzas when the local pizzeria operated there. Grace will have a cocktail menu, including cocktails on tap, as well as a selection of natural wines.
She said Grace will operate with counter service and have seating for around 40. Renovations began last fall to give the space a new look, with new Italian tiles, a soapstone counter top and cherry wood tables.
Wilson said she’s aiming to open Grace this spring. It’ll initially be open for dinner, but by the summer she said she hopes to be open for lunch a few times per week.
Another Hatch Local food hall alum, Fat Kid Sandwiches, is also stepping out on its own. The sandwich shop is working on opening on East Main Street downtown.
Prior to Odyssey Fish, the space was home to Billy Pie. (Mike Platania photo)
A restaurant space at one of the Near West End’s busier intersections has a new user lined up.
Jessica Wilson is preparing to open Grace at 6919 Patterson Ave., the standalone building that was most recently home to Odyssey Fish and Billy Pie prior to that.
A Vermont native, Wilson’s been a chef for over 30 years. She said she’s helped open and run the kitchens of nearly a dozen restaurants in New York City, and that she’s also cooked professionally on yachts, trains and at Alaskan heli-ski lodges.
She’s been in the local dining scene for a few years, having run her pop-up, Gather For Grace, at the now-closed Broken Tulip space in Carytown and former Manchester food hall Hatch Local. Wilson said she’d initially been eyeing a space in Church Hill for Grace’s first stand-alone home, but that plan fell through last summer. When Odyssey, a seafood-focused concept from Alewife’s Lee Gregory and Bobo Catoe, closed last fall, Wilson took over the space.
Jessica Wilson
Wilson described Grace as a “vegetable-forward” farmhouse-style restaurant, and that she’s planning to build the menu based on ingredients she’s able to source from farmers in the area.
“That’s always what people ask: ‘Like, what is your menu?’ And I understand, because that’s what you want to know,” Wilson said. “But it’s like if you go to a farmers market then you see something and you’re like, ‘Oh,’ and then you kind of play around with that.”
Wilson has retained the wood stone oven that once cooked Billy Pie’s pizzas when the local pizzeria operated there. Grace will have a cocktail menu, including cocktails on tap, as well as a selection of natural wines.
She said Grace will operate with counter service and have seating for around 40. Renovations began last fall to give the space a new look, with new Italian tiles, a soapstone counter top and cherry wood tables.
Wilson said she’s aiming to open Grace this spring. It’ll initially be open for dinner, but by the summer she said she hopes to be open for lunch a few times per week.
Another Hatch Local food hall alum, Fat Kid Sandwiches, is also stepping out on its own. The sandwich shop is working on opening on East Main Street downtown.
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Best of luck
New restaurants come and go in that space like a change of seasons, and they were pretty good places too. Best of luck.
Great news! The food at Gather for Grace in Hatch local was fantastic and brought something new and fresh to the Richmond dining scene. Looking forward to the reopening of this concept. .
I don’t understand why people keep trying to do a restaurant in this space. The parking lot is awful. Is the rent free or something?
Worked well as a “Steak n Egg” diner for a decade or so back in 1980s but lots of C&P staff around the corner and professional offices along Patterson staff would walk to it for lunch. That parking lot is the pits!
and dont forget Getty Mart a few doors down!
RIP Getty Mart
Chef Wilson’s food is excellent! I’ve been to some of her pop ups, and to her previous location at the food hall. Be sure to put it on your must try restaurant list. Looking forward to the opening. Good luck!
Good Luck! You’ll need it because while you may end up with seating for 40, you’ll have parking for maybe 10-12 – if your staff parks over at The Village.. I grew up a block away on Ridge Top. Even in the ’50s and ’60s, operating a gas station on this parcel was iffy. Methinks your efforts and investment would be better suited to a location that allows easier access and parking for patrons.
I’m curious what restaurants you enjoy if the parking is that big deal of an issue for you. Unlike the entire Fan dining scene there actually is a parking lot. Their lot is better than Bar West. Easier to park than Continental, Stella’s Market, Beijing on Grove, Taste, Conejo, The Grill, Lalo’s or almost anything else in the area that’s not located in a strip mall.
Good luck. My sons still miss Billy Pie and my wife & I enjoyed Odyssey. The parking isn’t idea but not nearly the issue the comments make it out to be. We have patronized businesses in that spot for a long time and never once failed to find a spot to park that was any further than parking for restaurants in the Fan. Across the street at the Village and street parking on eastbound Patterson both work.
Yeah,the parking lot is cramped on that triangle there,but you can’t beat fresh vegetables and if the food is good, it’ll be fine.Plenty of parking not just at the front door.Good area I think.Good luck.