Museum District restaurant The Stables at Belmont changes hands

Before it was The Stables, 201 N. Belmont Ave. was home to Zeus Gallery Café for nearly 20 years. (Mike Platania photo)

For the second time in eight years, new owners have taken the reins at The Stables at Belmont. 

The Museum District restaurant sold this week to a new ownership group that includes its current executive chef and general manager, Brycen Woodley.

The seller was Steven Gooch, who bought the restaurant at 201 N. Belmont Ave. in 2016, when it was known as Zeus Gallery Café. He converted it into The Stables in 2017, serving New American fare with a cocktail menu and extensive wine selection. 

Now after seven years, Gooch has passed the baton to Woodley and Woodley’s father-in-law, Mike Schleinkofer. 

The sale closed July 15 for an undisclosed amount and included The Stables’ business assets and intellectual property. Filament Business Advisors’ Jason Savedoff and Dan Scherotter brokered the deal. The Stables will continue to lease its 1,800-square-foot building from local landlord Drask Realty. 

The restaurant serves New American fare.

Woodley joined The Stables in 2021 after nearly a decade in the kitchen at Lemaire. Schleinkofer, meanwhile, is retired after a career in the chemicals industry. The duo don’t plan to make any changes to The Stables. 

“Nothing is really changing regarding the guest experience. We will continue the legacy of the restaurant,” Woodley said. 

“It will still be the ‘hidden gem’ of the Museum District,” Schleinkofer added. 

Gooch had previously worked in the finance industry when he launched Juno Restaurant Group in 2015 by purchasing another Museum District eatery, The Franklin Inn, from the Bandazian family. In 2020 he added a market offshoot of The Stables in Libbie Mill. 

Last fall he sold The Franklin Inn to a first-time restaurateur, and earlier this year he sold The Stables Market to local seafood shop Yellow Umbrella Provisions. 

With this week’s sale of The Stables at Belmont, Gooch now has sold all his restaurant holdings and will focus on his role as CEO of medical clinic Virginia Ear Nose & Throat.

Steven Gooch

Gooch said he just didn’t have the time to continue running the restaurants while also working a full-time day job. 

“With The Stables, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. It still required work, and at this stage in my life I wasn’t interested in working six, six-and-a-half days per week,” Gooch said. 

He said he’s glad to have been in the hospitality industry for nearly a decade, especially coming in as a newcomer from the corporate world. 

“I was able to exit two different restaurants on my own terms, and I have no qualms saying we created one of the best restaurants in Richmond with The Stables,” Gooch said, adding that he’s confident Woodley and Schleinkofer will keep The Stables’ reputation going.

Other new businesses to recently join the Museum District restaurant and retail scene include diner The Texas Inn and candle shop Elk Hill Candle Co.