At the time, Lost Letter shared the space with the original concept, Longoven, with Lost Letter in the front dining room and Longoven anchoring back of the space. But several months in, it was clear that there was a choice to be made, and the overwhelmingly positive reception of Lost Letter made it a relatively easy one.
“After the closing of Longoven,” explains co-owner and Executive Chef Patrick Phelan, “the team had the opportunity to look at the restaurant free from constraints, hold on to the pieces that made Longoven exceptional—especially service aspects—and really consider what we love most about dining and hospitality.”
Early Lost Letter menus bore the imprint of then-chef Andrew Manning’s time cooking in Italy, with a specific focus on Northern Italian dishes. In the spring, Manning transitioned to ownership of the yakitori concept, Nokoribi, at The Veil, leaving owners Patrick and Megan Phelan to helm Lost Letter as a duo. Phelan took the ball and ran with it, playing up the snacky Aperitivo course with selections like fried olives—crunchy orbs of garlic-stuffed green olives served with a creamy dip—for Lost Letter’s daily Aperitivo hour, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Lost & Found
“In terms of the menu, we draw a lot of inspiration from our time in NYC,” says Phelan. “For us, Il Bucco and Lavagna were places where we drank wine late into the night with fresh pappardelle, bread, and olive oil, and Via Carota is a magical lunch spot in the West Village that marries simplicity and attention to detail perfectly. Simply, we want the food to be craveable and appealing with old world Italian dishes serving as our foundation and allowing room for spontaneity along the way.”
On the menu since day one, Acchuighe al Verde (anchovies in green sauce) is a bright and punchy plate of supple anchovies blanketed by an herbaceous sauce. The classic Vitello Tonnato (veal in tuna sauce) is a best-in-its-class version, with pink-centered slices of tender veal served over a luxuriously rich tonnato sauce. If you’re able to take leftovers home, make it this one, which transforms into an excellent sandwich the next day.
Rounding out the antipasti selections, La Tur al Forno & Speck is probably Italian for “delicious meat and cheese bomb” (don’t Google that), and in the dish, you’ll find La Tur, an earthy sheep, goat, and cow’s milk cheese from Piedmont, wrapped in the lightly cured, smoked ham known as speck. The combination is unassailable.
Lost Letter’s front dining room, once serene and white, now features wood accents and organic textures that evoke a family-owned trattoria in Italy. The lush, green patio (the best seat in the house, weather permitting) feels like an escape from the city to the countryside of Piemonte—fittingly, one of Italy’s most vibrant gastronomic regions—while, in the back dining room, guests are afforded a front-row seat from which to watch Phelan, sous chef Chris Nowitzky, and the rest of the kitchen team working together like a laser-focused family.
Lost Letter
The service at Lost Letter has a kind of familial feel to it, too, thanks in no small part to two people in the front of the house—maitre d’ Sophie McGale and sommelier Grayum Vickers. “Sophie McGale is always setting the tone, holding up the team with positivity and letting us know we got this,” Phelan says. “If you’ve eaten here, you know her as that warm welcome from when you arrive until you leave.” Likewise, Phelan calls Vickers the glue of Lost Letter. “Whether it’s beverage training, service standards, administrative work, or getting our team ready each night at our pre-shift meeting, he’s a force within the restaurant.”
Vickers is the brain behind Lost Letter’s wine list, which highlights winemakers from around the globe with bottles that range from deep-cut sommelier favorites to exciting up-and-coming producers. He’s also responsible for promoting wine education through ongoing classes, with topics like Wine Pairing, Sake, and The Wine of Italy.
“The wine classes are our way of demystifying the wine world for our guests,” says Vickers. “From trade tricks like pairing wine with food to decoding wine labels, and regional deep-dives on Northern Italy and Champagne, we want to offer a wide range of topics for all wine enthusiasts. Each class has a food component as well.”
Having such a strong backbone in the front of the house has allowed Phelan to focus his energy in the kitchen. You can reliably find him on the line or at the pass most nights, putting out plates of pasta that suggest a delicate hand with a firm grasp of technique. Thick, flat ribbons of fresh pappardelle and bowls of knife-cut tajarin—the Piedmontese version of tagliatelle—are crowned with a hearty bolognese or lamb ragu, while pillowy agnolotti reveals a knack for constraint and a flair for flavor.
Lost Letter
The plates have a rustic charm. It’s not nonna-rustic, but a more elevated version of what are ultimately homey, comforting dishes. And on their fall menu, it doesn’t get more homey and comforting than a Flintstone’s-esque pork shank braised in white wine or a perfectly-roasted chicken with rosemary potatoes.
On the pastry menu, co-owner and Executive Pastry Chef Megan Phelan showcases recipes that she has mastered throughout her career working at spots like Parm and Sullivan Street Bakery in New York.
Lost Letter
At Parm, she developed a recipe for spumoni, a layered ice cream cake that’s found a devout following at Lost Letter. Phelan’s tiramisu, impossibly light and soaked with espresso, is an exceptional way to end a meal, but it’s her little surprises—cookies like the pine-nut crusted pignoli and crumbly biscotti—that showcase the pastry chef’s playful personality, another touch that makes guests feel like part of the family. “Mostly we want people to feel like they belong,” says Phelan. “The restaurant is both cozy and sophisticated, which allows it to be the perfect spot to grab a meal with friends or for date night.” LostLetterRVA.com
Richmond-based Stephanie Ganz has always been obsessed with food—she cooked professionally— and she’s been writing about it all along. She has been published in The Local Palate, Eater, and Bon Appétit. Follow her at @SalGanz.
