Coming Soon: “…like a dinner party for your most intimate friends.”

When you have a breakfast restaurant, many of the “norms” of restaurant culture and business practices don’t necessarily apply. For example, we don’t have a large, separate bar to hang out at and we don’t have brunch menu because we are serving brunch every day. Which begs the question: what does a breakfast/brunch restaurant offer instead? We offer dinner service three nights per week.

For those of you that know me personally, you’ll know that I often say I have no business opening a restaurant. And while I’ve learned so much over the last four years, I often still say that is true. One of the biggest mistakes that I made in the beginning was starting a dinner service well before our business or its leader were ready. After about ten months of exhausting nights and even more exhausting days, I had to get really honest about sustainability and closed our dinner service and vowed not to reopen until I felt like I was ready again.

Last year, I hired Raquel. She came with an incredible amount of experience and just the right amount of upward management to give me the confidence that I needed to tackle doing a dinner service again. She also makes INCREDIBLE cocktails, so we applied for, and recently received, a full liquor license so we can put her skills on display!

After months of gentle pressure from her, I began the arduous process of looking for a Chef to take the helm at the kitchen. When I met Jamie for her first interview we chatted for nearly three hours. We were able to bond very quickly. We share the same values about food, how to think about how a guest approaches food, and how to care for and lead staff. Sharing a kitchen in an intensely intimate relationship and it has already been rewarding and we haven’t even opened yet. Jamie and I both put so much of ourselves on the plate. I can’t wait to see her interpretation of dinner in Del Ray.

At night, our daily counter and biscuit service turns over to make way for a neighborhood bistro. A place with a simple, quality menu focused local and seasonal menu items in a comfortable and warm environment. Plus an edited beer and wine list and Raquel’s stunning and delicious cocktail menu. Dinner at Stomp should feel like a dinner party for your most intimate friends. The Stomping Ground core values still apply, even more than ever.  We anticipate an end of August opening and so very much look forward to inviting you in!

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Nicole Jones

Head Janitor, Chef, and Proprietor | Stomping Ground

https://www.stompdelray.com/

chef@stompdelray.com

703.567.6616

Nicole’s cooking style is rooted in, but not limited to, her love of southern biscuits and her diverse culinary upbringing. A military brat, she spent her childhood in the Chicago suburbs enjoying her great-grandmother Mae’s Lithuanian cooking. As a tween, she moved to Paulding County, Ga. where she begrudgingly fell in love with the charmingly perplex small towns of the Deep South. She fondly remembers grubbing on Martin’s biscuits, late-night Waffle House debauchery and cooking with her family. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Nicole started a marketing career at an art nonprofit in Atlanta. At 25 years old, she became the youngest executive at the local Atlanta NPR affiliate. Chasing her dreams, she moved to Alexandria, Va. where she took a short post in the Whole Foods marketing department. Realizing that cooking had been her true love all along, she began night courses at L’Academie de Cuisine. She completed her apprenticeship at Blue Duck Tavern where she was promoted to a line cook after graduation. From there, Nicole worked as a private chef for busy Washington D.C. executives and their families. As grown-ups tend to do, Nicole realized something about her childhood — the best parts were enjoying small town communities, cooking with her great-grandmother and sharing meals with family and friends. She opened Stomping Ground to build a safe and welcoming community around yummy, handmade food from local sources. As her first foray running her own kitchen, she has shamelessly hired better, smarter cooks to fill her kitchen and your bellies. Her great-grandmother’s recipes often appear on the Stomping Ground menu without advertisement and, no, she won’t tell you the secret ingredients. Nicole lives in Del Ray and won’t shut up about how much she loves living there.

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If you wander down Del Ray’s, “The Avenue,” you won’t miss the farm-red building with a rustic fence bordering the patio. Stomping Ground opened two years ago and quickly became popular for its made-from-scratch biscuits and its neighborhood vibe. On weekends, excited guests line up before Stomping Ground opens hoping to be the first to get a just-out-of-the-oven biscuit or a fresh salad. Stomping Ground is mostly known for its fast casual breakfast and lunch but on Thursdays and Fridays they provide a full dinner service after 5:00pm. All meals are built from local, seasonal food that is organic whenever possible.

www.stompdelray.com

2309 Mt Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301

703.567.6616