Dorothy serves up eclectic fare with nostalgic flair and a helping of fun in downtown Roanoke.
Written by Layla Khoury-Hanold / Photos by John Park / Photo Above: The Hot Coppa sandwich with roasted pork shoulder on Bread Craft focaccia is a perfect lunch bite.
Before diners decide where to book a table for dinner, they often ask, “What kind of restaurant is it?” They want to know if the place is fancy or casual, what kind of food is served, and what the vibe is. It’s a question I try to ask less as a food journalist, because many restaurants don’t fit neatly into one category, and catch-all terms like New American or neo-bistro feel inadequate.
Dorothy—the downtown Roanoke restaurant that opened for lunch and dinner in February as part of Dorothy & Frank’s—proudly defies categorization, with an eclectic menu that suggests inspirations as far ranging as Jewish deli fare, Middle Eastern street food, New York wine bar small plates, and European bistro chalkboard specials. The more fitting descriptor and throughline for a meal here—especially at dinner, when the bar is buzzing—is fun (an increasingly underrated restaurant quality), suffused with a heady dose of nostalgia.
Make no mistake—the food is serious, but the menus and the staff don’t take themselves too seriously. The service is warm and attentive without being overbearing, knowledgeable without being pretentious. At lunch, servers might direct you to staples like chicken and dumplings, fashioned after chef/owner Nate Sloan’s Jewish grandmother’s recipe (she is also the restaurant’s namesake). The perfume of fresh dill reaches you before the bowl hits the table, and the soup’s well-proportioned ratio of chicken to tender matzo ball dumplings to veggies assures a satisfying slurp.
When asked about staff favorites, you’ll likely end up ordering the arugula and fried artichoke salad (also available at dinner), a tangle of peppery, cool greens scattered with warm, golden-crisp artichokes, with slivered citrus peel curls and thinly sliced onions threaded throughout; possibly with the addition of grilled shrimp if you’re craving something a little heartier. One of co-owner Thomas Ceddia’s favorite lunch dishes, and mine too, is the umami-bomb hot coppa sandwich. Sliced Breadcraft focaccia is slicked with a duo of spreads, sundried tomato-‘nduja and honey-aïoli, then piled with sliced roasted pork shoulder, mozzarella, arugula, and radicchio to delicious, sometimes delightfully messy, effect.
A few midday dishes are reprised in the evening, like the roast chicken, which at dinner can be ordered as a breast as well as a half-bird. Originally, Sloan planned to serve a rotisserie-style chicken but found that a two-day brine yielded optimal juiciness and flavor, and slow-roasting the bird atop red potatoes basted the spuds with schmaltz (chicken fat drippings), rendering them lightly crisp outside and creamy inside. A bright, red-pepper-based chimichurri rojo pulls the dish together and is indicative of the kind of sauce work Sloan strives to execute here—as he puts it, less French reduction and more Middle Eastern freshness. As a result, most sauces lean light and herbaceous and give dishes a requisite pop of acid, as with a verdant chermoula that accompanies the fan-favorite grilled Smoke in Chimneys trout. I wished for a ramekin of the stuff so I could swipe bites of fish flesh through it before scooping up forkfuls of Carolina gold rice to make a composed bite. And I could’ve eaten just a bowlful of the tabbouleh-inspired farro that accompanied the ground beef-and-lamb kofta, where the pleasantly chewy grain mingled with feta, a Shirazi-inspired tomato-cucumber salad, and an irresistible dill-tahini-garlic sauce. (Putting in my two cents to suggest turning this into a vegetarian grain bowl at lunch.)
Sloan, who is also the chef/owner of bloom in Wasena, brings his seasonal, local food sensibility and penchant for texture to Dorothy’s menu, too, developed in collaboration with head chef Ashton Carter. My dining companion and I couldn’t get enough of a strawberry and burrata appetizer (we had it twice in two weeks), which teamed the creamy orb of cheese with jammy berries and briny, meaty olives, along with planks of toasted Breadcraft miche for mopping up the zingy vinaigrette and balsamic reduction. Broiled Virginia oysters are a must-order; luxuriously plump morsels retain their briny sweetness beneath a cloak of tarragon béchamel that’s haunted with a whisper of Aleppo pepper. The crispy halloumi is another solid bet, featuring a springy slab of cheese coated in crispy panko crumbs, topped with zippy dandelion-rosemary pesto; a kicky relish made with Calabrian and pepperoncini peppers; and shaved zucchini ribbons.
If the menu is hard to pin down, so is the décor, filtered through the lens of Ceddia’s own wide-ranging tastes and professional experience spanning hospitality, music, marketing, and photography. It might best be described as Parisian bistro meets granny chic, with a mix of black Thonet-style bistro chairs and retro wooden chairs; mismatched silverware and a mishmash of vintage floral plates; and a candy dish at the host stand filled with tiny, brightly colored wrapped hard candies. The walls are lined with a pastiche of framed photos, including some of Ceddia’s own; archival prints of the Roanoke area sourced from the Smithsonian; and famous Dorothys throughout history, like actress Dorothy Dandridge and Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.
The high-ceilinged space once housed Fallon Florist; the original horseshoe-shaped flower counter now serves as Dorothy’s bar, where most nights you’ll find bar supervisor (and super bartender) Stephan Stockwell shaking and stirring bespoke cocktails. Post up at one of the vintage stools, sourced from local outfit Black Dog Salvage, whose beguiling mint green hue happened to perfectly match the walls painted a shade called Parisian green. Stay with the green theme and order the popular gin-based Green Eyed Lady, which gets its striking color from housemade matcha syrup. The drink first registers as earthy-sweet and creamy, thanks to a plush cap of frothy egg whites, then gives way to a surprisingly fresh, citrusy sip and floral finish.
Stockwell was inspired by Ceddia’s directive to create several tea-infused tipples, which also includes the Make Me One of Those Fancy Martinis, crafted with a locally made white tea-pomegranate blend steeped in vodka, a spirit he chose for its neutral flavor profile, allowing the tea’s floral and fruity notes to shine. The sleeper hit—and a measure of Stockwell’s skill—is the Belafonte, a banana daiquiri riff that is neither banana-y nor sweet, owing to the use of fresh banana purée which pairs beautifully with the warming spice notes of cardamom-infused white rum. The cocktails at Frank’s, the upstairs listening bar, will trend more spirit-forward and feature a food menu comprised mainly of small bites and skewers.
To close out your meal at Dorothy, be sure to ask about the dessert special. One night in early May, it was a slice of angel food cake with a light yet tender crumb, plated with macerated strawberries and topped with a reclining dollop of crème Chantilly. One bite and I was transported to my grandmother’s table, relishing the taste-memory of ripe summer fruit melding with ethereal cake and whipped cream. When the memory receded, I was left with a sense of deep satisfaction, that unmistakable feeling of having had a good time and being well taken care of.
Dorothy & Frank’s
21 Church Ave SW
Roanoke, VA 24011
540-566-4347
dorothyandfranks.com
The story above first appeared in our July/August 2026 issue.
