The story below is a preview from our September/October 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Six & Sky, Roanoke’s first rooftop restaurant and bar, serves up signature seafood, craft cocktails and stellar views downtown.
John Park
Get a view of downtown Roanoke and our beautiful mountains from your dinner table.
Few restaurant openings have been as highly anticipated as Six & Sky Rooftop Grille, located on the sixth and seventh floors of Center in the Square. It’s no wonder—it’s the first rooftop eatery and bar to open in Roanoke and it boasts panoramic views of downtown Roanoke and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Along with the stellar views, Six & Sky serves an extensive seafood-focused menu and line-up of craft cocktails, to be enjoyed in the airy, glass-walled space or al fresco.
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John Park
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John Park
Airy spaces and comfortable booths offer a cozy dining experience.
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John Park
The concept is the brainchild of three Roanoke entrepreneurs, including Brian Brady, who co-owns Brady’s Distillery; JD Sutphin, who co-owns events management company Big Lick Entertainment with Brady; and JoJo Soprano, vice president of operations for Parry Restaurant Group, which includes Roanoke eateries such as Beamer’s 25 and Tuco’s Taqueria.
John Park
Pan-seared scallops are accompanied with celery root, bacon lardons, pickled enoki mushrooms, wild rice and a caramelized onion puree.
“I knew I wanted to do something different,” Soprano says. “And we did also know we wanted to do a seafood concept. Because we felt, you know, Roanoke does have some spots with decent seafood here and there but nobody really focuses on high-quality seafood dishes. So, we knew that was going to be a focus as well.”
The seafood offerings span multiple menu categories along with a dedicated chilled seafood section. Here you’ll find signatures like the ceviche, featuring tender pieces of scallops, diced tomatoes and apples luxuriating in a glass vessel in a pool of citrus punched up with chilies and cilantro. For the biggest flavor payoff, ask for a spoon to redistribute the citrusy-spicy juice, then spoon the mixture onto the accompanying fried wonton crackers. Raw clams are typically a staple associated with seafood counters in Northern East Coast locales; here you can sample sweet, briny cherrystone clams by the half-dozen or dozen, paired with a pink peppercorn mignonette and house cocktail sauce. If you want to go all out, there’s a close-up worthy seafood tower starring lobster tail, jumbo lump crab meat, shrimp cocktail and oysters and clams on the half-shell.
The menu is overseen by executive chef Steven Lyons, who turns out signature entrees like the Creole-style red snapper, served with irresistibly creamy, cheesy polenta grits and a Cajun pan sauce studded with tender crawfish morsels. Another solid bet is the pan-seared scallops, burnished bronze and tender within, plated with wild rice and an unusual combination of pickled enoki mushrooms, caramelized onion puree and celery root. Non-seafood fans will find options under the section marked land, such as ribeye, filet mignon, rack of lamb or grilled chicken. Vegetarians can ask for a dedicated menu, which lists popular picks like “phish” and chips, made with a soy-based protein, eggplant Parmesan and a vegan-friendly dish of pan-seared king oyster mushrooms, prepared and plated like the scallops entree.
Want to learn more about Six & Sky, including details about some of their decadent cocktail and dessert offerings? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our September/October 2024 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!