The story below is from our July/August 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Photos By John Park
Txtur’s Nordic-inspired eatery blends flavor, form and function in sophisticated surrounds.
It’s Friday night and nearly all the couches in Txtur’s downtown Roanoke showroom are occupied. Folks aren’t here to buy one of the custom-made sofas, but rather to sip craft cocktails and sup on small plates as part of a night out. Diners could purchase a couch if they wanted to, but they’re likely here to sample the smoked fish board, fried Gouda spring rolls and aquavit-infused tipples from Stock, a Nordic- and Northern-European-inspired bistro that opened this spring inside Fire Station One.
Perhaps the notion of a furniture store and restaurant sounds familiar? “The concept came about because of a tongue-in-cheek [reference],” Chef Jeff Farmer says. “Since it’s a furniture store, the first thing that comes to mind is IKEA. I wanted an upscale, northern European, Scandinavian and Nordic menu, and I ran with it. Much to my surprise, the owner was really into it.”
Greg Terrill, Txtur’s founder, always envisioned opening an eatery to complement his local furniture company’s flagship showroom and to serve as an extension of the brand’s ethos.
“When we think about someone entering our showroom for furniture or the extended hospitality experience, I tell our team about graciousness, about this desire to please the customer and be friendly,” Terrill says.
It was synergetic that Farmer, with his hospitality track record at Roanoke restaurants Lucky and Fortunato, answered the call to oversee the food and beverage component of the multi-use concept which also includes a boutique hotel and event space.
With its Scandi roots, Stock’s menu leans seafood heavy. There’s an emphasis on smoked fish, including smoked salmon, trout and gravlax (Nordic-style cured salmon). For a selection of smoked, pickled and cured fish, order the Stock Board, which one friend likened to a charcuterie Stonehenge owing to the sculptural rye crackers standing upright among the various fish components, cheeses and accoutrements. Or opt for one of the smørrebrød, traditional Danish open-faced rye sandwiches topped with combinations such as Marshallberg Farm’s smoked sturgeon salad with pickled fennel, carrot and sorrel (which offers a fresh reprieve from the deeply smoky fish) or gravlax paired with red onions, capers, everything crème fraîche and a flurry of fresh herbs.
“A lot of people come in who say they don’t like seafood but then taste either the salmon or trout and it gives people a little different take on seafood,” Farmer says. “And it helps us be a little more versatile in what we serve. We can cure it, smoke it and preserve it and be able to use it throughout the week.”
For those already firmly in the pro-seafood camp, there’s the can’t-miss whole trout. The trout, served with head and tail intact, is sourced from local purveyor Smoke in Chimneys and simply prepared to allow the fish’s delicate flavors to shine.
“We clean it, usually let it air dry in the fridge for a day which tightens up the skin to make it crispier and concentrates that flavor, then we lightly salt and sear it off,” Farmer says. “It’s so delicate, fresh; there’s a sweetness to it. It has a lot to do with the temperature of that water coming off the mountain—it’s cold year-round—and how clean it is.”
That said, there are meat-centric options too, like the excellent pork schnitzel, which is at once light and crispy and comes with a warm, lemony potato salad punched up with horseradish that I wish would be offered as a stand-alone side. Or the smoked duck, a fun, interactive dish that invites diners to use Danish potato rye flatbreads to fashion duck tacos with components such as red cabbage, lingonberry vinaigrette and spring pea almond purée. For vegetarians, there’s a crave-worthy king trumpet mushroom smørrebrød paired with leeks, goat cheese and crispy shallots, or a seasonal vegetable bowl. One recent iteration featured rye berries and pearl barley with asparagus and roasted beets, pulled together with Grüne Soße, an herbaceous cold sauce that’s essentially Germany’s answer to green goddess dressing.
To wash it all down, you’ll find a white-wine-heavy list that favors German and Austrian producers; there’s typically a food-friendly, dry, high-acid Riesling by the glass that Farmer recommends. Though there are a number of Virginia producers on the list too, and Farmer is particularly excited about wines from Commonwealth Crush, a Waynesboro wine-making facility for small producers. On the cocktail front, seek out unique libations that feature Scandi ingredients. There’s the Tough Pink Lady, a vodka-based tipple that drinks like a floral-sweet apple offset by juicy-tart lingonberry, or the Ett-Tva-Tre, which mingles house-made, oyster-shell infused aquavit and London dry gin, balanced with floral blanc vermouth.
Although Stock’s concept is broadly perceived as upscale and the menu certainly reads as elevated, Farmer hopes more diners will embrace it as an approachable experience. “I’d love for it to be very casual and open to everyone to come in. I try to keep different price points to cover everything. Unfortunately, food is expensive right now,” Farmer says. “We run a happy hour Thursday to Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m., with $10 cocktails and $6 wine specials. The kapsalon is a meal in and of itself; you can eat heartily with that dish.”
The kapsalon is the menu’s sleeper hit (and staff favorite) and eats, delightfully, like a French fry salad. It’s comprised of hand-cut French fries topped with chicken shawarma, Gouda, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and generous squiggles of garlic sauce and sambal. It’s the second dish, in addition to the fried Gouda spring rolls, that hails from The Netherlands. “It roughly translates to ‘from the salon’ and it started in Rotterdam where a salon started serving this dish out the back door and it kind of became a sensation.” If you’re more in the mood to splurge, opt for the caviar (market price, from Marshallberg Farm in North Carolina), which is served with potato chips or rye pancakes.
For a not-too-sweet finish, dessert options include ebelskivers, puffy, airy spherical Danish pancakes served with fresh lingonberries and lingonberry syrup, or ice cream sandwiches. If it’s on offer, don’t miss the Ski Queen ice cream sandwich, named for the eponymous Norwegian cheese known for its fudge-like texture and caramel notes.
“To me, it tastes like a burnt butter ice cream, and we went with a gingernut Christmas cookie with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Those are my favorite flavors anyway. When I think of Scandinavia, I think of Christmas.”
Other seasonal flavor combinations have included a salted rye cookie with either orange-and-cardamom ice cream or sea buckthorn ice cream, whose flavor profile Farmer describes as a mix of lemon, passion fruit and papaya.
The evolution of Stock promises to offer more options for diners to experience Txtur’s unique brand of gracious hospitality. The lunch menu, billed by Farmer as a “late start with a few slightly breakfast items,” will be a boon for hotel guests and downtown lunch-goers alike. And the newly opened patio, outfitted with outdoor tables, a fire pit and several couches, will offer another inviting space for diners to linger over appetizers, cocktails and cozy vibes.
The story above is from our July/August 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
