Virtue Feed and Grain

Alexandria's Virtue Feed and Grain
Photos by Ken Wyner

Since opening the much-praised Restaurant Eve in 2004, Cathal and Meshelle Armstrong have branched out with several more projects, including neo-speakeasy PX, Eamonn's A Dublin Chipper and breathing new life into Old Town's Majestic.

But their largest undertaking so far (that is until Society Fair opens) opened in June just a stone's skip from the Old Town Alexandria waterfront. Virtue Feed and Grain, seating some 350 guests, completely revamps an old brick feed warehouse from the 1800s that more recently housed Olsson's Books.

Chef Armstrong's hearty menu reads like a translation of an Irish pub through a Virginia country lens. Dishes like steak and kidney pie, shaggers pie, and crubeens (pigs feet) strongly nod to his native Ireland, while chili cheese dogs, deviled eggs, and pigs in a blanket give the menu a playful American twist. Like at his other restaurants, ingredients are often sourced from local farms.

The spacious two-story interior shows off some impressive and resourceful materials sourcing and restoration. The wood flooring upstairs came from a pre-Civil War era oak barn in the Wisconsin Dells, and repurposed bricks and materials are used throughout. The decor, playing on the name, is an irreverent blend of angel motifs and burlap-covered feed store themes.

Virtue opened with daily dinner service and will soon expand to lunch Monday-Friday as well as brunch.

Virtue Feed and Grain
106 S. Union St., Alexandria, Va.
571.970.3669