Valentine’s Day in Comfort

Lifestyle
Written By Nicole Jones

Remember February 14th B.C. (Before Covid)? Our phones ringing off the hook as you all scramble to make reservations for any two-top table at 7pm to enjoy a prix fixe menu? It doesn’t take an insider to tell you that while we are always grateful for reservations, Valentine’s Day is not the best day to patronize restaurants. Overcrowded dining rooms, new menus written to maximize profits, and high expectations, these often create high-pressure situations that leave both staff and customers more than disappointed. Many inside the biz refer to February 14th and December 31st as Amateur Hour (sorry to bust any bubbles out there.)I don’t know about you, but the pandemic and the weather have me craving comfort food like it’s my job (see what I did there? It is my job.) So, we are staying open for a Sunday night to offer you all a simple, comforting dinner that you can easily replate and enjoy at home - no crowded dining rooms, no sauced dishes.  3-Course Valentine’s Day Dinner for $20

  • • Chicory salad with bacon, walnut, pear & sherry vinaigrette
  • • Creamy seafood chowder with shrimp, rockfish, potato, fennel, celery & grilled sourdough bread
  • • Chocolate mousse, candied orange & vanilla cream

  Pair it with a new addition to our wine offerings - a lovely, lemony, dry sparkling rosé. The fact that it’s made by three generations of female winemakers is just a plus!Can’t make it for dinner? All weekend long we’ll be offering heart-shaped biscuits, strawberry scones, and fresh-made strawberry milk for the young and young at heart! 

Nicole Jones

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Head Janitor, Chef, and Proprietor | Modest Bread

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 (now Rubia’s) 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. 

Modest Bread is a collection of idiosyncratic neighborhood restaurants devoted to hospitality in Northern Virginia and includes Rubia’s, Bagel Uprising, Mae’s Market & Cafe, and Virginia’s Darling.

www.modestbread.com

2309 Mt Vernon Avenue

Alexandria, VA 22301

703.664.0445

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