All You Can Eat: Vu Noodles

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

Durty Nelly’s Down-home pub and deli now offering five subs (except the Dagwood) for $35. 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. 295-1278. $. HotCakes Fancy sandwiches, housemade entrées, and desserts. Delivery available. Barracks Road Shopping Center. 295-6037. $. Iron Paffles & Coffee Pastry dough + waffle iron + savory or sweet insides. 214 W. Water St. 806-3800. $. Jack’s Shop Kitchen Farm-to-table brunch, lunch, and supper spot with elevated classics. 14843 Spotswood Trail, Ruckersville. 939-9239. $$. Jersey Mike’s Subs Subs from Jersey. 2040 Abbey Rd. #104, 529-6278; 5th Street Station, 328-8694. $. Jimmy John’s Low-cost sandwiches on 29N. “Freaky fast” delivery. 1650 E. Rio Rd., 975-2100. $. Panera Bread Co. Ubiquitous chain with casual fare. Barracks Road Shopping Center, 245-6192; Hollymead Town Center, 973-5264; Fifth Street Station, 973-5264. $. Revolutionary Soup Choose from a slew of enticing soups made daily. 104 14th St. NW, 979-9988. $. Roots Natural Kitchen Fast-casual salad and grain bowls. 1329 W. Main St. 529-6229. $. Which Wich Superior Sandwiches Create your own sandwiches by marking up the pre-printed brown bags. Hollymead Town Center. 977-9424. $.

Steaks and Seafood

Bonefish Grill Sister to mega-popular Outback Steakhouse featuring seafood, grilled non-fish specialties. Hollymead Town Center. 975-3474. $$. Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ onions and giant steaks. 1101 Seminole Trail. 975-4329. $$. Public Fish & Oyster Simply prepared, responsibly sourced seafood. 513 W. Main St., 995- 5542. $$.

Upscale Casual

C&O Serving a three-course menu for curbside pick-up, two entree selections each night, Weds-Sun. 515 E. Water St. 971-7044. $$$. Fig Bistro & Bar Mediterranean and New Orleans-inspired dishes with housemade ingredients. 1331 W. Main St. 995-5047. $. Ivy Inn Offering Fine dining in a charming tollhouse. 2244 Old Ivy Rd. 977-1222. $$$. The Local Belmont neighborhood spot featuring comfort favorites. 824 Hinton Ave. 984- 9749. $$. Maya Upscale Southern cuisine. 633 W. Main St. 979-6292. $$. The Melting Pot Fondue fun for all. 501 E. Water St. 244-3463. $$$. The Mill Room Multiple menu options for carryout at The Boar’s Head, 200 Ednam Dr. 972-2230. $$$. Oakhart Social Seasonal, creative modern American food for sharing. 511 W. Main St. 995-5449. $$. Oakhurst Inn Coffee & Café Southern style breakfast and lunch. 1616 Jefferson Park Ave. 872-0100. $. Restoration Great views and delicious food, ranging from fried green tomatoes and burgers to crab cakes and pasta. 5494 Golf Dr., Crozet. 823-1841. $$. Southern Crescent Cajun and Creole fare in Belmont. 814 Hinton Ave. 284-5101. $$. Wayland’s Crossing Tavern Pub food, vegetarian plates, and kid-friendly fare. 1015 Heather croft Cir., Crozet. 205-4669. $$.

Recipe for success

Vu Noodles’ survival story

JOHN ROBINSON

Julie Vu Whitaker left her career as a social worker to start a vegan Vietnamese kitchen.

By Carol Diggs living@c-ville.com

Those who work in business can tell you that success requires hard work, adaptation, and some smiles from fate. Julie Vu Whitaker, founder and driving force behind Vu Noodles, can attest to all three.

In 2013, after 20 years as a social worker, Whitaker decided on a career shift. “[While] I still loved it, I was ready for a change,” she says.

From childhood, she enjoyed cooking and sharing foods from her Vietnamese heritage, and she credits her immigrant family (they arrived in Waynesboro when Whitaker was 8) with instilling a strong work ethic: “My family has always been in their own business.” She began selling Vu Noodles, her “to-go” take on traditional Vietnamese vegetable bowls, at The Farm corner grocery in Belmont. “It really opened my eyes,” she says. “People liked my food.”

Vu Noodles’ popularity led Whitaker to get her home kitchen commercially certified so she could supply vendors around town, from Whole Foods Market to Rebecca’s Natural Food and Martha Jefferson Hospital’s café. After three years working long hours— her bowls are prepared fresh every day— Whitaker says she needed some help. “I was thinking, ‘I can’t keep doing this alone.’” She jumped at the opportunity to take over The Spot on Second Street in partnership with Kathy Zentgraf of Greenie’s.

Demand soon meant the business had outgrown Whitaker’s home kitchen, so she struck a deal with Pearl Island Catering to rent the kitchen at the Jefferson School City Center and supply the café there. “Now I had a sit-down space, and could interact more with the customers, which I loved,” she recalls. But sharing the kitchen with Pearl Island’s growing business began to bind. By late 2019, Whitaker was considering the new Dairy Market, which would have meant

TOM MCGOVERN

taking on significant debt. “I’d always been able to fund my business myself,” she says.

Enter another opportunity: Early this year Whitaker got an offer to take over The Flat Creperie’s space—right off the Downtown Mall, with its own kitchen, and small enough for Whitaker to handle with help from her husband and two sons, now in high school.

In another smile from fate, in May the United Way of Greater Charlottesville and the city’s Minority Business Alliance announced the first grants under a new partnership to help support local minority- and women-owned small businesses. One of the $5,000 grants went to Vu Noodles, although Whitaker had to be convinced by a friend to even apply. “I always feel that someone else needs the money more,” she says.

The timing was perfect. The grant (and the pandemic shutdown) enabled Whitaker to renovate the kitchen and install a microphone for contactless ordering before opening in July.

Starting up at a new location while downtown foot traffic is just recovering is a challenge, but over the years Vu Noodles has developed a sizable and devoted following. Whitaker’s offerings now include pho and banh mi sandwiches as well as her noodle bowls, and are all completely vegan—except for one important holdout. “I had to keep the fish sauce,” she says with a smile. “It’s so much a part of our food tradition.”