VMFA's eateries are works of art

Executive chef Danny Ayers is about to open two new restaurants that are certain to immediately become the talk of the town.

He knows whom to thank.

"The architects get credit for that," he said early this week while standing in the dining room of the Best Café on the main floor of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The café, plus the Amuse restaurant a floor above, open to the public Saturday, when the museum holds its grand reopening to show off the massive rebuilding project that has seen the Boulevard facility more than double in size.

Completely rethinking the restaurants, from where they are in the museum to what they serve to who is encouraged to dine there, was a big part of the museum makeover from London-based Rick Mather Architects (working with Richmond's SMBW), said Bob Tarren, the director of marketing at the VMFA.

"You can argue the merits of a crab cake at one restaurant or another, but you can't argue location," Tarren said. "This is the kind of space people are going to want to see. It's not just for members. [The museum is] free, and we hope the public will come in and enjoy a meal."

They could in the past, too, but the options were a small café for the public and a members-only dining room. Now, all food options are open to everyone.

For casual dining, they can enjoy it on the first floor in the Best Café.

Yes, that's Best as in the long-gone retail chain whose founders, Frances and Sydney Lewis, have been major contributors to the museum. The café is all chrome, shiny white tiles, art -- including part of a huge panel painting that once hung in a Best showroom -- and natural light. Tons and tons of light, pouring through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall that runs the length of the back half of the room.

A floor above is the restaurant Amuse, which also has a floor-to-ceiling expanse of glass with a spectacular view facing west.

"Imagine this with a beautiful sunset," Tarren said. "That's the kind of thing that will get a buzz going real fast."

Both restaurants feature decks with plenty of room to sit or stand, affording an up-close view of the museum's new reflecting pond. Just past that will be the sculpture garden, set to be the fourth-largest outdoor space of its kind in the country. (It's a work in a progress -- not to mention staging area for heavy construction equipment -- at the moment but should be finished by the end of the summer.)

View aside, and that's an admittedly tough challenge in either of those restaurants, the business is food. That's where Ayers and Greg Haley, the chef de cuisine at Amuse, come in.

For the Best Café, Ayers has crafted a menu with four main components: gourmet pizza, panini, entrée salads and a daily special. The food will be served hot, but there also will be a grab-and-go section with sandwiches, wraps and salads. The space also includes a coffee and cappuccino bar.

"This is the kind of place where you can grab a cup of good coffee and sit down or go out and enjoy the sculpture garden," Tarren said.

Ayers was still working out the details of pricing but said the goal was to serve lunch for $10 or so, drink included.

Upstairs, the atmosphere will be a bit more formal. Amuse will be a sit-down restaurant with more substantial offerings. The focus will be on locally produced food, Haley said.

The initial menu has six starters ($6 to $10, including a $10 sampler plate of local cheeses), two soups ($4; cauliflower bisque with truffle and fried collard greens and mushroom miso broth with rice noodles, red pepper and bok choy) and six entrées ($8 to $14, including Haley's favorite, an Ayrshire Farm flat-iron steak for $14).

Nearly everything on the menu will have been grown, groomed or otherwise cultivated in the state.

"Well, we are the state museum," he said. "So I guess we have an obligation. Plus, locally grown tastes better. It cooks faster, and it requires less seasoning. It's just better."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or zreid@timesdispatch.com.