The owners and staff of the new 528 Prime Steak and Seafood in Tappahannock are enthusiastic about showing diners a good time with high quality ingredients, such as locally caught fish, and a great selection of wines in their retail space. Pictured from left to right: Vittorio Castiglia, Manager and Chef Oded Miller, Owner Luigi Castiglia, and Owner Heidi Dimas.
Most everyone with any connection to the town of Tappahannock has been very curious about the happenings at 528 North Church Lane, the site of the former iconic restaurant, Lowery’s. What will it be? When will it open? Finally, we have answers.
It is 528 Prime Steak and Seafood, which opened on Wednesday, November 2 after a “soft opening” for city officials, firemen, policemen, and a few special guests, the night before.
The day before the opening, there was an amazing amount of hustle and bustle. The new owners were there, working alongside restaurant staff and construction workers.
Luigi Castiglia was simultaneously holding a ladder for someone hanging the sign out front, stoking the wood fired pizza oven, and answering my questions while his wife, Heidi Dimas, showed me around, explaining everything and occasionally solving a problem for someone.
Castiglia came to Virginia from Naples when he was 15 years old and began working in family restaurants. He has had a restaurant, Castiglia’s Italian Restaurant, in downtown Fredericksburg for many years. Castiglia and Dimas bought a river house just outside of Tappahannock a few years ago and fell in love with the town. When Lowery’s closed down, he saw a happy opportunity to expand his business interests.
They are both very glad they will be spending much more of their time here.
Everyone working at the restaurant seems to share a real passion for good food, good wine, and providing their patrons with a memorable experience.
It is easy to imagine Castiglia cooking in the kitchen, flipping pizzas in the oven, and checking on guests at their tables with Dimas unflappably following up on the endless details that come with running a rather large restaurant.
There is a family feeling among the staff, and some of the employees from the Fredericksburg restaurant were there to help with the opening.
Chef Oded has worked with Castiglia for the past five years. He started working in restaurants as a teenager under the tutelage of his father, who is also a chef. He is very enthusiastic about the entire menu, but pointed out a few favorites.
He described the starter “528 Ants on a Log” as a twist between Oysters Rockefeller and New Orleans style oysters. The dish features local oysters sauteed in lemony garlic butter on a bone marrow which is roasted until the marrow mixes with the butter and makes a “beautiful sauce.”
He said that they will still serve old favorites such as fried chicken and crab cakes, pointing out that the crab cakes will only have just enough filling to bind them together.
Oded took me into the walk-in where there were beautiful cuts of beef wrapped in cheesecloth and sprayed regularly with a Bourbon-based brine. They will be smoking prime rib in-house on Thursdays through Sundays.
The beef is Certified Angus Beef from Virginia, which is specially aged and cut at the restaurant. The oysters are from the Rappahannock, and they will be sourcing as much produce as possible from local farms.
When asked about favorites, everyone was particularly enthusiastic about the Tomahawk Steak for Two.
The renovation of the restaurant has taken more than a year. The transformed space is clean and modern, while still feeling warm and comfortable.
The copper clad woodfired brick oven is the focal point of one dining room. In another main dining room there is a bar with top shelf liquors and liqueurs.
There are leather sofas in the middle of the restaurant which seems like a much nicer place to wait for a table than by the usual front door. The Marlin Room is a large dining room which can be reserved for parties and the Banquet Room is for larger receptions. The new owners kept artwork which the former owners did not want to take and have supplemented it with the work of local artists.
As you enter the building, there is a retail space for wine. Castiglia put a lot of effort into the selection, and hopes for it to evolve into a club with tastings and exploration of new varieties. Customers may come in and buy wine to take home, or dining customers may choose their bottle and just pay a corking fee at the table, which lowers the cost of wining and dining.
Another big attraction, of course, is the patio. Castiglia has found and refurbished an old boat, which he has placed as a center point of the dining area. It is strung with lights and has two functional steering wheels, which should garner a lot of attention from the younger set. People can sit at tables on the boat, on the patio, or at a bar which is serviced by windows on the side of the building.
Castiglia hopes the restaurant will be a destination that attracts more businesses to the downtown area. He feels the waterfront has amazing potential and hopes to one day see people arriving by boat.
The intention of Castiglia and Dimas is for the restaurant to be a comfortable family place for everyone to have a fine dining experience. In order to facilitate that, they ask that people make reservations.
Menus, photographs, and other information can be found on their website at www.primesteakseafood.com.
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