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On Monday, Virginia Beach’s Pink Dinghy did something perhaps unusual for restaurant: They released a short film.
It is also an ad, sure — promoting the new boutique market the once outdoor-only restaurant has opened on its interior at 609 19th St., selling wine and local honey and many of the ingredients that chef-owner Stephanie Dietz uses in her pan-Caribbean, pan-Latin and Middle Eastern cooking.
[ A fresh infusion of Latin-Caribbean flavor in Hampton Roads, from tender pork to sweet plantains ]
But the video is more of a ... mood.
And in its relentless good cheer and nostalgia, it’s maybe also a little bit heartbreaking — a tale of a world seen through pink-colored glasses in which the sun always shines, all listening is easy listening, and the pandemic doesn’t exist.
The film was conceived, produced and cast by the Dinghy’s late co-owner Chase Pittman. It was filmed just a month before his death at age 35, Dietz says.
But it had been in his mind much longer, as far back as a year ago, a wee sound-free story that reads a little like Wes Anderson’s take on the French new wave — a brief piece of meet-cute in which the subtitles don’t quite seem to have anything to do with what anyone is actually saying.
“It was just an idea he’d been talking about for a long time,” Dietz says. “He had the song picked out for quite a while, and that whole scene came to him. That’s kind of it. He’d been thinking about it for a while, and he did what he wanted to do... The first time he played the song for me, I think I just rolled my eyes.”
But the finished product, shot and edited by Nathanael Allison of Virginia Beach’s Impact Visuals Co., won her over.
“It’s adorable,” Dietz says.
Perhaps it’s best if you just take a moment now to watch it:
Locals will recognize some of the faces. The main character is Hampton Boyer, a local artist whose works are currently on display at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Angela Phillips, his counterpart in the video, runs a yoga studio on First Colonial Road. Musician BJ Griffin has a cameo, as does local cheese vendor Joey Raia.
And the guy in the table in the back?
“He was just a random guy that walked up,” Dietz says.
Each of the characters turns out to have one very particular thing in common, a quality that was also shared by the late Pittman — giving the video a slight tinge of the bittersweet.
The video, credited as a “Pink Dinghy Production,” is also dedicated to Pittman’s memory: “Dreamer, director, owner and vibe curator.”
But it is also, of course, dedicated to the Dinghy’s new market, made according to the vision Dietz says she first laid out two years ago — before the many hardships and delays the Dinghy faced while finally opening up their pink-tinted restaurant ordering window.
“My vision for the market was a place you could come and get a really great gift for someone,” Dietz says.
This means single-origin spices from New York, many hot sauces, organic olive oil, cocktail bitters, nut butters, premium tahini, Eastern Shore salt, local ceramics and vintage cocktail glasses. And, of course, it means lots of the fun natural wines the Dinghy has become known for serving since opening this summer.
“It’s funny,” Dietz says. “Igor (Acord) was making a sign for us today, and it was like, ‘What should I write?’ Maybe just, ‘Wine and Stuff.’”
The Pink Dinghy market and restaurant is open Wednesdays through Sundays, with fully stocked shelves but a somewhat abbreviated food menu for now.
Let's Eat
But the Dinghy has big plans, including a reservations-only tent outside, and a small-plates menu available indoors, with casual takeout fare still served out the window.
“Takeout is sandwiches, chimichangas, nachos,” Dietz says. “Dine-in will be more refined and elevated.”
And as for what the characters in the Pink Dinghy’s video were actually saying, instead of what showed up on the subtitles?
Dietz doesn’t know.
She asked Boyer, and even though he’s the actor who said the line, he doesn’t know either.
“He said he doesn’t remember,” Dietz says.
Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com