New surf bar opens in Virginia Beach with boards, surfers on the screen and plenty of bacon

One of Virginia Beach’s surfiest neighborhoods soon will be home to a surf bar made by and for surfers.

“It’s going to be the Shadowlawn Eats Surf Vibe Grill,” says co-owner George Alcaraz, who for 30 years has managed the East Coast Surfing Championships, one of the largest amateur surf competitions in the country. “There’ll be boards, the history of the ECSC and other events — this is going to be a neutral zone for surf.”

Alcaraz — whose partner on the bar is ECSC chair Tony Pellino, who also co-owns nearby Gringo’s Taqueria, and surf shop VB Surf Sessions — says their bar’s namesake neighborhood is secretly one of the surfiest neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, even though its borders technically don’t extend to the Oceanfront.

“This is right in the heart of surf culture in Virginia Beach. You wouldn’t believe all the surfers in Shadowlawn,” he says, with the easy pace of a guy who isn’t going anywhere but the ocean. “They ride their bikes over and they all have racks on their bike. I notice 80% of everyone goes to the beach, even in the winter. They’ve got their boogie boards — they had unbelievable waves the other day. I couldn’t believe the people in wetsuits out at the beach.”

Alcaraz, who previously opened an Uncle Al’s Taphouse in the location with a different partner, says people have already been knocking on the door waiting for Shadowlawn Eats to open.

When it finally does celebrate its grand opening on Super Bowl Sunday, the hangout will be home to a 40-seat patio with an astroturf floor, a wealth of surfboards painted by locals, surf competitions on 10 screens, and bacon on every table.

But wait … bacon?

As it turns out, while visiting Cancun, Alcaraz visited a bar famous for surfers and many novelty flavors of bacon — so well known locally, he said, that you could hop in a cab and ask to be taken to the bacon bar.

“Everybody sitting at the bar was eating bacon,” he said. “Everybody drinking had a little vase of bacon. I loved it. Our signature dish will be bacon with all these spices and dips, and right behind that will be a smoked bourbon old fashioned with Tarnished Truth from the Cavalier.”

The open kitchen will be presided over by Chad Burns, who previously cooked in the kitchens of nearby restaurants Catch 31 and Mahi Mah’s, and also worked as a server at busy beachside bar Waterman’s.

In addition to bouquets of thick-sliced bacon — served in a shot glass with hot sauce, seasonings and a cream-soda reduction, on cedar boards Alcaraz made himself — Burns describes a menu of quirky comfort foods.

This means fried pickle spears, deviled eggs, house Cuban sandwiches, lobster rolls and hand-cut ribeye steaks. Shadowlawn’s menu also will feature fresh-made beef lumpia, made from Alcaraz’s own family recipe. They’ll also have vegetarian options.

Lumpia, from co-owner George Alcaraz's family recipe, at surf Bar Shadowlawn Eats (Courtesy Amber Alcaraz)

But Burns says he figures that over time, the menu will be determined by the bar’s regulars, depending on whatever people ask for when they wander in: If somebody has a deep hankering, he’ll happily try out an item as a special. And if other people want it, too, maybe it goes on the menu.

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That convivial approach, Alcaraz said, is what made Burns the chef he wanted to bring aboard at the open-kitchen restaurant — though the culinary degree from Johnson & Wales probably didn’t hurt.

Fundamentally, Alcaraz says, he just wants a place for the neighborhood to feel at home — a sports bar for a neighborhood whose sport is surfing.

“We’re jumping up on that local surf culture, trying to create a restaurant where everybody can relax and watch their favorite surfer on a livestream,” he said. “We’ll offer that instead of football or NASCAR. Surf goes on year-round, worldwide, and we’re going to put that onscreen. ... It’s that laid-back atmosphere, with a cold beverage and a nice, filling meal.”

Alcaraz said he also tried to get some significant local surfboards to hang on the walls, to educate people about local surf history. But that was an impossible endeavor, he learned, after contacting a few notable local surfers.

“People won’t give up those boards,” he laughed. “Surf culture — it’s really tight on those boards. Wes Laine, one of the best in the world, we tried to get one of his boards up on the wall. We said, ‘We want to talk about your board.’ But he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t give it up.”

Patio seating at new Virginia Beach bar Shadowlawn Eats (Courtesy Amber Alcaraz)

Shadowlawn Eats holds its grand opening Sunday, Feb. 7, at 918 Mediterranean Ave., Virginia Beach, 757-937-0546, facebook.com/shadowlawneats.

Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com