New restaurant 1870 from Midlothian Chef's Kitchen opening in Chesterfield

The former Quirk Hotel chef’s latest venture is 1870, a French-inspired steakhouse at 13310 Midlothian Turnpike in the heart of Midlothian.

The name of the restaurant comes from the 19th-century building it now calls home. Built in 1870 by the Jewett brothers, Jewett-Bass Hall is the oldest still-standing commercial building in Chesterfield, according to a history website.

“We drove by it often, we live right down the street and said, ‘How cool would it be to open a restaurant there?’” Dunlap said. “It has that Charleston vibe with the two front porches. But we never saw it for sale.”

Dunlap and his wife, Brittany, moved to Richmond in 2015 from Northern Virginia, where Dunlap worked as a chef at Alain Ducasse’s Adour restaurant.

In 2021, Dunlap opened Midlothian Chef’s Kitchen, which RTD dining critic Justin Lo called “a fine dining destination producing the most elevated and inspiring cuisine this side of the Powhite Parkway has ever seen.”

Jewett-Bass Hall was most recently home to real estate firm Jenni and Co.; before that, it belonged to a church. When a real estate deal fell through, Dunlap and his wife swooped in and were able to snap up the property in October.

Classically trained as a French chef, Dunlap said he has been thinking about opening a steakhouse for years.

1870 is an à la carte steakhouse with five steaks on the menu, where diners get to choose their sauce or butter, from au poivre to horseradish butter, as well as side dishes such as potato gratin, asparagus with truffle breadcrumb and classic creamed spinach.

Steaks run $32 for the hanger to $76 for the 20-ounce seared ribeye. Each main dish comes with one side and one sauce.

The menu also includes a bone-in pork chop, organic chicken breast and rack of lamb, plus seafood options such as rockfish, salmon and vanilla-butter poached lobster.

1870 aims to blend French cuisine with old-world Virginia flair.

“We really tried to stick with the historical part of Virginia,” Brittany said about designing the restaurant and the menu.

For the past few months, the couple have been busy renovating the space themselves.

“It was a blank slate, one really big room,” Dunlap said.

David built the bars himself, one downstairs and the other upstairs, while Brittany focused on the interior design.

The first floor is the main dining room with one long, L-shaped banquette in cowhide print, tables with white tablecloths, white-painted brick walls and classic Virginia-style paintings on the walls.

Upstairs is a bar that will offer a more casual setting and be open during business hours, as well as two private dining rooms called the Jewett Room and the Bass Room.

“We live here in Midlothian. We saw that if we wanted something a little more unique that wasn’t a chain restaurant, you had to go into the city,” Dunlap said. “There’s a ton of people out here. We felt we owed it to ourselves and them to fill that void.”

Right now, 1870 is in soft opening mode. It will officially open on Tuesday and will be open for dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays.