Nu-Beginning — Local services in Staunton

Nu-Beginning Farm Store/Cafe is a "Foodie" destination worth the trip! This is a small casual cafe/grocery. The menu ingredients and the groceries are, as much as possible, locally sourced from the Shenandoah Valley region. This is not your typical cafe. They serve soups, salads, sandwiches, breakfast, local beer, local wine, and entrees similar to other establishments. However, if you have an adventurous palate, there are all kinds of unusual selections to choose from. These folks create amazing food combinations, that I've never heard of, nor even thought of! There are plenty of options for people with more conventional tastes too. The menu hosts vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. There is truly something for everyone. My wife and I opted for a soup and salad combo. She had a Greek salad, with potato leek soup. I had the delicious Greek salad as well, but chose the split pea curry soup. We were both exceedingly pleased with the quality of the ingredients, the service, and the recipes. I'm looking forward to my next visit to try one of the more unfamiliar choices. If you are seeking something completely different, healthy and delicious, be sure to try the Nu-Beginning Farm Store/Cafe. It is a "stones throw" from the historic area of Staunton and worth the effort to find it.

Another wonderful aspect of our experience was talking with John (one of the owners and a farmer). He gave us pragmatic advice on sustainable methods to deal with Japanese Beetles. It was incredibly interesting to talk with John the farmer, the chef, grocer, business operator, photographer, homesteading teacher, and who knows what else....Wow. If you're into sustainable agriculture, buy fresh-buy local, farm to fork, supporting small business, adventurous recipes, and all phases of food production, you will LOVE this place. Everyone was friendly, even the other customers! Gillian, our server, was exceptionally attentive and motivated. She provided excellent suggestions, and was knowledgeable about the menu, the ingredients, food, cooking, and the grocery inventory.

Groceries that caught my eye were - fresh produce, local eggs, and a nifty selection of sauerkrauts. They generously offer samples for some of their products, so that you can try before you buy. They also offer locally made soaps, essential oil mixes, locally roasted coffee beans from all over the world, local honey, local jellies and much more. This is a great place to grab a delectable meal, and pick up outstanding local ingredients for your own culinary creations.

Update: We recently harvested a crop of parsnips, and brought a load to The Store. John was completely transparent about his pricing and markup. I will tell you, he is ABSOLUTELY FAIR! If you patronize Nu Beginning, you are directly supporting small scale, organic, local farmers. These are people that genuinely care about the environment, the food, and you.

June 9, 2016, - Looks like Nu-Beginning The Store is growing. We stopped in yesterday for an asparagus and gruyere sandwich. It was loaded up with other veggies too and DEEEEELICIOUS! We love finding new combinations like that. It is easy to fall into the rut of cooking the same things over and over.

Update June 2016 My wife and I have dined at The Store a few times since our original review. Here is what it comes down to. How do you "feel" after you consume the food that have paid for? Do you feel overweight and undernourished? Yes, it costs more than fast food, but your body will thank you. These folks are more into the consumer and the farmers than getting rich. This place...

This restaurant used to be my favorite lunch place at its previous location, so much so that my friends and I would get cravings to go there. The food was always fresh, tasty, interesting and plentiful, and the ambiance was cozy. But for various reasons, I hadn't had the chance to visit since they moved 2-ish years ago. True, in part I'd been discouraged by initial reviews, but I was curious to form my own opinion. So, thinking that by now the restaurant would be back in its groove, last week I encouraged two companions to join me for lunch there.

Based on our experience, I don't think I'll return soon. We were the only customers in the place that no longer feels cozy but more like an auto parts store with widely spaced tables. Service was initially solicitous, but degraded over the course of our hour there as three or maybe four people, some evidently quite uncertain, attended to us. It was hard to talk over what was billed as live music but seemed rather to be a jam session of regulars who showed up for the purpose. We found the musical selections strident foreground music rather than soothing background music. When the food finally came, the three meals were delivered item by item rather than seat by seat although we were the only customers there most of that time and our order was not complicated. The food I'd much touted was a big disappointment to all. The burger was overcooked, the chunky vegetable soup was actually just potatoes in brown broth and disagreeably bitter, the salad was skimpy being mostly lettuce, the bread was flat-tasting and cold (and we had to ask twice for it although it was included in one order and requested with another), and the pot of coffee was like tepid dishwater. (In fairness, a cup of a different roast ordered after the meal was quite good -- hot and deeply flavorful.) Only the off-menu scoop of tuna salad and the reliable house citrus vinaigrette were excellent.

I'm really sorry this was such a downbeat experience for us. When the restaurant was at its former location, not only did I get cravings to go there, but I used to tell everyone I could about it and encourage them to visit, promising they would not be disappointed, and they never were. Sad to say, I don't feel comfortable doing that now.

The management are really lovely and I want them to succeed despite the negative content of this review. Hopefully, they'll know what accounted for the experience my group had and be able to address it.

Maybe if we'd gone just for coffee and pastries midafternoon and the place had been full, we would have had a different experience, for the demands on the kitchen would have been fewer, the coffee would have had to be kept fresh and flowing, and the live music would have provided just...

once a good business that quickly fell apart.

started shopping here maybe around 2013 or 2014 or so because of how I wanted to try the local meat and eggs and occasionally fruit.

supposedly local grown and sold.

the prices weren't too bad and the products were originally good quality and made with the freshest ingredients.

there was more variety of products available at one time too.

that did not last long at all before many of his employees and suppliers suddenly changed and he and his wife could not manage the business as they scrambled to find new workers and suppliers.

once this happened the products became extremely poor in quality and even safety was an issue as it became easy to find a whole dozen rotten eggs at once and the fruit was frequently bruised or rotten by the time it arrived at the store and the quality of the meat products dwindled significantly.

the last I heard they also wanted to expand on the business.

I don't see how that will ever work out since they cannot manage the one that has floundered so terribly.

the owner may not have wanted this to happen, but he lost the confidence of many customers and his new cooks and employees are not at all the same.

the fact that so many of his workers quit before makes me obviously question what is it like to be employed by him?.

in no way am I threatening the business and in fact I'm very sad for them because it's a terrible thing for one's plans and executions of ideas to not work out in the end.

there is a certain chemistry to owning and running a food store and restaurant just like the food it sells.

everyone (owner included) is an ingredient and they can make or break that recipe for success.

also much of their sold food is not local anymore, but bought wholesale and the ready made meals are often made with cheap non organic GMO'D ingredients.

they also are not gluten free and do not offer such options.

as another reviewer mentioned if you want these choices go to...