When Seaspice opened in Miami in 2013, Maryam and Carlos Miranda were already experienced restaurateurs. But they truly found success with the restaurant that has attracted high-profile diners like Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Michael Caine, and Barbra Streisand with dishes like pear ravioli in Parmesan fondue.
So what spurred these big-city successes to buy the Aldie General Store? “We love the yin and the yang,” Maryam says. “We’ve been coming to Middleburg since college [at Arlington’s Marymount University]. We know it very well. You have Miami that’s a city, then this beautiful, quiet country.”
In fact, the family’s two daughters attended the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, and the couple bought a farm that, come summer, will help to supply their restaurant with items including fresh flowers and eggs.
“Coming here, we realized there was a huge need for food establishments,” she says. “It’s really a passion project.”
The result of their several years of effort is The Black Market, a farm-to-table restaurant with a menu from Seaspice executive chef Angel Leon and longtime Loudoun County chef Tad Winegar. The menu will change seasonally to allow for the best regional produce to get star billing — Virginia truffles may even be part of the future lineup. This makes it challenging to review the wintertime iteration of the restaurant, but if The Black Market grows into the promise it already shows, it will be a coup for western Loudoun diners.
On a recent Saturday, it’s clear that the word is already out. Every table at the restaurant is packed with jovial diners enjoying the wines on the well-curated list. Most talk to neighbors at the communal tables, discussing what to order with fellow guests who have already worked their way through the menu of pasta and petite, wine bar–style apps. Yes, communal tables — a welcome quirk to some diners, a word of caution to others. But Maryam says her team has added some private tables to the dining room, and that the large patio, open in the warm months, will also be a more individual experience for guests who prefer not to chat with other diners.
If you do, chances are those friendly faces will recommend one of the pasta dishes. The best of these may well be the aforementioned pear ravioli, a dish I first experienced at a hole-in-the-wall in Florence and had long since dreamed of recapturing. Leon and Winegar have done it but amped up the luxury. This version of the cheese-filled dish is spotted with freshly shaved black truffle and tender slices of fresh pear. But for me, the masterstroke is a drizzle of sweet and sour balsamic to bust through the lush gorgonzola-on-ricotta-on-Parmesan excess. The portion is European in scale ($24 for a half dozen ravioli), but after Virginia ham croquettes and salty preserved anchovies, it left me full.
You might not need the appetizers if you order the oxtail and short rib ravioli. The near-translucent but still al dente pasta is stuffed with braised meat. The same eye toward glorious overabundance that characterizes the pear ravioli is raised a notch here with a creamy foie-gras sauce that coats a diner’s mouth in a wash of umami, just as a stroke of cherry blossom balsamic shakes it out of its delicious haze.
Prime butcher’s cuts of the day might include locally farmed pork or beef dry-aged in-house. The strip steak was priced at $80 — too much for my budget — but I did try the $40 pork. Beautifully seared and sunken into a layer of spiced apple sauce, it was served already sliced, which made it a bit less juicy than it could have been. But I still happily downed it with the sides I added — a refreshing, Stilton-woven endive salad and an oversized portion of lightly truffle-scented shoestring fries.
I didn’t expect much of the desserts. There are only two, but they both exceeded my expectations, particularly the tiramisu, a dessert I usually don’t enjoy. Covered in cocoa powder and vanilla-bean-dotted whipped cream, the airy concoction doesn’t focus too much on coffee flavor but melds that earthiness effortlessly with the chocolate and vanilla notes.
As The Black Market grows, guests can expect far more than a spot for a pasta dinner. Maryam says locals will be able to stop by the former general store for prepared meals to take home and an expanded roster of gourmet goods, as well as hire Winegar and his team for catered events.
The Black Market is already shaping up to be what the restaurateurs dreamed of: It’s a meeting place where their neighbors can enjoy a glass of wine and a cocktail with a cheese and charcuterie board. But as the offerings expand, don’t be surprised to see guests coming from beyond horse country.
The Black Market
★★★ out of 5 stars
See This: Horse-themed art lends a sense of place, while market items — ranging from Veuve Clicquot to Trifulòt chocolate truffles — contribute a sense of taste.
Eat This: Pear ravioli, oxtail and short rib ravioli, tiramisu
Appetizers: $14–$45
Entrées: $22–$80
Dessert: $12
As of press time, dinner was served Thursday through Sunday, with plans to add more days and weekend brunch. Check the website for hours.
39285 Little River Tpk., Aldie, theblackmarketvirginia.com
Feature image courtesy The Black Market
This story originally ran in our May Issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
