Updated: October 1, 2026

The Tavern Cafe: A simple retreat for a satisfying bite to eat

Stepping into Rice’s Hotel/Hughlett’s Tavern is stepping between then and now. The building, with some portions dating from the late 1700s, houses the Northern Neck Heritage Arts Center, bustling with artisan guilds keeping alive traditional crafts like spinning, weaving and quilting. Behind the building, the blacksmith and woodworkers guilds also offer classes and demonstrations.

The space retains much of the architecture and feel of an old colonial tavern.

Tucked into the corner of all this is The Tavern Cafe, on the same site where people have been seeking refreshment for over 200 years. Manager and head chef Diane Crowley offers a menu of homey meals, all made from scratch, including the breads. Crowley leads a mostly volunteer staff. “They are absolutely incredible. We couldn’t keep the doors open without them.”

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While the menu may change from week to week, Crowley does set some structure. “We always have a soup, three types of quiche and a feature. That can be a sandwich or something like chicken pot pie, lasagna or last week we had croque monsieur.” For those unfamiliar, croque monsieur a la dinde is a mouth-watering combo—turkey and gouda on a croissant baked in an herbed egg custard with a light béchamel sauce and a cranberry/apple chutney.

Southern pimento cheese on Japanese cloud bread with red cabbage coleslaw.

The week we visited, Crowley included a number of other interesting flavors and ingredients. “We like to try new things,” she said. The feature was Southern pimento cheese with bacon and sweet onion jam and grilled on Japanese cloud bread. The cloud bread was appropriately named for it was sweet and fluffy, and a great complement to the salty/sweet/savory sandwich fillings.

Looking back at the weekly menu, which is posted on the Northern Neck Heritage Arts Center’s Facebook page, the impressive and inventive take on lunch was not just a one off. The humble ham and cheese sandwich is elevated when made on fresh rye bread and a fig/chipotle/sweet onion remoulade is added. For the upcoming Oktoberfest menu at the Heathsville Farmers Market, Crowley said they would offer a beer simmered bratwurst on a pretzel bun with potato latkes.

This creativity in the kitchen is mostly self-taught, but she does admit that having a Culinary Institute of America-trained boyfriend years ago helped immensely. “I learned quite a bit from him.” That, along with experience at Wegman’s catering and a general love of cooking, shows up on the plate and in the bowl.

My bowl of bean pot with bacon soup was smoky-flavored and oh-so-satisfying and came with a freshly baked biscuit. It will be the perfect way to take the chill off as fall weather approaches. I followed that with a slice of the western quiche with ham, peppers and onion, which came with a side salad of fresh greens and a homemade raspberry vinaigrette. Other quiche options included a Russian vegetable quiche with sautéed cabbage, mushrooms, onion and dill or a broccoli, mushroom and sweet onion with gruyere.

I highly recommend you save room for any of their homemade desserts. We had the peanut butter pie, which my husband proclaimed “some kinda good right there” after just one bite. Triple layer chocolate cake, New York-style cheesecake and cinnamon raisin bread pudding are just a few of the desserts that have been featured recently.

All the menu items, including a full assortment of baked goods—sourdough boules, French batards, sour cream cinnamon swirl loafs and more—are available to pick up and go. But eating in gives you an opportunity to feel the history within the bones of the colonial tavern, largely unchanged since it served those coming to the county seat and the nearby courthouse to conduct business. It is also an opportunity to browse the rest of the historic hotel and catch artisans working at their craft.

Like the colonial taverns of old, The Tavern Cafe continues on the tradition of not only providing food, drink and relaxation, but reminds us of a time when this very place was an essential part of the community. While it may no longer be the place where locals meet for an ale to discuss the issues of the day, it still is a place worth keeping and frequenting. And I plan to do just that.