Off Avenue B on 3rd Street, warm light and energetic conversations swirl within garage-style windows, and people sit at tables outside, adorned with cocktails and tins of fries. Servers in dark t-shirts weave through guests with casual, concentrated confidence, bringing plates of little gem salads to candlelit tables accented with red-striped napkins. Menus from popular restaurants from around the world hang in frames, covering every wall of the interior. In the back corner, a wooden bar counter stands in front of an arching mirror wall with bottles of booze on shelves, and a bartender shakes rounds of martinis.
Virginia’s, an East Village modern take on the American Bistro, bustles straight through three years of their current location, filling with regulars and tourists each day for dinner and weekend brunch. With a consistent menu centered around their staple burger and martini, the restaurant represents a laid-back approach to the classic bistro dinner without sacrificing quality. In addition to a menu full of locally-sourced ingredients and elevated versions of traditional dishes like steak frites and oysters, Virginia’s takes pride in its level of service dedicated to every table.
Much like most restaurants in New York, amongst the team of waitstaff are artists and creatives who bring life to Virginia’s shifts while working on their own careers after clocking out.
Chrystal Peterson, a server at Virginia’s and an actress, has lived in New York for eight years. First attending NYU for acting, then spending the past four years swimming in the city’s cutthroat audition pool, she’s learned the tricks of surviving in both food and acting industries. These days, she approaches her dedicated time to her craft with a focus and thoughtfulness that only comes with years of experience.
“I used to do anything and everything, but now I will break down auditions into checklists: does it pay well, is it going to give me union points, and is it going to further my career? If something doesn’t check two out of the three, then I probably will say no to it at this point, because I feel like the older I get and the more years I spend in this industry, my time is a little bit more precious to me.”
Last year, Peterson experienced her first feature film role in Video Vision: a horror-romance movie set in a science-fiction, tech-forward world. While the film received mixed reviews, the actress was exposed to traveling overseas for film festivals and experiencing post-film promotion.
“I got to watch myself on a movie screen for the first time. It was really cool.”
Currently, Peterson is undergoing a rebranding phase. She’s reorienting audition searches towards comedy-horror projects where she feels most herself, and hoping to spread her time across both film and theater. She’s worked in and out of the restaurant industry since high school, and is coming up on two years at Virginia’s. Being a part of the East Village restaurant world has given her a strong community beyond her coworkers. She’s learned to take the lows of food service with a grain of salt, knowing the job allows her to do what she loves during her time out of work.
“Obviously, there are a lot of funny things that happen, but I love it because it's the most social job you could have. I've met so many people in the industry. I've met a lot of new friends. A lot of my coworkers are other artists, especially actors, which helps because now I have someone to read for me and collab with. We’re a much smaller team, which I really enjoy. It feels more like a family.”
Peterson recommends the little gem salad to guests who ask for her favorites.
“I know it sounds like a regular salad. It’s not.”
And, of course, she always talks about the classic Virginia’s burger.
“We’re known for it, and it’s really as good as people say.”
Jacob Dabby, a bartender and theater actor, has also been at Virginia’s for a year and a half. He’s worked in the food and beverage industry for four years, and loves the transient style of moving through different restaurants as a means of avoiding stagnation. His experience at Virginia’s is different: it’s the longest he’s ever stayed in one place.
“We present something that we have a right to feel proud of. The food is great, the drinks are great, and the environment is really welcoming. It’s an intimate restaurant; so many of the people that come here come frequently. It feels like a living, breathing community that not a lot of the other restaurants that I've worked at have been able to capture as vividly.”
Entering the restaurant world came at an important time for Dabby. He’d taken a hiatus from acting to try and figure out where in the industry he wanted to exist. Being in front of hundreds of diners every night, feeling the semi-performative vibe that comes with bartending, and meeting other artists following their passions reignited a love and energy for acting that Dabby had been searching for.
“It enabled me to have this sort of rebirth into things. I just thought, ‘I do love doing that thing, and I am okay to do it again.’”
In May of 2025, Dabby self-produced a play with a longtime friend, called A Number, by Carol Churchill. The two-man show ran for a month out of his friend’s apartment, which made for an incredibly intimate audience setting. He loved getting to act in, produce, and direct a performance that he could show to the friends he’s made over the years in such a close-up manner.
“I feel the most like myself when I get to do things like that. I get to go to my coworkers and say, ‘I’m doing a play.’ And then they think, ‘Wow, I wonder what it's like to see Jacob in a play.’ And then they’ll come see the play, and that's the most me that they get to see, and they get to see it two feet away from me.”
Dabby currently loves the spicy margarita on Virginia’s cocktail menu, but will die by his own martini.
“I had a remarkably warm $20 martini at a restaurant the other night, which sucked. If people come in and see me or José – another bartender – behind the bar, they order a martini, because they know it’s going to be really good.”
Arabella Stadvec has worn many hats over her three years of working at Virginia’s. Starting as a server on the weekends as she designed shoes for Kate Spade and Lucky Brand, she used the extra cash to design her own clothes in her free time. Moving to a hostess position a year later allowed her to work closely with owner Reed Adelson and take on responsibilities like social media management, menu design, and marketing. A year ago, she came on as General Manager and loves viewing the restaurant world through her artistic team’s eyes.
“For most people that are here, this isn’t their only job. We have guys that fix and build cars, artists, and chefs trying to curate their own menu of sorts. There’s such a hustle mentality that artists today have to have to pursue their craft and work a job that is physically and mentally demanding. I will, for the rest of my life, be impressed by anyone who works in this industry.”
While working at Virginia’s, Stadvec continues developing as a fashion designer. Now away from the corporate approach to making shoes, she’s collaborating with a childhood friend to create a brand of high-quality clothing that fits the street-style vibe of New York.
“I have a background in sustainability and want to create clothes that are wearable and trendy, but not made from plastic. I think about how I can make a jacket that feels like you're the only person that owns it.”
Aside from Virginia’s giving her an exciting role to curate and manage, the restaurant also gives Stadvec a direct look into what the masses are wearing every season.
“It’s been one of my greatest inspirations, just by looking around and seeing what people are wearing throughout the year. I'll take pictures in this dining room, and questions pop up in my head, like what are people wearing this summer? What are they wearing on a rainy day? What are they wearing in the winter? Are they wearing jackets that are puffy and for warmth, or are they trying to still find something trendy and cool, so they're still getting that warmth but feel and look good?”
Stadvec loves fostering the close-knit family style of her staff. She knows each server and their secondary careers well, and uses Virginia’s to collaborate with other creatives in the city. The designer has learned how to feed and feed off of the food and beverage industry. She adores the service aspect of what she does, knowing its vital importance to a restaurant’s success.
“Service is really what makes a restaurant. You can go home and cook a burger, and it’ll probably be pretty good. People go out for the experience, for the human connection. They go out for so many reasons that allude more to service rather than to the food that's in front of them.”
With Stadvec keeping the chaos under control from the hostess stand, Dabby shaking drinks behind the bar, and Peterson taking care of her tables, Virginia’s runs like a well-oiled machine. The restaurant and its staff create the perfect climate for special occasions, casual hang outs, and everything in between. Stadvec, Dabby, and Peterson find comfort in working at an establishment where care for guests and pride in quality come as second nature. They may not directly focus on their crafts while they’re clocked in, but each of them knows that the interactions they have with one another and their diners feed their creative relationships with New York City. ∎
