© Corey Miller Photo
Where some saw an abandoned general store and post office, Keith Swann saw a restaurant.
After years in the restaurant business, Swann and his wife, Holly, moved to his family’s farm in Lottsburg. He’d come thinking that it would be cool to open a restaurant, but not until December 2020 when he saw a For Sale sign in front of the old general store did the idea take flight. Opening last August, Cygnets—the term for baby swans and how the couple referred to their three children—aims to cater to all. “I didn’t want to be a seafood restaurant because there are lots of those,” Swann explains. “And I wanted the menu priced so everyone could afford it, not just special occasions.”
Cygnets offers an array of American dining experiences under one roof. There’s the white-tablecloth Post Office Room, and the Walmsley Room, featuring the general store’s original decorative shelving. The Lottsburg Lounge is the bar area, with high-top tables, wingback chairs and a TV. The Nook is a private room with a table seating six for private dinners, and at the back is Curtis Cove, a fun room decorated with pennants from Virginia universities and popular with groups.
Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends when the place gets busy, although Cygnets’ wide front porch is a fine place to sip a drink while waiting for a table. With a slogan of “Eat, drink and squawk,” Swann never doubted Cygnets would succeed. “The community’s response has been our biggest satisfaction.”
THE TWISTED SWAN MARTINI
Ingredients:
1 oz. Jose Cuervo Tequila
.5 oz. amaretto
.5 oz. raspberry liqueur
Directions:
Step 1: Combine ingredients in a mixing shaker with ice.
Step 2: Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass rimmed with blue raw sugar. Garnish with a fresh blackberry spear.
*This drink may also be layered by straining the shaken tequila and amaretto first, and then adding the shaken/chilled raspberry liquor last.
Cygnets I 2816 Northumberland Hwy., Lottsburg I 804-529-1021 I facebook.com/CygnetsRestaurant