"While we are looking forward to combining our two babies into one, we are sad to leave the history of our original location behind." Co-owner Heather Fraley posted that line on The Ten Top's Facebook page in mid-October, and The Virginian-Pilot carried it in its report on the restaurant's move.
Three changes on Ghent's dining map this fall make more sense read together than one at a time. A sit-down favorite on Shirley Avenue is folding into a take-home market with no indoor dining. A dinner spot on West 22nd Street has closed after 18 years. A few blocks away, the new opening serves breakfast and lunch and closes at 2 p.m. The neighborhood is still adding places to eat. What's shrinking is the full-service evening dining room, and the most detailed account of why comes from the owners of The Ten Top.
A Ghent Fixture Leaves Shirley Avenue for the North End of Colley
The Ten Top has a longer history than most regulars may know. According to the Pilot's archives, it opened in the 1990s as Peter's Ten Top on Colley Avenue under Peter Pittman. By 2000, Alise Pittman had taken over from her brother and moved the restaurant, renamed Ten Top, to 748 Shirley Avenue. Rick and Heather Fraley bought it together in late 2011.
That Shirley Avenue room, across the street from the Naro, will close at the end of 2026. WAVY reported that starting in January 2027, the restaurant will partially merge its operations with the Ten Top Market at 5115 Colley Avenue. The Market opened in November 2025 at the north end of Colley, across from Elation Brewing.
The Fraleys didn't open the Market with a merger in mind. The Pilot reported that they started it to supplement their income, and rising costs later pushed them to combine the two. Rick Fraley estimated that ingredient prices had gone up about 20% and that business had fallen 12% to 15% over the past year. He said they had "exhausted all other avenues" to make up the difference.
Those two numbers work against each other. Food costs about a fifth more while sales have dropped by more than a tenth. A restaurant can't fix that with menu prices alone, because higher prices risk shrinking business further. A smaller format with less dining-room overhead changes how the business is built.
What the Market Version Keeps, and What It Drops
The new arrangement keeps much of the menu but changes how you get it. The Pilot's report on the announcement lists these changes:
- Made-to-order food continues. Sandwiches, salads, soups and sides will still be made for walk-in and phone orders, alongside the grab-and-go case already at the Market.
- Signature dinners come home chilled. Meatloaf, lasagna and the salmon dishes stay on the menu but will be sold refrigerated for reheating at home. Rick Fraley said the Market's kitchen is too limited to serve them hot.
- Delivery gets added. The combined location will offer Uber Eats and keep its catering service.
- There's no indoor dining. Zoning rules don't allow it at the Market location.
13News Now describes the Market's refrigerated selection as soups, meatloaf, pasta dishes, rotating sides and dips, pimento cheese and chicken salad, and lists it as open Tuesday through Sunday. If you want one more meal in the Shirley Avenue room, the window runs from now through the end of December. That's about eight weeks from the day this post goes up.
West 22nd Street Trades a Dinner Spot for a Breakfast One
The other two changes are a few blocks apart on the same street.
Pelon's Baja Grill, a family-owned Mexican restaurant, announced it would close its Ghent location at 738 West 22nd Street on Oct. 18 after 18 years, WAVY reported. Its Oceanfront and Red Mill locations stay open, so the burritos are still available for anyone willing to drive to Virginia Beach.
Break Bread opened in September at the Palace Station shopping center, 350 West 22nd Street. Brothers Nicholas and Gilbert Mariano own it, along with the Luvabowls food truck and The Lab Commercial Kitchen in Virginia Beach. The Pilot's review notes that the brothers' first jobs were at IHOP, where they worked their way up from dishwashers to managers. "We wanted to bring back the memories of when we first started our culinary journey," Nicholas Mariano told the paper.
The menu sticks to diner standards with a few twists. The Virginian-Pilot's Oct. 20 review lists pancakes, omelets and country fried steak, plus bottomless coffee, a mimosa flight and cocktails. The reviewer singled out three dishes:
- the smoked salmon bruschetta with tzatziki and pickled onions
- a pork belly gochujang Benedict on a brioche bun
- an acai bowl layered over vanilla yogurt
Starters run $10 to $13, and bowls and entrees run $12 to $16. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. It's closed Tuesdays.
The Three Changes Side by Side
| Business | Address | Change this fall | Format going forward |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ten Top | 748 Shirley Ave. | Closing at end of 2026 | Merges into Ten Top Market at 5115 Colley Ave. in January 2027; take-home and delivery, no indoor dining |
| Pelon's Baja Grill | 738 W. 22nd St. | Announced closing Oct. 18 after 18 years | Oceanfront and Red Mill locations remain |
| Break Bread | 350 W. 22nd St., Palace Station | Opened September 2026 | Breakfast, brunch and lunch, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Tuesdays |
The table shows the pattern. Ghent ends the year with one fewer full-service dining room on Shirley Avenue and one fewer evening option on West 22nd. The newcomer serves only daytime meals. The longtime favorite stays in the neighborhood by turning its dinners into food you heat up at home.
The Ten Top's numbers explain why that tradeoff appeals to an operator. A daytime-only room needs fewer staff hours. A refrigerated case and a delivery account need no dining room at all. Rick Fraley's account of costs rising while business fell is the only on-the-record explanation among the three, and it fits the formats the other two businesses ended up with. WAVY gave no reason for Pelon's closing, and none should be assumed.
As of late October, no new tenant had been announced for 738 West 22nd Street or 748 Shirley Avenue. Whoever signs those leases will face the same food costs the Fraleys described.
Where the Ghent Calendar Picks Up From Here
Here's the Ghent and downtown holiday calendar through mid-December, in date order:
- Ghent Neighborhood League monthly meeting, Wednesday, Nov. 18. The League meets on the third Wednesday of every month except December.
- The 40th Annual Grand Illumination Parade, Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. It runs downtown, and this year's theme is "Ruby Radiance," according to the Downtown Norfolk Council.
- The 12th Annual Great Hot Cocoa War downtown. VisitNorfolk's November guide lists it for Nov. 21 through 28. The Downtown Norfolk Council's holiday page gives Nov. 22 through 29, so check with the organizers before you plan a cocoa crawl around a specific day.
- Ghent Business Association holiday market, Sunday, Dec. 6. The GBA holds it on the first Sunday in December in front of Blair Middle School, with local art, gift and food vendors.
- Ghent Neighborhood League holiday party, Friday, Dec. 11. It replaces the League's usual December meeting.
The GBA's Holidays in Ghent program usually includes a tree lighting, a holiday open-house weekend and the Sunday market. According to the association's events page, the weekend starts with the tree lighting on Friday evening. The 2026 dates hadn't been posted as of late October. Break Bread is open Sunday mornings starting at 7, a few blocks from the market. The Ten Top's Shirley Avenue dining room will still be serving through the end of December.
When a longtime business leaves an address, the questions that follow are about leases, zoning and what can legally go into that space next. If you own near West 22nd Street or Shirley Avenue and want to know how this fall's turnover affects what your property is worth, Jack Blake can put together a free home valuation built on the comparable sales around your block. Let's connect.
