For 25 years, acclaimed restaurant and catering Chef Eduardo Faubert served imaginative, seasonal, New American cuisine, daily and during special fixed-price multi-course holiday dinner nights, both indoors and al fresco, in cozy and understated Lake Anne Village Center surroundings. Christmas carolers and jazz guitarists performed there often, local artists displayed their work, and Founder Robert E. Simon Jr. and many HCA Members were regular customers. But
Jasmine Cafe at Lake Anne, and its delicious chocolate mousse dessert, are no more.
Chef Faubert bought the property in 1988, expanded and then reduced space, sold it in 2012, and continued on as a tenant of current owner
Jaleo Corporation. Then extensive and lengthy Lake Anne plaza fountain repair work during the last prime outdoor dining season fatally cut into Jasmine revenues, as did long and cold winters. The promise of higher rents from Lake Anne redevelopment, and other personal circumstances, all contributed to this sad loss of yet another popular Lake Anne small business. Without warning, Jaleo posted "No Trespassing" and other signs on Jasmine's windows, and chained the front doors shut last month. The former G Sushi take-out restaurant also closed in July 2011 due to a landlord dispute. The Lake Anne Coffee Shop has been on the market since March, and investors recently purchased the nearby Lakeside Pharmacy where Cafe Lakeside closed in February.
