By Chef Brittanny Anderson
“When my husband and I came back to Richmond, we saw that things were starting to change. The food scene here has just really exploded. ”
Photograph courtesy of Lamplighter
MORNING COFFEE | Black Hand + Lamplighter
There are some really cool coffee places in town. We serve Black Hand Coffee at the restaurant. Lamplighter Roasting Company is a really fun coffee shop and they have a few locations. They make cool stuff and all their coffee is roasted in-house. It’s also female-owned and I like to support that.
BLACK HAND
3101 Patterson Avenue, Richmond, VA 23221 | T: 804.855.0800 | blackhandcoffeeco.com
LAMPLIGHTER
1719 Summit Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230
116 South Addison Street, Richmond, VA 23220
26 N Morris Street, Richmond, VA 23220
T: 804.447.2648 | lamplightercoffee.com
Photograph courtesy of Sub Rosa Bakery
BAKERY | Sub Rosa Bakery
They have a huge wood-fired brick oven and make interesting Turkish loaves. They make the best croissants I’ve ever had in my life (and I’ve eaten a lot of croissants.) They also make a light rye sourdough loaf. We buy our rye bread from Sub Rosa Bakery for the restaurant.
620 North 25th Street, Richmond, VA 23223
T: 804.788.7672 | www.subrosabakery.com
Photograph courtesy of Little House Green Grocery
SHOP | Little House Green Grocery
The owner, Jess, moved down to Richmond from Brooklyn to open this market. It’s beautiful and they sell gorgeous things. They have a great selection of locally-made items, produce and food. You can buy a huge selection of wet jars, little tote bags, and all kinds of nifty stuff.
1227 Bellevue Avenue, Richmond, VA 23227 | T: 804.262.7474 | littlehousegreengrocery.com
SHOP | Farmers Market & Donuts
Richmond is really experiencing a boom in the farmers market world.
South of the James
This is the original and my favorite farmers’ market. It reminds me of the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC because of the size and the long lines of tents. It’s a weekly event.
If you head to the market, you have to get donuts from Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen. They are an Amish family with a food truck and all the little kids sell the hand-made yeast donuts.
Forest Hill Park, New Kent Avenue & W 42nd Street, Richmond, VA 23225 | www.growrva.com
Photograph courtesy of Millie's Diner
BRUNCH & LUNCH | Millie’s Diner
This is a classic Richmond restaurant that has been around for a long time. Their brunch is the standard in town. They are known for their Devil’s Mess, which is a big spicy Southern breakfast [an open-faced omelet with spicy sausage, onions, green peppers, garlic,
tomatoes and mild curry, finished with melted white cheddar and avocado].
2603 E Main Street, Richmond, VA 23223 | T: 804.643.5512 | milliesdiner.com
BOOK A TABLE
Photograph courtesy of The Roosevelt
BRUNCH, DINNER, COCKTAILS | The Roosevelt
This is one of my favorite restaurants in Richmond. The chef is Lee Gregory and he’s a James Beard Award nominee. He is super talented, especially working with Southern food. Similar to what Sean Brock did in Charleston, he is using really cool Southern regional ingredients. It feels like you are eating at your best friend’s house. They do a Southern poutine with house-made fries covered with sausage, gravy, pimento cheese, and pickled green tomatoes. It’s crazy. It’s a gut buster, but it’s delicious. They also do a really amazing smoked jerk chicken wing with a hot Alabama white sauce.
623 N 25th Street, Richmond, VA 23223 | T: 804.658.1935 | rooseveltrva.com
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Photograph courtesy of Heritage
COCKTAILS & DINNER | Heritage
This is a such great restaurant. The chef (Joe Sparatta) is from New Jersey and he and his wife make all kinds of different food. Some of it is crazy molecular-y. They serve a lot of really delicious house-made pastas. Mattias Hägglund was their bartender and he created incredible twists on classic cocktails. It is probably the most popular cocktail bar in town.
1627 W Main Street, Richmond, VA 23220 | T: 804.353.4060 | www.heritagerva.com
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Photograph courtesy of Saison
COCKTAILS & DINNER | Saison
I love this really cool little spot in Jackson Ward. They do a combination of authentic Oaxacan and Southern food and their cocktail program is super special. The cocktails are just nuts, crazy awesome. They have a nitro cold brew coffee on tap. Their beer program is great and they have a market next door where they sell beer. It’s a really fun place.
23 W Marshall Street, Richmond, VA 23220 | T: 804.269.3689 | www.saisonrva.com
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QUINTESSENTIAL | Mamma Zu
This is the most quintessential of Richmond restaurants. It’s a Richmond institution that’s been here for about 30 years. It’s a dingy little place above a sub shop near the VCU campus and it is packed every night. They put out some of the most consistent, yet simple Italian food. They have a Scungilli Insalata that is amazing. It has tons of herbs, shallots, and garlic. It’s really pungent and bright and I love it. They also do make a whole roasted fish that is delicious and the pork chop marsala is very classic Italian food.
Mamma Zu is the sister restaurant to Edo’s Squid. You can’t mess with them; they are standards of Richmond dining.
EDO'S SQUID | 411 N Harrison Street, Richmond, VA 23220 | T: 804.864.5488
MAMMA ZU | 501 S Pine Street, Richmond, VA 23220 | T: 804.788.4205
Photograph courtesy of Lemaire
UPSCALE | Lemaire at the Jefferson Hotel
They serve classic, old school, Southern food. Walter Bundy is the chef and he’s a hunter, so there’s tons of game. His venison dishes are really incredible. He does a venison dish with hand-foraged blackberries which is delicious.
The Jefferson Hotel, 101 W Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23220 | T: 804.649.4629 | www.lemairerestaurant.com
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Cover Image Photo Credit: Ron Cogswell [Flickr]
Photograph courtesy of Metzger
Chef Brittanny Anderson
I went to culinary school at the French Culinary Institute (now called the International Culinary Center) and cooked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns when I got out of school. I help to open Northern Spy in New York’s East Village, with Chris Ronis and Christophe Hille, and stayed for nearly four years. Whenever my husband and I came back to Richmond, we saw that things were starting to change. There were a lot of people from New York and other places coming here to open new interesting restaurants. The food scene here has just really exploded.
Photograph courtesy of Metzger
Metzger Bar & Butchery
Our neighborhood, Union Hill, is kind of an up-and-coming neighborhood, so we’re a little bit on the borderline of a new area that people are moving into. It’s exciting.
Metzger is a combination retail and restaurant. We have an in-house butcher who cuts meat everyday behind an upfront bar area and at night we serve rustic, seasonal, local German-influenced food. Our chicken liver mousse is really popular. We make it with some Riesling and lots of honey, which means it is on the sweeter side. Our salads are really interesting and different. The pork chop is probably our signature dish. It’s beer-brined in a German pilsner and served with spaetzle, arugula, and wild mushrooms. Our cocktails are all amaro or vermouth-based and developed by my husband (Kjell Anderson) who used to bartend at The Roosevelt.
801 N 23rd Street, Richmond, VA 23223 | T: 804.325.3147 www.metzgerbarandbutchery.com
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