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RVA Foodie Spotlight: Lots of Pizza & The Perfect Pear

John Reinhold | December 3, 2020

Topics: Bar Solita, Bocata Arepa Bar, Carmelas, food truck, GOOD EATS RVA, jamaica house, Lillie Pearl, Local, local restaurants, nice pear!, Pizza Beer RVA, Pupatella, Red Salt Chophouse and Sushi, rva food, RVA foodie, rva pizza, RVA Wood Fired Pizza, SBs Lakeside Love Shack, sweets

Back to it here on our weekly RVA Foodie Spotlight. You know it — we love the foods. And of all the dishes in the world, nothing tastes quite as good as the ones made right here in the River City. 

So in the spirit of eating ourselves into food comas in Richmond, we’re spotlighting our favorite local restaurants each week with the best #RVAFoodie finds around town. We’ll be searching weekly for the best of delicious local food porn in our community, from amazing restaurants to chefs, food trucks, pop-ups and more. Here’s a few close-to-home favorites this week to follow on Instagram. This week is quite stacked after the holiday rush.

If you’ve got an awesome restaurant to spotlight, reach out to [email protected]! Support local, RVA! 

#RVAFoodie This Week

@barsolitarva

#HuevosRancheros My love runs deep for Huevos Rancheros. There are few things I enjoy as much as a good Huevos Rancheros in the morning. Bar Solita serves this one up looking so fresh and so clean. YUMM

@bocataarepabar

#Parrilla As Richmond’s first and only Arepa Bar. you can get amazing loaded up corn cakes. So many options for new flavors for your tastebuds.

@lillie.pearl.rva

#FriedOkra Lillie Southern Cuisine with a touch of global influence, feels homemade in the best ways. Kinda food that warms you up.

lilliepearlrva.com

#ChickenCurry Jamaica House Restaurant here in RVA does not have its own Instagram that we could find. BUT plenty of people tag them in their quest for real Jamaican food made from scratch.

Jamaica House Restaurant

@sbslakesideloveshack

#Shackuterie The love shack is a little old place where we can get together. In lakeside this spot gives you all the warm fuzzies, freshly picked food platters daily. Check their Instagram for their fun and delicious daily fare!

sbsloveshack.net

@pupatellarva

#Burrata Cheese me please. Fresh Italian everything here, and certified by Assosialzione Verace Pizza Napoletana. That means it’s serious Italian eats.

pupatellarva.com/menu-and-hours

@pizzabeerrva

#VeganPizza PBR is an amazing hang, and has many delicious pizza creations. Here is an amazing looking pizza for vegetarians and vegans, wood-fired and ready to demolish.

linktr.ee/PBRVA

@rvawoodfiredpizza

#mobilePizza Traveling Pizza Magicians, yes — that sounds good. Keep up with them online for the latest plans. Get to them for some personal wood fire pizzas that will make your tongue slap your brain.

linktr.ee/rivercitywoodfire

@carmelas_rva

#WhitePizza This looks so good. Very nice Authentic Sicilian Pizza and food. Their entire Instagram is full of pizza porn. WANT PIZZA NOW!

carmelasrichmond.com

@redsaltrva

#BaoBuns This Sushi Chophouse is a new one I’m just finding out about. It has two of my favorite things in one spot. It requires a visit for further exploration into the flavors that need to get in my belly.

I also could not help but add this very interesting dessert feature from them below. This is a pear dessert over chocolate that’s Gluten Free and looks amazing. Maybe a wee bit sexual, with the long stare here and all. But I will totally dive in and so lovingly enjoy it.

www.redsaltrva.com

That’s all for this week’s #RVAFoodie. See you next week, Richmond!

If you have ideas or favorite spots please do reach out to [email protected]!

Unicorns & Steampunk: Bryant’s Cider Crafts Their Own Path

Noelle Abrahams | October 17, 2019

Topics: apple cider, bars, bryants cider, cider, community, craft beer, craft cider, Jackson Ward, jerry thornton, Local, local business, restaurants, shockoe bottom

Ahead of their move to Shockoe Bottom, Jerry Thornton of Bryant’s Cider talks new recipes and future plans for the family-owned cidery.

“We’re the new beer,” says cidermaker Jerry Thornton, owner of Bryant’s Cider. It’s a bold statement, but it fits the vibe of their Jackson Ward tasting room. On its graffiti-covered walls, “Change the rules” is spray-painted in all caps below an image of a black cat and skull.

There may be some truth to Thornton’s words in regard to popular dietary trends. Bryant’s Cider produces small batches of uniquely-flavored hard ciders that are sugar-free, low-carb, keto-friendly, and made with whole, organic ingredients that are local whenever possible. Everything currently on tap at the Jackson Ward tasting room is also vegan and gluten-free.

PHOTO: Bryant’s Cider

With chalkboard paint atop tables that customers are encouraged to decorate, along with board games, card games, and adult coloring books, Bryant’s has a quirky (but edgy) vibe that marketing director Vanessa Gleiser maintains in their social media presence.

But days at the quaint Adams Street tasting room are numbered. Bryant’s just announced their purchase of 2114 E Main St. in Shockoe Bottom, where they’ll be relocating their Richmond tasting room to a mixed-use building that will also serve as a production facility. They hope to make the move in January 2020.

Right now, all of Bryant’s production happens in their other tasting room location, at Edgewood Farm in Nelson County, VA. The 386-acre property has been passed down through Thornton’s family since as early as 1850. His grandmother was born and raised there, and Thornton spent some time growing up there as well. After taking care of his grandmother for several years until her passing in 2014, Thornton took over the farm, because no one else in the family wanted to deal with it.

“For about four years, I didn’t know what to do with it,” says Thornton. At the time, he was working downtown at BB&T, in budgeting and forecasting analytics — “douchey stuff,” as he describes it. So while affording the farm wasn’t an issue, having the time to care for it was. Thornton is a single dad who raises his five-year-old daughter half of the time, so it wasn’t possible for him to work 80 hours a week, between the office and the farm, while also parenting a young child.

PHOTO: Bryant’s Cider

Nelson County is in an apple-dense region, so Thornton started growing cider apples at the orchard on his farm and quit the corporate-suit life to experiment with making cider. He got Bryant’s off the ground out of pocket, with not a single investor. “I still think I’m crazy,” says Thornton. As his family likes to remind him, he had a good job making good money with a guaranteed comfortable retirement, and he threw it away to make alcohol.

But he did so for honest and relatable reasons. “I’d just like to be human,” he said. “My objective isn’t to get rich. I just want to take care of my kid and my farm and not… hate life.”

Thornton went to cider school in upstate New York, but considers himself mostly self-taught. He likens cider making to cooking — you learn by experimenting, by trial and error. And what’s on tap at Bryant’s is certainly experimental: some batches on regular rotation are the chai-spiced Chaider, the cucumber- and habanero-infused Coolbanero, and the cold brew coffee-infused Red Eye.

Thornton is always playing with new flavors and testing them out in small batches. Right now, you can try the seasonably-appropriate Punkking, a pumpkin-spiced cider, and Still Swingin, which is infused with bourbon and peach. There’s an Old Fashioned-inspired batch in the works, and their next autumnal special planned is the Bryant’s Dirty Chai, a pairing of the Red Eye and the Chaider.

Their best-selling cider in retail is Bryant’s Unicorn Fuel, which has garnered somewhat of a cult following among customers. “I feel like more people know the name ‘Unicorn Fuel’ than ‘Bryant’s,’” says Thornton, which doesn’t necessarily bother him, but he cites the current location of the Richmond tasting room as to why they haven’t become a household name yet. “Jackson Ward is a great neighborhood, but no one knows we’re here,” says Thornton. “I could put a fucking unicorn suit on and stand on the corner, and maybe that would get a couple people in, but I don’t want to do that.”

PHOTO: Bryant’s Cider

The hope the move to Shockoe Bottom will expand their customer base since they’ll be in an area with higher foot traffic, right off the beaten path, and surrounded by popular bars and restaurants. “It’s an up-and-coming neighborhood, and really dense in terms of housing — just loft after loft,” says Thornton. “Whenever I’m down there, I see all these people walking their dogs and just hanging out. It’s the right type of people for us.” (Yes, both tasting rooms are dog-friendly!)

Bryant’s will also be preserving their safe distance from Scott’s Addition, where the only other craft cideries in the River City are located: Blue Bee, Buskey, and Courthouse Creek. Generally, the crowds in Shockoe, Church Hill and the East End don’t want to travel all the way to Scott’s Addition for a hard cider, so Bryant’s is hoping to corner that market geographically.

They considered moving to The Fan, but the historic quality of the building in Shockoe Bottom helped seal the deal. Built in the 1850s, Bryant’s liked that it’s about the same age as Edgewood Farm. “It’s super old and super cool. It fits our vibe,” says Thornton. “I didn’t want some generic, super-modern place because that’s boring.”

Thornton wants to do a steampunk theme at the new tasting room, which should gel nicely with the vibe of Shockoe Bottom, with the Canal Walk and Great Shiplock Park just a block or so away. He’s nervous about the move, but excited that he was able to buy instead of rent, because he has complete creative freedom in how to use the space. “There’s no landlord. If I want to break things, I can break things,” says Thornton. “Which I do, frequently.” He already has an idea for a light fixture: he wants to build a spider web chandelier across the entire ceiling using iron piping and Edison bulbs.

PHOTO: Bryant’s Cider

Byrant’s long-term goal is to split production between the farm and Shockoe Bottom. First, they’ll work to get more distribution and build the brand so Thornton can operate on a regular production schedule. Currently, Bryant’s has 85 active accounts in the Richmond area. “It’s getting there,” says Thornton. “We’re on rotation at a lot of places, but it takes time to build up.”

While Bryant’s is a young, independent business, they’re also an intimately small one. Thornton makes all of the cider himself and works on sales when he can. The only other full-time employees are the respective managers of the two tasting rooms, Afton Massie at the farm and Vanessa Gleiser in Richmond (who also directs marketing operations).

If you’re curious about where you can buy Bryant’s, they update their retail locations weekly. But what they really want is for you to visit the tasting room, and try some ciders that you wouldn’t normally order from a bar or buy in a six pack.

“We do weird stuff,” says Thornton. “You gotta come down and try it.”

Top Photo via Bryant’s Cider

Introducing GRTC Connects: A Local Explores His Hometown

Wyatt Gordon | March 25, 2019

Topics: GRTC, GRTC Connects, GRTC Pulse, Local, The Pulse, wyatt gordon

After living abroad for a decade, a hometown Richmonder will take one GRTC bus route a month to explore neighborhoods at opposite ends of the track — and showcase what’s near and dear to locals’ hearts at each stop along the way.

What would New York be without the subway, or San Francisco without its streetcars? Just hearing the phrase “mind the gap” makes people across the globe dream of London’s Underground.

Transit is iconic. Transit is often the first thing visitors to a city come in contact with. Whether you catch a cab, take a public train, or ride a private bus into town from the airport says a lot about the culture — and the priorities — of those who live there. Taking transit around a city gives you an unfiltered look at the way people live and move about that place.

Last June, Richmond’s GRTC ushered in a new era of investment in our region’s long-neglected and underfunded transit system, when it launched the Pulse Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line and rolled out redesigned routes. The chic new BRT and more efficient routes represent an effort not only to provide better service, but also to grow ridership through attracting “choice riders” — people who can afford a car, but would choose to ride a bus if it’s convenient.

PHOTO: RVA Rapid Transit

The new focus on streamlining service and expanding ridership over sheer coverage has triggered necessary conversations about equity, an official study, and even a federal civil rights complaint. Controversy aside, GRTC’s bet on “choice riders” seems to be paying off: ridership increased 11% over last year, and Richmond is being hailed as a model of how to buck the national trend of declining ridership.  These policy discussions at the macro level, however, miss the tangible ways in which transit connects individuals and neighborhoods — weaving together diverse communities across space to create a shared notion of “RVA.”

I was born and raised in Richmond long before our region adopted this moniker, but I never once took GRTC. Growing up in Chesterfield in the 1990s, I lived in a suburban bubble that provided me few opportunities to explore our region.  

After living abroad for the past decade, I moved back to my hometown a few months ago, eager to finally see a more complete picture of the city I’ve been telling people I’m from. That is why I decided to launch this series: GRTC Connects.

Armed with the newly launched transit app, each month I’ll be taking one of GRTC’s bus routes from end to end and exploring two neighborhoods at opposite ends of the route. In each neighborhood, I hope to paint a picture of the architectural identity, culinary highlights, and historic sites that make these places dear to Richmonders’ hearts. Beyond showcasing Richmond’s geographic and cultural diversity, I’ll be choosing neighborhoods with varying demographics and histories to foster conversations on the legacy of redlining, disinvestment, and gentrification within our region.

In recent years, Richmond has risen up the rankings of the “Best Places to Live” lists and solidified its reputation as one of the top towns in America in which to get a degree, raise a family, or just enjoy a weekend getaway. The newfound national attention being lavished on our city should serve as a reminder to Richmonders that we have an exciting urban landscape filled with many distinct, vibrant neighborhoods just a bus ride away.  For just $1.50 you can join me and take transit on an adventure to see how GRTC connects us all.

The Gift of Food with Professor Norman Wirzba

Joe Vanderhoff | March 13, 2018

Topics: Ecology, Environmental Studies, food, Food and Faith, Local, Norman Wirzba, Philosophy, Theology

Join us for an exciting evening that will change the way you view what’s on your plate each day! Professor Wirzba is well known for his unique and charismatic presentation style. Wirzba carefully reminds consumers of their purchasing power by inviting his audience to embrace the importance of learning the stories behind their food. Guests are invited to stay for a reception featuring some of Richmond’s best local food and beverage vendors.

Enjoy samples from:
Good Foods Grocery
OMO Catering
Broadfork Farm
Hummingbird Gardens
Truly Scrumptious
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
Belle Isle Moonshine
Ames Hot Honey
Clean Conscience Chocolate
Ninja Kombucha
Mother Shrub
PastryBase
The Cafe @ St. Stephen’s
Crickhollow Farm
Wild Earth

Humans are creatures dependent on food. It is the basis for our survival, and it plays a major role in determining our health and wellbeing. We often plan our days around food, we center our family gatherings around food, and food plays a massive role in the economy of our world. Yet most people have lost a very important connection to this thing that has such a large impact on our daily lives.

Professor Wirzba will discuss the importance of recognizing food as a gift to be treasured vs. food as a commodity. Wirzba writes: “To receive food as a gift, and to share it with each other, opens up a new way of imagining a community’s economic life together and forms a tangible connection to the natural world.”

The evening will begin with a presentation by Professor Wirzba followed by a Q&A session moderated by Real Local RVA’s Co-Chair Hunter Hopcroft. Audience questions are welcome. Following the speaking session guests are invited to stay for a book signing and reception featuring delicious tastes of local food. Copies of Wirzba’s book “Food and Faith” are available for sale at the Bookstore @ St. Stephen’s prior to the event and will also be on hand that evening. We are so grateful to our presenting sponsor Good Foods Grocery, and our supporting sponsors C&F Bank, WellcomeMD, and Natural Awakenings Magazine of Greater Richmond. Without them this wouldn’t be possible.

Norman Wirzba is a professor of theology, ecology, and agrarian studies at Duke Divinity School and the author of many books. He grew up on a farm in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, and studied philosophy and religion at Yale University and Loyola University Chicago. While Wirzba’s inspirations stem from many sources, a friendship with Kentucky farmer, poet, and writer Wendell Berry has been one of lasting importance. Berry’s works continue to influence Wirzba’s studies today as he pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies. He is an engaging and thoughtful speaker who lectures frequently in Canada and the United States.

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