Eat It, Virginia!

Robey Martin and Scott Wise are joined by James Beard-nominated chef Travis Milton. Milton discussed the cultural significance of Appalachian cuisine and its role as an economic driver in Bristol, Virginia, where his restaurant Hickory, at Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards, is located. He emphasized the importance of investing in local talent and building a strong team with diverse skills and experiences to create a unique and elevated dining experience for customers. Milton also discussed his mentors, his time cooking in Richmond restaurants, and mental health struggles in the hospitality industry. (Jump straight to interview 18:15) Before the interview, Scott and Robey talked about new restaurants opening in Richmond (2:07), Scott shared details of his epic Spring Break trip to Buc-ee's and Graceland in Memphis (4:32), Robey has issues with some restaurants near her home (10:21), and Scott and Robey made new friends while having a night out on the town (16:05). This episode is sponsored by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and its new exhibit Julia Child: A Recipe For Life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cou Cou Rachou bakery owner Rachel De Jong grew up in a large family in Charlottesville, Virginia. She credited her family with helping her discover her passion in the kitchen. "I'm one of five children, so food was around a lot. When you're feeding seven people in the house, I was always in the kitchen, I was always watching my mom. But I had a huge sweet tooth," she said. "And of course, all my brothers always wanted cookies around. My mom preferred to do the cooking, baking not quite, so I just assumed the role and started baking all the time." Her love of baking eventually landed her in school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. Stints at Baker's Palette and Gearharts Fine Chocolates in Charlottesville came next followed by the opportunity to work with Chef Patrick O'Connell at The Inn at Little Washington. Over her four years at the Inn, De Jong's kitchen experience grew. "The pastry department was baking for the gift shop, it was baking the cookie boxes for favor, the little cute Inn boxes, doing things for room service. Very often, we had VIPs in the kitchen and dessert was one of chef's go-to's to make them feel welcome and special and change up their dinner," she said. "He never liked for people to get the same thing every time, he liked to surprise them. So dessert was often one of those ways that he would do that." Then, after launching her baking concept during the pandemic, De Jong opened Cou Cou Rachou in November 2021. Listen to Eat It, Virginia to hear Rachel De Jong share how she chooses ingredients for her croissants and pastries, what it's like working before the sun rises, and how Julia Child inspires her to this day. This episode is sponsored by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and its new exhibit Julia Child: A Recipe For Life. Cou Cou Rachou 917 Preston Ave Suite B Charlottesville, VA 22903 434-270-0583 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When 14-year-old Bertrand Chemel walked into the bakery near his grandmother's home in France, his life changed forever. Summers at the bakery turned into a more formal kitchen education at culinary school in France. With a degree in hand and military service behind him, Chemel landed at one the finest restaurants in France — Michel Gaudin's restaurant in the Alps. What followed was a culinary adventure that eventually led Chemel to the United States and his current restaurant 2941 in Falls Church, Virginia. Chef Chemel's restaurant was recently nominated as the most Outstanding Restaurant in the United States by the James Beard Foundation. 2941 is the only restaurant in Virginia to make the semi-final round in that category. What makes the experience at 2941 special enough to earn such a prestigious nomination? Chef Chemel discusses his food, his family, and his leadership style in the kitchen with Scott Wise and Robey Martin on the latest episode of Eat It, Virginia! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maria Martin and her family recently opened a Richmond outpost of Juan More Taco on Robinson Street in The Fan. The family also owns and operates a Juan More Taco in Fredericksburg. Virginia. But the story of Juan More Taco begins in Honduras, where Maria was born and raised. "Honduras has a lot of Mediterranean Middle Eastern influence. And we use a lot of spices and I'm not saying spices in the sense of spicy hot food, just flavorful," Maria Martin said when asked to describe Honduran food. "I go to some places [taco restaurants in the U.S.] and I have to see what I'm eating because everything tastes the same. There is no difference. For us and our places, every meat has distinct flavors. So that's the beauty of the Honduran flavors that we have put into our food. You can really, really taste the flavors." Love eventually brought Martin to Virginia where she and her husband raised their children. Once the children were grown and out of the house, Maria sought another job. She went from feeding her family and friends to feeding her community through a food truck. "We started researching and we find this little tiny trailer in Florida. We went, we saw it, we bought it. By December 2, 2016, we opened our doors and served food through our window," she said. "It was amazing. Not even six months later, and I have people saying you know, we want to support you to open a brick and mortar. But I'm like, I'm not ready." She was ready a few years later. Juan More Taco opened as a restaurant in Fredericksburg in 2019. In March 2020, Maria put in a big order of food for the restaurant just before COVID-19 shuttered the industry. Or so she thought. "In my head, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'm losing my business,'" she recalled. "I just had a $3,000 delivery of food. What am I going to do? The first thing that comes to my mind is we can feed the elderly, right?" Martin and her family put out the word on social media. That first week, about a dozen people took her up on her offer for free food. By the end of that summer, Maria and Juan More Taco were feeding 75 seniors every single day. "COVID was our busiest time. It was insanely busy. I had like 20 employees. We didn't close one day of the week. It was work, work, work, work work. We were super busy with the food truck," she said. On this episode of Eat It, Virginia, listen to Maria Martin talk about what she learned about herself and her business during the pandemic and learn why she chose Richmond to open her next restaurant. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brennan Griffith is not from Thailand, nor is he of Thai descent. But Griffith's Thai-inspired pop-up Nam Prik Pao has been turning heads and causing spicy sweats in the Richmond dining community. "[Thai food] is what I'm most obsessed with," Griffith said when asked why he chose that cuisine to base his business. "I love other cuisines. But I haven't had that connection with anything else to the degree that I have with Thai food." Started in 2019 and reborn after the COVID-19 pandemic, Griffith typically pops up at Sub Rosa Bakery in Church Hill. "The first pop-up, my mom bought some extra tickets specifically so I could invite other restaurant people. So some of the people I invited were Evrim and Evin from Sub Rosa," Griffith said. "Four courses into a seven-course meal, Evin's like, 'Brennan, when are you doing this at Sub Rosa?' So that was another validating moment of just having successful restaurant people say like, 'this is delicious.'" Listen to the entire podcast to hear why Robey thinks Brennan and Nam Pril Pao succeed where some other Thai offerings in town do not. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trey Owens' life is a beautiful circle. After growing up in Richmond, Owens' life took him around the world working on cruise ships and later military vessels. He eventually landed back in Richmond where he became part of the team that opened both Soul Taco and JewFro, the latter a restaurant that combines African and Jewish cuisine. "The focus [of JewFro] is to bring people together and to start, or/and continue the conversation about these two culinary pathways, these two cultures, and what is so similar about them," Owens said. Owens was selected this year to travel to Israel to learn more about the people and the food. "We got to meet Palestinians. We got to meet Israelis. We got to meet Ethiopian-Israeli Jews. We got to meet Muslims. Just so many different people that we got to meet and talk to," he said. "What I really learned and saw was that the people themselves all got along. It was only that when I got into formal places, I'm not gonna say where, but you could kind of see the divide. And it's just like, come on, you know, these people who I met and bumped shoulders with, you know what I mean, they don't feel that way." Listen to Eat It, Virginia, to hear more about Trey's trip and his culinary that took him around the world and back home. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the people who run Massachuttes-based Burtons Grill & Bar asked John Haggai to be the company's new CEO, he pulled what can only be described as a baller move. "[I said] I'm not moving to Boston, as beautiful as it is, plus I have kids, I'm not moving, there's no way. So I thought that was a deal breaker," but it wasn't Haggai said. So he added another stipulation. "And I said I'm building a restaurant in Richmond. Richmond is awesome but it's not quite big enough of a city typically that we're in. We're in Charlotte. We're going to Atlanta. We're in some bigger markets. And I'm like, I think one could do really well here. That was the really ballsy move was to build a restaurant, right when I took over in my town." Haggai moved to Virginia 20 years ago to manage Outback restaurants. He stayed in Richmond and eventually left Outback to be part of the team that founded both Cafe Caturra and Tazza Kitchen. "I had brunch at Tazza two days ago," he said. "It's like my second favorite restaurant now." So what can you expect at his favorite restaurant? Allen Brothers steaks for one. "They're the best cutting house in the United States," he said of his steak supplier. "We use single source, North Dakota ranch, Black Angus cattle. It is the best, no doubt. If you eat a steak at Burtons and you cut into it, it's phenomenal. And you'll pay $20 less than you will wherever." Haggai said Burtons was also proud of its ability to be accessible to anyone. "People who have accessibility [issues], people with special needs, and the big one is really the dietary restrictions and allergy friendly because that's a tough one to pull off in our business." Burtons Grill & Bar is located at 3520 West Cary Street in the new Carytown Exchange shopping center. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three years after she first appeared on Eat It, Virginia (Episode 43, Sept. 2020), Keya Wingfield returns to the podcast. In this episode, she discusses the ups and downs of life after winning her Food Network baking championship, the incredible community she's fostered in Richmond, and the launch of her new product -- Bombay Chips. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shawn Eubank and Michael Smith of Native Selections join the podcast to discuss the world of natural wine. Smith previously appeared in Episode 26, See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leah Branch, the executive chef at The Roosevelt in Richmond, exudes quiet confidence in the kitchen and the podcast studio. She prefers to let her plates do the talking. Fortunately, the Chesterfield native was willing to sit down with Scott and Robey to share her story on this episode of Eat It, Virginia! This episode is presented by Duke's Mayo and SUPPER | SUMMER | SOMM. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A lot has happened to Rabia Kamara since she first appeared on Eat It, Virginia in August 2020. In fact, that first interview took place before Kamara even opened her now Northside neighborhood-defining ice cream shop Ruby Scoops. "We are now at a place where when houses are listed in Northside, we are in there as a perk, 'you can walk to Ruby Scoops,'" Kamara said about her ice cream shop's success. While sweet, the journey has not always been easy. Kamara opens up about the challenges that come with running her small businesses, the sometimes harsh reality of everyone's favorite reality cooking shows. and the planning of her upcoming wedding. Of course she also breaks down the science behind her crowd-pleasing Duke's Mayo ice cream treats. This episode of Eat It, Virginia is presented by Duke's Mayo Hot Tomato Summer July 24-30, 2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bobby Kruger has managed or owned multiple Richmond-area restaurants and venues, but he got his start as a teenager at the Applebee's in Chester. "One of the bartenders that I worked with there, ended up coming up and getting a job in Richmond at a place called Surfish Station, which was where Bandito's is now," Kruger said as he retraced his steps in the Richmond restaurant industry. "When I was 18, I left Applebee's and got a job there as a server. And that was my first Richmond restaurant job." From there Kruger followed mentor Holly Green to Julep's where he learned about upscaling dining and bartending. "It was a high-standard environment, but they really took care of me and taught me a lot of stuff," he said. Then came a short-lived stint running the Fan House. "I looked at it for a long time as a failure, that my first restaurant ownership didn't last that long. But I feel like I learned as much there in less than a year than I learned anywhere else for as long as I've been, he said. That newfound knowledge eventually led Kruger to open The Hoff with Carter Snipes in Scott's Addition. "That was a huge project. A 10,000-square foot building, three levels, four bars, four different concepts inside of it," Kruger said. "Our first year of business, the amount of revenue we did by the third year of business, we had done a 1,000% increase in revenue. And so then, you know, in 2019, we decided to take a swing on Brambly Park." Kruger and his team secured the Scott's Addition property that became Brambly Park winery in November 2019. Then came 2020. "We had a plan in place, some of which we held true to, but COVID really did change a lot of how I was planning on doing that place," he said. How did COVID change Brambly Park? Why did he swipe right on Alchemy Coffee? And what the heck is Bobby Kruger now doing in Chesterfield County? All that, and much more, on this episode of Eat It, Virginia! Eat It, Virginia is presented by Duke's Mayo Hot Tomato Summer July 24-30, 2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Devin Rose was born and raised in a restaurant family in the town of White Stone, Virginia. So it makes perfect sense that Devin and his wife Katie now own and operate one of the most acclaimed restaurants in that town -- Adrift. In fact, Robey Martin called Adrift the best, little-known, restaurant in Virginia. "There's just an incredible care and detail to the food," Martin said of Adrift, four years after that article was written, on this week's Eat It Virginia podcast. "I'm always utterly impressed." Rose said owning a restaurant and raising his son in his hometown has been a dream. But the road back home wasn't straight and included stops at The Inn at Little Washington and the Central Coast of California. We hope you enjoy learning more about the Roses and their restaurant Adrift. On the podcast, Scott and Rodey also talked about Anthem LemonAid and the Restaurant Challenge sponsored by CBS. Restaurants are invited to create a lemon-inspired dish or drink to sell anytime now through July 23, 2023. After restaurants donate a portion of the proceeds at the end of the event, the business that raises the most money will win an advertising package from CBS 6 valued at over $1,500. Message us if you plan to participate or have any questions. Also, Scott and Robey are emceeing the Positively Delicious dining event on July 15, 2023. The event raises money for The Positive Vibe Foundation. The foundation provides pre-employment training, job skills, and community to young adults with disabilities. You can support the foundation. learn more about the event, and buy tickets here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After 100+ episodes, "Eat It, Virginia" finally put the focus on condiments. And what better condiment to feature than Richmond, Virginia-based Duke's Mayo? Founded more than 100 years ago in South Carolina, the Richmond, Virginia-based C.F. Sauer Company bought the brand in 1929. Over the generations, Duke's Mayo has become synonymous with Southern cooking. These days, Duke's is the fastest-growing mayo brand in the country, brand manager Rebecca Lupesco said. "Our team is based in Richmond. We work with a creative agency here in Richmond. We are all over the South and actually, we're national because Kroger has just taken the brand on a national level," Lupesco said. "But we advertise and market the brand all over the Southeast." The job of marketing the mayo, Lupesco said, is making it relevant to current culture. "We have [Duke's] diehards who literally get Duke's tattoos on their bodies. And so it's really just celebrating our fans, celebrating the product, celebrating the chefs that use us and telling stories and really fun and meaningful ways," she said. One story-telling vehicle Duke's uses is an event they call Hot Tomato Summer. From July 24 - 30, restaurants in Richmond, Greenville, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina will feature dishes that allow both Duke's and tomatoes to shine. "We started [Hot Tomato Summer] here in Richmond in 2021. It was really just a way to, coming out of the pandemic, drive traffic and fun back to some of the restaurants and really help our core customers," she said. "All the restaurants who were involved in it really liked it. So we brought it back last year, for year two, and expanded to Greenville. And then this year, we are expanding into two more cities." College football is another big branding opportunity for Duke's. This year the Duke’s Mayo Classic college football game will air Saturday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl will air on December 27 at 5:30 p.m. As per tradition, the winning coach will have mayo dumper on their head. Listen to the podcast to hear how that messy tradition began. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it possible that the best pizza in Richmond is served out of a truck? Eat It, Virginia podcast co-host and Virginia food critic Robey Martin said yes, it's 100 percent possible. The pizza Joe Lajoie creates in a truck for River City Wood Fire Pizza consistently ranks among the best slices in town. But don't ask Joe if he thinks his pizza is the best in Richmond. "Often people say, 'Do you want to be the best pizza in Richmond?' I go, 'Never,' River City Wood River Pizza boss Joe Lajoie said. "When they ask why not, I say I want to be one of the best pizzas in Richmond because I love Richmond. I've lived here all my life. It's collective. I want it to be a big borough or a big neighborhood, right? And you can't have that if you start off with the chest pounding." For the last 10 years, the construction worker turned sheriff's deputy turned pizza chef has been baking pizza pies out of his food truck at weddings, concerts, and other events around Virginia. He said pizza is much more than toppings, sauce, and crust. "Pizza is tied to memories," he said."You remember being a kid and sitting at the bar and getting a slice. People have this belief of what good pizza is and I personally think that they'll eat something and go that's not as good as this one, and a lot of that is because the memories are not tied to it." On this episode of Eat It, Virginia, Lajoie shared his success story and the scary moments that happened during COVID when he turned online ordering on. "COVID was the dragon, we had to learn how to drive," he said. "We turn [online ordering] on and everybody has a cash register [smartphone] in their hand. And within nine minutes we hit $1,800 in orders. I'm like, shut it off! They're big family orders, nobody's getting where they go, and everybody's ordering like crazy. I'm like, holy crap, this is nuts." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A veteran of New York City's fine dining world, the pandemic forced Erin Keene to take a step back and reset her life. That reset landed the Pennsylvania native in Richmond, Virginia, where she opened Second Bottle Wine Shop in Richmond's Church Hill neighborhood. "I was in a place where I was ready for a big jump. Life as I knew it had really just shut off [in New York City]. In that time, I started formulating the plans for this wine shop," Keene said. "While I was on the journey to find where the best place or where the best fit would be for it, I had a camping trip planned down here to visit a good friend of mine. We're sitting around the campfire and she's like, 'What about Richmond?' It was like huge fireworks. I had never thought about it as a place that I wanted to live. But all of a sudden, I was like, it makes so much sense in so many ways." Keene made the move to Richmond in 2020 and opened Second Bottle on N. 27th Street in Church Hill in 2021. "I was very struck by Church Hill," Keene said about her decision to locate in that particular Richmond neighborhood. "The green space was a big part of that. I have a dog, so that was appealing, all these parks that are very close by, within walking distance. And then the food scene really. What I had experienced of it was exciting The fear of leaving New York is always that you'll be bored or there won't be enough things to excite you and I didn't feel like that would be the case here. And that is exactly what I've experienced." For people who don't live in the neighborhood and are unsure whether it's worth a drive to Church Hill to buy wine, Keene offered this pitch. "One of the biggest things we offer, or what we aim to offer, is our service and hospitality while you're here," she said. "If it's the end of a long day, and you don't want to talk to anyone you don't have to, but myself and Garrett, who works with me, strive to get to know you and get to know your palate and what you like to drink and what you like to cook and what you've had before that you liked or maybe didn't like, so that you get that customized service or help when you come in. It's what love about it, actually." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It did not take long for Jesse Wykle and his restaurant Aloha Snacks to make an impact in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Months after he opened Aloha Snacks in 2018, Food Network Star Bobby Flay's producers called and invited Wykle onto the hit show "Beat Bobby Flay." Wykle defeated the Iron Chef by challenging Bobby Flay in a battle over the Filipino favorite lumpia. Back home in Virginia Beach, Wykle's food at Aloha Snacks is heavily influenced by Asian and Hawaiian cuisine and his own Southern roots. "You can put anything in a sushi roll. We've got some poke bowls with fried green tomatoes, which we call the farmer's poke, a little coconut aoli, some pressed mango, and some salmon," Wykle said about one of the dishes he serves at Aloha Snacks in Virginia Beach. Wykle sits on boards working to improve the Virginia Beach business community and hopes to see many new customers when the Something in the Water festival returns to Virginia Beach April 28 thru April 30. Aloha Snacks is located at 501 Laskin Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Cavender makes award-winning mead at Black Heath Meadery in Richmond, Virginia. His business in Scott's Addition recently celebrated its eighth birthday. Cavender discussed the beginnings of Black Heath Meadery on a recent episode of the Eat It, Virginia podcast with Scott Wise and Robey Martin. Black Heath Meadery 1313 Altamont Ave. Richmond, VA 23230 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get to know new Richmond restaurant Penny's Wine Shop owners Kristen Gardner Beal and Lance Lemon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Watters and Rachel Best. the couple behind Blue Atlas Restaurant and Market in Richmond, Virginia, started their business and their family during the pandemic. For Watters, Blue Atlas was born out of his passion for food and learning how other cultures eat. "I love being a food dork," Watters told Scott Wise and Robey Martin during his Eat It, Virginia podcast interview. "If I find something on Instagram that I've never heard of before, like the Georgian flatbread we now serve, we both do the deep dive on why they make it the way they do, why they're using this certain type of yeast, why they do this with the cheese, and all these cool components. So that we're learning along." It's that curiosity which has shaped Blue Atlas into its current mission. "We're a shared, small plate experience of global cuisine," Watters said when asked to describe Blue Atlas. "We have the menu broken up into the four regions of the world and we try and represent them to the best of our ability." Learn about the couple's journey toward opening a restaurant during the pandemic, their attempt to balance restaurant ownership with parenthood, and the meal that helped Ben win Rachel's heart. Also on this episode, Scott and Robey share their Best Bites of the Week, Robey's at Parterre Restaurant in Richmond and Scott's at Fine Creek Brewing in Powhatan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.