Aline and Dale Reitzer have owned three Richmond restaurants, in three different Richmond neighborhoods, over the course of three decades. 

Acacia in Carytown served guests from 1998 thru 2007. In December 2008, the Reitzers opened a new Acacia near the Fan on Cary and Robinson. That location closed just before the pandemic in 2020.

"Everyone thought we were geniuses because we closed right before the pandemic, which was purely by luck," chef Dale Reitzer, who has been honored with multiple James Beard Award nominations, said. "But now we're picking probably the worst time to construct a restaurant. So I think it's come back to even the playing field out."

The Reitzers are in the construction phase of a new Acacia restaurant, this time at Libbie Mill. They hope to have Acacia midtown open by the end of the year. 

But Acacia isn't the couple's only claim to food fame. 

Aline Reitzer started Richmond Restaurant Week as a way to raise awareness about the city's restaurants and raise money for the food bank.

"I grew up in New Jersey and being in the restaurant business when New York Restaurant Week started, you could go to Union Pacific and all these amazing restaurants and you know what you're going to spend, and it was affordable, and you get to try these restaurants," Aline Reitzer said. "In 2001, I brought on nine local restaurants. They sat on our porch overlooking Carytown and I pitched the idea to them. I knew that Richmond was a very charitable and giving community. I knew that you couldn't just say, 'Hey, it's Restaurant Week, go out to eat and support the restaurants.' So I wanted to line up this opportunity with Central Virginia Food Bank [now Feed More]. So restaurateurs are feeding the general public on every given day and this money would then, in turn, feed those in need." 

Richmond Restaurant Week runs October 24-30.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Constantine Giavos comes from Richmond restaurant royalty. The son of Katrina and Johnny Giavos, Constantine's grandmother is Stella — yes that Stella — the namesake and inspiration behind his family's most well-known restaurant.

Serving as creative director for his family's impressive portfolio of restaurants, it was the re-launch of Stella's that launched Constantine into the family business.

"I started with the relaunch of Stella's in 2011. That's when I really got involved," Giavos, who studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York said. "Continental was the second one. It kind of steamrolled from there."

While his parents and others handle what comes out of the kitchen at Giavos-family restaurants such as the aforementioned Stella's, Continental (2x), plus Little Nickel, Sidewalk Cafe, Kuba Kuba (2x), Galley, and Perly's, Constantine handles what you experience upon entering the space.

He sets the tone by, among other things, designing each restaurant's decor, choosing the dishes and drinkware, settling on menu font types, and curating the playlists that send music into guests' ears while hearty portions fill their bellies. 

Learn all about Constantine, his design philosophies, and his music career on this episode of Eat It, Virginia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fat Rabbit bakery owner Ellyn Hopper transitioned from working for others in Richmond to becoming a full-time business owner near the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

"I had been doing wedding cakes along the side of working a full-time baking job for other companies," Hopper, who previously worked at Richmond spots like WPA Bakery and Stella's Market, said. "When the pandemic hit, I was less comfortable working in a huge kitchen setting. So I pulled back and I decided to invest a little bit more in Fat Rabbit, and it just seemed to work."

In the early months of the pandemic, Hopper was baking out of her home kitchen and making cake deliveries all over town.

"There were some days where I was making 10 to 15 deliveries daily, of different orders," she said about the early days of her business. "I just got into this weird little at-home rhythm where I'd wake up really early, bake like crazy, and then around 4 p.m. just head out and drive to people's houses and drop off."

"I think the time was right. People were home. They wanted comfort food and things that were going to make them feel happy."

Fast forward two years and Hopper has opened a standalone Fat Rabbit bakery in the Church Hill/Union Hill neighborhood.

The Venable Street bakery's soft opening earlier this summer created long lines down the block.

"It was personally one of the best days of my life. The neighborhood came out. Richmond came out to support us. We open the doors to a line down the block. We planned to be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and I think we sold out by 11. So it was really quite an incredible day," Hopper said. "I haven't fully wrapped my head around it yet just how wonderful it was. We felt so much support from neighbors all over."

We hope you enjoy this episode of Eat It, Virginia! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deb Freeman is a food podcast superstar. The Norfolk native and current Richmond-area resident hosts "Setting the Table," one of the country's highest-rated food podcasts. In fact, the podcast reached #1 status during its first season earlier this year. 

"I was hoping that someone would listen to it. I did not know that people all over the world would listen to it," Freeman told Scott and Robey on the Eat It, Virginia podcast. "I was just really caught off guard, I was just like, 'alright, I'm gonna check the stats, check the chart.' And it hit number one, I almost fell out of the chair."

Freeman's podcast focuses on the impact African Americans have made on American food.

"I knew I wanted to do something about Black baking. I wrote an article on yellow cake and people that I did not know were sending me pictures of their grandmothers and their mothers and sharing their memories and crying. So things like that kind of spark, oh, this might be an interesting podcast," Freeman said. " So I lay out, who I would like to talk to who would be interesting. Cheryl Day, who wrote an incredible book, James Beard nominated, was kind enough to say yes. Carla Hall was kind enough to say yes."

In addition to Black baking, Freeman explores Black brewing, Black farming, and lays out the argument for Virginia being the birthplace of American barbecue.

"Barbecue was created in Virginia," Freeman stated with confidence. "It was the combination of Native Americans, enslaved African Americans, and Europeans, that mixture was not happening anywhere else at the time. You've got pigs and vinegar from Europeans, you've got some smoking techniques from Native Americans, and then you've got not only the seasoning techniques of Africans, and later African Americans, but really knowing how to cook something low and slow.

"That's something that only happened in Virginia, and people need to be proud of it you're from Virginia. Let's talk about it because people aren't talking about it."

Oh yes, we talk about it much more on this episode of Eat It, Virginia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mac McCormack probably owns more whisky than anyone you know. The owner of three Richmond-area restaurants that bear his name, the McCormack's locations boast impressively-stocked bars with a wide array of whisky.

"I would guess in the 15,000 to 18,000 bottle [range] right now," McCormack answered when asked about his selection across McCormack's Big Whisky Grill at Regency Square, McCormack's Whisky Grill in the Fan, and McCormack's Irish Pub in Shockoe Bottom. "I don't know that anybody has more of a selection than we do at Big Whisky. I don't see how they could, because it took me 10 years to put this collection together. Virginia has some restrictions where we have to buy everything from the ABC. And so one of the reasons we have so many bottles and backstock is because of that. So when things become available, I buy as many as I can, just to make sure that we keep them in stock, because I have to not think about today or tomorrow, I have to think about five years from now. And some of the products that we carry, the only reason we have them is that I stocked them 15 years ago having no idea that they will become so popular."

When you sit down at one of McCormack's bars, don't be surprised if he steers you away from his most expensive bourbon pours.

"My job as a bartender here is to show people the ones that they don't have to pay that money for. If people are doing that, and it's not the corporate guys in suits and it's not their money, I say, well, why don't we take a third of that shot price and I'll show you four whiskies that cost a third of that, that I think are almost as good or equally as good. And you don't have to waste a bunch of money," he said. "I understand the value of the bottles that I have, but I actually down-sell people all the time from those kinds of crazy expensive pours. We're a restaurant and I want you to come here once every two weeks, once every three weeks for dinner, I don't want you to just think of us as the expensive place."

McCormack recently reopened his new Big Whisky Grill at Regency Square in Henrico's West End. Learn more about his restaurants and ascension to the top of the Virginia bourbon scene on this week's episode of Eat It, Virginia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a greenhouse in Goochland growing some of the freshest lettuce in town.

Greenswell Growers hopes its hydroponically-grown greens can solve a grocery store concern for some shoppers.

"We've all been in the grocery store picked up that package of greens and seen that wet, nasty tray in the bottom of it and put it back on the shelf and said, I'm not eating that," Greenswell Growers president Carl Gupton said on the Eat It, Virginia podcast. "The reason is that that was harvested three, four, five, six days ago at a minimum. It's harvested, cool chain there [California or Arizona], traveled across the country, hit a distribution center. It's not just a problem of fresh produce, they've got drought. We've all seen the mega droughts going on in California. It's changing the way that we are consuming. Throw COVID on top of it and the supply chain is broken in a lot of ways for our food system. We talk with some of our food distributors and when they order from the West Coast, they don't know if they're getting 100% of their order, 75% or 50% of their order. What we can do is bring predictable supply and have a product ready for them on demand with a predictable supply model and we know it's good, clean, healthy, fresh produce. That's our goal."

You can find Greenswell Growers at several Richmond-area restaurants and at stores like Food Lion and at Harris Teeter stores in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

"Hampton Roads has really embraced our product. Richmond has as well," Gupton said. "But we're seeing a lot of movement out in the beach communities, whether it's Outer Banks, whether it's Virginia Beach, or Ocean City through Performance Food Group."

Learn more about Greenswell Growers and the process they go through to bring fresh greens from the greenhouse to the table on this week's Eat It, Virginia podcast.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gwen and Brittny Hurt are the mother-daughter team behind Shoe Crazy Wine and Spirits. They started the Richmond-based business after one of the worst weeks of their lives.

"I was downsized from a company I spent 17 years in," Gwen shared on the Eat It, Virginia podcast. "They said they needed to replace my skills with other skills. I have a degree from a historically black college here in the U.S and I was working in China, and they said they needed [someone from] Yale or Harvard or an Ivy League school because our organization was now being reported to the board. So they let me go."

When Gwen flew back to the states after losing her job, the situation did not improve.

"I was going to my office to clean my desk and we were in a car accident. We were at a red light and this gentleman slammed into us at 55 miles an hour," she said. "So we get the bad news at the hospital. My back is injured. My neck is injured. Brittny's bursa sac and her hip were destroyed."

It was during their at-home recovery, that their new life emerged. 

"We did physical therapy. It was a year of physical therapy. And after three, four weeks of crying in my room with the shades drawn, Brittny's trapped upstairs with her cane. She couldn't walk, I could barely move. I got on my walker and I just said, I can't stay in this room anymore," Gwen said. "So I kind of took the walker and toddled out into the great room and said, 'Brittny, we're going into the wine business.'"

And with that, Shoe Crazy Wine was born. But the hard work was only just beginning. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chef Danny Mena and Beverage Director Lauren Spain recently opened Big Kitchen Hospitality's newest restaurant Conejo in Richmond, Virginia.

For Mena, a native of Mexico City, Conejo is a chance for him to show off a side of his hometown he finds under-represented at many Mexican restaurants in the U.S.

"Mexico City is very cosmopolitan. It's not the typical idea that a lot of people have of Mexican food. It's a big city with a lot going on. And that's my influence," he said. "I'm a city boy, born and raised. And so that's what we're trying to bring [here], a modern take on traditional food."

Mena cooked in some big-name New York City restaurants and opened two of his own (Hecho en Dumbo and La Loncheria) before he was tapped to lead the Conejo kitchen.

And in that kitchen, Mena said he and his team lean on quality ingredients.

"The quality of meat that we use, the quality of ingredients that we do is far superior [to many other Mexican restaurants]," he said. "We luckily have the time, the effort, the knowledge, and the resources to be able to do that."

So what should you order on your first visit to Conejo?

"The best seller, and this is every Mexican restaurant, is the guacamole. People go into a Mexican restaurant and before they look at a menu they order guacamole and two margaritas and then look at the menu," Mena said. "But really our best seller right now and is a Baja taco. It's one of those we put on that we kind of play with a lot. We use a fish called hake, which is similar to cod, but it's a little bit firmer, but still nice and flaky. We do this beer vodka batter. So it's kind of somewhere between like a Korean fried chicken beer batter and like Japanese tempura. So it's crispy, it's nice and light and flaky."

Conjeo

5820 Patterson Avenue

Richmond, VA 23226

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While Kendall Appich might have been working at Capital One in Richmond, her dream job was not with the area's largest employer.

"I had that, I wouldn't say midlife crisis, but just like, I'm still young enough in my late 20s. where if I want to try something, now's the time we don't have kids," she said. "I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to create the next great food product."

After some soul searching and discussion with her husband, the couple landed on a frozen custard truck. Two, to be exact.

Learn more about jiji's Frozen Custard on this week's Eat It, Virginia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katie Stuart is a TikTok star. The bar manager of Richmond restaurant Foo Dog, in the Fan, has more than 170,000 followers on the social media app. While she joined TikTok in 2019, she was able to focus more on content creation when she found herself stuck at home during the early days of the pandemic.

"The lockdown happened and I didn't have a job anymore," she said. "I was stuck inside with my roommate who was also a bartender. So, it was a way for me to pass the time and stay creative."

Using the handle BarDaddy_, a nickname she earned behind the bar at now-defunct Richmond restaurant Fatty Smokes, Stuart posted drink recipes and funny skits to keep herself and her growing fan base entertained.

"It was a hobby at first," she said. "Now it's a whole tax form. Now it's a responsibility. I have contracts. I have deadlines. Stuff that I never really expected to happen." Brands reach out to Katie now, hoping she will review their product or create a recipe using their spirit.

It seems to be working as BarDaddy fans have been known to show up at Foo Dog to meet their favorite TikTok bartender in real life.

"On Friday I had three people at the bar and they were just staring at me. And they're like, 'Can we ask you a weird question? We love your Tiktok and we want to know if we could take a picture with you?' I was like, you guys came here because of my TikTok? And they're like, 'Yeah, that's where we found you.'"

The Randolph Macon graduate uses her psychology degree to try and read guests as they approach the bar to better meet their needs.

"Body language says a lot," Stuart shared. "When somebody sits at the bar, they're either looking for our conversation or just wants to eat and leave. So it really depends if people maintain eye contact or if people's sentences are short."

Her approach seems to be working. In addition to her growing TikTok following, Stuart has been named among the best bartenders in Richmond by the readers of Style magazine. Learn much more about Katie "Bar Daddy" Stuart on this episode of Eat It, Virginia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.