Chef Jason Alley and business partner Michele Jones run this restaurant in downtown Richmond, which features a patio with lime colored tables and chairs, communal wood tables, and redwood walls reclaimed from an old water tower. They’re Southern at heart, and feature playful dishes like Black Eyed Pea Falafel and Oyster Stew, but I’m going to suggest Pimento Cheesezd Ritz. Pimento cheese is a peculiar Southern phenomenon, during my stay in Richmond, even got to see a documentary about the dip called Pimento Cheese, Please, featuring Alley as one of the experts. I even got to participate in a cooking class with Alley, where he instructed us how to blend grated Cheddar cheese with red bell peppers, minced shallots and tarragon, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and black pepper. They met their match with Ritz crackers. Classic!

This classic Richmond diner features purple walls, classical music, a row of two-seat booths down the middle, pottery on shelves, and a vintage gold cash register. Gray Wyatt’s place, named for one of his aunts, is also well known for their biscuits, which as I found out, pair particularly well with Country Ham & Egg. The iconic Southern breakfast sandwich stacks sheets of rosy, savory ham with folded over omelet on a flaky Perly’s biscuit.

Gen Lee, Peter Chang’s business partner and backer, brought the notoriously elusive Szechuan chef into the spotlight with a small chain of Virginia restaurants, beginning on the outskirts of Richmond in a Glen Ellen strip mall. The restaurant feature Mary Lee’s photos of Shanghai on the walls, decorative butterflies overhead, and big circular tables with lazy Susans. The menu is loaded with great dishes, including Scallion Bubble Pancake, which dramatically inflates by basting in hot oil; and Dry-Fried Eggplant, skinned strips that are crispy outside, creamy inside, deep-fried then stir fried in a wok with cilantro, jalapeño, and numbing chilies. Still, I’ll gladly suggest Szechuan Dan Dan Noodles, a definitive version that incorporates ground pork, chile oil, numbing chile spice, and crumbled peanuts.