Eat It, Virginia! – Details, episodes & analysis

Justin Ferguson spends his workdays making Virginia real estate deals. But when work is done and it's time to play, Ferguson becomes TheBlackSommRVA, a role that allows him to share the wine knowledge he's learned while becoming a WSET Level 3 certified sommelier.

"The more I jumped into this business [commercial real estate], I started being around wine more, and I wanted to be a better agent and understand what my clients want. So I'm like, let me learn about it. I've just kept progressing. And here we are now," he said about the bridging of his real estate and wine careers. "During COVID, it was great when the world was shutting down, and you didn't want to talk to anyone about real estate. I would call people and say, 'Hey, let's drink wine and talk about something other than real estate. We'll sit six feet apart and just be humans.' Real estate is transactional, but it gets too transactional. So, like, hey, Justin is here to provide wine value to me as well."

But Ferguson doesn't just use wine to help his real estate career.

He's been able to launch a second career as the wine director at The Underground Kitchen in Richmond, Virginia.

"It is an experiential dining kitchen. So we're not open every day, which is great," he said. "The Kitchen pays respect and creativity to the LGBTQ community but also to chefs of color with flavors. We like seasoning. Chef Steve Glenn likes Creole and Southern cooking. So that's good portion sizes, but really well-seasoned food. It's fun pairing different cultures with wine."

Initially inspired by Dlynn Proctor and the movie SOMM, Ferguson said he hopes his efforts expose more people to the beauty and wonder of wine.

"There was a guy, his name was Dlynn Proctor, and he was, like, the only Black guy. There aren't many Black Master Somms. So seeing him in that role sparked the idea — representation matters," Ferguson said about his initial push toward earning his sommelier certification. "Because my family still, to this day, doesn't drink wine; they aren't wine people. They are beer and other alcohol drinkers. I think [wine] wasn't introduced throughout my culture the same way other spirits were."

When asked to recommend a bottle of wine for Eat It, Virginia listeners to try, Ferguson did not hesitate.

"The thing on top of my mind right now is, honestly, Black winemakers," he said. "One that I've been enjoying is O.P.P wine (Other People's Pinot Noir) by André Mack."

Other stuff on this episode:

• The opening of Ripple Ray's, a Grateful Dead themed bar in Richmond (2:10)

• The new Mardi Gras menu at Get Tight Lounge (2:45)

• The Sunday Bagel phenomenon (4:40)

• The opening of the Ugly Dumpling (6:45)

• Robey's new column in Style Weekly (7:50)

• Robey's recent visits to Brave Captain and Susie's (9:00)

• The Mailbag wants to know about James Beard Awards snubbing Richmond restaurants once again (12:00)

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Richmond is kicking off the new year with a fresh vision as Dr. Danny Avula is sworn in as the Mayor of Richmond on January 1, 2025. Just days before officially taking office, Mayor Avula sat down with hosts Scott and Robey to delve into a variety of topics centered around the vibrant restaurant scene in Richmond.

In this episode, Mayor Avula reflects on how food and family meals shaped his upbringing and shares his hopes toward fostering a strong partnership between City Hall and local restaurants.

Plus, we put him on the spot to reveal his favorite dining spots in both Richmond and its surrounding suburbs.

We want to hear from you! Email the show  with your thoughts and suggestions for topics you'd like us to cover in 2025. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for updates and behind-the-scenes content!

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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.

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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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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