Genevelyn Steele

Richmond

Chief Dining Critic at Richmond Magazine (US)

East Coast Wine & Food Writer

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Articles

Matcha Madness

1 month ago | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

$5 at Scoop An earthy creaminess sweeps across your tongue as shavings of white chocolate tease sweetness into this balanced scoop. The pop of caffeine in your dessert is delivered via matcha, tempered by its L-theanine content, an amino acid that quells the highs and lows of caffeine with calm mental focus.
Torpedo Time

1 month ago | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

$9 at The Pho Spot Filled with craggy bites of roasted pork belly, The Pho Spot’s fluffy baguette comes picnic ready if ordered to go. While the roll is slathered with a mayo-butter spread and piled with meat, the pickled radish and carrot, cilantro, jalapeno, cucumber slivers, and extra special house sauce are all wrapped individually, ensuring the sandwich doesn’t get soggy during transport.
Field Guide

2 months ago | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

With the arrival of spring comes its bountiful supply of fleeting foods. We’ve tracked down the restaurants, markets and farmers offering a taste of Virginia, including ingredients sourced from local waterways and fields. After the Atlantic blue crab sheds its hard shell, the crustacean is almost a third larger. Catch them while you can: The shells wrapping fleecy, sweet meat are pliable for mere hours before their protective outside begins to harden again.
Quiche Me

2 months ago | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

$15 slice/$45 whole at Can Can Brasserie Though originating in Germany, quiche hit a decadent stride in the Lorraine region of France, from whence this rustic, country-style slab gets its name. Lardons and Gruyere are encrusted in towering layers of eggs and cream at Can Can, where the quiche of the day is paired with field greens or pommes frites at lunch.
Perk Up

Feb 20, 2025 | richmondmagazine.com | Eileen Mellon |Genevelyn Steele

In recent months, Richmond’s coffee scene has seen the arrival of a flurry of fresh choices, from a spacious Yemeni coffee shop and a bookstore-cafe hybrid near VCU to a Middle Eastern cafe in the West End. We spill the beans on these new additions and take a sneak peek at a handful of forthcoming coffee shops. Abi’s Books & Brews 1212 1/2 W.
First Up

Jan 3, 2025 | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

$15.50 at Buna Kurs Ethiopian Cafe This Jackson Ward cafe is known for hosting Ethiopian coffee ceremonies, but its hot breakfast deserves attention, too. Gracefully folded, tangy injera (spongy fermented flatbread) is a perfect vessel for scooping up tomato-y egg silsi, kinche (buttery cracked wheat) and fir fir (hunks of injera in a spicy sauce). Though coffee, or “buna,” is in the shop’s name, the honeyed keshir tea with ginger and orange juice makes for a sunny start to the day.
Best New Restaurants

Dec 23, 2024 | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

Rustic and modern oyster halls, vibe-heavy cocktail lounges, homey South American cuisine, skilled Cantonese cooking, and everything in between: Richmond is riding a wave of new and noteworthy dining additions. To identify them, our team of food writers scoured the local scene, considering establishments that opened between August 2023 and August 2024.
Winter Warmers

Dec 10, 2024 | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

$8 at Davvero Gelato Cozy, wintry feelings, commence. Maple-walnut oat milk canoodles with two shots of Afterglow Coffee Cooperative espresso, stirred with Davvero’s homemade pecan-maple butter spread. Owner Layne Montgomery opened her Lakeside ice cream parlor and cafe in September, specializing in decadent dairy-free offerings. This warming cup is so creamy and buttery, it’ll have you second-guessing it’s vegan.
Roaming Richmond

Nov 19, 2024 | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

The original Joe’s Inn is the “Cheers” of Richmond. Servers there have witnessed more first dates, wedding proposals and breakups than most any other place in town, and you can always spot someone you know behind a melty mountain of Spaghetti a la Joe. The holiday season kicks off on Shields Avenue when the Fan sidewalks are blanketed with leaves and Joe’s spray-paints snow on its windows.
Local Swag

Sep 6, 2024 | richmondmagazine.com | Genevelyn Steele

$12 at Kuba Kuba Thick-walled diner mugs are not only a classic cupboard standby, they keep bevvies warm and snuggly longer and are comforting to hold. The iconic Coca-Cola font and colors on Kuba Kuba’s mug nod to the pre-Castro era in Cuba, when the soda was introduced, as well as the country’s national cocktail — the Cuba Libre, lifted to toast the end of Cuba’s War of Independence.