The Roosevelt

623 N. 25th St.
658-1935
rooseveltrva.com

Second Place: Heritage

Third Place: Stella’s

Church Hill got the jump-start the neighborhood always needed when Kendra Feather and Lee Gregory opened the doors of the Roosevelt in 2011. Gregory, a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist, wants you to join the clean plate club as soon as you step in the door. He makes it easy by serving dishes that include Southern poutine, a Gregory original, composed of french fries dolloped with pimento cheese and covered in gravy, and fried chicken skins (another genius idea) with kimchi mayonnaise and house-made pickles. Slide a glass of Virginia wine next to that — the Roosevelt has the largest selection of the commonwealth’s wine in the city — or start it all off with a cocktail like the seersucker, a riff on an old fashioned, concocted by inventive bar manager T. Leggett. Heritage has an ever-evolving menu that always surprises with combos that include smoked pork belly with kimchi and Virginia peanuts, and a beet salad that eschews the expected chèvre for burrata. A Greek classic in town, Stella’s proves that a restaurant can reinvent itself again and again and only get better with each iteration.