The Roosevelt has been on the national culinary radar for years.
Since opening more than a decade ago, the “untraditional” Southern restaurant has graced the pages of Garden & Gun, Southern Living, Esquire and New York Magazine. Owners Kendra Feather and Mark Herndon could have rested on their laurels, perhaps, and still brought in the crowds. But they were not satisfied with settling, and instead hired uber creative, talented and thoughtful chef Leah Branch in February 2022.
Although she’s only been at the award-winning Church Hill spot a little over a year, Branch possesses the cool equanimity of someone who’s worked at the restaurant for years.
The Chesterfield native is humble and gracious and shouts out everyone in her ecosystem before mentioning her own immense talent. She gasses up
kitchen staff newcomer Nick Aaron and talks excitedly about purveyors like “Digger” Jay Marion and Village Garden’s Barbara Hollingsworth and David
Hunsaker. “The local farmers have all just been really nurturing, passing on what they do to the next people to come along,” says Branch.
After graduating from Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina, Branch went to work as executive chef at Moonrakers in Beaufort.
Branch says she decided to come back to Richmond to be closer to family and to fix up her grandmother’s home, a property that has been in the family for generations. “With my dad getting older, I wanted him to see his mom’s place—where he grew up—restored,” says Branch.
Regarding her work philosophy, she believes it’s important to allow chefs to have autonomy at their stations and to highlight their efforts.
“We really allow them to order what they want as far as produce and what’s seasonal and give them first dibs to play around,” she says. A recent spring feature from sous chef Greg highlighted his “famous gnocchi” topped with English peas, sautéed ramps and pea shoots.
“I want to showcase who is working behind the scenes,” says Branch. “A lot of people think the executive chef is the one making all your food, but it’s
really such a huge team effort. And I want to make sure they feel appreciated for that.”
