Grilled baby squash, pickled peppers, burrata and spiced peanuts
Leah Branch is a sucker for brunch and Chinese food. When she’s not in the kitchen, the Chesterfield native can be found in Varina renovating her grandmother’s old home with her father, who lives down the street, or entertaining her niece.
Branch’s mother is one of 12 children, so growing up, family gatherings meant pig roasts, crab boils and big Southern feasts where there was a chance you might not know the name of the person sitting next to you. Food was always at the center.
Roosevelt Executive Chef Leah Branch
After almost 20 years away from the city, Branch has returned to Richmond.
“I knew I wanted to live here for the rest of my life — plant roots,” says Branch in a soft voice that belies her confident demeanor, while standing in the dining room of The Roosevelt.
Hired in February by owners Kendra Feather and Mark Herndon a month prior to the reopening of the restaurant’s dining room, Branch now serves as the executive chef behind the Church Hill establishment.
“I knew [The Roosevelt] was a staple in the community and got really excited about it,” Branch says. “I feel really fortunate that it worked out, and lucky to be in this building and being able to play with Southern food.”
And play she does.
During a visit in June, a crawfish roll arrives with polka dots of malt vinegar popcorn spilling onto the plate. A confit turkey leg is accompanied by Urfa cream, broken rice, smoked collards and pepper vinegar. Bright acids and pops of pickled flavor are a common theme on the menu, as are ingredients with African roots, such as Carolina conch peas, a type of cowpea originally introduced to the South from West Africa in the 1600s, or benne, sesame seeds brought over by enslaved Africans and used to make tahini.
For dessert, a foie gras “Twinkie” — a dense log-shaped snack resembling the Hostess treat — and a decadent mud cake are the selections, a blend of silly and serious.
A foie gras “Twinkie”
Previously working at a doughnut shop dubbed Wake N Bake in Wilmington, North Carolina, Branch reveled in developing amusing specials. She eventually landed on the Cooking Channel’s “Sugar Showdown,” an experience that she says challenged her creativity.
Homing in on The Roosevelt’s role as a neighborhood restaurant, Branch says guests can expect mainstays such as the double cheeseburger, smoked chicken wings and their signature cornbread with whipped maple butter, but she has schemes up her sleeve.
“How can we have something approachable that’s just a little bit left of what you might expect?” she speculates. “The turkey leg is a carnival food and silly, but how can we make that approachable in a sit-down restaurant? We also do a lot of pickles and preserves, which means we tend to get things when they’re hyper-seasonal, preserve them and play with them later.”
Although Branch has spent enough years in the apron to possess an assurance in the kitchen, there’s an underlying element of infectious excitement to her cooking. She’s a veteran in the sense that she’s been in the kitchen since she can remember, but at 36, she’s still daring enough to be open to new ways of thinking about and sharing food. The same blend of surprise, balanced by a sense of self-awareness, can be said for The Roosevelt.
Confit turkey leg
Since its inception, the restaurant has been a living celebration of Southern cuisine. But when it opened in 2011, the era was defined by white male chefs in their 30s. A little over a decade later, Branch’s arrival feels like a breath of fresh air, representing one of the few Black female executive chefs in the region. It’s a moment the restaurant — and Richmond — has been waiting for, and it’s one Branch doesn’t take lightly.
“There’s a lot we can do, and [the owners are] pretty receptive to my thoughts,” Branch says. “I get really excited about Southern culture and cuisine, and especially how Africans came over and bought their food here and how it translates into American food — and I get to attach all those things, and it feels good.”
The dining room at The Roosevelt
After attending Johnson & Wales University culinary school in Charlotte, North Carolina, Branch landed at a country club where she met restaurateur John Stephens. She went on to work at his Front Street Grill and Moonrakers, both in Beaufort, North Carolina. At the latter she started as a sous chef before settling into the role of executive chef.
“He was a great teacher and really helped me, too. It was a really good experience,” Branch says.
Once a student, Branch has now found her stride as a mentor. Reflecting on her trajectory, she wants to impart similar moments to her own kitchen staff, allowing them to discover what they’re passionate about and offering guidance while knowing when to speak up and when to sit back.
“I’ll have them roll out weekly features and let them pick what sort of produce they want to use and express themselves here,” Branch says. “I know how much it meant to me, and a lot of the chefs here that I speak with say they haven’t had that experience anywhere, and it kind of blows my mind. I want to make sure that happens for them.”
Branch is backed by sous chefs Rodnisha Owens and Kyle Pusey — Pusey had previously cooked at The Roosevelt and returned after the pandemic — in addition to a seasoned front-of-house crew who all retained their positions.
“Living in North Carolina and learning more about African American history and culture and how food ties into that, it’s how I want to speak,” Branch says. “And the opportunity is definitely here.”
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