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The winner for Best Dessert went to Maple & Pine for a minted English Pea Cake topped with creme fraiche. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Maple & Pine won for Best Dessert (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Best Dish winner from Lehja--grilled chicken thighs with a classic saag, using mustard greens, kale, spinach and sautéed Yukon Gold potatoes topped with cilantro (Photo by Susan Winiecki).
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Chaat, featuring puffed rice, sushi-grade tuna, mango, and Virginia peanuts from Lehja won Best Healthy Dish (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Sunny Baweja chef/owner of Lehja won for Best Main and Best Healthy Dish (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Runner-up for Best Healthy dish from Metzger Bar & Butchery -- a summer bean salad featuring smoked bass and pickled egg gribiche (Photo by Jay Paul).
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The folks from Metzger Bar & Butchery (Photo by Jay Paul).
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The booth for Metzger Bar & Butchery (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Booth at My Noodle and Bar (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Massive grill where skewers were prepared (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Lucy's won for Best Ambiance (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Dessert by Everyday Gourmet was a Rosso Cake--an Italian coconut-pecan cream cake (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Everyday Gourmet had popular dishes and ran out of before the day was over (Photo by Jay Paul).
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People at Broad Appetit dancing and enjoying the live music (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Patrons of Broad Appetit enjoying the festival (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Event Coordinator Tracey Leverty with chefs from Rappahannock (Photo by Jay Paul).
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Performances took place throughout the day providing live music for festival-goers (Photo by Jay Paul).
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People and animals alike took to Broad Street for the 11th annual celebration (Photo by Jay Paul).
On Sunday June 3, almost 28,000 hungry and adventurous foodies descended onto Broad Street for the 11th annual celebration of the Richmond culinary scene at Broad Appetit, which benefits FeedMore.
The rain held, the sun peeked from behind the clouds, and Richmonders were graced with a welcoming opportunity to try $3 small plates from participating vendors.
Broad Appetit began 11 years ago when a small group of community-oriented individuals wanted to highlight Richmond's food and art scene. A member of that small group was event coordinator Tracey Leverty. Fast-forward 11 years and the event has become a yearly staple for food-lover’s and chefs alike.
The first year Broad Appetit took place there were 26 vendors — this year 68.
“It has grown and flourished and turned into its own beast,” says Leverty. “When we started everything was right on the cusp of this food scene. We are a mirror of what the Richmond food community is doing, and we grow with the food and the interest.”
During the event a panel of judges sample the dishes and choose winners for Best Main Dish, Best Healthy Dish and Best Dessert.
Lehja received a double win this year — Best Dish and Best Healthy Dish.
Sunny Baweja, Lehja’s chef/owner, prepared grilled chicken thighs with a classic saag, using mustard greens, kale, spinach and sautéed Yukon Gold potatoes, topped with cilantro for his winning main dish. The runner-up for main dish was an arugula salad with squid from Rappahannock.
Lehja made chaat, a traditional Indian street food, for the winning Best Healthy Dish, which featured puffed rice, chunks of sushi-grade tuna, avocado, mango and Virginia peanuts for an explosion of flavors that was savory, sweet and spicy.
“You have to have savory, sweet and spicy for chaat and touch on all the notes, and if those notes don’t touch down you didn’t do the job,” says Baweja. “Our dining scene is so phenomenal and so many talented people out there, it feels so special to win, especially at home.”
Metzger Bar & Butchery won runner-up for Healthy Dish, with summer beans, smoked bass and pickled egg gribiche. This is the first year Metzger has participated and coincidentally the first year there was a runner-up for Healthy Dish. Leverty says they added a runner-up due to the surprising number of healthy entrees submitted — there were almost as many healthy dishes submitted as main dishes.
Maple & Pine took home Best Dessert with a minted English pea cake topped with a crème fraiche. The creative seasonal dessert was moist and perfectly balanced by light, herbaceous and sweet undertones. The runner-up was 1885 Café and Market, inside the Hilton Hotel, for a creamy panna cotta topped with quinoa, chia, and poppy seeds, and a berry gastrique.
Leverty says when the festival began she wanted all the tents to be the same — uniform, crisp and clean. However, there is room for vendors to get creative. Each year an award is given for Best Ambiance and highlights a vendor that brings flair and originality to their booth.
Lucy’s is no stranger to winning the award — they won for the second year in a row and third time overall. Their booth was carefully decorated with fresh flowers and an inviting sign that spelled out “Lucy’s” using plants.
“Lucy’s delivers a brand you will see on the streets and then in their restaurant and it translates to their food,” says Leverty. “It’s well-executed, not over-the-top, and clean — that’s the best thing you can do at an event.”
The Chef Showdown in The Streets demo included an all-female cast of chefs and students who competed. There were two student rounds, and two pro rounds where participants broke down a fish and then used the filet in a dish. Participating chefs included Natalie Kitchen of Maple & Pine, Ellie Basch of Everyday Gourmet, Keva Miller of FeedShine, and winner Laine Myers from Metzger Bar & Butchery.
This was Kroger's first year as a presenting sponsor for the event, a decision the grocer made as a part of their Kroger’s Zero Hunger Zero Waste campaign, a company-wide commitment to end hunger and eliminate food waste by 2025.
“We’re always looking for creative ways to drive awareness to hunger in the communities we serve, and with Broad Appetit’s relationship with FeedMore, the event is a natural fit,” said Allison McGee, corporate affairs manager for Kroger Mid-Atlantic. “We were excited to be on the ground at the event sampling local foods with our $3 plate fee going directly back to FeedMore, and we’re glad to play a larger role in what has become a Richmond tradition.”
Other sponsors included Altria, Performance Food Service, Brown Distributing, VCU Health, Richmond Gas Works, Carvana, Richmond Magazine and more. It is estimated that $15,000 to $20,000 was raised for FeedMore, but the numbers are still being calculated.
