Enjoying a meal at a great restaurant can feel deeply personal — like time spent with a relative who knows you well and wants to show their love. Several Richmond eateries embody this spirit while honoring the women who inspired them: grandmothers, mothers and aunts who have shaped generations of hospitality.
Stella Dikos in Greece as a young teenager (Photo courtesy Constantine Giavos)
Stella’s and Stella’s Grocery
After immigrating to Richmond from Greece at 19, Stella Dikos spent years working tirelessly in the kitchen at her husband Stavros’ Fan restaurant, The Village. In the early 1980s, she opened a namesake restaurant nearby.
Dikos’ grandson, Constantine Giavos, creative director for his family’s businesses, recalls what a restaurant bearing her name meant to his grandmother. “It was a matter of pride and responsibility,” he says. “How could you put your name on a restaurant and let it fail? She worked day and night to make sure it didn’t.” That indefatigable work ethic, Giavos says, lives on in her descendants.
“That mentality is something my mom and dad have embodied throughout their tenure as restaurateurs,” Giavos says. Despite her success, Dikos (who died in 2024) remained shy and humble. “I don’t think she ever understood how many people she touched through her food and generosity,” Giavos recalls. The hospitality, community and warmth at Stella’s and Stella’s Grocery are his grandmother personified. “It carries through to everything we do.”
Hattie Ragin Lindsey and Mike Lindsey’s father; Lillie Pearl Strayhorn (Photos courtesy Mike Lindsey)
Lillie Pearl
Chef and restaurateur Mike Lindsey learned to cook the old-fashioned way, by studying with his family’s matriarchs. His restaurant Lillie Pearl is a tribute to his grandmothers — Lillie Pearl Strayhorn on his mother’s side and Hattie Ragin Lindsey on his father’s.
Though the two women were quite different, Lindsey says, both taught him about cooking and caring for people. “Grandma Lillie was very sweet and loving,” Lindsey says. “Her hospitality was unmatched; I get that from her.”
Lindsey’s Grandma Hattie, from South Carolina, had Gullah Geechee heritage that Lindsey honors in dishes such as Hoppin’ John and lobster shrimp and grits. Hattie was a no-nonsense woman. “She was an incredible cook, just old-school, no-fuss cooking,” Lindsey says. “She made me strong, hardworking and relentless.” While Grandma Lillie’s name is immortalized at Lillie Pearl, he says with a laugh, “hopefully Hattie will get a restaurant, too.”
Garnett Beckman; Laura Lee Feather (Photos courtesy Kendra Feather)
Garnett’s and Laura Lee’s
Kendra Feather operates two restaurants that pay homage to the women in her family. At Fan sandwich shop Garnett’s, Feather celebrates her maternal grandmother, Garnett Beckman. “She’s all over the space in the cafe,” Feather says, pointing to photos and a newspaper article on the wall. The Garnett’s Garden sandwich is also named for her, and The Big Daddy is a nod to Beckman’s father.
Feather notes that, to put it kindly, her grandmother wasn’t exactly known for her cooking; rather, the eatery reflects her warmth and conviviality. The sort of place to enjoy a slice of pie at the bar while striking up a conversation with a stranger, as Beckman, who lived to 103, would have done. “She would’ve loved to hang out at the counter and chat up everyone,” Feather says.
At Laura Lee’s, Feather honors her mother, Laura Lee Feather — though “honor” may not be the right word. “The joke is that my mom has repeatedly urged me to not open more restaurants, so we named it after her,” Feather says. “Her parents were small-business owners who struggled, and she has always worried about me.”
Like her mother, Garnett Beckman, Laura Lee is beloved for bringing people together. “She loves to host parties and gather the neighborhood,” Feather says. In a Facebook post, Feather called her mother — who has lived with an autoimmune disease for decades — her North Star who has guided her through life’s hardest lessons.
Dot’s Back Inn
Severina “Dot” Chiocca Murray (Photo courtesy Cookie Giannini)
Founded in 1990 by Cookie Giannini, Dot’s Back Inn is a Bellevue institution known for its big personality and generous portions of diner fare. Giannini opened the restaurant to honor her favorite aunt, Dot, a career server born Severina Chiocca Murray, from a big Italian family where everyone was expected to work.
Dot spent years in the family restaurant, and when her father died, Italian tradition dictated that the business be passed to her older brother. Dot worked for him her entire life, dying just three months after her retirement at age 65 following 50 years in the business. Giannini thought it was time Dot had a place named after her. “And so, I said, ‘This is for all the servers who have been the heart and soul of a restaurant but never got a chance to own their own.’”
Giannini says Dot, the quintessential Richmond waitress, was fiery, with a mouth like a sailor. “She’d tease customers and keep them on their toes, reminding them that she ‘didn’t have all goddamn day’ to take their order,” Giannini says, laughing. But she also treated co-workers and customers like family. Dot’s General Manager McKenzie Bryant says, “Dot’s is a very neighborhood-, community-based restaurant. We know everybody that comes through the door. None of us have met Dot, but we all try to still emulate her to this day.”
The Tony sandwich from Susie’s (Photo by Justin Chesney)
Susie’s
Yael Cantor and her grandmother Susie Cantor (Photo courtesy Yael Cantor)
At Yael Cantor’s Cary Street delicatessen and restaurant, Susie’s, her grandmother’s influence is everywhere. Susie Cantor, who ran a catering business, showed her granddaughter how food and hospitality could be a love language. “I have such fond memories of coming to visit Richmond for the summers as a kid and eating her tuna salad on the counter,” Cantor recalls. That recipe became the backbone for The Tammy, a tuna salad sandwich on challah.
Susie’s brisket — a hallmark of the Jewish High Holidays — inspired the Tony sandwich, slow-simmered brisket, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and horseradish crema. More than the dishes, Susie inspired her granddaughter to bring people together. “My grandma is and was the ultimate host,” Cantor says. “Having a place that I can host people and a place for people to feel comfortable and safe means everything and is just truly what she has always shown me.”
