Richmond and the surrounding areas have their share of restaurants with creative names, and some of them are directly tied to women. Those are the places where a woman’s name is not only hidden in the recipes. The name is also written on the sign.
1. Dot’s Back Inn
Dot’s Back Inn, located at 4030 MacArthur Avenue, Richmond, VA 23227, is named by owner Cookie Giannini’s aunt, Dot Severina “Dot” Chiocca Murray. Aunt Dot was a career waitress who worked in local restaurants for nearly 50 years but never owned a place of her own. Giannini named the restaurant to honor her aunt and hard-working servers everywhere.
2. Garnett’s Cafe
Garnett’s Cafe is a neighborhood sandwich shop named after owner Kendra Feather’s maternal grandmother, Garnett Beckman, who lived to be 103 years old and hiked the Grand Canyon into her 90s. Kendra Feather also owns Laura Lee’s Restaurant listed below at #5.
3. Helen’s Inn
Helen’s Restaurant was named after Helen Donati. Her parents passed the business to Helen on her 21st birthday in 1935. Helen managed the restaurant, but after her death, her brother renamed the restaurant Helen’s Inn to honor her memory in the restaurant that is located at 2527 West Main Street, Richmond, VA 23220.
4. Jackie’s
Jackie’s Restaurant, located at1241 N Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23223, is named by owner Carleen Burrell in loving memory of her late mother, Jacqueline “Jackie” Jones. The Black-owned restaurant offers southern-style home cooking just like Jackie Jones used to make.
5. Laura Lee’s
Laura Lee’sis an American restaurant, located at 3410 Semmes Avenue, Richmond, VA 23225. It is named in honor of Laura Lee Feather, the mother of owner and local restaurateur Kendra Feather who also owns Garnetts sandwich shop that is named in honor of her maternal grandmother, Garnett Beckman.(See #2).
6. Lillie Pearl
Lillie Pearl is an American restaurant located at 305 Brook Road, Richmond, VA 23220. It is named for Chef Mike Lindsey’s two grandmothers, Lillie Pearl Strayhorn on his mother’s side and Hattie Ragin Lindsey on his father’s side. The name is a tribute to the women who shaped the chef’s culinary roots.
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