A Young Professional’s Guide to Living in Richmond

A Fresh Start at Keiter Part 2

Since joining the Keiter team and moving to Richmond, I have been in a discovery phase. Being in a new city gives you the opportunity to explore and discover interesting places—restaurants, coffee shops, parks, museums, etc. Richmond has a lot to offer, and I will share with you some of my newly found favorite spots around the city.

Restaurants

Richmond has a thriving restaurant scene. The artistic esthetic of the city is evident in many of the restaurants, as Richmond contains unique dining experiences you may not find anywhere else. If you are vegan like me, or even vegan curious, these restaurants cater to that lifestyle. However, they also have non vegan options as well. Many of these restaurants are in or around the Manchester area of Richmond. Let’s dive in!

The Continental Manchester: The Continental Manchester is located on Hull Street underneath a conglomeration of lofts and apartments. They have a beautiful patio that has an overhead and is perfect for eating on a nice sunny day. This restaurant has American style food, nachos, salads, pizza, burgers. Their salads are quite impressive as they have very generous portions. My two favorite items on the menu are their nachos (the portion size is also huge, and they are vegan), and the house salad. With the house salad you have the option to add a protein of your choice. I usually add falafel! The last round of summer interns had their farewell dinner here—oh, the memories!

Lucky AF: Located in Richmond’s Scotts Addition, Lucky AF is a modern sushi experience. They are known for their happy hour, which runs daily from 2:30-6 Monday-Saturday, and 5-6 on Sundays. They have specialty items that you can only get on the happy hour menu. I usually only come for happy hour. My favorite items are the California roll (I usually get it without imitation crab), the vegan roll (this is so yummy and spicy too with a nice jalapeno sauce!), and the spicy edamame (they put a barbecue sauce on the edamame that is fabulous!). They also have great drinks and mocktails!

Hatch Local: Hatch Local is a Food Hall located right across from The Continental Manchester. It is connected to the lofts called The Current and is surrounded by a neighborhood of other lofts and apartments on Hull Street. Because it is a Food Hall, Hatch Local has 7 restaurant options located in its two buildings that are separated by a patio and outside seating area. My favorite restaurant is Royal Pig, which serves Cambodian-style food. The dish that I love the most is their cellophane noodles (they are vegan) and so delicious! They also have other restaurants in the Food Hall that serve burgers, smoothies, fried chicken, and seafood!

Coffee Shops & Cafés

Richmond is home to many different cafes and coffee shops. These serve as places where memories are made, work is done, and often, creativity is sparked. I have enjoyed immersing myself in the coffee house/ café culture in the city and have come across two shops that for me, seem to be top tier above the rest.

Café Beignet RVA: This delicious café is in Shockoe Bottom. I would like to preface this by saying that I had never tried a beignet before coming to this restaurant. They are amazing! I came here on my birthday week and had a regular vegan beignet with some coffee. The beignet was fresh, sweet, and delicious. The coffee was strong and went perfect with the beignet. They also serve gumbo, but mostly just beignets and hot coffee. It is also minority and woman owned!

Whisk: Whisk is a café that is also located in Shockoe Bottom not too far from Café Beignet. This café has a large menu to include items for breakfast and brunch- sandwiches, bagels, pastries. They also have the option of hot or hold coffee to choose from with various flavors. Another cool thing about Whisk is that they have an outside patio with an overhead where you can sit and enjoy your coffee. My item of choice when I visited Whisk was a veggie sandwich and vanilla iced coffee. The sandwich and the coffee were both delicious! This is a great place to have a friendly brunch gathering!

Parks

There is nothing I love more than nature. One of the things that made me sad about moving to Richmond and leaving the Tidewater area was being farther away from the beach. However, the nature scene in Richmond is incredible! There are many parks, trails, and rivers to enjoy. We all know and love Belle Isle, but I wanted to touch on another nature trail that I discovered on accident. I was on the way to Belle Isle, but I got lost and stumbled here. Must have been fate!

North Bank Park (Texas Beach): This park is tucked away behind the railroad tracks. There are many people that come here to go boat riding in the river. I enjoy going to the river here because they have a patch of land in the middle of the river where you can walk to and enjoy the views. I love meditating here in the summer evenings. The views are amazing! There is also a nature trail you can walk in the forest. The trail is very scenic, and people often come here to exercise.

Museums

Richmond has an exciting arts scene with many different types of artists. This was one of the things that excited me about this city as I was doing my research to move here. From the contributions of the student artists at VCU, to the talent of the local city artists, Richmond’s arts scene is something to celebrate! Below are two art museums that I have had the pleasure of visiting since moving here.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA): The VMFA is a very well-known museum with some of America’s greatest collections of artworks including sculptures, paintings, architecture, textiles, and decorative art to name a few. You really need several days to be able to view the entire museum. They also have many different types of exhibits going on frequently. During the time I went the Whistler to Cassatt exhibit was taking place and I got to experience it—lots of beautiful American pieces! I am in the process of planning my second trip to the VMFA. Keiter is a sponsor of VMFA and some of our team members are involved on VMFA boards.

Art Works: Located on Hull Street (on the same block as The Continental and Hatch Local), Artworks is a full-service art center. They have galleries of artwork from many different artists around the city. They also have events and art classes for artists to brush up on their skills. The cool thing about Art Works is that local artists can rent space in one of their art rooms or even on a wall to display their artwork. There are artists that do residencies there and have studios where they can create inside of Art Works. What a cool contribution to the Richmond art community!

Do you want to learn more about an accounting career in Richmond, Virginia? Contact our Keiter Career Opportunity Advisors.