Southbound South Bound Lee Gregory Joe Sparatta Southbound

Southbound

Stony Point Shopping Center
3036 Stony Point Rd. (Huguenot Rd.)
Richmond, VA 23235
804-918-5431
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Cuisine: Contemporary / Southern
Two chefs and a farmer team up for a bustling, gracious Southern-rooted, internationally inflected hotspot utilizing meticulously sourced ingredients.
Openings: Dinner Tues.-Sun.

Features


Southbound Restaurant Review:


The spirit of cooperation over competition resulting in Richmond’s rise nationally as a foodie destination breathes like a sweet summer breeze through Southbound, a collaboration of Lee Gregory (The Roosevelt) and Joe Sparatta (Heritage). The barnyard-to-table ethos that the two chefs profess at their other establishments becomes backyard-to-table here with Beechwood Farms’ Matt Gottwald also a partner. The restaurant’s feel is casual and textured: reclaimed wood, ropes, and one wall dominated by an Ed Trask mural depicting the James River Railway Bridge. The train on the concrete crossing iconizes the food, at once “very here” and transporting. There are deep ties to the South --- a Virginia ham plate appetizer, entrées of crispy fried trout with grits and chicken with Carolina gold rice --- but the bonds aren’t constricting. To wit, Thai chicken wings, plus lots of gluten-free and vegan/vegetarian options. Hospitable staff gets all atwitter over the in-house pasta machine that turns out pastas such as orecchiette. Still, the ear-shaped morsels are grounded by collard green pesto. Crafty cocktails have a locavore slant, too, and dessert could be a cozy apple cobbler or a more titillating adult root beer float with chocolate stout.