Look at Virginia on a map. How is it not an established food paradise? The oldest region in the country. One of the biggest. Loaded with wealth and power, enclosing the nation's capital. Vast mountain silences and endless meadows pierced by broad and powerful rivers, all emptying into the biggest, most complex bay system in the country. And yet, the occasional ham excepted, it has never gotten its proper due. It's time. The Old Dominion has seemingly overnight exploded into one of the country's greatest gastro regions.
BORDER SPRINGS FARM and MUSICKLAND FARMS
PATRICK SPRINGS and FORT CHISWELL
These family farms produce, within a couple hours of each other, some of the country's very best lamb and pork. borderspringsfarm.com
FOGGY RIDGE CIDER
DUGSPUR
Maker of ciders as complex as any you'll find in Normandy, made from some of the state's obscure heritage apples. foggyridgecider.com
BARBOURSVILLE VINEYARDS
BARBOURSVILLE
Thomas Jefferson wanted to plant French vines in Virginia soil. It didn't work out—then. Now it has. Barboursville's flagship wine, Octagon, is a love affair between Bordeaux and the terroir of Virginia's Piedmont. bbvwine.com
SUB ROSA BAKERY
RICHMOND
The future of bread resides in the past: in-house milling of regional heritage grains. And few do it better, or with more conviction, than this Richmond bakery. subrosabakery.com
ON THE COAST...
Two cousins, Travis and Ryan Croxton, have started a mini empire on the strength of their oyster company, Rappahannock River Oysters. It includes Richmond's Rappahannock (right); Merroir, a seafood shack at the mouth of the river that serves creamy, deep-cupped oysters from different parts of the bay system, each with its own distinct flavor; and Eat the Rich, a craft-cocktail bar in D. C. that serves oysters alongside virtuosic classic cocktails—sours and flips and sazeracs—and sets the whole thing against a carefully curated vintage punk soundtrack.
THE SHACK
STAUNTON
A restaurant so tiny it might register as a prank, but chef Ian Boden packs a square mile of culinary genius inside his little red building. facebook.com/theshacksva
CHAMPION BREWING COMPANY
CHARLOTTESVILLE
It's small, bare, and without frills, but this Charlottesville gem brews some of the most singular beers we can remember pounding, including brews with ingredients like fennel, yams, and lamb. championbrewingcompany.com
