Tiny Richmond restaurant serves truly farm-to-table food, year-round.
Photo by Jen Cubas Photography
“For us, eating locally and seasonally just makes sense. Food that is in season, farmed with care, and with the lowest food miles is always going to taste best,” says Sariann Lehrer, who, with her husband, David Crabtree-Logan, owns The Broken Tulip Social Eatery in Richmond’s Carytown.
The couple works directly with local farmers to source everything except some spices and citrus fruits, basing menus on the items ready for harvest each week. “We choose from the [farmers’] lists, it’s delivered on Wednesday, and we write the menu from there,” explains Lehrer. “Most people think that winter is probably super hard for us, but the menu nearly writes itself [then]. It’s the summertime, when everything is flush and we have an abundance of choice, that menu writing gets difficult. Too much to choose from!”
The couple moved to Richmond after training at restaurants around the world, intrigued by the location and food scene. Opened in November 2017, the restaurant is deliberately small—22 seats at communal tables, plus a bar—and serves only four days each week. The other nights, it hosts community events and food pop-ups.
And the name? Broken tulips are an old type that have fallen out of favor but are championed by a small group of British farmers. “We think this is indicative of how we choose our suppliers,” says Lehrer. “Most are small farmers that raise heirloom vegetables and heritage breed animals, bucking the current food system in favor of better tasting, more sustainable products.” TheBrokenTulip.com
This article originally appeared in our Best of Virginia 2019 issue.
