Within the coronary heart of the Iron Triangle is a meals courtroom and enterprise incubator that’s dishing up huge flavors. The Lot is a downtown market that goals to create alternatives for sidewalk distributors and budding meals entrepreneurs. Previously generally known as the Richmond Cell Vendor Program, the market launched in 2024 as an initiative to legitimize unregulated sidewalk distributors, which Nosh beforehand covered. Since then, it’s been revamped right into a group staple the place native meals expertise can get their begin.
1401 Macdonald Ave., Richmond
Open Thursdays and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
With 20 registered distributors, the market hosts a wide range of cuisines for guests to select from — and belief me it’ll be onerous to decide on. The cooks right here pack a severe culinary punch, and every brings a definite cultural taste. The most effective half? It’s open each Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. all yr lengthy. From pupusas to garlic noodles and freshly-made sorrel drinks, The Lot affords a culinary journey that displays the variety of Richmond itself.
Nosh lately visited The Lot to pattern the distributors, which embody Guatemalan, Honduran, Japanese, regional Mexican, soul meals, and dessert stands. Listed here are a trio of my favourite dishes to leap begin your exploration of the brand new meals market.
Huarache de Asada from La Estación del Sabor
La Estacion del Sabor was my first cease right here on the Lot, the place they provide staple Mexican dishes like quesadillas and flautas. However as a substitute of these, I ordered the huarache. This $10 dish encompasses a barely thick oval-shaped corn masa dough that’s cooked on a comal till it’s golden. Then, that base is layered with piles of meat, lettuce, contemporary cheese, salsa and Mexican crema — a thinner, barely sweeter model of our American bitter cream. I wish to eat a few of the toppings after which fold it over like an enormous taco and dive in–a messy endeavor however worthwhile nonetheless. I like to recommend getting the asada, smoky grilled beef that pairs properly with the contemporary toppings. It’s hearty, smoky, savory and can depart you feeling happy.
Brown Stew Rooster Plate from GRL Catering
GRL Catering affords basic Caribbean dishes, akin to oxtail, jerk shrimp and curry hen. However what actually caught my eye was the brown stew hen plate. The plates are available two sizes—small and enormous—that are $15 and $22 respectively. I went for the small which comes with a beneficiant mattress of Jamaican rice and peas that’s topped with an equally beneficiant quantity of stewed hen items. The hen is extraordinarily tender — we’re speaking fall-off-the-bone tender — and smothered in a savory gravy laced with chunks of carrots and potatoes. The dish additionally comes with cabbage, fried candy plantain and competition, a bit of barely candy, deep fried dough. What I take pleasure in most about Caribbean meals are the spices and aromatics — it’s a delicacies the place whatever the dish, the aroma will attain you earlier than your fork does. GRL’s brown stewed hen isn’t any exception. Truthful warning, after consuming you’ll need a nap. This put me in a meals coma.
Peach Cobbler Cheesecake Frizzle from Cooking with Tana
Sometimes, if I’m craving one thing candy I go for an ice cream cone, or small pack of sweet, not a bit of cheesecake. I typically discover cheesecake a bit of too dense and candy for my liking. Nonetheless, for under $9, Tana’s peach cobbler cheesecake frizzle struck an awesome steadiness. The buttery graham cracker crust beneath is crumbly, paying homage to a standard cobbler topping that you simply’d discover in an quaint Southern peach cobbler. The cheesecake base itself was absolutely and calmly sweetened, which permits for the skinny peach compote on high to shine. The Pillsbury dough strips on high are baked within the oven and coated in cinnamon sugar, and completed with two peach slices on high. Should you’re not a fan of peaches, Cooking with Tana affords a number of different cheesecake frizzle choices akin to biscoff and banana pudding. Should you’re somebody who enjoys a candy deal with after their meal, I like to recommend hopping over to Cooking with Tana’s sales space.
