5 Local Must-Haves for Your Next Girl Dinner
We’re months late to a viral trend, but BFD — do you like delicious snacks for dinner or not?!
— by Kelsey Heintz, Managing Editor
Jalapeño Dip
I’m a MAJOR Don Sebastián fan over here, so I don’t need an excuse to stock my fridge with their fresh, authentic Mexican salsas and dips — but I’ll take one anyway. For your Girl Dinner purposes, I recommend the Jalapeño Dip (sour cream, cilantro, jalapeños, lime juice, dried dill, buttermilk, mayonnaise, garlic, chives, salt, and pepper (*drool*)), but go ahead and grab La Original and/or Pico de Gallo while you’re filling your cart. And keep me posted if you also want to drink that salsa after just one taste. (I wouldn’t judge; pour a glass for me, too.)
Tinned Fish or Smoked Salmon
Food writer Alison Roman famously and frequently makes a case for anchovies, and I believe every word she says. Girl Dinner eaters agree, too: the recipe calls for fish. My favorite Richmond wine shop, Second Bottle, offers tins on tins of li’l salty fishes (the cutie packaging alone will have me trying them all), and Bombolini Pasta serves up whole fresh salmon sides, salted overnight with their blend of herbs and spices, smoked the next day, and “ready to top your salad, pasta, or appetizer platter.”
Buy it online here or here, or find it in stores here or here.
Bread
All that smoked salmon talk had my mind going straight for some sea-salt goodness from Nate’s Bagels next, which could very well make the cut — this is YOUR vision, after all — but we can’t talk about bread without talking about Sub Rosa Bakery, can we? Absolutely not. Snag a loaf of their Classic (made with 100% stone-ground blend of regional wheats; their take on a classic pain au levain, a timeless old-world bread) or literally anything else on their Bread menu, and please invite me over.
Fruits & Veggies
Whether you want to pick your own produce or scoop some up at your nearest farmers market, there’s no shortage of options for adding a little locally-grown greenery to the scenery of your Girl Dinner plate. Shine Farms is one of my favorites (a frequent fixture of the Pizza Bones farmers market), and they even deliver straight to your doorstep, if you want to cut down on errand-running while you’re cutting down on dinner-making.
Buy it online here.
Cheese
More than once, I’ve considered “just cheese” for dinner, but that’d make for such a short City Guide, you know? Truckle Cheesemongers is RVA's very own dedicated cheese shop (no, you’re crying), offering a cut-to-order counter for all the manchego, cheddar, and more you want to complement your other Girl Dinner goodies.
Got room for more?
