Ed 282: Blistered Shishitos, Glow Sticks, Thanksgiving Dinner
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Oh, hello there!
I’m sorry; I’m a woman obsessed and I have to direct your attention to Garden Glow again. Someone on r/rva posted this insanely awesome view of the fall festival from 30,000 feet in the air, and it’s something to behold. Like, you can see it from an airplane, people!
If you haven’t been, yet, come on. Tix are available through its last day — this Sunday, November 12. Light it up, hot-cocoa it up, get a glow stick on your way in and glow-stick it up. ‘Tis the damn season!
Keep scrolling for RVA’s latest social news, including where to find Peruvian ceviche, the James River’s report card, five-year anniversaries, and more.
WEATHER
Wednesday: Mostly sunny; high of 67°, low of 51°
Thursday: Partly cloudy; high of 80°, low of 53°
Friday: Showers; high of 56°, low of 39°
HAPPENINGS
Wednesday, 5 - 8 pm: SCAN HOLIDAY SHOP HAPPY HOUR
Thursday, 6 - 8 pm: DIVERSITY CELEBRATES
Friday, 7 - 9 pm: J CANDEED AT CASTLEBURG BREWERY
CITY GUIDES
2. THE FAMILY CALENDAR: NOVEMBER 2023
3. LOCAL SPOTS THAT WILL HELP YOU WITH THANKSGIVING DINNER THIS YEAR
Image Source: VCU
RICHMONDER TO KNOW
Anthony Faber: The professor in the Philips Institute for Oral Health Research at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry and Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center earned $6.3 million across four grants to continue research with his team to develop new targeted therapies for neuroblastoma and synovial sarcoma — cancers that primarily affect children and young adults. Read more about his incredible work for our community and cancer patients here.
THE LATEST:
Image Source: Virago Spirits
Image Source: Fan Boy
Image Source: Hardywood
Image Source: @anddimsumrva
SOCIAL NEWS
New in town: It’s been an especially mouth-watering few weeks in the River City, and the spits — er, the hits — don’t stop coming. If you caught our latest edition of The Trendspotter, you saw a roundup of some of our faves, but there’s way more where that came from:
Fan Boy opened Friday, November 3, with a food menu featuring notables like Peruvian Ceviche, Blistered Shishitos, and Lamb Lollipops. (Instagram)
And Dim Sum ~also~ opened last Friday and is what brightly colored and modern Chinese cocktail house dreams are made of. (Instagram)
Young Mother announced it’ll be setting up shop in Carytown come 2024. (Peep the Daniel Harthausen love from The Big Brunch host and judge Dan Levy in the announcement’s Insta post! TOO cute.) (Instagram)
A dose of whimsy for the week: Unicorn World and the Gingerbread House Challenge happen this weekend. The former features life-size, animatronic unicorns (what else?); a play area; a set-up for arts and crafts; and more magic. The latter jumpstarts the holiday season with the release of Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout and local businesses, nonprofits, and friends competing to build gingerbread houses based on a central theme. The event is all in support of the Better Housing Coalition (whose mission aims to change lives and transform communities through high-quality affordable housing, BTW). (Unicorn World, Better Housing Coalition)
In the birthday spirit: Virago Spirits is celebrating its fifth birthday with a big bash this weekend. Party at the taproom just outside Scott’s Addition with craft cocktails, cider, beer, live music, food truck eats, and an artisan market. And if you need recs for what to try from the anniversary menu, we like these (for starters):
Pumpkin Painkiller (Virago White Rum, pumpkin, spices, coconut cream, pineapple, nutmeg)
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (Virago Four Port Rum, fig preserves, lime, fresh thyme)
Cafe Caribbean (Virago Four Port Rum, Blanchard’s brewed coffee, coffee liqueur, amaretto, whipped cream, almonds)
Espresso Martini (Virago Four Port Rum, Virago 151, coffee liqueur, Afterglow Alter Ego coffee, vanilla simple syrup, sea salt, orange peel) (Virago Spirits)
Your report card is available: The James River Association released its 2023 State of the James report, which details the overall health of the James River. The iconic body of water scored an overall grade of 66% (a B *and* improvement over last year, if Mom asks). The report accounts for the status and trends of 18 indicators for two categories — River Health and River Restoration Progress — including things like bacteria, wastewater and stormwater pollution controls, and tidal water quality. (ABC8 News)
Seriously, say it ain’t so: To our extreme devastation, Isley Brewing Company shut things down (like, in a bad way) at its Scott’s Addition spot recently, and we’re still not sure if there’s good reopening-somewhere-else news on the horizon. VPM reported a little more about the closure last week, and while it didn’t cite direct info from the brewery’s owner, Mike Isley, the pub did note that the pandemic def changed things up, real-estate-wise (and, you know, otherwise, too, obviously) and might’ve contributed to the decision to close. “The pandemic changed real estate across the country — and in the commonwealth. In the third quarter of calendar year 2019, Richmond’s retail vacancy rate was at 5.5%, according to data from Virginia Realtors. In the third quarter of 2023, it was down to 4.2%. During that same time period, rent has increased $1.65 per square foot, according to the trade group.” (VPM)
MORE LINKS YOU’LL WANT TO CLICK
⚠️Stratford Rd (between Menokin Rd and Custis Rd) is closed through Friday, November 24, for emergency stormwater repair. (RVAHub)
🥳Urban Hang Suite turned five at the start of the month. Sounds like you need a coffee to celebrate! (Instagram)
Image Source: Minglewood Bake Shop
Weekly Giveaway
Minglewood Bake Shop
We’ve got a dessert-centric City Guide cookin’ up (bakin’ up?) right now, and we want to make sure you’re at the ready to taste-test all our recs when it drops.
This week, we’re giving away 10 bucks to Minglewood Bake Shop! Hello, vegan EVERYTHING.
To enter, tell us: Which mammal has no vocal cords?
Image Source: @kelseyheintzistyping
Member Perks
RVAx Book Club
We love a good read here at The Richmond Experience, and we know lots of our members do, too. So, we started our very own members-only book club to chit-chat all kinds of lit! Our last meeting of 2023 is all merry and cozy and book-swappy — it’s one of our favorites of the year, and it’s happening on Wednesday, December 6.
Get access to our members-only book club by joining here, and meet us to chat about our next pick!
New + Trending from RVAx
SAVE THE DATE
👋
Hey, new members!
We’d like to welcome 11 new members this week: Zoey B., Sydney P., Rafael D., Harry D., Haley K., Greg J., Sarah B., Taylor S., Taney M., Trevor C., and Agnes V., we’re so glad you’re here!
It takes a village, so let us know if you have any questions, thoughts, feedback, tips, or recs! Thanks for reading edition 282 of The Weekly Insider.
Oh, bye there!
- The Richmond Experience
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