Ed 93: Health, Sweets, & Spring Festival Guide
This edition of the Weekly Insider is proudly brought to you by Scents of Serenity Organic Spa!
Image Credit: @rrracheldwyer
Hey there!
Self-care seems to be the theme this week with Scents of Serenity Organic Spa opening their newest location next week plus two more health and wellness spots to explore. Food news is a little sweet and a little salty with a new bakery, pho, rootfop news, and a closure. Meanwhile events and happenings are heating up with St Patrick’s Day just around the corner and our Ultimate Spring Festival Guide out. Onward….
THE LATEST:
Image Credit: @sugarandsalt
Image Source: Thrive: Mind, Body & Soul / Facebook
Image Source: Unsplash
Image Credit: @thepitandthepeel
SOCIAL NEWS
A local pastry chef has moved her culinary skills from the Jefferson Hotel to a brick and mortar bakery! For the past four years Sara Ayyash has been the pastry magician at The Jefferson by day and a culinary queen in her kitchen by night, providing fresh pastries and beyond for her own company, Sugar & Salt. According to her LinkedIn, Sara left The Jefferson this past January for what we can only assume was to open her very own bakery shop where she serves chocolate truffles, berry tarts, fresh biscuits, chocolate eclairs, and so much more. Sugar & Salt is now open Monday through Saturday 8am-6pm at 416 N 2nd St in Jackson Ward. Ask about their custom cakes if you’ve got a special occasion coming up!
If you’re looking to improve your self-care game (and you are a woman) then check out the forthcoming Thrive: Mind Body Soul, a space dedicated to helping women reduce stress through various forms of self-care. “Thrive is a place where we can rest the mind, restore the body and feed the soul and let our power grow” reads their website. Services include yoga, facials and skin care, massage therapy, calm rooms (themed including “peace in the woods” and “ocean”), infrared saunas, an anti-aging therapy suite and more. Their full day access pass is $85 and includes a yoga class, 15-minute mini massage, 15-minute pod or sound experience, along with snacks, beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic), WiFi, and access to various relaxation rooms. Sounds like a truly relaxing day! (Richmond BizSense)
A new preventative health concept is opening next week in Short Pump! Restore Hyper Wellness and Cryotherapy seeks to help with anti-aging, degenerative disease management, exercise and surgical recovery, localized pain management, and overall health and wellness. Restore will provide 12 modalities including multiple forms of cryotherapy and cryoskin, IV drip therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, photobiomodulation (PBM), stretch base therapy, compression therapy and micronutrient testing. Plus, they accept health savings accounts (HSA) and flexible spending accounts (FSA) for individual services, as well as monthly membership enrollments. Hours of operation are 10am-7pm weekdays, 9am-5pm on Saturdays, and 12pm-4pm on Sundays. Visit them at the Greengate Shopping Center at 201 Maltby Boulevard.
Another rooftop is opening in Richmond but this time it’s a well-known juice bar! Mike Platania over at Richmond BizSense shared plans for The Pit and The Peel to move their VCU location a few blocks west from 1102 W Main St to 1210 W Main St (across from 1213 Hair Studio). The new spot will be larger than the original location and will include a rooftop. We’ll be sure to add this to our Best Coffee Shops (& Other) to Get Work Done. (Richmond BizSense)
West Coast pho from Vietnam natives is headed for Richmond. With two successful pho restaurants in California, Christine Phan and her husband Steven Phan have relocated to RVA and will be opening Pho 95 in the Willow Lawn shopping center next week. Eileen Mellon at Richmond Magazine has the full scoop.
This is the second couple in the past year to relocate to Richmond bringing along an established restaurant concept. Susannah Proctor and Gersi Memaga came down from Brooklyn, NY this past October to open their second Gersi restaurant location. We’ve tried to visit twice with no luck – first, they weren’t able to accommodate a larger group on New Years Eve and this past weekend we tried to walk-in as a party of three without a reservation but they were fully booked (both which are totally understandable). We learned they’ll be launching on Resy soon so if you plan to visit, make sure you’ve got a reservation!
The Big Kitchen in Scott’s Addition has closed reports Richmond BizSense. What to do with the space has yet to be decided. It is owned by the folks from Tazza Kitchen and according to Mike Platania it sounds like the owners will launch another restaurant concept in the coming months. This seems like a good idea given how packed Scott’s Addition can be on any given day, particularly the weekend, and another casual restaurant certainly couldn’t hurt! (Richmond BizSense)
Noteworthy: An Uber-like service is now available for parents living in the city who need their kids shuttled to after-school activities and elsewhere. Read more here. (Richmond BizSense)
HAPPENINGS
The Scott’s Addition Beverage District Collaboration Crawl is coming up on Saturday, March 7! Each of the participating locations (12) have been randomly assigned a Collab Partner. Collab Partners have come together during the past few weeks to create unique concoctions that reflect the partnership. Both beverages will be made on-site and served in their respective taproom only (so you’ll have to “crawl” around the neighborhood to try both drinks from a set of Collab Partners). Pick up a Collab Crawl Card at any participating location and fill it out as you go. Once you have enough stamps, turn it in at any participating location to be entered into a raffle for some awesome prizes!
Image Credit: @fatdragonrva
Weekly Giveaway
Fat Dragon
$25 gift card
Fat Dragon Chinese Kitchen and Bar is a modern, lively bar and restaurant serving traditional Chinese with a twist. Located in Scott’s Addition, it’s the perfect spot for lunch, happy hour, dinner, or late night with 24 beers on tap. Their happy hour run 4:30pm-7pm and includes $4 rail drinks, $2 off craft beers, $1 off bottled and canned beer, and $2 off select appetizers plus $3 rails til 9pm on Mondays, half off bottles of wine on Wednesdays, and extended happy hour til 9pm on Thursdays.
TO ENTER: Tell us your go to Chinese food order! The winner will be randomly selected to receive a $30 gift card.
Last week: Congratulations to Nan B. for being our giveaway winner of the week! Enjoy the walk-around grand tasting at the Virginia Wine Expo! Cheers!
Member Perks
Scents of Serenity Organic Spa
Scents of Serenity is now taking appointments for their brand new location at West Broad Village opening in March! Voted one of the Best Day Spa’s in Richmond seven years in a row by Virginia Living Magazine readers, Scents of Serenity offers luxury spa services in the most tranquil and relaxing environment!
Members get 10% off all services and products. Use code: SOSRVAX
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