The Roosevelt Richmond: From Lee Gregory to Leah Branch
One Church Hill restaurant, three chefs since 2011, and a double cheeseburger the current chef says the kitchen leaves alone.
The Roosevelt Richmond is a Southern restaurant at 623 N. 25th St. in Church Hill, open for dinner every night. Its chef today is Leah Branch, not Lee Gregory. Gregory opened The Roosevelt with owner Kendra Feather in July 2011 and cooked his last meal there on 31 October 2018. Branch has run the kitchen since February 2022. One thing has survived every change of chef: the double cheeseburger, which Branch says the kitchen does not “mess with”. It is still a good reason to book. Just know that its last published spec dates from 2019.
The Roosevelt Richmond: key facts (checked 7 October 2026)
The Roosevelt is a dinner-only Southern restaurant in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood, run by executive chef Leah Branch and booked through Resy.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Address | 623 N. 25th St., Richmond, VA 23223 (corner of 25th and M streets, Church Hill) |
| Phone and email | (804) 658-1935, info@rooseveltrva.com |
| Hours (official site) | Dinner 5–10 pm Monday to Saturday, 5–9 pm Sunday |
| Reservations | Resy |
| Opened | July 2011 |
| Founding team | Owner Kendra Feather and chef Lee Gregory |
| Chef today | Leah Branch, executive chef since February 2022 |
| Cuisine | Southern, with Appalachian and African diaspora influences; daily-changing menu |
| House staples | Double cheeseburger, wings, cornbread |
| Latest accolade | Leah Branch, 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist, Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic |
| Operating entity | Bowery LLC DBA The Roosevelt |
Map of The Roosevelt at 623 N. 25th St., Richmond, VA 23223, in Church Hill. Lee Gregory’s Alewife, at 3120 E. Marshall St., is about half a mile southeast. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 (iframe embed, 800×450; download a local static poster))
Sources: the official site of The Roosevelt for address, contact, hours and booking; WTVR for the address and the 2026 James Beard news. Older listings mention Tuesday-to-Saturday dinner and a Sunday brunch. I found no current source for brunch. Check the official site before you plan a Sunday morning around it.
How I built this profile
This profile is a dated, sourced history and visit guide, not a scored review. I have not eaten at The Roosevelt for this piece, and I would rather say so than invent a tasting note. I worked from the restaurant’s own site and press page, Richmond Magazine, Style Weekly, WTVR, Axios Richmond, the James Beard Foundation and Gregory’s Alewife site, and I checked every link on 7 October 2026. When a claim rested on a single source, I flagged it or dropped it. No rating, then: the only detailed write-up of the burger is from 2019, and I won’t score a plate on a seven-year-old description.
Who is Lee Gregory, The Roosevelt’s founding chef?
Lee Gregory is the chef who opened The Roosevelt in 2011 and ran its kitchen as co-owner and executive chef until October 2018. He grew up in South Carolina. Before The Roosevelt he spent five years under chef Dale Reitzer at Acacia in Richmond, and he also cooked at Six Burner, at Mockingbird in Staunton and at Blue Light Grill in Charlottesville, according to his Alewife bio.
The Roosevelt is where Gregory made his name. He was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic three years running: 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2014 he was also a StarChefs Rising Star for the Washington DC area, and Southern Living put The Roosevelt on its list of the 100 Best Restaurants in the South.
Why Lee Gregory left The Roosevelt in 2018
Lee Gregory left The Roosevelt to focus on his own restaurants, Alewife and Southbound, and cooked his last meal there on 31 October 2018. He did not pretend it was easy. “The restaurant, in a sense, made my career, and that’s a weird, hard thing to walk away from,” he told Richmond Magazine. WTVR reported the departure the same week.
Where Lee Gregory cooks now: Alewife
Lee Gregory’s restaurant today is Alewife, his first solo project: about 45 seats of Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake seafood at 3120 E. Marshall St., Richmond, VA 23223, in the same zip code as The Roosevelt. It opened in early September 2018, weeks before he left The Roosevelt. Southern Living named it the South’s Best New Restaurant in 2020. Check Alewife’s site for current hours before you go.
What happened to Southbound?
Southbound, the restaurant Gregory co-owned with Joe Sparatta off Stony Point Road in Southside, closed on 16 November 2024 after a lease dispute. It had opened in 2014 and made Bon Appétit’s list of Best New Restaurants. Axios Richmond reported that a 60% rent increase was behind the closure.
From Lee Gregory to Leah Branch: The Roosevelt’s chefs since 2011
The Roosevelt has had three documented head chefs: Lee Gregory (2011 to 2018), Matt Kirwan (from late 2018, still in charge in 2019) and Leah Branch (since February 2022). Plenty of listings still give Gregory as the chef. They are almost eight years out of date.
| Period | Chef | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| July 2011 – 31 Oct 2018 | Lee Gregory, co-owner and executive chef | Opened the restaurant with Kendra Feather; three James Beard semifinal nods |
| Late 2018 – at least 2019 | Matt Kirwan, executive chef | Formerly of Shaved Duck and Rogue; Mark Herndon joined Kendra Feather as an owner |
| Feb 2022 – today | Leah Branch, executive chef | Daily-changing menu; 2026 James Beard semifinalist |
The Roosevelt’s chefs since 2011: Lee Gregory (July 2011 to 31 October 2018), Matt Kirwan (documented from late 2018 through 2019) and Leah Branch (since February 2022). The 2020–2021 gap is undocumented. (Chart: Burger Breton, from Richmond Magazine, WTVR and Style Weekly data (1600×640 PNG; rebuild with localized labels per locale))
Two gaps remain. I could not confirm when Kirwan left, or who, if anyone, led the kitchen between him and Branch. And ownership: the latest independent source I found, from May 2023, names Kendra Feather and Mark Herndon. I could not confirm it for 2026.
The Roosevelt double cheeseburger: what is on it
The Roosevelt double cheeseburger, as reported in March 2019, was two 4 oz Seven Hills Farm beef patties with American cheese, bacon jam and “rooster sauce” on a brioche bun, for $14. Rooster sauce is the kitchen’s aioli, made with house hot sauce, pickling liquid and spices. Shoestring fries came on the side, dusted with salt and BBQ seasoning. That spec comes from Style Weekly’s “Bougie Burgers” feature of 26 March 2019.
Why a Southern restaurant serves a burger
The burger exists because guests kept asking for one. Matt Kirwan modeled it on his favorite Shake Shack burger and told Style Weekly: “So often you get people coming in to dine who are just looking for a burger and a beer.” I like that answer. No origin myth, no wagyu: a kitchen giving the room what it wanted. The restaurant’s press page adds that Thrillist singled out the double cheeseburger with bacon onion jam, alongside the pimento cheese with pork rinds. I have not read the original Thrillist piece.
Is the burger the same in 2026?
The kitchen says yes, but I could not confirm the current price or build. In a 2023 WTVR profile, Leah Branch said: “We don’t mess with [the burger]. We don’t mess with the wings, the cornbread.” The menu on the official site is posted as an image, and I found no dated 2026 price. Treat $14 as the 2019 price and assume it costs more now.
Leah Branch at The Roosevelt: the chef today
Leah Branch has been executive chef of The Roosevelt since February 2022 and was a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. She grew up in Chesterfield County and graduated from Johnson & Wales in Charlotte. At Moonrakers in Beaufort, North Carolina, she rose from sous chef to executive chef, then moved back to Virginia during the pandemic, according to Style Weekly and StarChefs.
The James Beard nod came in January 2026, eleven years after Gregory’s last one for the same restaurant. Branch did not make the list of finalists announced on 31 March 2026, per the James Beard Foundation.
What kind of food The Roosevelt serves under Leah Branch
The Roosevelt serves Southern food from a menu that changes daily and draws on Appalachian, Southern and African diaspora foodways. Carolina Gold rice and benne seeds turn up often. Dishes reported by WTVR include:
- fried catfish with butter rice, tomato gravy and Urfa pepper gloss;
- grilled bok choy Caesar;
- chicken-fried pig ear.
The Roosevelt in Church Hill: the building and the neighborhood
The Roosevelt sits in one of Church Hill’s largest commercial buildings, close to 200 years old, at the corner of 25th and M streets. Before the restaurant it was a boarding house, a drug store, a florist, a cleaners and a fish market, according to Belle Isle’s “Backstory” piece. Church Hill is one of the four areas our guide to burgers in Richmond, VA points readers to.
A Church Hill street in Richmond, Virginia, the historic neighborhood that is home to The Roosevelt and Alewife. (Photo: Oleg Brovko, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church\_Hill,\_Richmond.jpg), 1538×1026)
Awards The Roosevelt has won
The Roosevelt swept Richmond’s main restaurant awards in its first full year and drew national attention through 2015. Then nothing at that level until Branch’s James Beard nod in 2026. The list below includes only awards backed by an independent source.
- 2012: Style Weekly Restaurant of the Year (Style Weekly).
- 2012: Richmond Magazine Best New Restaurant and an Elby for Best New Restaurant.
- 2013: Elby for Best Cocktail Program, won by bartender Thomas “T” Leggett.
- 2013, 2014, 2015: Lee Gregory, James Beard semifinalist, Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
- 2014: Southern Living’s 100 Best Restaurants in the South; StarChefs Rising Star for Gregory.
- 2026: Leah Branch, James Beard semifinalist, Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
The Roosevelt Richmond awards by year: three local awards in 2012 and national recognition from 2013 to 2015 (James Beard, Southern Living, StarChefs), then a James Beard semifinal nod for Leah Branch in 2026. (Chart: Burger Breton, from Style Weekly, Richmond Magazine, StarChefs and James Beard Foundation data (1600×720 PNG; rebuild with localized labels per locale))
Is The Roosevelt Richmond worth the trip today?
Yes, for a Southern dinner in Church Hill. Not for a burger pilgrimage. My reasoning: the draw in 2026 is Branch’s daily menu, which earned the restaurant’s first James Beard nod in eleven years. The double cheeseburger is the safe order that three kitchens chose to keep, and that tells you something, but it is not why you cross town. Book on Resy, come for dinner, try the catfish or whatever Branch is doing with Carolina Gold rice, and add the burger for the table if you want the house classic. For more places to eat in the city, see our best burgers in Richmond, VA page, or browse all our burger restaurant guides by city.
FAQ about The Roosevelt Richmond
Who is the chef at The Roosevelt in Richmond today?
Leah Branch is the executive chef of The Roosevelt and has been since February 2022. She was a 2026 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.
Is Lee Gregory still at The Roosevelt?
No. Lee Gregory cooked his last meal at The Roosevelt on 31 October 2018. His Richmond restaurant is Alewife, a Chesapeake seafood spot at 3120 E. Marshall St. that opened in September 2018.
Does The Roosevelt in Church Hill serve a burger?
Yes. The Roosevelt serves a double cheeseburger, and chef Leah Branch said in 2023 that the kitchen does not change it. In 2019 it was two 4 oz Seven Hills Farm beef patties, American cheese, bacon jam and rooster sauce on a brioche bun, for $14. The 2026 price is not published online.
Where is The Roosevelt and what are its hours?
The Roosevelt is at 623 N. 25th St., Richmond, VA 23223, at the corner of 25th and M streets in Church Hill. The official site lists dinner from 5 to 10 pm Monday to Saturday and 5 to 9 pm on Sunday (checked 7 October 2026).
Do you need a reservation at The Roosevelt Richmond?
The Roosevelt takes reservations through Resy, and booking is the safest option for dinner. You can also call (804) 658-1935.
What kind of food does The Roosevelt serve?
The Roosevelt serves Southern food from a menu that changes daily, drawing on Appalachian, Southern and African diaspora foodways. The burger, the wings and the cornbread are the fixed staples.
What awards has The Roosevelt won?
The Roosevelt was Style Weekly’s 2012 Restaurant of the Year and Richmond Magazine’s Best New Restaurant, made Southern Living’s 100 Best Restaurants in the South in 2014, and earned James Beard semifinalist nods for Lee Gregory (2013–2015) and Leah Branch (2026).
What happened to Southbound in Richmond?
Southbound, co-owned by Lee Gregory and Joe Sparatta, closed on 16 November 2024 after a lease dispute. Axios Richmond reported a 60% rent increase.
