Weekly Food News: A look at the Urban Hang Suite, a food co-op bows out, holiday party venues, and more

All the news that’s fit to eat

The Suite life: A look inside the new Urban Hang Suite – There’s really not much Kelli Lemon doesn’t do. The social entrepreneur, radio host, Coffee With Strangers host, emcee, and all-around awesome lady can now add coffee shop/hang suite to her long resumé. Lemon’s new space downtown, the Urban Hang Suite, opened last week to much fanfare. The spot at 304 E. Broad Street serves up coffee, breakfast and lunch fare, and is set up to encourage socialization and interaction. Style Weekly dives in here.

A recap of Fire, Flour, & Fork 2018 – There were so many great dinners, talks, demonstrations, and other food-centric events at this year’s Fire, Flour, & Fork, that it was hard to pick just a handful to attend. Well, Richmond Magazine’s Eileen Mellon did her best to attend as many as possible, and boy am I jealous of her weekend. Check out the highlights from places like Heritage, the VMFA, and Brenner pass (along with some amazing photography) here.

Richmond Food Co-op exhausts all options – Some disappointing news out of South Richmond as Richmond BizSense reports that the planned Richmond Food Co-op, which was to be housed in the former Family Dollar on Westover Hills Boulevard. Many factors were at play, including lack of adequate funding and the recent purchase of the building by an area developer. Perhaps the worst news is the $125,000 raised by approximately 1,000 members will not be refunded, as the co-op exhausted those funds in the form of startup costs. More here.

Which area restaurants are available for your holiday party – Still looking for a place to host your office Christmas party or other holiday event? There’s a surprisingly long list of venues around town still available, and Robey Martin, writing for WTVR, has the complete rundown, what each offers, and how to book, right here.

This week’s restaurant reviews

• Bocata Latin Grill (Style Weekly)
• River City Roll (Richmond Times-Dispatch)