Leah Branch
The Roosevelt | Richmond, VA
February 2026
Leah Branch was born and raised in Chesterfield, Virginia, just 20 minutes outside of Richmond, where family fish fries and whole hog roasts inspired a lifelong passion for food. Fond of cooking from a young age, she graduated high school and went straight to culinary school, enrolling at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Branch stayed in North Carolina for the next 10 years, working at places like Wake N Bake Donuts in Wilmington, where she learned to cherish the fun of the kitchen. She joined the team at Moonrakers in Beaufort in 2018, working her way up from sous chef to executive chef over the next few years. During the pandemic, Branch moved back home to Virginia to be closer to her family.
In 2022, Branch joined the team at The Roosevelt in Richmond, where she leads the kitchen with the same lighthearted spirit that has kept her in love with the industry since the beginning. On the daily-changing menu, she combines Roosevelt staples like cornbread, cheeseburgers, and chicken wings with dishes that pay homage to Black history and Southern foodways, such as her grilled rabbit-stuffed Jimmy Nardello peppers with green pea hummus, tomato crunch oil, and pink peppercorns. At the Church Hill restaurant, Branch has hosted events like a Juneteenth dinner with a $5+ pay-what-you-wish model to benefit the city’s Black History Museum and continues to work with local farmers who cultivate produce and ingredients historically grown in the American South.
2026 StarChefs D.C.-Maryland-Virginia Rising Stars Award Winner
