RICHMOND, Va. -- Aline and Dale Reitzer are best known around Richmond as the force behind the award-winning restaurant Acacia.
After opening and closing two locations in Richmond over the last 24 years, the Reitzers are about to open the third version of Acacia. They hope to have their Acacia location open in Libbie Mill by the end of the year.
"Everyone thought we were geniuses because we closed [the second Acacia] right before the pandemic, which was purely by luck," chef Dale Reitzer, who has been honored with multiple James Beard Award nominations, said. "But now we're picking probably the worst time to construct a restaurant. So I think it's come back to even the playing field out."
But Acacia isn't the couple's only claim to food fame.
Aline Reitzer started Richmond Restaurant Week as a way to raise awareness about the city's restaurants and raise money for the food bank.
"I grew up in New Jersey and being in the restaurant business when New York Restaurant Week started, you could go to Union Pacific and all these amazing restaurants and you know what you're going to spend, and it was affordable, and you get to try these restaurants," Aline Reitzer said. "In 2001, I brought on nine local restaurants. They sat on our porch overlooking Carytown and I pitched the idea to them. I knew that Richmond was a very charitable and giving community. I knew that you couldn't just say, 'Hey, it's Restaurant Week, go out to eat and support the restaurants.' So I wanted to line up this opportunity with Central Virginia Food Bank [now Feed More]. So restaurateurs are feeding the general public on every given day and this money would then, in turn, feed those in need."
Richmond Restaurant Week runs October 24-30.
Learn much more about the Reitzers' rise through Richmond restaurants on the Eat It, Virginia podcast.
