Wilson Richey should not have ended up at Revolutionary Soup. With a career that began in the erstwhile Tea Room Café (now l’etoile) in Charlottesville’s Starr Hill neighborhood and detoured through wine retailing and distribution, he expected to land squarely as a chef in his own French bistro. It never happened.

Just when Richey had given up on his white-tablecloth dreams and started looking at jobs in construction, he got a phone call:  Revolutionary Soup, the beloved lunchtime dive, was up for sale; was he interested? Richey never imagined himself as a soup-and-sandwich guy, but his girlfriend, Lisa, urged him to reconsider. Another friend pointed out that, with Richey’s haute cuisine skills and exacting standards, he could make Rev Soup sing. The tiny below-ground space was the perfect small pond for a big fish who wanted to make incredible tasting local food at a minimal price.

Richey bought Rev Soup in 2005 and made his changes slowly. “I wanted to prove myself before I advertised myself,” he explains. “The only change we made at first was to expand the hours so that people could come here for dinner.”

He began by substituting better ingredients on original menu items. Word caught on and, before he knew it, he couldn’t keep up with the number of diners coming in the door. He opened a second location near the University in 2007, and the original store expanded into a neighboring space last year.

“Our whole thing is to make local affordable. I’m not happy with local becoming a fad; if it’s going to work, it’s got to become an everyday option.”

To that end, customers can order a $3.50 PB&J made with organic bread sourced from nearby Goodwin Creek Farm bakery, organic peanut butter, and local jam from Jams According to Daniel. It’s PB&J, but it’s the best damn PB&J you’ve ever had. “You’d be surprised how many adults order it,” remarks Richey.

Menu highlights include a remarkable organic black bean quesadilla for $5.50, and a knock-your-socks-off club sandwich (with sustainably raised chicken from Timbercreek Farm, Edwards of Surrey Virginia bacon, Richey’s own purple Cherokee heirloom tomatoes, and local Bibb lettuce) for $6.50. House-made soups reflect what’s currently available but always include favorites like Spicy Senagalese Peanut Tofu with creamy, mild cubes of tofu from Twin Oaks Community and Virginia Lamb Curry that hover in the $4 to $6 range. The menu tops out at $8 with a handful of fresh fish specials, offered in salads or as a wrap.

Richey, a founder of the Wine Guild of Charlottesville (“a buying club for wine drinkers”), stocks wine that can be purchased at the register and enjoyed at the table without the restaurant mark-up. A roster of European wines, most in the $10 to $15 range, mingles with a handful of local offerings— like a Claret from Veritas Vineyards and hard ciders from Foggy Ridge and Albemarle Ciderworks. He also stocks Virginia beers from Richmond’s Legend Brewery and Alexandria’s Port City.

For the first few years, Richey arrived at the restaurant each morning at 7 a.m. so he could prep the entire kitchen himself. He made every sandwich that crossed the counter and didn’t come home until 10 p.m. “because he also washed all the dishes,” according to Lisa. The two were married in 2008 and have a young son named Alston.

Recently, however, Richey finds himself spending most of his days on the five acres in Esmont, Va., that the couple purchased last January. On Red Row Farm the Richeys raise all manner of fowl as well as rabbits, sheep, and Tamworth pigs—a finicky heritage breed, but “the best bacon and the best pork chops I’ve ever tasted,” says Richey.

Red Row Farm is organic by philosophy, and Richey aspires to make it biodynamic as well. “We’re moving slowly in that direction. But it’s more than a business plan; it’s a way of life,” Richey reflects, humbly embracing his role as steward of the land. “We’ve had a great first year, but I want to learn what my land is doing and what it can offer me. I didn’t come in here with lots of peat moss and organic dirt. I wanted to see what the earth had to offer first.”

What the earth had to offer has been coaxed into a wild acre of legumes, tubers, leaves, and herbs, all sprouting the glorious fruits of his labor. Vines, heavy with their first pumpkins and gourds, twist beyond the wire fence Richey installed to keep out deer. “I like the idea that a man tills his land, bring his product to market, creates his own living,” he muses with a nod to Victorian writer John Ruskin, whose philosophies inform Richey’s own. “I wanted to support that system not just because of the environmental aspect, but also because it seems like a whole life to me.”

On a late summer afternoon, Richey carries two bushels of freshly snipped basil from his farm and plunks them down in Rev Soup’s kitchen to the fake groans and eye-rolls of his staff. They rib him for the glut of produce that’s been pouring in from Red Row, indicating shelves overflowing with heirloom tomatoes. General Manager John Reynolds runs both stores now, but it’s clear that the staff embraces visits from the owner. Cook Shaun Harvey swings open the oven door to reveal a massive pan of yellow pear tomatoes gently braising into a confit. They smell like summer heaven.

Rev Soup sources 40 to 60 percent of all its ingredients locally. Richey’s method of cobbling together a system of local suppliers is a model of a groundbreaking shift in attitude among restaurateurs who embrace the farm-to-table movement, says Zachary Miller of nearby Timbercreek Farms. In addition to supplying the restaurant with beef, chicken and pork, Timbercreek also collects the restaurant’s kitchen-prep waste to be composted. This organic compost is then delivered to Red Row Farm, which uses it to fertilize the vegetables that will end up on Rev Soup’s menu.

Richey credits his wife Lisa, who works a full-time desk job, with being the brains behind the animal husbandry practices at Red Row. (The animals they breed get names. The ones destined for slaughter don’t.) Lisa admits it is difficult to both raise and slaughter the animals. To steel herself, she remembers why they began this undertaking. “I don’t want to serve our customers what we wouldn’t want to serve ourselves, or our son,” she says. “I want to make it possible to enjoy the type of food we like with the quality of ingredients we all aspire to eat.”

Revolutionary Soup
108 2nd Street SW
Charlottesville, VA
(434) 296-7687
revolutionarysoup.com

Adrienne Wichard-Epps is a freelance writer living in Arlington, Va.

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Roasted Vegetable Stew

This is a vegetarian dish that is a great way to use all those late September vegetables from the garden. This is a thick and hearty soup. The recipe makes about a gallon.

2                  tablespoons butter
2                  tablespoons flour
3                  cups diced onion
1                  cup diced celery
1-1/2            cups diced carrot
2                  cups diced yellow squash (or whatever squash you want to use)
5                  cloves of garlic
4                  cups diced tomatoes
4                  cups veggie stock (or water)
2                  tablespoons thyme
2                  cups diced potatoes
1                  cup green beans cut into 1/2 inch sections
2                  bay leaves
2                  tablespoons soy sauce
1                  cup red wine
Salt and pepper to taste

-Turn oven to 400 F. Put carrots, squash, garlic, and tomatoes in a roasting pan and roast for 30 to 45 minutes or until nicely caramelized and brown at the top edges. While roasting: In a large pot melt the butter and add onions and celery, lightly sweat (cook till softened but not browned). After about 8 minutes add the flour and stir until incorporated. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly to not let the flour burn. Slowly pour in the stock and use a whisk to incorporate, stir until there are no lumps. Bring this to a simmer and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the roasted vegetables and bring back to a simmer. Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through, adjust seasoning.