Local Roots celebrates multiple Dining Awards wins, as well as a new owner to herald them into a new year of local ingredients and favorite menu items.
Liz Long
Be sure to see the beautiful new mural on the back wall of Local Roots, by local artist Jon Murrill!
Local Roots: A Farm-to-Table Restaurant
Platinum: Best Healthy Eating, Best Farm to Table Menu
Gold: Best Vegetarian Menu, Best Brunch, Best Brunch Drinks
Silver: Best Fried Chicken, Best Allergen-Friendly Options
Liz Long
Local Roots consistently places in the annual Dining Awards for Best Brunch.
Local Roots: A Farm-to-Table Restaurant might be celebrating new ownership this year, but the readers love the spot as much as they always have, awarding them multiple wins in our 2023 Dining Awards, including platinum for Best Farm to Table Menu and Best Healthy Eating; gold for Best Vegetarian Menu, Best Brunch and Best Brunch Drinks; and silver for Best Fried Chicken and Best Allergen-Friendly Options.
New owner and Roanoke native Abe Eichelberger best describes the feeling about the restaurant’s multiple wins as gratitude. “The community and many visitors consistently visit Local Roots because we provide the freshest seasonal local foods of the region,” Eichelberger says. “These awards show that Roanoke loves these ingredients and sees us as a top place to find a fantastic meal!”
New ownership means a few exciting updates, but Eichelberger says many things about Local Roots will stay the same, including the ingredients “coming from the same great farms and farmers.” He loves rustic Italian and French cuisine, as well as Southern dishes, and says the customers will see their menu go in that direction in coming months.
Eichelberger, who loves working with people who not only love using local ingredients, but have the ambition and desire to create offerings for Roanoke, believes they have a fantastic cooking team — in fact, he feels the current kitchen staff makes the best dishes Local Roots has ever offered.
“I also love the customers that come into Local Roots,” he adds. “We have locals and travelers who come in and share their experience about how much they love the restaurant. It feels awesome to put together an experience that creates happiness and memories.”
Like many other restaurants, Local Roots kept their doors open during the pandemic in every way they could and pushed through. Eichelberger credits his “awesome staff who showed up every day and pioneered through the worst.” He hopes we’re all moving onwards and upwards, and thanks the great support they had through the pandemic, crediting the “fortune” of amazing customers who helped them every step of the way.
When he’s not running the restaurant, Eichelberger loves to be outside, hang out with his puppy, Ruby, and eat. He might be a native Roanoker, but he’s one who left the area and returned to live. Leaving and returning showed him what a great place he grew up in! “In a day you can hike the Appalachian Trail, eat at Local Roots and end it seeing Warren Haynes at Elmwood Park,” he says. “Roanoke is a fantastic city that disguises itself as a little mountain town.”
Local Roots
1314 Grandin Rd SW
540-206-2610