RICHMOND, Va. — Five years after weathering the pandemic as the chef of multiple Richmond restaurants, Evan Campbell has swapped the pace of opening-night kitchens for a different type of food leadership role.
In the June 2026 episode of Eat It, Virginia, podcast hosts Robey Martin and Scott Wise caught up with Campbell for the first time since his January 2021 appearance. Back then, Campbell was running The Stables, working with The Franklin Inn, and preparing to launch The Stables Market at Libbie Mill — all while navigating COVID-19’s upheaval of the hospitality industry.
A mid-2021 phone call then changed his trajectory.
"I think all of us got a little exhausted and beat down… I was looking for an opportunity to keep doing work with food, but maybe not at that peak-tier leadership level," Campbell said.
That call came from a headhunter in Sedona, Arizona.
Campbell moved west to manage food service for a 16-cabin resort set on an apple orchard, complete with a greenhouse, gardens and 70 chickens.
"I called myself a chicken tender,” he laughed, describing mornings collecting eggs before preparing breakfast and dinner for guests.
What began as a one-year plan extended when the Poco Diablo Resort tapped him to open a new restaurant. He designed the concept, menu and staffing for the property.
During his Sedona tenure, Campbell also picked up work as an Airbnb chef for travelers.
He later brought back to Richmond that flexible, small-group dining model.
Back in Virginia in 2023, Campbell reestablished the private chef service, catering custom menus for groups of four to 12.
Sometimes, he appears in character as “Rita Recipe,” a 6-foot-4 drag persona offering dinner with a side of entertainment.
“I am an award-winning chef and a mediocre drag queen,” he said.
Campbell’s full-time role now is director of food and beverage at Westminster Canterbury, a continuing care retirement community with seven dining venues, healthcare and assisted-living kitchens, a catering program, a child development center and employee dining.
The position, he said, “checked the box of multi-level restaurant kind of management” while tapping into a family legacy of caregiving. Campbell’s mother and grandmother were nurses; he considers food his “love language” for delivering care.
He’s implemented rotating two-week regional menus — recent runs have featured Greek and Vietnamese dishes — and opened the gates to the outside culinary community. Virginia chefs and wineries are invited in for pairing dinners and cooking events, while residents are bussed to restaurants around Richmond.
Campbell is also helping spearhead a nonprofit advocacy group for Richmond restaurants and retail food businesses, aiming to streamline communication with local government on licensing, noise complaints and public safety.
“Local government gets frustrated when there’s 50 different restaurateurs all hammering from… different directions,” he said. “If we can be the landing pad for communication, that’s the goal.”
Now living in the Forest Hill neighborhood, Campbell is enjoying weekends off for the first time in his career. He’s a regular at spots like Laura Lee’s, Little Nickel and Kobop at Väsen , and still has a soft spot for his old haunt, The Stables at Belmont. “The spirit of the place is still there,” he said.
And though Westminster Canterbury occupies most of his time, private dining and Rita Recipe remain on the menu.
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