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Using their culinary savvy, Pamela Dilley and Bex Maywald not only do all the shopping, prep and work, they also deliver their homemade goodness directly to your door. Photo by Corey Miller.
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Room Service NNK offers modern healthy family food delivered to your door. Photo by Corey Miller.
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Classic sourdough was the starting point for Rivah Culture Bakery, but Dilley also bakes an array of breads, English muffins, cookies, and granola for customers to choose from. Photo by Corey Miller.
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Whether catering or preparing his Weekly Healthy Meals in clients’ homes, Chef Lin Old works to ensure that the end result satisfies his customers. Photo used courtesy Tailored Chef.
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Patients with diabetes or those going through chemo may be referred to Tailored Chef by a nutritionist as a way to learn healthy eating habits. Photo used courtesy Tailored Chef.
Not only is food essential to daily life, frequently it’s also the centerpiece around which entertaining revolves. But food doesn’t simply appear on our plates, it requires effort and planning on someone’s part.
The truth is, even the most talented hostesses need—and deserve—an occasional break. And for many home cooks, seven nights a week is just a few more meals than they’d like to have to make at this point in their lives. Besides, isn’t it a proven fact that other people’s food always tastes better than our own?
Home delivery of prepared meals and foods has long been a staple of big city life and with the lifestyle changes brought about by the pandemic, those living in less dense areas—we’re looking at you, Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula and Williamsburg—are finally benefiting from the trend.
When a health issue means a major diet adjustment, a personal chef can be a lifesaver, preparing meals that meet nutritional standards put in place by doctors. When the family cook is just sick and tired of planning and executing interesting dinners every evening, a meal delivery service once a week can feel as indulgent as a restaurant meal. For those without the time or desire to make home-baked goods, finding them on your doorstep feels like a gift. Having a party for friends or family catered means that everyone gets to enjoy the festivities, and that includes the host and hostess.
Fall is here and the holidays aren’t far behind. Between the hosting and gathering we all inevitably do during the upcoming seasons, it’s great to know that there are local professionals available to lend a helping hand doing everything from grocery shopping to prep and cooking.
Here are three who can make your life easier…and a whole lot more delicious.
Room Service NNK
Two things spurred Australian-born Bex Maywald to launch Room Service NNK, a locally sourced meal delivery service.
The first realization came not long after moving to Weems when her husband got COVID, and she discovered that there were no food delivery services available. The second motivation, no doubt familiar to many women, was that she was tired of her own food and wanted an option that was healthy and delicious. “So much of the food here is deep-fried carbs with too much salt,” she says. “We really shouldn’t be putting up with that when we’re surrounded by locally grown fresh and healthy produce, which is what most people these days want to eat,” she says.
Room Service NNK offers modern healthy family food delivered to your door. Maywald, who was a yacht chef for eight years and has fed people as diverse as Oprah Winfrey and Roman Abramovich, creates a menu at the beginning of every week and posts it on Instagram and Facebook. Those who’d like to order the meal for Friday leave their name in the comments section and can pay through Venmo or cash on delivery day. Meals are available and delivered March through December.
Maywald’s goal is to elevate the Northern Neck’s food culture. Having lived in Paris and attended the Ritz Cooking School, her preference is for French flour and Irish butter because they make for more delicious food. “Healthy can be fast, fit and frugal, like Sicily,” she insists. “But it starts with the quality of the ingredients, and what we as citizens are willing to put up with.”
There’s an initial $25 fee for the cooler and ice packs, while each subsequent meal is $18. Fridays between 3 and 6 pm the dinners are delivered and left in the clients’ coolers with fresh ice packs. Clients need not be home during delivery since the ice packs stay cold for 24 hours and the meals keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. “All you need to do is pour the wine and hit play,” she says.
In addition to having her pilot’s license and being able to fly hot air balloons, Maywald’s joie de vivre and passion for fabulous food translate to restaurant-worthy menus every week, many prepared using the bounty of her small garden: cherry tomatoes, flat leaf parsley, basil, rosemary and salad greens. Recent menus have included a summer vegetable hash with pork chop and chipotle aoli and a salad of gluten-free panko-breaded chicken tenders with tomato, cucumber and avocado dressed with chipotle mayo.
To help with entertaining and make weekends easier, Room Service NNK also offers prepared dishes for a crowd, such as chicken satays with rice and peanut sauce, or shrimp, caper and pasta salad, both sized for eight people.
Maywald grew up in southern Australia, lived for years in Mexico and has visited 49 countries. In July she became an American citizen. “I love the get-up-and-go spirit in the U.S. and I believe in making your own luck,” she says, smiling. “The American dream is alive and well.”
Room Service NNK, Weems I 757-639-2980 I Find Room Service NNK on Facebook and Instagram.
Rivah Culture Bakery
How did the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula finally get true sourdough bread? It took a former California girl moving here to make it happen.
When Pamela Dilley and her husband moved to five acres and a backyard creek in Hartfield, they were glad to leave behind concrete and traffic. Stunning views and a more relaxed pace of life aside, conspicuously absent in their new life was the distinctive sourdough bread so easily found on the West Coast. Like other enterprising come-heres, Dilley found much to love about her new home and decided to create what wasn’t here: an artisan microbakery delivery service.
Launched three years ago, Rivah Culture Bakery, the name a 3 am brainstorm, offers delivery of sourdough—classic, whole wheat, walnut, cranberry/pecan and date/walnut—made from wheat and rye grown at Grapewood Farm in Montross, as well as English muffins, cookies and granola.
Dilley, who’s long been interested in baking and taken classes to hone her skills, prepares baked goods out of her home kitchen. “Because I’m not yet certified by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, I can only sell directly to customers or at farmers markets,” she explains, adding that she’ll get certified once remodeling is complete. “Then my stuff will be in places like Livi’s Market and Old Farm Truck.”
Because it’s the sense of community here that spoke loudest to Dilley, rather than have customers pick up baked goods, she chooses to deliver them. Her service area spans Middlesex County, Kilmarnock, Irvington, White Stone, Weems and Reedville, though she will happily rendezvous with people from farther out. “I meet regular customers from Morattico at Miss Mary’s or Old Farm Truck,” she says. “My first deliveries are Fridays at 7:30 or 8 am, so sometimes people are still in their pajamas, but they’re happy to get cinnamon rolls, English muffins and sourdough first thing in the morning. I really enjoy meeting people.”
Customers begin texting and calling in orders on Tuesdays to ensure fermentation time and Friday delivery. Payment can be made in advance via Venmo or Zelle, while cash, check or charge can be used at delivery. Dilley does all the baking late
Thursday evening. “Sourdough requires a long, slow process of fermentation,”
she says. “That’s what gives it that awesome flavor.”
Sourdough and English muffins are the two most popular items so far. Her English muffins are unique in that they’re not dry griddled but instead griddle in clarified butter, with part of their flavor coming from the fruity olive oil she uses in the recipe. “They’re really different,” Dilley says. “But once people try them, they’re hooked!”
Rivah Culture Bakery is a regular at the Irvington Farmers Market, often selling out of sourdough loaves in the first hour. “I have husbands running up to my table because their wives told them they had to get a loaf of my sourdough,” she laughs. “Once some students from Motion Studio rushed over after class, saying their instructor told them they had to get the sourdough. I’m having the time of my life doing this and helping them keep their dough local.”
Rivah Culture Bakery I 804-480-2770 I rivahculturebakery.com
Tailored Chef
Chef Lin Old of Tailored Chef takes his cooking philosophy from a Spice Girls song: “Tell us what you want, what you really, really want.” He considers it his job to execute that.
In addition to on-site event catering, Tailored Chef prepares Weekly Healthy Meals in clients’ homes. Their job is to shop for the freshest ingredients—a source of pride for Old—prepare the meal, clean up and store the food, thus ensuring that all his clients have to do is enjoy it.
Frequently, clients discover Tailored Chef as a result of health issues. Patients with diabetes or those going through chemo may be referred to Tailored Chef by a nutritionist as a way to learn healthy eating habits. “We begin with an on-site meeting at their place to ‘study’ them,” Chef Old explains. “We look in their refrigerator to see what they eat and ask them about their likes and dislikes. Then we come out once or twice a week, depending on how many meals they want.”
Old began the Norfolk-based Tailored Chef nine years ago with a mere $500 and a dream of being his own boss and providing clients with the food they wanted in their homes. One client buys a cow every year so Old uses only that beef when cooking for the family.
In the time since he launched the business, he’s become a pro at creating healthy dishes that accommodate celiac and gluten-intolerance, allergies, dietary restrictions, organic preferences and kosher eating. “Sometimes, only one person is put on dietary restrictions by their doctor, but we’re cooking for a couple,” he says. “So we put together meals that work for both people.”
Tailored Chef also specializes in catering parties and events for up to 200 guests, with two levels of service available: family style, where guests help themselves, or the ultimate, personal service, where guests are seated at the table and food is plated and served.
Old offers Weekly Healthy Meals, caters and does events in Williamsburg, but the word is out further afield. “I’ve had lots of calls from the Northern Neck,” he says with a laugh. “I’m not sure how they found me, Google maybe? A lot of people come to me through referrals from existing clients.”
When it comes to choosing the food that Tailored Chef will prepare for your special occasion, whether a birthday, Christmas or anniversary party, Old makes a point to arrive without set menus. Instead, he asks clients what their budget is and leaves the food choices up to them, making suggestions when ideas are in short supply. There’s no minimum and events are billed at an hourly rate plus food costs, with no markup from grocery store prices. “I tell people, let’s do this the way you want it,” he insists.
It’s a successful formula for Old, who has a loyal fan base among his clients. “I have one man who pays a year ahead to guarantee I’ll come make his Thanksgiving dinner every November.”
Tailored Chef I 757-994-1604 I tailoredchef.net
