Ruby Scoops, a Staple at D.C. Food Fests, Opens an Ice Cream Shop in Richmond | Eater DC

"A couple hours south of D.C., I visited a new standalone shop in Richmond’s North Side (120 W. Brookland Park Boulevard) that opened in late November and sells sorbet, sherbet, and ice cream with inventive flavor combinations like sweet corn with Old Bay caramel, satsuma mandarin and passionfruit creamsicle, and the Pastelito — a Caribbean-style cream cheese ice cream with a guava swirl. On my visit a socially distanced line stretched down the sidewalk as groups waited for cups, cones, shakes, and floats while watching a parade of smiling customers leave. Owner Rabia Kamara, who trained at L’Académie de Cuisine and launched Ruby Scoops out of Union Kitchen before becoming a fixture at farmers markets and events, leans on nostalgia to inform her flavors (she even made tamarind-saffron ice cream for the Burmese restaurant Thamee) and often teases incoming flavors on Instagram. After bringing on chef Emmett Wright as a business partner (Wright focuses on production) and raising $30,000 via Kickstarter, they opened the Brookland Park storefront; for the winter the shop is open weekends only (1–7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closing at 5 p.m. on Sundays). A portrait of Kamara smiles on the wall, and she positions Ruby Scoops as a place to make ice cream memories and to show black and brown children that they can be what and whoever they want." - Stephanie Ganz