My friend Joanna and I grab coffee or lunch about every other week. Joanna usually grabs food at a cart while I pack lunch like the frugal grad student I am. (She’s also in grad school. Maybe I’m just frugal.) Recently, however, the wind chill was a bit too much, so Joanna suggested we go to Citizen.

This wasn’t my first time at Citizen, but it was at their new location on East Main and 12th. Their old location was this small joint underneath what can only be described as a plaza on the side of a skyscraper (okay, it’s Richmond, so the SunTrust Tower is a skyscraper). Honestly, finding the old place made me feel like such a hipster; I needed to put on my thick-rimmed glasses. The new place faces right onto Main Street.

Citizen is basically a city café. You walk in, and half the joint is the bar (like a Waffle House bar, not a bar bar, where you can see them preparing your meal) and the other half is one long row of seating. We decided to grab a table since we weren’t going to sit outside. A waiter soon helped us, which is an upgrade from their old location where it was order-and-seat-yourself.