The 3S's

Its not like some restaurants around need validation; but continuing on the recent national press RVA (dining) has been getting, the WaPo had this piece on 3 outliers of the restaurant scene,  calling them "surprising, seasonal and sophisticated".
Being a huge fan of Tom Sietsema (the WaPo food critic), I wanted to share, with a minor dissent on the "surprising". In summary:
Dutch & Company - ★★½
The Roosevelt - ★★
Rappahannock - ★★

Also, a quick thanks for his usual quantitative evaluation of the sound levels. 
Dutch &  Company - 80 dB
The Roosevelt -77 dB

Rappahannock -80 dB
(at these levels, one "must speak with a raised voice". )

Roasted chicken

Easily the best roast chicken we've had anywhere. @ Zuni Café SF.

This legendary recipe is peppered over the interwebs. We like this version @ the smitten kitchen blog adapted from the ZC book.

Pancetta Rorschach

Projections from the Belmont Butchery!

The VA Capital Trail along Charles City

The VA Capital Trail is one of the more exciting outdoor projects coming to the area, promising miles of dedicated biking and pedestrian paths from RVA to Williamsburg. While large portions of the trail are still under construction, some sections are already open including parts by the river downtown.
Along Route 5 between Richmond and the Charles City Courthouse is another open section that we recently tried (purple section in map). This is a mostly flat bike ride along pastoral pathways that takes one from the VCU Rice Center at one end to the Charles City Courthouse at the other (~8 mi each way). Historic landmarks including the Berkeley Plantation and the Site of the First Thanksgiving in the US (circa 1619!) pass by!

Adding to the ride amidst the idyllic cornfields is the reward of a very nice repast along the way. We stopped for dinner at the Charles City Tavern - a quaint little farmhouse (replete with a silo) turned into a restaurant. The menu was largely Southern inspired comfort food at reasonable prices. While it did seem that they catered to larger groups of visitors to the nearby plantations (Berkeley and Shirley among them), we were lucky enough to have a quiet and pleasant dinner on the patio, enjoying the sounds of birds and bees and the odd car whizzing by on Rte 5.
One would reckon that the trail once complete would bring a new set of customers.

RVA dining in 6 days

We recently hosted a friend from the Western half of the country, who was visiting RVA for a week. This occasioned for the classic conundrum– finite time to cover the best possible eating subset.

Coming up with a shortlist, we had two criteria (other than good food of course) – capturing some of the essence of RVA, and offering different tastes from what one could find elsewhere. These caveats meant that a couple of really good places (some sub-cuisines as well as entrants/stalwarts on the scene that fell into that all-encompassing “modern American” category) were out.

Within our admittedly narrow parameters, the end result was the following:

Croaker's Spot

The Roosevelt

Heritage

Mama J’s

Alamo BBQ

Buz and Neds, Ipanema and sundry MCV food carts for the working lunch

Bar visits at the Jefferson, Can Can and Secco.

  

Thematically predictable perhaps, but other than possibly one misstep, I think we did pretty well overall.

lex parsimoniae

A recent dinner at a "happening" RVA restaurant made us think of the Occam’s Razor Principle when it came to dish construction. The food was perfectly satisfactory. All through though, one couldn’t but help wonder about the dictum: “Do not multiply entities beyond necessity”. Is it vain to do with more what one can do with less?

Anise drinks and chemistry

These days, the word mixologist has entered our lexicon and one has a multitude of choices of elegantly crafted cocktails and exotic concoctions all over RVA.

In a simpler variant, come summer, one of my favorite drinks is the good ol' pastis. Basically an anise-flavored liqueur and apéritif, this is a quintessential summer quaff. Just add water !
One other aspect that makes for some fun while drinking, is the rather nice bit of chemistry involved. Pastis (and even drinks like ouzo and absinthe) have a characteristic of turning cloudy on adding water (right).


The distinctive flavors of anise and fennel come from an essential oil called anethole. (interestingly enough, its isomer estragole is found in tarragon and basil). Anethole is only slightly soluble in water but highly soluble in ethanol (above 30% if you're keeping count). When water is added, the difference in solubility due to dilution causes it to "separate" out as an emulsion, and solution becomes opaque (the so-called "Ouzo effect"). Fun to ponder as you nurse your drink !

Can Can for one, sells both Pernod and Ricard pastis for $8.

The Well

Observed around VCU: In the Chesterfield Apartment building occupying the space formerly held by Cous-Cous is a new dining option - The Well. A lot of fairly ok, albeit generic pub food, but a rather interesting (intentional?) choice for the restaurant name. I would assume that folks at VCU typically see "The Well" associated with this:






* - The Chesterfield was apparently the first high rise building in Richmond, dating way back to 1903 (courtesy architecture richmond).

Edible flowers

My heart leaps up when I behold a flower on my plate… Among the prettiest things to see on a plate are edible flowers. While they've been a bit of a haute cuisine fad for a few years and running, there's something more down to earth about them as well - perhaps redolent of spring/summer or foraging through fields and finding spots of color/taste using whats around. 

We’ve been on a little fruit (flower?) less quest to find places in Richmond that have flowers on the plate and not just for decoration. These eye pleasers can be palate pleasers as well, albeit rather rare around, even among the usual suspect restaurants in RVA.

Other than the odd special, recently…success at the very good Dutch&Co. in Church Hill!*


Dessert of Honey Pot with Milk & Honey Puddin', Floral Ice, macerated stone fruit and honey brittle.

Any others in town?

* -@ D&C, the "perfect egg"with cured salmon, quinoa, braised cabbage and cumin yogurt has to be one of the most intriguing appetizers in RVA. And delicious !

paper boxes tied up with string

Amidst the Aramark and chain (almost) wasteland that is lunch around VCU Monroe Park....