frites and belgian ales

Ah...respite !! Went to Brasserie Beck for an excellent dinner. Some of the best French (Belgian) fries I've ever had (perfectly cut and perfectly crisp, parsley dusted and accompanied by a trio of mayo blends). An exhaustive beer list, knowledgeable staff, elegant (and yet at some level very basic) food and a very rich bread pudding to close the deal.

I'm sure I dont have to travel this far to eat well each time. My adventures in Rich-land continue....

Kitchen 64

On a friend's recommendation, we decided to stop by Kitchen 64 on N. Boulevard. Warned of long wait times, we made a Sunday evening visit (which may or may not be a good thing considering the large number of families there). In any event, a wait for a table for 4 was running 30 minutes !! We got lucky with a table for two outside on a muggy evening. The storm clouds slowly gathering strength in the distance made for a pretty sight.
This place was hopping !! All ages seemed to be represented. Next to us a group of young women were celebrating a birthday. Behind us, a family of 6 chowing down burgers. All of this gave an impression that the meal was something to look forward to.
10 minutes pass. The menu, a collection of laminated sheets was now in its second iteration. Something to drink perhaps, a glass of water maybe? Finally, our waitress appears. Um...ok..this place is busy. "Just water please thank you very much". another 5 minutes. The water appears, the waitress disappears. You get the idea. The service was simply shoddy. Being busy is really no excuse.

Finally we order, a cup of gazpacho to start (it is a hot day!) and a pizza each (a little miscommunication I guess, I would have ordered a sandwich just for variety if I'd known my companion was getting a pizza :)). Mmmm...Thin crust. This should be good. The menu is rather extensive and very basic stuff - a lot of sandwiches, burgers, salads and entrees. Having had a late lunch, we decided to skip the heavy looking pastas and lasagnas (good choice in retrospect as we spied a huge plate loaded with a monstrous slice of lasagna making its way to the next table).
The gazpacho was chunky! Like salsa. Being a bit of a smooth/pureed-gazpacho person, I was quite curious and actually did some research on this, coming across an essay by Alice B Toklas on the subject
http://www.soupsong.com/ftoklas.html.
Anyways, this gazpacho wasnt very good. The chunkiness may have been a part of it but the tomatoes didnt taste very fresh and the overall effect made me quite queasy.
Portions sizes are HUGE !! Plates laden with large burgers and fries passed us by and we looked on in amazement. Perhaps the draw of this place is the quantity of food to price.

Our pizzas arrived built in pretty much the same fashion. Absolutely overloaded with toppings. The effect was one of being full just on sight. Where did the kitchen arrive at this concept?
My toppings were chicken, onions, roasted peppers and mushrooms. A single bite of this heavy slice was enough to tell me that this should have been in the oven longer. (btw, I did corroborate this by baking my leftover pizza for 10 minutes the next day. Verdict: Somewhat better than this awful agglomeration of toppings). Yes, I could have sent it back but there were portions that were done and others that werent and sticking it back in the oven in toto wasnt going to help.
The second pizza was marginally better with tomato, basil and mozarella - a classic favorite but even this one had what were almost, slabs, of mozarella and soggy tomato slices. How can one possibly ruin a basic margherita pizza? What a comedown from a place like 2 Amy's. Yes, of course this isnt a pizzeria but.....
Somewhere towards the end the meal, our helpful waitress stops by to inquire if wanted red pepper flakes or fresh parmesan. Why? thank you but we're almost done. Could we get some water please, when you get a chance? Dessert, nope. We're out of here.
Do the patrons of this restaurant feel like they're getting a great deal on so much food for cheap? Sandwiches for under $10 (entrees marginally higher). Our meal came to $20-$30 with tip.

Bottomline: Very unsatisfactory. C-. We may have ordered wrong so I am perhaps prepared to pay this place a second visit. Besides, we didnt try any of the interesting looking entrees and stuck to the rather simple stuff. Maybe they're good. But this place disappointed on every metric. The decor-very basic, generic restaurantish. Why are people flocking to this place?

Kitchen 64: 3336 North Boulevard, Richmond VA 23230 Google Maps.

Millie's

Millie's Diner was chronologically the first place that we visited in the fair city of Richmond and is apparently somewhat of an institution.
A good southern brunch is what we were promised and delivered!
This is a place that will receive multiple visits and not just because of its proximity to where I live. So a "review" will have to wait. For now, I just write that the food was simple and good. Basic brunch menu, sandwiches etc. Service was ok.
Plus: refils on mimosas and bloody mary's while you wait. Our wait for brunch on a sunday morning was around 20-30 mins. My second mimosa had more OJ than champagne and negated my first one which had more champagne than OJ :)...so it all evens out I guess.

Price: brunch for two with the famous mimosas while we waited ran to under $30.

Millie's Diner: 2603 E Main St, Richmond, VA 23223 Google Maps.

The Unlucky Buddha

Wandering by Shockoe Slip, we chanced upon the Lucky Buddha and a pan-Asian menu seemingly worthy of a visit beckoned. The place was rather empty during our Saturday visit at 7:30 pm for dinner. Apparently, its patrons favor the lounge to the restaurant. Perhaps they knew something we didn’t.
A sea of red welcomed with walls draped in scarlet. Bamboo wall fixtures and and large eponymous statues tried hard to scream Asia. Mood lighting lent the place a pleasing hue and after being led to our rather wide table, we were quite excited about the menu ahead.
The beverage menu had a long list of (delectable looking) cocktails that we eschewed in favor of a mojito and a glass of tropical sake-inspired sangria to complement our meal. Served in pint sized glasses, our drinks were pleasant if somewhat diluted. Be prepared for weak drinks !!
The appetizer had the list of usual suspects – edamame, rolls, dumplings etc. A tuna tartare with scallions, avocado and carrots etc. caught our eye (Yes, I know we picked it, but do all restaurants have to have a tuna tartare?). It was good except that the dish had rather huge chunks of each ingredient. This kind of precluded the optimal melding of the ingredients and detracted somewhat from the taste.
For the main course, we had the rainbow trout and the stir fried chicken. The trout arrived topped with almonds atop a bed of the optional sides (wasabi mashed potatoes, shiitake mushroom risotto). Not only was the fish rather dull (overwhelmed by a ton of almonds) but the sides were nothing to write home about either.
The wasabi mashed potatoes, which have turned out to be somewhat of a staple announcing “pan-Asian”-ness were quite possibly the most insipid smashing together of the spicy condiment with cold potatoes we ever tasted. The risotto was rather tasteless as well. The net effect was one of extreme blandness.
The mango chicken stir fry with onions, peppers, lotus root, sugar snap peas and peanuts was moderately better (it really is hard to screw up a stir fry !!). But the brown rice was dry and was only rescued by the sauces from the stir fry.
Portion sizes were large and we plodded along rather disappointed.

Service was good. Our waiter hit the basics - was friendly and helpful with the menu, food was brought out promptly and in sequence and our water glasses never went empty.
At the end of the meal, we were quite stuffed and didn’t opt for dessert, which ran all of 3 options long – all with some form of chocolate in them. None of them looked particularly inviting especially if one looks to a dessert to lend the finishing coda of the meal. We were informed that this changes every now and then.

The check came to around $60 including a drink for each of us, the aforementioned appetizer and an entrée each.

PS: We later found out that the LB validates parking in the deck across the street.

Bottom Line: The obvious lounge decor lends itself to a pleasant ambience and while the menu looks enticing, we found the food was rather uninspired and lacking in the taste department. The tuna tartare rescued the Lucky Buddha to a grade of C (quite possibly a C-). Weak drinks aside, the lounge might be worthy of a visit but the dinner can definitely be skipped here.

Lucky Buddha - 1421 E Cary Street, Richmond VA 23219 Google Maps

The taxman !!

Food in Richmond restaurants is taxed at 11% !! And I thought DC at 10 % was excessive. How does this incentivize dining out?

Which of course brings up the age old question: Should one Tip on the post- or pre- tax amount of the check?

A grading system?

After a weekend in Richmond, I am ready to start considering my first additions to my posts. But first, I was thinking of what grading system I should use...
Just considering a few options:
The vaunted Michelin system seems a bit sparse. The NYTimes has a slightly less sparse rating - 1 star is good and goes up to 4 stars. The WaPo critic favors the 4 star approach while considering 1/2 stars in between. So, using this system, that would be a total of 8 grades (or 9 possibly if one can "award" a 0 star) between a satisfactory (1 star) to excellent (4 stars).

I think I'll just stick to my roots in the stuffy halls of academia and award anywhere from a C to an A (with the pluses and minuses). Thats a total of 9 grades. An F would indicate a terrible dining experience.
So here goes:
F: Poor; avoid
C- to C+ : Varying degrees of satisfactory
B- to B+ : Varying degrees of good. B+ would be very good.
A- to A+ : Varying degrees of excellent.

I fear I might be giving out a lot of Cs.
To calibrate from some DC experiences: The earlier mentioned chain Lebanese Taverna would garner a C+. 2 Amy's (B), Zaytinya, Galileo (B+), Komi (A-) (tending to an A) and Cityzen (A-).
Obviously, this system is fraught with errors: The glaring - if made only after a single visit (could have been an off or on night. Maybe I ordered badly (thats happened many times !!)). What about creativity and presentation as a supplement to actual taste?
What about ambience, interiors and service (this is a BIG one. Shoddy to snooty service have ruined more than a few terrific tasting meals)? Should the rating reflect the food or the overall experience? And finally the price. Is there a snobbery or other "premium" when the creations dont really warrant this?

I guess I'll stick to an overall impression of the place (based entirely on my and/or my dining companion(s) thoughts). Perhaps some factors trump others. In any event, one factor would indicate this worth visiting more than once. Right?
More as I proceed.

Any hope for a bon vivant in Richmond?

Leafing through Richmond magazine prior to my move, I was bothered by the shocking proliferation of a number of chain restaurants in the "Best of.." categories. Best Italian - #2 Maggiano's Little Italy. Best Chinese - #2 P.F.Chang. Even more troubling - Best Restaurant for a Splurge -#1 Ruths Chris Steakhouse and #2 Melting Pot !!!
Really??

This wasnt even Favorite but Best reflecting what exactly ? Or is this just a reflection of the views/readership of this particular magazine.
To be fair, I do think that a few chains are wonderful (viz. Lebanese Taverna) and quite a few of them have 'good to very good' food (and possibly a high T/P ratio - Taste/Price), but there is absolutely no place for any chain in a city's best of list, especially one that hopefully showcases the culinary options thereof.
This does not bode well for any food loving individual (however amateur). Surely a place only a short drive away from such excellent dining options in NOVA (lets not even talk DC) is better than this.
The second troubling note was the rather conspicuous absence of "best ethnic" cuisine. This, perhaps not so surprising, could be a reflection of the tastes of the general populace and obviously does not reflect the lack of such restaurants but simply omission from their list.

Thus begins my quest to discover places to eat and to chronicle my dining adventures in Richmond, VA.
I hope for the sake of my taste buds that this will be an interesting trip.