Café Gutenberg

The one bright spot for us in Richmond has easily been Café Gutenberg. Conveniently located for us, CG has not only a great atmosphere but fresh and surprisingly good food. We’ve been there several times now for brunch, lunch and dinner and all the menus have quite some gems.
You really cant go wrong with most items at Gutenberg. One of my favorites on the brunch menu is the 17th Street scramble (go easy on the crème fraiche). Not so the rather tasteless vegan biscuits and sausage gravy. The crepes, omelets and paninis are very good too. While a great place for brunch and lunch, we found that the dinner menu was also quite surprisingly good. We haven’t tried the steak here (a bit incongruous perhaps) but the tortellini with mushrooms stood out.
With casual seating, shelves of books, a nice selection of magazines and free internet, one can easily spend hours here. A decent selection of around a dozen or so beers (all bottles) including a couple of my favorite weissbiers and about an equal number of wines, almost all available by the glass make this a great place to contemplate life in solitude or in the company of others.
With the exception of Sunday brunches, the “seat yourself” policy works out quite well and the wait staff generally leaves you alone to surf the internet or read or just sit and people watch, which is great !! The downside of course, is that the wait staff can leave you alone.....waiting......waiting.....
With most entrees under $10 (dinner entrees are between $10 and $20), the food here is moderately priced (dare I say cheap?). The beers and wines are all under $10 (I believe they have a half-off day but havent been).

One of the most amusing things about Café Gutenberg is how seriously (sic) they take their Euro-tude. Not that I'm reading them but, copies of le Monde or Der Spiegel or whatever, so prominently on display are a few months out of date. Ditto the many magazines dotting the shelves. I thumbed through a couple of Wine Spectators that were from way back when the dollar was actually worth something in euros.

Bottomline: B-/B
Cafe Gutenberg, 1700 E Main St Richmond, VA 23223 Google Maps

richmond gastronomy

another hiatus....not for want of trying new places !!
I run the risk of sounding horribly pretentious but....well...its more or less official for me now. After quite a nagging suspicion (manifested in many a tepid review) that richmond isnt quite the gastronomic paradise or even close, i've had my view "(af/con)firmed" on several recent dinners with out of towners with far more refined palates than my own. We've tended to agree that many places are indeed horribly pretentious.
The common complaint of course, appeared to be the complete lack of imagination and excitement in the menus. This coupled with what was perceived to be very overpriced food (especially considering the quality) and rather pedestrian environs, made for some disappointing meals.

More research is in order. But I suspect that the blogennui will continue......