Si update

After devoting 2 posts to Si, I was recently quite disappointed to hear that the chef left and that the quality had plummeted. Despite the sky-high prices, it was a bit of a bright spot in the rather sparse small plate options here.
Too bad !

sushi

I'm going to write about a couple of sushi experiences over the last couple of months in one post. Probably unfair since I did devote an entire post to the fairly mediocre - Nara sushi (a place I recommended for lunch not dinner and which, for some reason isnt serving lunch anymore! Correction - As of June 2008, Nara is serving lunch again). A few visits to each of these have helped form a decent opinion on where each, at least this quartet, stands on the RVA sushi pantheon (apparently by no means complete).
And the honor roll (pun intended of course) goes along the lines - Akida, Niwano'hana', Sticky Rice and Sumo San. Disposing off the bottom two:
SumoSan - Rather empty on a couple of visits (including, what has become fairly common - a Saturday night). There were just a few other tables occupied. In fact this place was empty on both visits. Sushi quality - passable. They did try a few of the "innovative" rolls but faltered on taste. Even the edamame was a bit disappointing. The service was slow despite the empty place (no water refills for eg). The check came to around $40-$45 and we thought it was quite more than the quality merited. C- (the plus being its walking distance proximity for me)

Sticky Rice - It was nice to see the restaurant buzzing even on a wet and late night on one of our visits. The foggy (weather-related) windows and bulb-lit interiors looked rather inviting. The place befits a college-age hangout place and the crowd reflects that. SR was slightly drafty on a couple of our winter visits (not a problem in summer of course). While the quality of the sushi is definitely not superb, it was decent and they did get moderately innovative (GI Joe sushi?). The downside of Sticky Rice is the fact that people smoke at the bar and the ventilation isnt great (more below). Our table was near some strange odor that kept wafting up every so often.
The check came to $20-$40. Cheap and decent option and quite obviously the college meetup place. Not worth the wait if actually looking for good sushi. C

One (small) reason why both these places rate low - The proximity of the bar (ie cigarette smoke) made for an unimpressive score on the decor front. I do not see why these places allow cigarette smoke. I havent been to Japan, but given its smoking friendly nature, I'd be very curious to see the melding of smoke and sushi but as far as Richmond is concerned, it was not very pleasant.

Sí redux

A recent visit to Sí was just as satisfying as the previous. I qualify that by saying it was culinarily satisfying and since I promised (not that anyone is keeping count :)) of any updates here goes:
With the rather "cozy" confines, an early Saturday evening visit saw the dining room quickly fill up and by about 6, there was very little maneuver room in the restaurant. With the exception of probably 1 of our choices, all the tapas we picked were very good and came out with a regularity that there wasnt a pause in the dining. Good.
Some of the dishes that we ordered (echoing what I said earlier about a lot of usual suspects) - duck breast with cocoa nibs and kumquats, squid with crispy rice cooked in squid ink, sauteed mushrooms with lentils and almonds, lamb meatballs with harissa, calamari with aioli, jumbo prawns, tuna carpaccio (a very tiny dish it must be warned). The carpaccio vanished in 3 quick gulps!

While we had to keep asking for bread, it must be noted that the bread (apparently from Billy Bread) is excellent. If choosing a dish with some sauce-like component, do not hesitate to ask for more as the mop up is one of the most satisfying way to fully enjoy the dish.
The desserts were excellent. We shared the poached pear with caramel and sorbet and a chocolate lava cake with icecream. They provided quite a punctuation to the entire meal.
Service was great. No empty glasses, no dawdling around waiting for food etc.
All in all, an excellent dinner. And definitely not a contrarian experience that I was half-fearing.

However, I must record that I think (as was also the consensus opinion) that Sí is definitely overpriced. A dinner for 3 with a single alcoholic drink and shared dessert (all $8) came to something in the range of $130 (with tip). Almost all the tapa were over $10 and quite small (yes of course by definition). A trio with a reasonably healthy appetite would easily gobble up around 7-9 dishes and still have room for dessert. When one tacks on the ridiculous 11% tax and tip, you are easily looking at quite a large check.

Bottomline: B

Sí

Yes, of course !
After our terrible experience @ Europa, there was some despair re: the availability of good tapas in the area. Sí comes to the rescue.
This new hotspot is the Spanish sibling of Bank, a restaurant/club that we were somewhat lukewarm about. Sí has none of the grandeur of Bank, instead concentrating its efforts on a setting quite antithetical - what could pass off (and probably was) a house nestled in the Fan. This place apparently housed the Cafe di Pagliacci prior.
Informed of a long wait, we ended up on the functional couches next to the bar in the dimly lit lounge upstairs as opposed to the dimly lit dining room downstairs. The menu is fairly large with around 30 or so choices split again between seafood/meat/"vegetarian". As I settled down with a glass of sangria, I noticed an element of familiarity about the menu with a decent sprinkling of the "usual suspects". There were the stuffed peppers, stuffed shrimp, marinated olives and the like and ....a calamari. One could almost be chastised for selecting this...but we did and it was very good. Crisp and small, a perfect starter.. Another tapas, the patatas bravas has been a perennial and I was curious how this one compared to the José Andrés' version.
A couple of the tapa(s) looked rather interesting. A half dozen for the three of us was just right. It is definitely a plus when each dish is plated differently as opposed to some places (hint) where one size appears to fit all.
More visits are definitely planned and from the sampling of the menu, it would be a fair guess that the food wouldnt disappoint. Contrarian experiences would definitely be up !!
Oh and the potatoes have a little more work to do before they get to JA's level !!
One big "problem" with Sí is the rather limited (one might say cozy) confines. While we lucked out on our Saturday night visit, wait times were rather long with a rush of people towards the later hours. Making reservations prior might be in order...

Bottomline: The clown wouldnt be too sad after this dinner. The menu could use more originality (a LOT of standard fare) but taste and presentation scored well. Service was decent and obviously theres the new chic kid on the bloc factor. B-.

Sí: 214 N Lombardy Street, Richmond VA 23220 Map.