special pricing...

I feel I have collected enough data points to "re"observe this among the set of putative RVA upper crust dining establishments -

Please, please, chefs and maîtres d, why don't (you instruct) your wait staff (to) tell the dining patrons what the price(s) of the specials are?

I am delighted to hear that tonight you have decided to prepare the seared unicorn with magic truffle reduction and gold dust, but I think it would be nice to know that it costs $xxx... if there are just so many specials that the wait staff feel like they're reciting an epic, it can't be that hard to print a little daily menu insert describing and announcing price of said specials.
While this may or may not affect ones choices (I understand that not everyone reads a menu from right to left or perhaps cares), this is a piece of information, I wonder if anyone would actually object to knowing...

Is it perhaps that the well-heeled Richmond cognoscenti are offended by this "lowly display" of prices? If anything, it may be a bit difficult to ask what the price is. I am curious why this is the norm around (from our observations, none did)...

This is not a new question and has been extensively pondered about...

wine puzzle

A little brain teaser to celebrate the VA Wine Expo (reminder: the latest 2011 VA Winery Guide map is out).

All those pourings made me remember this classic (way back from the 16th century) puzzle (part of the so-called decanting puzzles)
Imagine we have three jugs of 8, 5 and 3 liters. The biggest jug is entirely filled with wine, and the other two are empty. We want to divide the wine into 2 equal parts. The jugs are not calibrated, so that all we can do is pour wine from one jug to another until the first jug is entirely empty or the second jug is completely full. We also assume that the decantings are done accurately and that no wine is spilled. HOW ?

Interesting side note: A two jug variant of this decanting puzzle was used in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. John McClane and Zeus Carver (Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson) have to solve the puzzle with two jugs and water from a fountain to prevent a bomb from exploding - 4 gallons of water using only 5-gallon and 3-gallon jugs.

Hint: In symbolic terms if our starting point is 8 0 0 (8 liter full, 5 liter empty, 3 liter empty), we need to get to 4 4 0. Multiple solutions exist.

travel the world..

For the globetrotting and adventurous foodie on a budget...

molecules redux

Since I had recently rambled about this subject, I had to follow up with this post. The freakonomics blog on the NYTimes had a recent podcast titled:
"Waiter, There’s a Physicist In My Soup" about food and the science of food - the first episode being focused on molecular gastronomy.

Some of the comments were very interesting and captured the range of views on this kind of cooking. "vacuum compressed heirloom tomato" ?? crazy cool, but why ?!?!
Part of the recent excitement stems from the release of this encyclopedic venture on Modernist Cuisine chronicling all kinds of wild experiments with food and cooking. I wonder if the Richmond Pubic Library will buy this book. The website has some cool pictures.

I was thrilled to discover that an 2° acquaintance/colleague at Carnegie Mellon - Department of Chemistry teaches what he calls The Kitchen Chemistry sessions - food and molecular cuisine to teach chemistry and science. What a concept ! something I will seriously consider working on. But first, I need to find a partner in this enterprise !

Addendum: Harvard's famous "Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter" last fall was in the news last year. Now most of the lectures are on Youtube. A fabulous chance to see how some of the great culinary minds of our time meet with great science (the speaker list was mindblowing!).

In case anyone is interested - A 2010 paper in Chemical Reviews makes for some um...interesting reading on the subject of the chemistry of food:
Molecular Gastronomy: A New Emerging Scientific Discipline - Peter Barham,Leif H. Skibsted, Wender L. P. Bredie, Michael Bom Frøst, Per Møller, Jens Risbo, Pia Snitkjær and Louise Mørch Mortensen
(the pdf is free !) link to paper

As always, the disclaimer - like many of my posts, this is just a repository of food things I am learning/trying to not forget and hopefully someone else might be interested too. It is not intended to be an exercise in bombast.

campus repasts...

While time crunches have severely limited leisurely lunches, as the new semester starts, I wanted to tabulate some of my favorite options around the VCU (main) campus: (lunch at all of these places ranges from $5 - $15 w/ t&t with $8 being the median)

821 Café: 821 is a Prime Number so they moved it to 825 Cary - a Smith Number :)! I’ve been very satisfied after several visits here. The menu is still overwhelmingly large with “too many” permutations but we haven’t gone wrong with most choices here. I’m still lacking in HQ compared to rest of clientele.
Ipanema Café (#, %): My favorite vegetarian place in the city. Imaginatively goes beyond the norm within the defined (restrictive) parameters. Also terrific for a night owl. Sweet potato fries ++
(cons @ both 821C and IC – demand quite often greatly exceeds supply). The former has morphed from its subterranean look while the latter's may not be to everyones liking...
Thai Top Ten (%): (sorry ET. You have been replaced). Bonus – spring roll w/ lunch.
Carts – Dont have the choice or variety that the medical campus has but we do have arguably one of RVAs finest around - Nates Taco Truck (#) and Olio – next to Cabell library. Time to lunch – variable. Filling of stomach – variable.

Three other nice options –Harrison Street Coffee Shop (#) (also all vegetarian), Rev it Up (very basic sandwich choices but filling, clean, welcoming interior, %) and Sprout (nice inside especially when sunny outside, filling of stomach - variable, support local, #, %)
Desperation when time is << short – take away wraps at the Cary Street Deli. In and out < 10 mins. Coffee at the Starbucks next door. (*)
D/F – VCU Commons, Mojos, Broad Street twixt Belvidere and Harrison.
Palatable chain – Chipotle.
On radar – Belvidere on Broad.
Another place that I like a lot for dinner but have never been for lunch is Nile Ethiopian. I have no idea of cost or time here.

# – quasi variable menu
% – good for taking visitors – not overly informal.
* - There is still no decent coffee place within a short walk for me (< 5 mins). Crossroads if in the area but quite a trek from my neck of the woods otherwise. Rostovs – more so.

Saludos while I kiss the sky !

craving catalonia

One of the "culinary innovations" of the past decade has to be the explosion of what has come to be called molecular gastronomy. I recently had the chance to visit the hotbed of this creativity - (aside: Is it possible for one chef to influence an entire region with his philosophy and style? I think superstar chef Ferran Adrià would fall into this category). While I, like countless others will have to wait till 2013 to try our luck at reservations (not to mention months of saving) when El Bulli reopens, Catalonia teems with culinary gems who are either direct descendants of Ferran (I think it would be fun to have a concept like an Erdős number in the culinary world - like a Ducasse or Adrià number !) or deeply influenced by him. With both EB and the other gem in the region El Celler de Can Roca closed for the season, I had to "settle" for excellent choices from the number of places that have taken molecular gastronomy to new levels - this time - Cinq Sentits and Alkimia, the latter highly recommended. For tapas, the local joint(s) and Comerç 24 (fabulous creativity on the small plate/tapas concept by Ferran protege Carles Abellan).
I will spare the gentle reader any food porn or painful descriptions thereof. Coupled with some eating and recent reading, I was assailed with some philosophical afterthoughts:

An older article by Anya von Bremzen on “Should Fine Dining Die” explores the “contrived amuse-gueles-to-petit-fours rigmarole known as fine dining”
Foodie fatigue - A plea for calm among foodies from the Chicago Tribune. "Food culture is great when it gets people thinking about what's on their plate, not photographing it"
And this rather droll foodie discussion - IMHO if you have any sort of opinion on what you eat, you're a foodie, like it or not. The rest is details. Instead of indulging in petty semantics, it is humbling to realize that there are millions of people who dont have this luxury.

As a scientist and yes, foodie, I find the ideas of ingredient foams, emulsions, powders, creams, suspensions, infusions, freeze dried ingredients (or cooking with liquid nitrogen) and other "non-conventional" preparations of food incredibly neat. In addition to being fascinatingly clever, I also find the melding of conventional and esoteric ingredients (flowers, fungi and foraged natural products - the current global darling NOMA having taken the latter to extreme levels) quite exciting. I also marvel at the creativity of the chefs and the art of presentation, which is more than having something show up on a square plate. But...
1. Primarily, what is the real point – does this “deconstruction” add to taste or is it all just gimicky? (I add that I shameless enjoy the gimicks)
2. While the concept of 10+ elegantly constructed and innovative dishes is certainly fun, how practical is it really? Does it even have to be "practical"?
3. Price is another question here, although as I've observed recently, dining out in RVA is not an inexpensive proposition either. This would be an interesting subject to study - where does price resistance or elasticity break down ?
I just wonder, while enjoying all that this contribution to food has to offer.
(with hunger, need, recessions and unemployment around, spending ridiculous amounts on single meals - that is another philosophical discussion for another day).

Is it too much to ask for an AF-esque mind for RVA ? Would love to see someone sidestep the paradigm (even a dish or two). Go wild !! (the MA in NOMA comes from mad)

Ok, I lied and will violate my principles - I had to photograph one of the best amuse bouches I've had in a while - @ CS - a shot glass of layered maple syrup, chilled cream, a sabayon made with cava and a tiny bit of rock salt at the bottom that trickles down to your tongue once the sweetness of the earlier ingredients have made their way down your throat. This was the very definition of an amuse bouche, delightfully light and talk about titillating a palate !

thinking tapas

Amidst aimless meanderings, I began to think that if I could wish for a "type of" restaurant in RVA, it would have to be a quality tapas place. Apparently Richmond had 60 new restaurants open last year !! From my limited sampling, they mostly appear to be variants on a theme, with some exceptions. Yes, technically it appears there are are a few (via Urbanspoon) (I'm afraid these places have been far from satisfactory and to borrow a term - reputationally hindered) and no, the rash of "small plate" menus proliferating around do not count. So whats missing?

It would be wonderful to see a cozy, reasonably priced tapas restaurant in RVA in true Spanish tradition - from simple offerings of olives, breads with olive oil, jamon or other meats, cheeses, little plates of salads, fresh vegetables, stews and seafood perhaps, all the way to what has come to be called "luxury tapas" at places like Comerç 24 and 41 degrees. The fun and excitement of communal dining on small plates is delightful. And the taste of course, exciting, without necessarily being too complex. In terms of the ratio of deliciousness to complexity, I posit that pan con tomate or pa amb tomaquet in Catalan is hard to beat.
Some history I learned - Back in 19th century Andalucia, bar owners would place a piece of bread on a drink to keep away flies. This evolved to little savory, often salty bits - olives, meats etc on a lid (tapa) to cover the drink. And a fabulous dining tradition was born !

Sí despite its prices and roller coaster quality was for a while the place du jour and while it would stray from their present DNA, there is a place that asymptotically approaches some of these parameters (Cryptic xword clue - not for Italian bubbly (5)), but I still would want my pure tapas bar :)!!

Since one must leave town in all probability, to satisfy this tapas fix, there is of course, Jose Andres' masterpiece Jaleo up north(the humble patatas bravas with spicy alioli is an deliciously inexpensive filler here and at most tapas joints anywhere !). Closer to home - Mas Tapas in Charlottesville is a terrific option, well worth a drive imho (thanks to a friend for placing this on my radar). Plates can be had from $4 to $15 making for a well rounded dinner. They also have a great selection of cheeses and a nice list of wines, plus everyone's favorite word - plenty of local sourcing. Word to the wise, be wary of ordering too many "salad tapas" or you could easily overdose on arugula.

Another somewhat distant wish is for a noodle bar. We have our share of pho places around (discussed nicely here) but I wish we had a place that just served udon, soba, ramen and the like - perhaps a mélange of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese influences? Since we're dreaming, perhaps something like David Chang's wonderful Momofuku !

Any others?

The Belmont Stakes

(North) Belmont Ave has become an interesting gastronome destination of late. If one walks towards the museum district from the VMFA, I believe Belmont is the first street where one can find food. And a varied set at that, well worth a nice walk along ! While the Belmont Butchery (not a restaurant) and Zeus Gallery & Café have rooled the roost for some time, they were joined earlier this year by Stuzzi (the subject of much commentary all around). A few blocks (near Narnia :)) away hides Chiocca’s, a down the stairs bar that’s apparently been around since the 1950s! Two recent eponymous additions have been the Belmont Pizzeria and the Belmont Food Shop. Over the past few months, I had seen the latter at various intriguing stages of development and finally got to have lunch there recently. Or technically speaking, I picked up my lunch there a couple of times recently. Touting itself as “Back to Basics food”, the BFS is our city's latest addition to the eat local movement. Not fully a functional restaurant yet, they are open for takeout. The BFS bakes its own bread each morning and features meats and eggs from that Omnivore’s Dilemma darling - Polyface Farms. Incidentally, I’ve been seeing a lot of PF products all around town as restaurants attempt to burnish their “pollancred”.
For $12 including tax, you get a sandwich, a side and a drink (little 8 oz soda cans). I’ve tried the roast beef with caramelized onions on focaccia and the smoked mozzarella with terrine on pepper potato bread. I have been quite satisfied (satiated?) with my choices coupled with the sides (deviled eggs and potato salad so far, recently embellished with a little chocolate truffle). The cost is a trifle more than a comparably decked sandwich elsewhere (for example, around VCU, the Olio cart - $6-$9). BFS plans to expand to regular service and while it is quite out of the way for lunch (for me), good luck ahead. With interesting dynamics involved, have to keep an eye out on how they mature.
I’ve also had pizza from the Belmont Pizzeria a couple of times now and I timidly venture that I found it quite ok (other than the one occasion where the pizza turned into a soggy mess by the time I hiked back home). Their one “outlier specialty” - the potato pizza is quite interesting. I tread lightly because there are too many sophisticated palates around who take their pizza extremely seriously :). For a medium pizza @ ~ $15 (w/t&t) and a large one ~ $20, the prices are comparable to several places around. Definitely no gourmet offerings here but BP provides supply in the pizza demand supply equation for the area when one doesnt want to patronize any chains (for example, on google maps searching for “pizza” around a 1 mile radius of the VMFA results in Mary Angelas (which some people swear by but I haven’t liked much) and Chanello’s – never been). They have a couple of bar stools where you can sit by the window and get pizzas by the slice but I haven’t dawdled here or even tried the pastas (perhaps easier and healthier to toss some together than eat takeout pasta !).

Speaking of Belmonts and since it coincides nicely with the ceremony going on as I type – random fact: apparently, at one time, Belmont, MA near Cambridge, MA had the highest per capita concentration of Nobel Laureates residents in the world. And speaking of NLs, one of my favorite signs on the UC Berkeley campus. Talk about a faculty perk!

Postscript: Admittedly, the previous post was a bit of a hello world curiosity trial just to see where posts would land on the new spinning wheel of blogs. I must say, given my general degree of quasi-wallflowerishness (not to mention general subject matter (or lack thereof) on this blog), I was quite mortified to see it prominently displayed on ER before the algorithm mercifully found another posting to supplant it. Must think carefully now before flippantly tossing out some markovian musing or hope to coincide with other prolific writers (of the real variety). Thankfully my overall blogennui will self-correct this.

data bubbles continued

Following up on my previous post on mint.com’s data on average check sizes at different dining establishments in RVA, I recently played around on rather cool site called bundle which also tracks spending. Bundle has some nifty little flash bubbles that you can customize to see how people spend money across the country on different categories each month (food, travel, home, entertainment etc). Since this is a “food blog” (sic), I only looked at some Richmond data, specifically, how much the average Richmonder (a nebulous concept - one can also get data from Midlothian or Henrico county) spends each month on food, dining and the like.
In addition to location, you can specify age group, income level (the rich spend more - surprise !!) and even household types (for example, in an interesting bit of socioeconomic behavior, average spending on restaurants & bars in Richmond – single male, no kids - $303, single female, no kids - $197 and married, no kids - $269). Overall average across all groups - $253 on eating out and $248 on groceries. Depending on your fascination (mine is obviously high) with this kind of silly information, you can spend quite a bit of time trying different permutations and combinations.
Avg monthly spending on restaurants and bars in other cities: Washington DC - $473, San Francisco, CA - $419, New York, NY - $287, Boston, MA - $335

Again, mathematically speaking, despite the claimed 20 million data points, it is easy to get misled by averages (vs. medians) and statistical errors including demographics represented, location and such. But looking at the distributions is probably more telling, although I do wonder about that as well. The graph below shows the average distribution on dining out across Richmond.



acknowledging the excellent work of RVAfoodie in redesigning the eatingrichmond.com aggregator - what has become a fascinating glimpse into so many musings across town.

some more data processing..

I recently ran into some fascinating data from the online expense aggregator Mint.com that showed the average amounts people, (at least mint.com users), in RVA spent on food and dining. A bit of fiscal voyeurism perhaps, but it was kind of interesting to track how people spent money and fun way to waste time while wasting time.

How the data was processed: there is all kinds of data showing all sorts of expenses, ranging from the size of a check at fas mart or uppys to how much people spent at costco on average ($133.89). I sifted through the 126 places initially listed and...

1. removed all fastfood places
2. removed all chains (avg Chipotle check - $10.74)
3. removed all gas stations, grocery stores and other stores (eg. wine stores. ABC - $31.42)

what remained ~ 40 RVA specific 'eating places' ranked in order of an average check at each (one outlier omitted, see below). I wish there were more "restaurants" in this data - insufficient or no data is expected and probably the (sparse?) mint user demographic skews a certain way. Click to embiggen ...fun w/ excel - two versions.(sorry I'm not a graphic artist !)


It is also fun to read into the data and try and figure out some of the costs. However, it is also easy to be misled by most numbers - there is no normalization with respect to number of people on a check, whether it is for lunch/dinner/just drinks, number of times this happened (statistically significant n?). For example, the average check at Starbucks is listed at $6.16. Are people getting really expensive soy, venti, decaf blah blah or just paying for two (or more) people etc etc...
The outlier that I skipped was Bank with an "average check" of $347.18...I would guess the n on this is really low, skewing the number. Similarly, it is easy to understand why places like Ipanema (or others in the VCU area have lower values, where a split check might be the norm). Understandably, data from larger cities was a bit more comprehensive and with nicer distribution across restaurant ranges.

This data is faceless but its only a matter of time such data is mined extensively, especially with sites like blippy with social networking of expenses becoming popular.

Which brings me to wonder - is it useful for a customer to know what the average size of a check at restaurant X is (this is quite distinct from knowing what the price of an average entree is at restaurant X)? does it help the business that people know?