Progress goes boink

Its nice to see our engineers are working on complex and pressing problems of the day. From the same folks who brought you the Ferrari F430 - This device capable of optimizing the precise, multiplexed, on-demand delivery of carbonated, sub-room temperature, sugary fluids from a single flow nozzle is the kind of technology needed to offer consumers real choice.
(at the VCU Five Guys among other locations)

pecuniam et vini. et in Arcadia ego.

At the Gallagher, Bastianich NYC restaurant Becco we recently had the pleasure of dining at, the consistently classical cuisine was complemented by a nearly 90 bottle list of Italian wines all at $25 (in addition to the Reserve list). This was accompanied by their philosophy - "We created this wine list to remove the inhibition & confusion of price from your wine selection. We encourage you to explore the many styles & great values here."

As a non-wine-expert, I quite liked this concept a lot. It was terrific to see this replicated in a small way at the Shockoe Bottom restaurant Arcadia. Open for a couple of months now at the location formerly occupied by Cafe Gutenberg, it had its brush with Lincoln stardom that had folks atwitter for a bit.
Arcadia's menu features a pretty decent selection of ~15 bottles at $20 and ~15 at $30. Which makes for a nice start.

This "inhibition & confusion of price" reminded me of some of the work in the area of trying to study the correlations between wine and price (courtesy Freakonomics). A couple of years ago, Goldstein et al. (J. Wine Econ., 3(1),1–9, 2008) published a paper entitled "Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?" They found:
1. People unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine. Based on 6000 blind tastings, there was actually a negative correlation between price and rating suggesting that individuals on average seem to enjoy more expensive wines slightly less.

2. Interestingly, for individuals with wine training, however, there is a non-negative relationship between price and enjoyment, which opens up an entire round of questions about the "experts".
For example, with two wines, A and B, $ (Wine A) = 10x $ (Wine B). In terms of a 100-point scale, non-experts would assign an overall rating four points lower for wine A, whereas experts would assign an overall rating seven points higher.

Essentially, they cautioned that non-expert wine consumers (most of us?) should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or is appreciated by experts!

The converse question is equally interesting - Does a more expensive wine taste better to a regular person? Not surprisingly, people expect a higher quality with price. But interestingly, research has shown that individuals appreciate the same wine more when they think that it is more expensive (Plassmann et al., PNAS 105(3), 1050–1054, 2008). In the paper "Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness", they used fMRI scans in which people were given differhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifent wines that they were told differed in price. Some of the wines were the same but simply presented with different prices. Prices correlated positively with experienced pleasantness, measured both subjectively and via fMRI experiments.

Ah yes, back to Arcadia....always loved the place in its previous-previous incarnation as CG and I continue to like the space, its very Richmond views, and what the new owners have done with it. The food was good but could use a little kapow !! We didnt have the steak thats proudly advertised. Dinner for two with a couple of shared plates, entrees and a bottle of wine + t&t is close to 3 digits. Perhaps a function of the weekend crowd but be prepared for some high sound levels. The tartufo was delightufo.

(Pretentious titles courtesy Google translate!)

Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!

In museum district memoriam...
Style Weekly

Despite being generally skeptical of the new kid on the block rave syndrome endemic in RVA, experiences at one of the latest entrants into the local dining firmament - The Roosevelt in Church Hill make me abandon circumspection at this musing.
This is a restaurant after my heart in many ways. A casual, spacious room that has seen a lot of time passages (some nicely adorning the walls) and right off the bat, our server reciting the prices on the specials, had me pleased. They did the “simple” perfectly (glazed baby carrots in ginger and OJ sauce, and a delicious crostini with ricotta and beets so good, we had to have a second). After some recently disappointing kolokithokeftedes at a place that shall not be named (cf. syndrome above), the black-eyed pea variety at TR was a reminder on how fritters are really done. AND they delivered nicely on the “complex” - a melding of flavors on the entrees, all largely southern inspired, a lot of VA represented all over. Further, I was generally impressed by the lack of pretension at this restaurant, admonitions at “drink slinging” notwithstanding. One can only hope that the freshness of a rotating, seasonal menu and a hitting of the maturity groove keeps making this place better.
We left the TR the best way I like to leave – the mind full and a stomach full to just the right degree (and a wallet not empty either - several sides, snacks and dessert (the oft raved about panna cotta in the mason jars is all that), can be had for $4-$5, entrees topping out <$20).

If I have one “quasi-complaint” about the Roosevelt, it has to be on the difficulty of getting a table !:) 30-45 min waits have led to disappointment twice ! Be prepared as the word spreads.

tomatime !! eleventy111 !! 1111 !!!

Imperfections and all (taste) before they're gone ! Thanks SOTJ...

A fascinating read on the topic:
Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
By Barry Estabrook
Hardcover, 240 pages

new and old sprouts

A bustling time in the Richmond dining scene. A rough count shows around a dozen or so new restaurants sprouting up in just the last couple of months. I'm not sure if its the new kid syndrome (seen regularly in RVA), a consequence of various “natural events” or simply bad luck, but over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had to postpone trying 3 places on this list because of hour+ waits. And these were on weeknights !! Unprecedented. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Amidst all this newness buzz, one could almost miss out on some rather sad news – “Sprout” in the VCU area is closing on Sep 5th. While I would not count myself a regular, I have had the pleasure of watching this sprout grow. We have eaten there several times all the way from its seedling stage (back in June 2010) when they were still setting up, to their reclaimed wood furniture stage, to a stage of some maturity and menu stability. I have gone through like-bleh cycles with it – quibbles with execution at times, really enjoying the food at others and all the while appreciating and wanting to support them. They even amused with their menu-in-LP-cover bit. The locavore movement is all the rage these days, and it is rare that a restaurant in the city doesn’t proudly proclaim some aspect of their menu that is locally and/or VA sourced. Sprout was a nice “early adopter” of sorts, which was always something I liked. In a wee bit of nostalgia for me, it also served as the setting to bookend some remarkable personal life episodes. A veritable loss for the area. Good luck.

While I have no idea why Sprout is closing and wouldn’t wish to speculate, I read a rather interesting paper on restaurant turnover rates in the country (“Why restaurants fail” by Harsa et al, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly August 2005, 46, 3, pp. 304-322, doi: 10.1177/0010880405275598). Bottom line – 26 % fold in the first year, 19 % in the second year and 14 % in the third year. The three-year cumulative restaurant turnover rate for franchised chains was 57 %, and 61% for independent restaurants. A bit of data for the statistically curious but its hard to draw any conclusions. Even El Bulli closed because it was bleeding money.

Ending on a non sequitur. I recently had the pleasure to encounter a “pay what you want” concept that I just found simply fascinating - “Decide afterwards for yourself what a fair price is for the eat”. While I’ve heard of this idea before (with even Panera getting into the game), this was a first I’d seen for a relatively “high-end place”, if one can call it that. At some level, the restaurant has a minor bar against abuse via a strict no walk-in policy. Every dinner “sells out” and the food is spectacular and innovative. I wonder though, how this would work as a general business model? In Richmond?
It would certainly make for an interesting behavioral experiment.

porcines, pink and portmanteaux

This summer has been an interesting time in RVA, with so much flux in the dining scene.

One entrant has been the recently opened gastropub The Blue Goat in the Libbie-Grove area. Gastropub being a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub. From an old WaPo article, "Not quite a bar and not quite a restaurant, the gastropub is a British hybrid of sorts, offering a casual-meets-refined atmosphere that welcomes beer drinkers and wine snobs, non-fussy eaters and foodies alike."

You wont find any standard pub grub here but there's a long bar and plenty of ungulates on the menu here (even-toed or artiodactyla if you're keeping score). The entire pig makes an appearance from the ear, cheeks, shoulder, the current RVA favorite - pork belly, all the way to the tail. I like the general concept and execution of using the entire animal and TBG does a pretty good job. And the eponymous goat, largely in cheese form.
I was rather amused that our waiter stressed that this was NOT tapas and certainly didnt conform to the standard entree concept either. I'm not sure how many of the above criteria it satisfies but both a casual nibble and a complete meal can be considered @ TBG (dishes quickly adding up for the latter). At first taste, we felt that the simpler dishes far outshone the ones with multi-ingredient descriptors. (semi) vegetarians could be somewhat disappointed by the offerings here, although the cheese plate and the excellent bread offer a couple of other places a good run for their money.
An observation - for such a large place, one restroom is a tad inefficient. A recent weeknight experience was surprisingly packed till late and the crowd, a fair slice of the 'chic' we've come to expect at many places around.

Since we're in an alliterative mood here, another "P" thats been appearing everywhere is Polyface (farms). A nice development for sure.

Speaking of portmanteaux, a new word has entered my lexicon - the chork !
I had earlier this year, hoped for a noodle-bar in RVA and lo and behold :)....there's one now. The new Ejay Rin in Manchester. I had always liked the space of the former Savor with its high ceilings and brick. ER has co-opted it well into their sparse decor. A recent visit was interesting - hot and cold (ramen) noodles, steamed buns and asian themed dishes (kimchee/sauteed bok choy). Ginger !

Other than the noodles (which were pretty good), two things were fun - one was the presence of Staropramen pivo on the menu (I wonder if it was a bit of word play on the part of the owners but I was amused. Plus it appealed to the czech-ophile in me). The second was the appearance of a rather gimmicky implement - the chork - a combination of chopsticks and a fork ! For a 25c upcharge, you get to keep your dining implement (a variant on other fancy designs available) ! While I stuck to my good old chopsticks, my dining companion seemed to enjoy its versatility ! A teeny connection to the theme - ramen with pork belly makes an appearance. I need another visit to make up my mind on the broth on this one.
As word gets around, there is sure to be an uptick in traffic at this place. Our dinner came to around $42 ...!!

The food? I saw this in the richmond.com article about the place - "It’s better than average food, for reasonable prices, using better ingredients," [co-owner Bill] Foster said.
Agreed.

In an interesting etymology coincidence that would be of interest to possibly only me, portmanteau comes from the french - porter, to carry + manteau, coat.
ER is on Porter street at the location of the former Lunch Porter !

Ice cubes melting at an alarming rate

As temperatures rise, the inexorable shift of caffeinated beverages to those of the iced kind begins. Pure water ice cubes remind me of an old engineering chestnut - "the solution to pollution is dilution". Something we'd presumably like to avoid in the coffee cup.

I think coffee cubes are an elegant solution, albeit one I've only seen only in a few places around - of recent note - Captain Buzzy's Beanery and way out in the cozy Ashland Coffee & Tea shop. I'm hardly a coffee afficionado but technically, if using a good number of coffee cubes, one doesnt even need to chill the coffee a priori. This would imply perhaps, that the choices for the hot version are easily available for the iced version !

Speaking of the far far away ACT, I like how it is casual and comfortable without trying hard. Disparate couches with plenty of dawdling material all around. Bring, forget (?), take, leave - seems to work out nicely. Closer to home, the Ellwood's Coffee shop presumably approaches this ambiance, although I do need to research if they've worked on the dilution problem.

The headline - shamelessly copied from an old Onion article, with a brilliant scientific graph to boot.

Time is an illusion...

....lunchtime doubly so !*

Random musings for the day: At what point do the hypothetical cons (food quality, poor service (eg. rudeness/attitude), décor/cleanliness, price) overcome the pros of eating at a place (food quality, good service, convenience, price, statements of sorts)? In the specific context of a lunch, should some variables trump all (eg. convenience, price)?

Is a single instance of a “con”, reason enough to consider not patronizing a particular restaurant anymore? No background here in the interest of fairness – every restaurant may have a bad day. Oddly enough, I think I am readier to forgive mediocre food than (perceived?) impolite behavior on said bad day.

In other campus notes - Sadly, summer has taken its toll on both lunch carts worth visiting around the VCU main campus – Nate & Olio. MCV carts are still going strong.
The new ownership at Rev it Up has now had some time to get settled - some modifications and changes in menu but they've largely hewed to the previous version.
Construction on Grace will apparently only add to the plethora of chain eateries around campus. A bit on the IHOP - Aramark nexus. Not anti-chain per se but feel an opportunity lost to add some local flavor, quite literally.

6/21 x 7/2

"The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?"
— *- Douglas Adams "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

menu clouds

A couple of layovers later, I have the chance to post my latest bit of data analysis fun (time-wasting?). For some time now, I have been thinking of checking out the degree of "commonality" among menus here in RVA and a method of visualizing the same.

This last restaurant week and word clouds provided a nice opportunity to look at this data. Assuming that the 30 restaurants that participated provide a fairly good cross-section and are fairly representative of menu/food preferences in RVA (a decent approximation in retrospect), it was easy to extract the menus from here and voilà.

So here are the word distributions among menus in the area. Data interpretation is left to the kind reader (methinks the preponderance of 'safe' options is telling).

Entrée:


Main Course:


Dessert: