Read Drink & Be Merry

Against my doctors orders I accepted an assignment from Richmond Magazine.  Twenty breakfasts later, an increase to my Lipitor dosage, and my work was done.  Managed to visit quite a few interesting places.

Best Overall?  Black Sheep – good food at a good price.

Most Creative? Stronghill – sorry, I’m a sucker for foie gras at brunch.

New Find?  Perly’s – loved the space, the whole experience was like stepping back in time.

The Worst?  Zeus Gallery – overpriced mediocre food and awful, awful service.  After a string of bad experiences there a few years ago I decided to try it again.  In the interim food portions shrunk, prices increased and plating became an afterthought with the food slopped carelessly onto the plate.  The waitress probably could have handled the half-full restaurant except she spent her time chatting with friends and telling customers how busy she was instead of actually doing anything.  When our food did arrive the kids got their pancakes first (half the size of the portions 4 years ago), M got her dish 5 minutes later and mine took nearly another 10.  The waitress’ friends always had full water and coffees.  Everyone else in the dining room had to ask as they were not a real priority.  It’s sad, Zeus used to be our favourite brunch place and we would also go frequently for dinner.  Looks like it may be another 4 or 5 years before we try again.

Anyway, all this and more, except for Zeus, can be found in the July Breakfast issue of Richmond Magazine.  Rush out and buy a copy today!

Normally I wouldn’t have anything to say about a fast food chain restaurant. Lately, however, we seem to have had an explosion of new chain arrivals in RVA. Many of these places most of us have never heard of. You do hear a few people waxing nostalgic about some of these places from their college or home town days but for the rest of us it’s a guessing game. Today I decided to try one of these new places out.

First, let me say that being hungry while driving around Short Pump is an exercise in overload. Everywhere neon signs beckoning you with key words like ‘gourmet’ or ‘brick-oven’ trying to tell you that they serve the same food as the other guy in the next shopping center but that they’ve got a special ‘twist’ on your average pizza, or sandwich, or whatever. The result of all these choices, at least for me, is something akin to ‘deer in the headlights’. So, I fell prey to one of the keywords while driving aimlessly and decided ‘gourmet sandwiches’ would be the way to go.

Designing a Jimmy John’s wasn’t that difficult. Post-industrial minimal with faux-snarky signs to fill up all the blank white spaces (I did think the ‘No Hippies’ sign was a bit odd and possibly insulting to hippies…). As I approached the counter I was hit with a bit of anxiety. If you go to some fast food places on a regular basis you know the routine, what to order, where to stand, where to pick it all up. As a newbie I tried to take it in as quickly as I could without looking like an complete simpleton. The line moved quickly and I arrived at the register before I could get more of a basic idea of what I wanted. I stuttered out an order, paid, and then stood there foolishly not knowing what to do next. Tentatively, I reached out and asked if I should just take a soda cup – the cashier looked at me with an expression that said ‘Duh!’

So, cup in hand, I wandered around trying to figure out the set-up. Found the soda machine, filled up and then grabbed a table – if there are napkin dispensers in this place they were beyond my ability to locate. The sandwich assembly line was moving fast and someone kept out calling out sandwich descriptions. Since the don’t give out order numbers I can only imagine the potential for confusion if more than one person ordered the same thing in the middle of a rush. Could get ugly.

In an amount of time that I could describe as ‘just barely quick enough’ considering the number of customers my sandwich name was called out. I unwrapped my sub and took a bite. The applewood smoked ham was very good, the provolone was tasty, the lettuce crisp. We had the making for a pretty decent sub. The problem was the bread. Tough and chewy it kept threatening to squirt the fillings out on to the table as I bit down. It was very similar to the bread at Fuddrucker’s – doughy and devoid of flavour or character.

The result was a bland sandwich – certainly not the ‘gourmet’ advertised on their sign. Had I known the menu better I probably could have ordered better. Different toppings might have made it more interesting and when was the last time that you actually had to order a pickle? The sandwich I had at Coppola’s a couple of weeks ago was far superior in all respects and, while I haven’t tried the behemoth battleship sandwich’s at Black Sheep, I bet they’re better tasting and a better value.

All this got me to thinking. Basically anything they have to offer out in the chain riddled traffic mess of Short Pump can be got better and for the same or less at any number of our locally owned restaurants in the city. So, the next time life finds me out in Short Pump and feeling a bit peckish I shouldn’t waste my time looking for some mediocre attempt at ‘gourmet’ food but instead run quickly back into the city for the real deal.

Finn survived his second day of school. Seems he did a slightly better job of listening and participating than the first day and the frustrated student teacher has finally realized he is 3 and just needs to be indoctrinated. M picked him up from school and dropped him off for the afternoon at the store where he read VERY quietly for the whole afternoon. Later that evening, though, we faced a dilemma – what to eat for dinner? Seemed we really didn’t have anything to eat at the house and neither of us really felt like shopping for groceries.

After a bit of debate we decided to hit The Black Sheep – the newest and quite possibly most talked about restaurant in town(I can’t possibly link to all the write ups so go here where they are all aggregated). The question would be – Is It Worth The Hype? We decided to take the scenic route there, turning the wrong way on Marshall (it’s west of Belvediere not east….) but finally arrived around 8. For a hot, humid and very muggy Tuesday in Richmond it was packed. Literally. Not a table was to be had. To top it off the ac had failed and it was nearly the same temperature inside as out. Since it’s such a tiny place, there is no bar, we were basically left standing in the middle of the restaurant. This was complicated by Finn’s condition from a long day…
It does bring up an interesting point. If your lingering over coffee (which I really couldn’t understand drinking a hot beverage in that heat) do you cut your conversation short so that people waiting (4 parties) can sit and eat. I really tried not to stare at them but somehow kept on making eye contact with them. We did do what I thought was the right thing (after waiting ~25 minutes) and let the two two-tops have the vacated tables that were pushed together leaving us waiting for a couple of more minutes for a booth which was more appropriate for us.

Finally seated we looked over the menus. The wine list (they do not serve hard alcohol) is short but well thought out for the menu. In the heat of the dining room I couldn’t handle a red and really wanted something more refreshing. I spotted the Original Sin Hard Cider and ordered that. Turned out to be a nice and cool choice for the heat. During dinner I wanted something non-alcoholic and had noticed they had quite a variety of bottled sodas. Keeping with their down home theme of the menu they had sodas that you wouldn’t find at Ukrop’s but rather at a general store in the country. Nehi’s and spicy giner ales. Bottled Coke. I selected something called a Sundrop. M said she used to drink it as a child when visiting her family down in Franklin. It was a bit like 7-Up with a bit of OJ and was actually made with real sugar as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. It was quite enjoyable but be careful. While the average soda is usually in the 120 calorie range this one packs a whopping 190!

The menu features sandwiches and comfort food favourites like stroganoff and chicken and dumplings. The entrees each come with a side. When we ordered we kept on coming up against things that they were out of. Just a suggestion… The servers knew they were out of things as we ordered. Tell people up front so you don’t have to linger while they select something else. The place was packed and the waitresses were all very busy but they seemed to be spinning their wheels quite a bit and have been working more efficiently.

M selected a basic salad feeling it was too hot to order anything else. Large and green it was tossed in a green goddess type dressing. She liked it but it didn’t really stand out except as very reasonably priced.

I ordered the Pork Cutlet. Pounded flat, breaded and served with VA ham and melted swiss over a bed of egg noodles with peas and sliced carrots. It was nearly to hot to enjoy but enjoy I did. The pork kept it’s crispiness even with a little sauce on the plate. The ham added a little saltiness but not too much (I’m usually not a fan of the salt lick that is called Virginia Ham). The noodles light and delicate. My only complaint would be there were a couple of scorches on the edges of the cutlet giving me a couple of burnt bites. Not bad enough to send back but they may want to work on quality control a bit. With this dish I had a side of the broccoli salad. Served cold and tossed in a spicy oil. Nice contrast with the pork (really wanted to try their deviled eggs but it was not to be).

After the entrees we decided to stay for dessert. M wanted the peanut butter pie but once again they were out of an item. She opted for the upside down pinapple cake. Dripping with juices she made short order of that. I had the profiterole with almonds and honey. Not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this. Think a puff pastry cut in half, stuffed with ice cream and topped with sliced almonds and swimming in honey. It was huge and I really needed a knife. It was good but a little too cloyingly sweet to finish. Recommend this one to share (and don’t forget to get a knife…). Finn had the butterscotch haystack. These were very nice (pretzels and peanut candy coated in butterscotch) and Finn was very protective of his little take away bag.

We spoke with one of the owners as we were leaving. Seems they want to build a back deck for more tables once their ‘cash flow improves’. I couldn’t imagine there being a cash flow problem based on how busy they were but she said that while they were getting busier not every night was this packed. Here’s to hoping the cash flow does improve. The food was good, the service friendly, and while there are still a couple of kinks I can’t think of many places that I can feed us all that well for under $50 (including tip).

Think I’ll have to try breakfast there sometime. RVA Foodie says the coffee is good!