Read Drink & Be Merry

My dad and step-mom live out in Portland, OR, so their annual visits to see Finn are a bit of a big deal. We try to have one big dinner out for each visit and they have been pleased with the results each time. One year it was Can-Can, and except for a bit of a service flub, the dinner was great. Another year it was just across the street at Lamani**, the most amazing fish eatery in Richmond, it was a shame they were so short lived and their replacements, Durum and Wheezies, have really not lived up to the former glory (that’s just based on hearsay as we have been to neither the equally short-lived Durum or Wheezies Kitchen).

So, with the success of the earlier dinners in mind, I decided to go with a sure thing and go with the place that tops nearly every list as the place to take out of town guests – Edo’s Squid. I’m not sure why but for some reason I thought they only took reservations for larger parties – I was wrong. Might’ve been their connection to Mama ‘Zu that made me think that but they will take reservations for any size party, just call early as they do tend to fill up… Actually, it worked out well as we weren’t looking for a prime time reservation but rather an early one at 5:30. Another little bit of new info I learned is that they do continuous service from lunch through dinner. That’s a nice piece of info as I am often out and about in the middle of the afternoon and it is hard to find good (non-chain) places to grab a bite.

Seated at a nice corner table we looked over the menu and the specials board. A round of appetizers to share seemed in order. The first choice was obvious – Fried Squid. A plate heaped with pieces of golden brown, crispy squid parts. This was actually the first time we had the calamari there as they were out whenever we visit. Basically, it was perfect. Tender not rubbery, just enough breading and seasoning. Crispy and moist, not greasy. It didn’t come with any sauce (not sure if that was intentional or an oversight) but, frankly, it didn’t need any. Finn went to town on these, tentacles and all. Given his druthers he may eaten a whole plate of the little tasties.

To go with that we ordered a plate of the Conch Insalata. Not really sure what I was expecting but it was an interesting looking plate. Slices of conch marinated in oil, vinegar and garlic with capers and other little bits. The conch was tender and tasty, the oil and vinegar well balanced. Given my druthers I could have eaten a whole plate of that myself. It was perfect.

We ordered an array of items to share for dinner. A plate of Veal Marsala (textbook perfect), Penne w/Meat Sauce (excellent), Spaghetti w/White Clam as well as one special – Soft Shell Crabs.

The pasta with clams were excellent. Rich with flavour from the garlic and wine, added texture and taste from pine nuts. It restored my faith in white clam sauce. Of course, and this is not a fair comparison, the last time I had white clam sauce was at Joe’s Inn and it was a bit disappointing.

The crabs were a huge hit. Crustaceans, from clams to dungeness, are a big deal in Oregon but my parents had never had softshell crabs. When the plate came out the waitress apologized as they were a bit smaller than usual and offered to take a bit off the bill, we asked if we could have an extra (for a little more) and they happily complied. The fresh softshells were juicy and tasty. A real treat.

Finn had his first real restaurant accident part way through dinner. Sloshed about half his water into his lap. I got a bar towel from a waitress and cleaned the water under the table. Did give me a chance to observe how clean they keep the restaurant, even in the corners under the table. (I’m pretty sure the waitress was happy I cleaned it up rather than expecting her to crawl under the table to do it – does make me remember how many times I had customers expect me to clean up things like that and then leave lousy tips – bastards…) As clean as it was they do go on my list of bad bathrooms. I am not sure if a larger person would be able to turn around in the men’s room… Fan architecture at it’s best. No idea how they could’ve made it better though.

Dessert was Tiramisu. Really good and big enough to share.

Don’t expect fawning service here and didn’t get it. What we did get was all the basics and whatever was needed. Everything was done, water glasses filled, plates cleared. They handled the soft shell crab issue very well (we would never have known they were smaller and it was so nice they said something). People may mistake it for brusque, or even rude (like the mis-perception at Mama ‘Zu), but these people are very busy and are not slackers.

It’s obvious why this place is the topper for so many lists to take people visiting RVA. I know it’s at the top of ours.

**Notes on Lemani. It was a great place, just across the street from Can-Can. They served an array of fresh fish from all over the world – many of them served whole for 2. Nearly all the fish were prepared the same simple way – with olive oil, lemon, sea salt and a little pepper. Sides were huge and excellent. My understanding is they were a victim of rising air freight prices and couldn’t maintain the number of fish offerings without a catastrophic price increase. Very sad. We miss them.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about best and worst lists with the arrival of the new Richmond Magazine’s Best & Worst list. Some people agreed with the winners while others groused about ballot stuffing by business owners looking for a free plug and an award to put up on the wall. Regardless of the why there are some perennial winners out there that must have been doing something right. According to La Siesta’s website they won the award for 10 years straight. Of course the website hasn’t been updated since 2003 and the information is hopelessly out of date on the menu, prices, and hours. But, still, they won for 10 years so they must be pretty good….

The outside must have once been quite grand for a Mexican restaurant. Patios with low walls, a rather large cactus garden, and Mexican themed statues all around. Now you can feel the decay as you walk towards the restaurant. Statues bleached and peeling paint with some leaning at precarious angles where the soil has eroded from underneath. Cigarette barrels with rotting wood. The cactus garden not tended possibly since they last updated the website.

I was a little surprised the lady at the desk greeted us without a trace of an accent and that a number of the waitresses were ‘gringos’. It reminded me a bit of Joy Garden, a once fine ethnic establishment that is now barely adequate and in desperate need of a thorough cleaning. An ethnic restaurant doesn’t have to have a staff of the same ethnicity nor does having one make them good or authentic but I can’t help but feel that there is sometimes a correlation.

We were immediately seated and I couldn’t help but notice the number of rooms not in use. Can’t recall ever having been to Casa Grande when it wasn’t moderately busy but, as it was a Wednesday, maybe it was just a slow night. To started I ordered a Marguerita Espesciale. It was your basic top shelf marguerita, not too bad. I opted for the regular size rather than the 46 ounce one as I wanted to be able to walk out under my own power…

Chips and salsa came out quickly. The chips were ok but a tad stale. The salsa was interesting. It had a deep, rich colour and a very earthy flavour. We speculated that it might have a bit of mole in it but weren’t sure. My taste buds are still a bit scrambled after the dental surgery last week and M’s pregnancy hormones are scrambling hers as well. It didn’t strike me as outstanding but I really liked it for being different than the usual fare at Casa or Mexico which are a bit cookie cutter. The food came moderately quick but not as fast as some Mexican places in town. We dug in.

Finn had the cheese quesadilla. It really wasn’t your normal quesadilla. It was more of a soft wrap taco as it hadn’t really been grilled. The dish also reflected the creeping American influence that could be found on several spots on the menu. It was served with fries.

M selected the Chicken Chimichanga. Visually it was a stand out, especially when compared to some of the other places in town. Too often Mexican food is slopped onto the plate without a whole lot of thought, not even to what is hot and what is cold. This was constructed with thought to colour and presentation. To top that off M really liked it.

I went out on a limb and had the Shrimp & Scallop Quesadilla. It wasn’t quite what I expected. Like Finn’s dish it hadn’t been grilled so it was more of a soft taco with grilled shrimp and bay scallops with sauteed onions (I had them leave off the peppers). There also wasn’t any cheese inside to hold the ingredients together (there was a couple puny shavings of Monteray Jack on top of the lettuce…) so it kind of fell apart on me. The seafood didn’t taste strong or fishy and whole dish wasn’t bad but I thought it could have been better. Casa Grande has a shrimp dish (I think a quesadilla) that will satisfy your shrimp craving for at least a week….

The highlight of the plate were the refried beans. They hadn’t been crushed to a paste and still had pieces resembling beans. The menu stated that they didn’t use lard or animal products in any of the veggie dishes (like the refried beans) so veg-heads won’t have their diets undermined. The lowlight was the rice. Frankly, had better at my elementary school cafeteria in Oregon (actually, since the cook was Mexican the rice we had there was pretty good…). My guess is the rice here was prepackaged.

As sometimes happens with restaurants as they age they seem to be getting a little lazy and are using prepackaged food rather than making it all in house. On M’s plate it was the tri-colour strips of fried tortilla while on mine it was the cream sauce for the seafood with unidentifiable herbs that had been fresh poured from a bottle. That and the ‘early bird’ specials are signs of a restaurant on the wane. I’ve worked at a couple of restaurants that were at this stage. The staff all talks about the glory days as you wait for the owners to give up.

This place also hit’s my growing bad bathroom list. This one smelled. Basically of old, stale urine. Not very appetizing.

Eating there you can see a few vestiges of what made this place worthy of the Best & Worst list. In a couple of ways I actually liked it because it wasn’t like all the other Mexican places in town that all taste strangely like the food came from the same kitchen. I probably wouldn’t drive all the way to Midlothian from where we live in the Northside to eat there but if I happened to be nearby I might stop in.

If I could only find a really good taco I would be happy. Los Baez in Salem, OR, made the best I ever had (although time and memory may have made it into something it is not). Their’s was made with shredded beef, not ground, fresh taco shell, just the right amount of ingredients so you didn’t spill pieces everywhere and the hot and cold remained hot and cold. Good stuff.

Monday was a bit of a red letter day – Finn’s first day of school. Yes, I know it’s July, school shouldn’t be starting quite yet. Actually it’s just a summer school program but, to me, it’s still school. Since Finn hasn’t been in daycare or other structured setting the school had recommended that he take a couple of their summer programs to start the acclimation process. So, after reviewing the offerings, we signed him up for two programs. This week is Foods of the World – just what a budding foodie needs – cooking for 3-5 year-olds.

I picked him up at noon and everything seemed to have gone well (we found out later that he was more interested in doing his own thing rather than what the rest of the group and one of the student teachers may now be rethinking her career choice…) and decided to take him out for a treat. That left me in a bit of a dilemma. Where to go? Can-Can is his fav but they don’t make gougeres at lunch and I really didn’t want a fussy toddler on my hands. After a little thought I decided upon Home Team Grill – burger, fries, and possibly ice cream. So, off we went. There was a bit of a problem when we arrived….
I thought he might have woken up when we got inside but he climbed into the booth and…
I figured that he wouldn’t sleep but too long so I ran out to my car, got my computer, and settled in for a little internet browsing (they have free wifi) and computer gaming with my bevvies and munchies while Finn slept.

The menu was what one would expect of a sports bar. Lots of fried food, sandwiches, and salads that may have more calories and fat than you should consume in a day. Frankly, it wa what I had a hankering for. I spotted their much touted (on the menu anyway) potato skins and ordered a plate to go with my G&T.

The drink arrived first and was a tad weak. Is that a bad thing? Not here. While we weren’t there for happy hour the happy hour prices are rock bottom ($2 highballs 4-6/$3 7-9). If your planning a long drinking session or are there to watch a 3-hour game you don’t want to be falling out of your chair too quickly.

While waiting for the app I looked over the space. Lot’s of big screen TV’s, brick, sports stuff and a really cool vaulted ceiling with exposed beams. The snob in me bemoaned the fact that this wasn’t a more upscale restaurant in this space but not everyone can be Cafe Rustica or Verbena and Home Team Grill probably does more business than the others combined. This place joins my list of restaurants with bad bathroom designs. Cafe Rustica has ceilings for midgets in theirs, Hard Shell has the poorly placed air dryers and HTG has an oddly placed urinal that leaves you horribly exposed if someone opens the door…

The skins arrived and…. Meh. Their uniform shape makes me think frozen. Too much potato left on the skin, fried to a complete dryness, green onions cut too big and from the root rather than the stalk. Each bite overpowered by the flavour of fried chicken. Tasted like they needed to change the oil. The bacon, however, was quite good.

Finn started to wake up and was not a happy camper. With the taste of chicken flavoured potato skins still lingering I decided it was time to go. Finn, fussy as he was, would have none of it, he wanted his promised burger and fries. So we stayed. The waitress, very nice and constantly trying very hard to upsell, was helpful in getting the TV above us changed to a cartoon channel for Finn. She must have hit the wrong button because she ended up changing about half the TV’s in the place but as there really wasn’t anyone there nobody minded. This did confuse me a bit later when I looked up and started to wonder why they were advertising for Valtrex on Nickelodeon but it turned out they had changed all the other TV’s back.
To go with Finn’s burger and fries I decided to order a sandwich, The Seattle Mariner. Kind of a hybrid of a Sailor and a Reuben. When the plate was put down in front of me I tried one of the fries first…. Ugh. Instead of crispy they were leathery. I realized they had two problems with the oil back there. Not only was it old and contaminated with too many lingering flavours the temperature was set too low. This meant the fries (and the skins) spent way too long in the oil trying to cook. One would think that if your going to specialize in fried foods you would have a good fry cook. Finn ate most of his fries (hey, he’s 3) but not with his usual gusto.

The sandwich was… really good. The knockwurst, the corned beef, the swiss. Greasy in a very tasty way. I had asked for no saurkraut (just not a fan) and they don’t put 1000 Island on it so it was missing a little something. I asked for some brown mustard. The waitress at first said they didn’t have any but decided to go check. They did and the sandwich was complete. It wasn’t as good as some other places, Boychick’s comes to mind, but it was satisfying. Of course it could just be because I love brown mustard so much…. Still, it was good.

While the problems with the fried foods were a little disturbing for a sports bar they seem to be able to cook some things and I bet they would taste even better after a lot of alcohol consumption. The drinks are cheep and the waitresses are friendly (the managers need to be careful about the playful banter they engage in or they may be faced with a sexual harassment suit by a disgruntled employee…). If your looking for basic bar grub and a place to hang out with your friends (at someplace other than a national chain) this might be a good choice.

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Addendum – Got some off-the-record info from current and former employees…. The theme of what I’m hearing is that there are some real consistency issues with the food. So much so that the same dish may not resemble the same dish from previous visits. I guess at the very least it is a place to get lots of cheap drinks.

I love raw bar. Set before me plates of bivalves and crustaceans and I am a happy person. The first restaurant I worked at in the United States, Bart’s Wharf in Portland, OR, was a master of raw bar. Huge platters of raw and steamed seafood, most fresh from the Oregon coast, flowed freely. I was never a real fan of bay shrimp but the chef would make me a sandwich for dinner made with fresh bay shrimp. The taste was amazing. Sadly, I’ve never been able to recreate that simple sandwich. It was a shame the restaurant didn’t survive. Run by Bart’s kids it became stuck in a timewarp with teal vinyl booths and some of the original waitresses still there from the opening in the early 1950’s. They should have been there for the renaissance of the upscale lobster-steakhouse in the 1990’s but didn’t make it.

True raw bar has gone out of style to an extent and the number of places to find it has dwindled. In RVA the choices are limited. There’s some offerings at Bookbinder’s but I know way to much about the inner workings of that place to ever eat there again. If I want chicken instead of turtle in my overpriced Snapper Soup I’ll order chicken soup…. (maybe, someday, I’ll write a bit about my experiences there). There’s Morton’s and a couple of other upscale eateries but there it is more of an afterthought and not true raw bar where you order plate after plate.

Nope, in Richmond there are only two real choices (I am sure after writing this I will get a few more suggestions….). First would be Can-Can. Bathtub full of ice, shucked and prepared in view of the customer with the added bonus of much better sauces than your standard cocktail sauce. Best eaten at the bar with a martini but don’t forget to fill your pockets with pebbles to get a bartenders attention….

The other place would be The Hard Shell, the restaurant that took the wind out of the sails of Awful Arthur’s in the Bottom. I’ve been going to The Hard Shell since it opened. When it first opened it had great food, good drinks, and really good raw bar. For years it was my go-to place, showing up at least once a month. Now, not so much. With all the great new places that have opened up in the past 7 or 8 years we might make it once or twice a year and rarely is it mentioned when we’re talking about where we want to eat tonight. Sunday night we needed a place to celebrate a bit. M had become a newly minted Privacy Expert and had the certification to prove it. With gas poking a hole in our dining budget we decided to hit The Hard Shell and indulge in their All You Can Eat crab-fest.

We had hit their Sunday special in the past but I usually didn’t do the All You Can Eat special. I’m a fan of Snow Crab (especially when it’s 1/2 price) but the crab on the All You Can Eat was some sort of crab (sorry I’ve forgotten the exact type) that had paper thin skin and unsatisfying meat. Basically the little old lady of crabs. At some point, however, it seems they changed it to my favoured Snow Crab. So, off we went.

It was very packed when we arrived so we sat at the bar to wait for a table. A few observations… The bar was dirty. The staff all looked like they were thinking ‘I can’t believe I couldn’t dump this shift’. I actually saw a customer raise her hand and snap for a server. I think I could hear the snapped at server’s eyes rolling… It was a collision of fine dining meets cheapskate hell. We got lucky, they decided to open the banquet room and we got a table in fully air conditioned bliss away from the hoi poloi.

To start we had a few apps. M ordered the Lobster Dip. A ramican of soupy dip surrounded by chips with a presentation by TGI-Fridays. The level of peppers in the watery dip rendered the addition of the lobster moot.

I ordered a dozen steamed clams and a half pound of crawfish. Presentation was again less than inspired and while the little necks were acceptable the crawfish was sub-standard. Maybe I ordered out of season but many had recently molted and the shells were mushy while on others the meat was dark not light and sweet. I didn’t finish them.

For an entree M had the Steak & Lobster. Petite filet and a smallish lobster tail. Due to her current condition she had to order the steak medium (she still eats it MR at home when we know the source – Belmont Butchery – and are sure of proper storage and preparation). At that temp the steak was small and disappointing. She declared no more steaks in restaurants until after the baby arrives. The small tail seemed fine, although M said it was a bit gritty like it hadn’t been rinsed well, until I got the bill. The dish is listed at ‘market price’ (I know, we should have asked) and I really think that for $40 the tail should have been a little more substantial.

While she ate I gorged on the All You Can Eat Snow Crab. Nearly 4 pounds of the tasty things. The last plate they brought out had a distinctly overpowering brine smell that brought my gluttony to a screeching halt. The support service for my feast was lacking. Not enough lemons, forgetting butter, no extra napkins. I actually had to ask for a shell cracker since he hadn’t brought one out and when he did it had rust marks on it.

The service was mediocre but I have a hard time really blaming the waiter. It is very hard to switch gears from fine dining to turn and burn especially when a lot of people who hit ‘All You Can Eat’s’ are terrible tippers. The kitchen was also collapsing and you could hear servers arguing over ownership of plates in the window. His service wasn’t the best but I still tipped at 20%, albeit pre-tax for a change.

They made what I can only describe as an akward and not well thought out change in the bathrooms. Paper towels have been removed to be replaced with air dryers. The placement was bad unless they intended it to be triggered and blow on your back while your washing your hands and while the lack of towels makes it hard to clean a toddler they seem to have forgotten what they serve. A lot of their dishes are steamed sea food and involve dipping said seafood in butter. Add alcohol to the mix and you’ve got messes. In my case a well buttered goatee. After washing the butter out I really don’t want to stick my face in a hot air dryer, a towel will do just fine.

I think The Hard Shell is due for an overhaul. The raw bar at Can-Can seems much more fresh and exciting. Their menu looks the same as it did in 90’s, quality is down, presentation perfunctory, and service is slip-shod. I think it may be time to look for a new place for my snow crab fix.