Uncategorized
Uncategorized
Strawberry Street Wine Shop(ping)
For those of you who missed the Portuguese wine tasting at The Empress, there’s still time to play along at home (and Genevelyn will likely have more, maybe at C’est La Vin in Shockoe Bottom). If you’re looking to pick up bottles from that event, The Empress has got’em. But, for big box shoppers, there’s not really a great selection at Total Wine. If you’re a Kroger grocery person, you’re out of luck for Portugal’s wine. The wine guy in Carytown’s store says they only have Vinho Verde, no reds (and that I’m the second person to ask him in seven years). He also added that River City Cellars would surely have Portuguese Reds, and shop owner, Julia, confirms it.
Across the fan, in Strawberry Town, that one block of boutiques Strawberry Street Vineyards are a good source for Portuguese bottles. If you don’t see the right away, check the end of the Spanish section (probably the case with a lot of wine shops). These range from $10-15. Not the bargain basement buys that drew me to Portuguese wines, but well within most casual drinkers’ range.
In the wooden boxes on the ground on the right side of the store, Strawberry Street Vineyard shows off the bottles that they believe are great values. This bottle has a nice looking label and the tasting notes/hype are appealing. They’re almost out. Any of you tried it?
On the $6.99 rack (or 3/$20, I think), SSV carries a few from Portugal. If you’re gambling on bargain bottles, these probably won’t be a complete waste of money. I would have bought one of each, but I need to make room in my wine rack to accommodate them (damn sober January). Any pals wanna help me with this? Come over and distract the kids while I make dinner, and I’ll pour the wine.
While on Strawberry Street, pop into 8.5 and pick up some Caputo’s double-zero flour for your pizza dough, some plum tomatoes for your sauce (yes, they have San Marzano’s too), and a bag of Blanchard’s MammaZu blend coffee. It says “the one and only,” which seems like a backhanded reference to Rostov’s Mamma Zu coffee, which I’m assuming isn’t available anymore, or maybe not Ed Vassaio endorsed? I dunno. This stuff is muy fuerte. Kinda like asking Ed a dumb question when he’s working: Not for the timid.
Back to Kroger… Despite not having any Portugues red wine, they were flush with Chilean stuff, another area known for its quality price ratio. Santa Rita is a brand name I hear a lot, but haven’t tried. Their entry level stuff, 120s, was on sale when I passed through. Though I didn’t pick up any bottles, it was tempting. The reviews online aren’t great or terrible. Any of you tried these?
I didn’t mean to upload this picture to the blog, but here it is. Maybe this unrelated item would actually make a good pairing, and thus it’s a happy accident. On my first trip to the Big Apple Supermercado way out on Jeff Davis Hwy, I spied cans of tomatillos. Immediately, I thought of a green pizza sauce. Next thing you know, I’ve got the can along with Queso de Oaxaca (aka: Mexican mozzarella), and some cilantro for the sauce. Back home, I whipped up a salsa verde, spread it on pizza dough, topped it with way too much of the queso, some Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, some frijoles negros for color contrast and to proclaim “pizza latina,” and lastly a bit of pineapple so I’d be able to call this monster Pizza al Pastor. I thought it was delicious.
—-
Sorry this post is extra sloppy, without hot links, and less than cohesive. Just getting things out of the draft folder before closing up the blog for good.
Uncategorized
Leftovers: Pics and Blurbs
Lunch special at The Phoenician: Falafel, spinach and feta fatayer (pie), fattoush salad, and a great lemon tahini sauce (not pictured).
Before eating at Rocoto Chicken in El Jardin Market on W. Broad, you are presented with a serving of fried cracked corn kernels. Stay for the… everything else.
These two bottles of wine were given to Karen as a Christmas bonus. We’re assuming they’re beyond our usual spending limit. Looking forward to a night when we have dinner after the kids are asleep and we can kick back and enjoy the juice.
I couldn’t convince Jasper that he looks extremely handsome in the hat I’d just bought him on clearance for $0.97.
These fishes jockied for my attention on Christmas Eve. The bug-eyed guy and one of his friends came home with me and were turned into pescada Veracruzana. They’re “pink snappers” from a sea-food shop on Belt Boulevard.
Snazzy labels could be just the enticement you need to start using Kecap Manis sweet soy sauce. Tan-A has the un-snazzy bottles, but these were on a shelf in the little Asian store by Maldini’s on Forrest Hill Ave.
I forgive Family Thrift Center for their unsafe carts, since they’ve provided Emerson with a light-saber and me with a 1972 cookbook by Diane Kennedy.
Our pug, Frankie, loves to bask in the sun on this glider. Occasionally, he falls asleep. Even less frequently, there’s a pillow handy. (not a full-sized basketball, by the way)
IThis is the best tres leche cake I’ve ever had. My coworker lived in Mexico for 25 years and now she brings one of these to every party the office throws. Actually, I just left that job. The cake might be the thing I’ll miss the most.
Feel free to pretend that Jasper is connecting with Picasso in this picture. I asked him to look at it. He did. I asked him what he sees in the picture. “Nothing.”
The Family Peace Festival took place in Byrd Park this past year. I’d always wondered what the event was like. Turns out, it’s awesome. The music, the food vendors, the kids activities and crafts. Don’t miss it next year, Richmond.
I wanted to conclude with a picture of my beautiful wife, but they’ve all got kids stealing the scene. There’s a new priority for me: take more pictures of Karen. This one captures her ascending the steps of the National Museum of Art with Jasper in tow.
the end
Closing the Blog on RVAfoodie
I didn’t really see this coming either. My resolution for 2012 was basically to “keep my eye upon the donut and not upon the hole.” Pretty innocuous, up-beat, and more of a mantra to enhance my parenting skills with positivity than anything to do with my food and social commentary. But, here I am, calling it quits, as of February 1st. Going on indefinite hiatus, putting this blog and the @RVAfoodie Twitter account in a time capsule to be revisited, maybe never.
I'd just run out of these Moo cards. Another sign to give it up.
Man, I’m gonna miss it. This thing has connected me to so many people, media outlets, restaurants, good guys and bad guys, the list is humbling. It’s really been my window to the world. What will come of all of my thoughts that percolate up and don’t get captured by my phone? Or the hot-button questions that need asking, that clearly concern a larger community? Will I lose my fascination with food if I drop the exhibitionism? I don’t know. But I do know that, besides the food thing, I have more interests and aspirations than I have time or energy for. And I pass up on so much, because I let the RVAfoodie priority push possibly more important things into the background. That’s reason enough to shake things up, redirect my focus, take inventory of the debts that I owe to myself and those close to me, and hopefully rediscover assets that I’ve probably forgotten.
Although I’m being vague about a complicated set of factors that have necessitated this decision, for those looking for a simple explanation, the biggest catalyst is that I’m starting a new day-job situation and need to give it my full attention. I’ve just ended over 10 years of public sector employment, supporting Virginia’s system of adult education (namely GED and literacy programs). And I’m going to work for a company providing online learning options toward the same goals of a GED credential and college and career readiness for people of all ages. My background in distance education and all this experience with social media makes me more than qualified. Now I’ve just got to make it work. It’s something I believe in, so I think I’m up to the task (contact me at guardjk – @ – gmail if this peaks your interest, or you have connections to pass along).
Yeah. My motivation is partly economic, as much as it is about trying a different approach to life in pursuit of a fresh perspective. I’m sure I could find time to squeeze in a scaled down amount of blogging and tweeting, but I’d rather not. I wanna see what life reveals to me while going cold-turkey from the habits (both bad and good) that went along with the extroverted food commentator hobby. It is ironic, though, that my consumer advocacy wound up being so damned consuming. Too bad I never bothered to monetize it, or make it truly sustainable, or establish any verifiable outcomes for the resume at the very least. Boo hoo hoo.
But don’t think for a second that I’m not proud of what I’ve achieved with this over the years, in part thanks to the participation of the commenters and guest bloggers who’ve contributed here. It’s been a real labor of love trying to balance my curious palate, the moving target of the public’s interest, and a healthy dose of my own politics. That’s why I don’t attribute an iota of this decision to a handful of detractors in the restaurant-bar scene, or the supposed alternative media, or the convenient overlap between the two. I’m okay with leaving a number of accounts unsettled and things on my todo list (though a few might get posted here before January is over). But mostly, I’m comfortable stepping back and letting other voices fill that void. There’s almost 80 food bloggers at EatingRichmond.com (and more on the verge of going public). So, keep an eye on that space. For anyone looking to pitch in, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna need someone else to step up and help the designer/programmer, David VanBlaricom, with that food blog aggregator.
This blog grew out of a relatively innocuous impulse, and at the urging of my wife: to try and share a food experience that I didn’t feel worthy of – a wedding present dinner at The Inn at Little Washington in 2006. I wanted my parents to be able to taste the fruits of their generous gift, if only vicariously. And I kinda felt like the experience would have been kinda wasted on me if I didn’t try to tell the tale. That last part has continued on throughout this blog and tweets. What’s it matter how much I enjoyed or puzzled over that or the subsequent thousands of food experiences, if I don’t find some way to share it? Just consume and forget? I guess I’ll be rediscovering that sensation come February, and ironically, my wife will breathe a sign of relief.
Hopefully, this site’s spirit of “frugality and uncouth social action” will find other outlets and spokespeople.
Thanks for reading and participating.
Jason Guard/RVAfoodie
Uncategorized
The Empress: Romancing the Throne
When one of Karen’s upcycled furniture customers gave her a gift certificate for The Empress, I crossed my fingers that she’d take me with her for dinner. I’ve come a long way in my regard for The Empress. Hearing numerous friends rave about the food, the service, the coffee and the specialty lemon-aides definitely made me curious. Seeing them opening early and staying that way until late, it seemed pretty clear that they’re working hard to take advantage of every opportunity to earn customers’ repeat business. It was tough to reconcile The Empress’ image from the one I’d constructed in my mind while trying to tell the story of developer and fraud, Justin French, pushing Enoteca Sogno out of his rental property where you now find The Empress. And, when I finally did see The Empress for myself, I found a romantic restaurant with conscientious cuisine, and a genuinely warm and welcoming owner in Melissa Barlow.
Of the two starters, or small plates, the scallops were possibly too delicious. The bed of sauteed leeks, along with the well seared and slightly sweet scallops, set such a high bar. I mean, where could the meal go from here? It even compelled me to email the man who cooked it, Aaron Hoskins, asking him to confess to putting some kind of bacon in the pan before serving it (ok. I did email him. (more…)
food
Aaron Hoskins Invites You to The Empress
This is a guest blog by Aaron Hoskins, head cook (and social “media darling” ;o) at The Empress. He talks up his exciting menu for this Tuesday’s Tasting, transitions and changes, and exceeding expectations.
A few weeks back, one of the lovely servers here at The Empress had an exchange with a few rvadine twitter regulars about Portuguese wines. This sparked an interesting conversation between her and I one night, as we had just decided to start up our Tuesday Tastings again. That chat slowly set into motion the turning yet exhausted gears in my brain and with a few nights of research and brainstorming I had a menu. I’ll be honest, I didn’t (and still do not) know a ton about Portuguese cuisine. But the best place to start seemed to be the basics: heavy on the fish; unpretentious; soulful. So I had my outline and a few ideas and came up with what I think is an interesting, delicious menu. I even threw in some excellent (if I say so myself) vegetarian options. I was raised by a vegetarian that wouldn’t accept tofu and veggies as his only options, so I’m not comfortable offering the world things that would insult my Father. The kale and pickled chard stem terrine (that will be lightly torched to give it some smokiness), is not your everyday, run of the mill veggie burger or portobello sandwich.
Why should you come to the tasting? Well… why shouldn’t you? You get the a wonderful sampling of the world of Portuguese wines: green, white, red, and rose. We aren’t going to shove Port in your face and act like there’s nothing else. This is beautiful, well made wine that is falling through the cracks behind it’s French, Spanish, South African, and Italian cousins.
(more…)
tea
Reali-Tea Sips on Main
Do you ever find yourself scouring Richmond with the Seinfeldism SERENITY NOW SERENITY NOW raging through your head? That predicament has repeatedly lead me to Reali-Tea at Lombardy and Main, and the destination did the trick every time. Usually, it’s mid-day, I’m still caffeinated and XYandZ sources of tension are weighing on my mind. It’s tea time, or so I’ve learned, and I’m glad it’s becoming part of my reality.
That's one cute tea cookie.
Reali-Tea stocks about 60 of their own blends of tea, about 1/3 of which are herbal. The flavors are as exotic as you can imagine. While writing this I’m drinking coconut lime verbena in the cup pictured here. It was a tough choice between that and “monkey picked,” but that one has caffeine, and I don’t condone animal enslavement (just kidding! Monkey picked means that the tea is rare, but some brands claim actual monkeys do pick the tea leaves). (more…)
Uncategorized
Changing the Way We Eat, 1/21
Click on this flyer so you can actually read it.
wine
Drink More Portuguese Wine
This winter, I’ve immersed myself in wine bargains. I’m rebounding, actually, from a bad break-up with craft beer. Not that the beer wasn’t satisfying. I think I was actually gettin’ too much satisfaction. Now, the subtlety and moderation that I associate with wine is serving as my remedy tonic. And, being a value-focused consumer, I really enjoy the pursuit of a good QPR (quality price ratio) that takes you through different regions, grape varietals, and producers.
Spanish reds have always been my fall-back plan for bargain bottles, but recently, they’ve been replaced in my repertoire by even cheaper Chilean Carménère and delicious blends like Oveja Negra. The juice so often over-delivers for the price, that I almost feel guilty. Almost. Instead, I want more! And better! And cheaper! That’s what lead me to Portugal.
Port Wine on the Decline
If you’ve never tried Port wine, I want to thank you. The port wine business has been drying up for decades, forcing the vineyards to branch out. Now, the very skilled Portuguese winemakers are trying to get a foothold in the (normal?) wine world by selling their juice at great prices, sometimes $6-8 per bottle. I’m still doing my homework on Portuguese wine, but that’s where you come in. We may have to pester our local wine shops, and make suggestions to our favorite restaurant sommeliers. How else are we supposed to do our Portuguese wine homework if they’re not stocked with the stuff?
In the meantime, we have Genevelyn Steele, a local Portuguese wine advocate (among other things). She’ll be pouring at a Tuesday tasting at The Empress on , January 24th. Four wines and four very exciting sounding food pairings (with vegetarian options) for $20 (menu and details posted at the bottom). Should be good and you should go. I expect, Genevelyn will jump on here to correct my inaccuracies, hopefully with a guest blog entry sometime before the tasting.
So, that’s one way to get our feet wet in Portuguese wine. Another is Wine and Beer Westpark on Broad near Gaskins. Matty Lake is closing his beautiful shop in February. Last I checked, they had a bunch of the highly rated Cabriz (probably really cheap, when he starts liquidating his inventory).
Get Beyond the Label: No Yellow Tortuga for You
Back to the homework. Most of the grapes are probably as unfamiliar to you as they are to me. A couple of them look like the word “tortuga” (touriga nacional and touriga franca) and another actually is tempranillo, only in Portuguese (tinta roriz). The prominent regions named Dao and Douro hint at their wine’s flavor. George Taber’s new book, A Toast to Bargain Wine, describes Portuguese reds as “big and masculine.” With labels that look about as pretty as you’d expect a big masculine wine maker to create, you pretty much have to go on faith and stop associating low price with low quality. Hence, Portuguese wines are still obscure (not counting the light and fun vinho verde).
My hope is that I’ll get to taste more of these strange grapes and challenge my palate and not my wallet. According to Gary Vaynerchuk, that’s a great role for Portuguese wine in your beverage rotation. Here, he profiles a $6, an $8, and a $15 bottle of Portuguese wine (including that Cabriz I mentioned), unfortunately outdoors in the blazing heat. But, it’s still pretty informative, and of course, bombastic. Note that he was going ape-shit for Portuguese wine in 2009 and probably for years beforehand. And, those prices have probably gone up, at least on the cheaper ones, as they’ve gained acclaim.
But, let’s not let Gary have the last word. Make your recommendations here and tune back in for another post on this topic in a little while.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
Join us for another Tuesday tasting! This time we’re getting into Portuguese wine. This will be a great crash course into a region producing spectacular (but under appreciated) wines.
Course 1: Santolo Vinho Verde
Scallop Ceviche w/ pink pepper crème fraiche
(Vegetarian option: Vegetarian ceviche w/ pink pepper crème fraiche.)Course 2: Grand ‘Arte Alvanrinho Lisboa
Bacalhau com todos (Salt Cod with “everything”)
Olive oil poached salt cod with carrots, potatoes, broccoli rabe, and garlic.
(Vegetarian option: torched kale and pickled chard stem terrine with carrots, potatoes, broccoli rabe, and garlic.)Course 3: Quinta Cachao Douro Reserva
Braised beef tongue, paella, and herb quick bread
(Vegetarian option: Oyster mushrooms w/ saffron flash fried in thyme oil over vegetarian paella and herb quick bread)Course 4 – Fita Azul Passion
Dessert – Peach and goat cheese tartlet with lemon aspic and fresh thymeSome items will be available as entrees after the event and ask about special to-go pricing on the featured wines!
$20 per person
Reservations strongly suggested
804-592-4000
Please let the reservation taker know if you’re selecting the vegetarian option.
restaurants
Eat and Make Up
What is the worst experience you’ve had in a restaurant, and how did they make amends? Also, if they didn’t do enough, what did you want them to do? These questions come to mind sometimes while watching my Twitter timeline. Every so often, someone fumes publicly about the worst ___ ever and how they’re never going back (read: you should never go there either). I’m not wagging my finger at them, cuz I’d have to stand in front of a mirror when I did. But, it begs the question: Are we trying to get a message to the business, or to our larger community, or both? And what could have been done to prevent the hullabaloo?
One time, I went out for dinner with Karen at one of Richmond’s most respected restaurants. Let’s call it “I’ll Race Ya!” It was a wine-dinner prix fixe, well above the amount we usually spend when we go out. For us, it was a special occasion/celebration type thing. The place was packed. Servers and wine pourers were weaving in and out of crowded dinning room. Our three courses seemed to fly by, but not nearly as fast as we finished our tiny pours of the trio of wines that were paired with our meal. Underwhelming doesn’t quite describe the shortcomings. We tried to talk to someone about the wine, or about a major problem we had with one of our entrees, but our concerns fell on deaf ears, and we never saw the same staff person twice to actually get any follow-up to happen.
The walk home was sullen and depressed, instead of celebratory. We both wished we could have that time and money back. And then, one of us kinda cried a little, which made the other REALLY FUCKING MAD at I’ll Race Ya, I tell ya. I generally accept that I’m gonna get hoodwinked half the time I leave the house, but make my wife cry and I’m preparing for battle like Rambo, strapping on the artillery, streaking my face with grease paint, and tying a red kerchief around my head.
When I got home, I wrote an email and fired it off to the owners about the impersonal system they put in place that in turn produced our unhappy meal. Talking to my mother on the phone in the subsequent days, she told me that some of her favorite businesses are ones where she’s had to complain. And when the problem was resolved, she returned, becoming an even more loyal customer.
A couple days went by without hearing back from the restaurant owners. Great, aloof types. I found their fax number and sent the letter that way. Not long after, I got a response via email (they’d gone on vacation and just returned). My receipt was pulled and our meal was comped. They hoped we’d return, and we did. Many times, actually. Not for the wine dinners, but whatever. The place is on top because they please their customers, usually without angry emails and faxes involved, but even then, there’s a way.
So, what’s your story?
