I knew Nicole Lang came to Richmond on a mission. Her infatuation with the River City was no secret. Now that she’s settled in and making desserts for Black Sheep and Mamma Zu’s and maybe for you, her first project has gone public: a movie about a southern phenomenon, the festive looking spread called pimento cheese. Personally, I’m fascinated (and not just because I can already hear the impeccable southern soul soundtrack she’s probably assembling). Neither my wife nor I can ever recall having eaten pimento cheese, not during our Northern Virginia childhoods, nor as RVA transplants the past 15 years. But, apparently, we’ve been missing out. And now we’re gonna get straightened out by the red speckled spread. But, the full education will only be available if the movie gets made. And that’s where you come in. In anticipation of your support, Nicole is sharing some of her pimento recommendations below.

Read on.

I was born in NYC and raised in the NORTH.

There, we ate peanut butter and jelly or sometimes if our parents were feeling crazy, fluffernutters. We were never given what my friend from California refers to as “cheese salad”. (more…)

Fredericksburg only marginally more tolerable than Beirut.

My wife gave me Medium Raw for my birthday. I probably wouldn’t have bought it for myself, figuring that Kitchen Confidential was like that great first album where everything afterwards is just down hill. Besides, Anthony Bourdain’s breakout book was enormously influential on my interest in food, restaurants, and writing.  I figured, Confidential gave me plenty to chew on, much less to digest. If I want more of his shtick, on any given week, Tony’s enigmatic and educational narration of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations delivers his evocative prose in bite sized portions. Besides, what do I want with another book?  My bookcases are full of very worthy but unread stuff.

Well, I just finished reading Medium Raw, and for a mixed bag of musings, it was cohesive in a very personal way, and I loved almost every minute of it. Tony is speaking to the reader from what will probably be the pinnacle of his successful post-cooking career, and yet, he’s still spraying AK-47 bullets like Scarface going out in a blaze of glory, not because they’re coming to take him away, but because cynical angst is evidently in his nature.  Reading it was alternately exhilarating and depressing. I didn’t want to share my discovery. How obvious. Of course I’m a Bourdain fan-boy. I’d only forgotten how well he writes.  Well, Medium Raw is too good to be wasted on me alone. If you’ve read Kitchen Confidential, you need to follow it up with this one.

I was so humbled by the rich quality of every sentence, conjuring imagery, offending multiple constituencies, and making you believe that whatever his topic of the moment may be, it really matters.  Bourdain’s writing talents are impressive enough to be demoralizing.  Why even bother blogging? I may as well look for a new hobby.  Nonetheless, I really related to Tony’s inability to control his most primal knee jerk reactions or to tame his inner skeptic.  And so that gave me hope… that after taking the lemons you’re given, and making lemonade like the cliche goes, people might actually drink it and like it, or dislike it, either way spurring you on to continue.

Signing and posing for over an hour. Gracious and good humored.

I Had No Reservations

When I found out that Anthony Bourdain was coming to my alma matter, the University of Mary Washington, I fantasized about being asked to introduce him. (more…)

Who doesn’t like to dine al fresco? A meal outside with fellow Richmonders can’t be beat. Of the many many times I get asked for restaurant recommendations, about half of those are inquiring about outdoor seating and patio dining. And of course, it needs to be centrally located, preferably walkable. Reasonable requests, if you ask me. We crave fresh air and sunshine paired with a meal and a cold beverage. And when we find a good spot to relax and graze with our peers, we guard it and return to it, making it part of our routines (even if the food isn’t very good – you know which patios I’m talkin’ about).

Given the natural tendencies described above, it shouldn’t be surprising that a portion of Richmond’s homeless population regularly gather in Monroe Park, and several meal programs meet them there for scheduled free meals. The city doesn’t have many downtown green spaces, or shady places where homeless people can avoid loitering charges from police. During rainy days, there’s only so many bridges to hide under. The ancestral trees in Monroe Park, on the other hand, are plentiful. And, there’s bathrooms with running water and the criss-crossing inroads allow food program vehicles to set up inside the park, away from the street.

With a free meal, the price is right, and the generosity often brings out gratitude and camaraderie. For a too fleeting moment, while breaking bread under the trees, the noise of the city falls away, and diners and servers alike can enjoy a feeling of community. If you’re living on the street, unemployed or in transition, those public meals are good medicine for hard times.*

Center City Misleadership

Unfortunately, some of the more powerful figures in Richmond see the removal of the homeless and their feeding programs from the park as central to Monroe Park’s potential renovation and the sterilization of VCU’s surrounding blocks (you didn’t think it was gonna stop with Panera, Chipotle, and a dozen other chain restaurants, did you?). (more…)

I’m conducting some experiments for a future post. Here’s one night’s findings.

dough. maybe brush on some olive oil.

The following are pictures I posted to Twitter, but I thought they could use a little more attention.

My banh mi mecca, boarded up!

What has happened to my beloved Asian Bakery Cafe? Their tofu banh mi has been a staple of my diet. Rumor has it that they had a kitchen fire. Maybe their rivals, Catina, next door, know something about what happened (not insinuating foul play here). If anyone has any details, or wants to do a little digging, please share (media outlets – pretty please with pickled veggies on top?). I think we should do everything we can to help the Asian Bakery get back on their feet. They avoided the limelight of the banh mi throwdown, but a little fanfare might be in order if they’ve fallen on hard times. (more…)

Poisoned fish tacos

Everything was set for the grilled fish taco throwdown.  Jonah’s husband had seared off his 2lbs of mahi and I did the same with my orange roughy.  At the picnic table, we arranged our ingredients. Her purple cabbage and flour tortillas. My jalapeno crema cabbage and corn tortillas.  Assembling and eating got underway and everyone raved about the creamy dressing that seemed to give my tacos an edge.  “What’s in that dressing?” asked Jonah.  Oh, sour cream, jalapenos and their pickling juice… and a little ranch dressing. “What?!” Jonah’s eyes got as round as saucers, her voice louder and more shrill.  “You mean MSG? Ranch with MSG?”  Um, I dunno. Looking down at my plate for some way to deescalate.  Ranch-ero sauce maybe? We went on with the tacos, putting the idea of chemically salty ranch enhancement behind us.  Once home, I checked my bottle of ranch in the fridge.  Damn.  MSG.  Since that day, I’ve been looking at the back of every bottle of ranch dressing I come across. Yup. MSG in every one of them.  Makes a damned good taco though.

White baby food

Jasper will hardly eat anything we put in front of him.  (more…)