Until this Style Weekly blog went up, I wasn’t going to post the story that I’d actually already written… well, not before Restaurant Week had ended. Now, I feel like Kanye West, speaking out on live TV in the middle of a pledge drive for the Red Cross.  But, I trust that those who are enthusiastic about giving to the Central Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels won’t be easily deterred or distracted, and I’ll bet they appreciate constructive criticism that might benefit future versions of the annual event (also, Kanye was right).  Personally, I’ve already put out so much positivity about the event that my sincerity is going to come into question if I don’t come up for air.  So, here goes.

As Deveron Timberlake reports on her Style Weekly blog, there are three restaurants participating in Restaurant Week this year, without the official blessing of the event’s organizer: Bonvenu, Coast, and The Melting Pot.  Only one, Bonvenu, received a cease and desist letter, warning that their attempts to bill themselves as restaurant week participants would bar them from future official participation.  The other two missed the application deadline, from what I hear. (during this post, I’m going to do my best not to name names and associate blame with a particular person, especially since I like that person’s restaurant A LOT, who doesn’t?  So, expect pointed criticism, while trying not to point fingers – an impossibly fine line for sure)

At first, it seemed to me to be silly high school BS, where a big fish in a small town plays gate keeper by some arbitrary set of self-important rules.  And then the lawyer letter comes to light.  In the past year, I’d talked in passing, to chefs and restaurant owners who wanted to participate in Restaurant Week. Some were told that they’re not expensive enough. Another was told that they’re all full and not taking on any more restaurants.  Then there’s the clause that you must first be open for a year minimum.  That’s just the story that’s been told to people who can actually get a response to their requests to participate.

I understand what it’s like to make up the rules as you go, especially when the good intentions of a benefit event are concerned.  But, who cares if a restaurant isn’t usually expensive?  Sure, it’s fun to do RW at a place you normally couldn’t afford (that’s my approach), but it’s also great when a restaurant kicks it up a notch for the cause.  What professional cook doesn’t like to show off a little and make fancy food for a special occasion, maybe see the regular customers dressed up for a change.

We could debate this one, I’m sure, but it’s not even consistently applied by Richmond’s Restaurant Week coordinators. Caliente isn’t expensive. Caliente is a bar, and a relatively cheap restaurant, better known for their 100 hot sauces than anything they actually cook. Most of Michelle Williams’ restaurants, if they are expensive, absolutely should not be.  Europa, Water Grill, The Hill Cafe, Hard Shell, and deLux are some of the most underwhelming restaurants Richmond has to offer – conspicuously straining RW’s advertisement of “exceptional dining.”

Hey, if we’re going to criticize restaurants that want to be allowed in, then that leaves open the members of the elite cooking clique who are granted the right to be seen giving to the cause.  And I do get it that whatever the appeal of lack-luster restaurants, they must be satisfying somebody, so let their customers get in on the philanthropy where they’re comfortable.  Too bad the same consideration isn’t given to every restaurant that asks in.

This year, Bonvenu posted on their Facebook page that they didn’t qualify for Restaurant Week because they hadn’t yet been open a year.  Meanwhile, Secco Wine Bar and Amour Wine Bistro were both official participants and they’ve both only been open less than six months.  These stories undermined my enthusiasm for the event, but only slightly. Overall, I love seeing restaurants trying to make good on the PR that’s sure to come from a good showing during the high profile event.  It adds a spirit of good natured competition for chefs and speculation for food-enthusiast onlookers, and in the end it’s for a good cause. I hope it continues, and I hope it grows.  This isn’t a critique of George Bush not caring about black people.  It’s about being fair and taking restaurant philanthropy to new heights.

In the end, I have to wonder why it’s a particular restaurant convening Restaurant Week for the Food Bank and not “The Food Bank’s Restaurant Week.”  I seriously doubt the Food Bank would see much wisdom in fewer restaurants participating and donating to their bank account annually.  “We’re all full,” probably wouldn’t come up.  And with more widespread participation, we might actually have some diversity in the cuisine.*  If they did it bigger, the resulting revenue would more than pay for the staff required to coordinate it.  Or how about multiple restaurant weeks? With themes? Or neighborhood based? I dunno, I’m just saying that we don’t have to limit our giving to one event a year and we don’t have to ask for permission. Leaders: step up. There’s surely more creative ways to approach this than centralizing it on one restaurateur and projecting a clear impression of the petty playing of favorites.

UPDATE: Here are some quotes from email exchanges with some local restaurant owners (given with condition of anonymity):

…that fine dining clique is sooo powerful in this town. They have all the media people in their pocket ,etc.

The [RW coordinators] use Restaurant Week as a self promotion tool for them and their friends. Its pretty common knowledge amongst restaurant people. Most just don’t care because its also a chaotic choice to be involved. But the boost in income is drastically disproportionate to the money donated. And there shouldn’t be a limit to who can participate in a charity.

Also the restaurants that don’t or can’t participate suffer an unusually slow week in the Fall which is typically a busier time.  Its like herding cattle through a chute. They all get herded to the same 24 restaurants. Meanwhile the rest of the city is tumbleweeds.

Yes it is good to donate to the Food Bank. But they would benefit greater from a direct donation than these restaurants taking credit for being high end middle men.

UPDATE: More ideas for improving Restaurant Week from Style Weekly.

*If there’s one reason why Restaurant Week is underwhelming for some, it’s the monotony of the menu options.  If participation is dependent upon membership in a clique of New American boutique restaurants or haut versions of Southern classics, we’re likely missing out on many would be supporters. I was asked by a coworker which Asian restaurant would I recommend for Restaurant Week.  Um… there. are. none…? No Wild Ginger.  No Moshi Moshi.  Indian in the West End?  Ethiopian would be good too. And who wouldn’t flock to Mekong in anticipation of the surprise beer course, (following the surprise beer amuse bouche, naturally).

The nice folks who run RVAnews.com asked me to write up a list of recommendations based on the Restaurant Week menus. It was a bittersweet gig. Not just because we had a baby while I was reviewing the menus (and now I surely won’t get to try the food), but because I tend to have trouble getting excited about Restaurant Week and RVAnews would surely want me to keep it positive, since it’s for charity and all.

If I find time, I’ll write up a bit more about my (mostly minor) qualms with Richmond’s parade of prix fixes. But right now, I just want you all to see this story I wrote. It turned out to be a worthy writing challenge and I really enjoyed it. Amidst the Caesar salads and crab cakes, I found lots of menus that sounded tantalizing and significant. Restaurants that are trying to impress. Sure, it wasn’t the majority, hence the need for a list of highlights, but I digress.  These places are worthy of enthusiasm, if you ask me. Of course, what catches my eye, may not be what catches yours (though I did try to figure in the general public and my wife’s affinity for slow cooked pork). I hope you’ll take a look and get some comments and report-backs going over there.

Also, there are other features in RVAnews Restaurant Week rundown, so check those out too.

Since Whole Foods opened in Short Pump two years ago, despite the distance/traffic/gas-prices, my household has driven out there to shop every 2-3 weeks.  I argued against it. We mostly held out for the first year, but that’s all changed.  Basically,  I blame it on my wife.  During that same period, we’ve been to Ellwood Thompson’s only a handful of times, usually out of desperation, and just for a few specialty items.  In fact, before Whole Foods came along, we weren’t really Ellwoods customers, even though we prefer natural foods, and ET’s carries lots of things we’d love to eat.  In short, hell yeah, I want Whole Foods to move into Carytown.  Ellwoods is so hellaciously expensive, making “Whole Paycheck” seem like a salvage store.  Each of my ET visits results in a receipt that feels like aversion therapy. “Okay! Not shopping there again.”

Natural food stores have been my weakness for the better part of two decades, but the trendiness of the health food movement hasn’t resulted in accessible options for average people.  Not in Richmond.  In a period of growth, Ellwoods seems to have elevated their target market several tax brackets, an eco-conscious playground more for Windsor Farms than Westover Hills.  Aspiring to serve only the customers who will pay the most doesn’t inspire much loyalty in me, I don’t care how local or natural you are.  I can’t taste the difference if I can’t fathom the expense (sustainable for who?).   Since most other grocery stores have started carrying some degree of natural products, we’ve made due with those options (usually from Kroger), as well as sporadic visits to ethnic grocery stores for obscure items, and by spacing out the occasional processed products with farmers’ market produce and Whole Foods for important must-have organics, etc.

There has already been a great deal of online discussion about a possible Whole Foods Market in the old Verizon space in the Museum District. I can’t really process all that’s been said, but I do have a few knee jerk reactions – important variables in any urban planning effort.  But, before we get to that, here’s what other folks have been saying (the comments are where it’s at, as I hope will be the case here):

• West of the Boulevard News convenes neighborhood discourse.
• Richmond BizSense attracts insights and brings in guest commentary.
• Style’s back page debate and a great response (read it after posting this entry)
• Michael Paul Williams breaks it down in the RTD.
• Ellwood’s campaign HQ.

If I left any good articles/discussions out, let me know.  This little rant isn’t intended as the final word.  Just more hot air to fill the balloon that will eventually take this debate into the decision-making phase.

Ellwoods is a wannabe BIG BOX store.

It’s been pointed out repeatedly that the “Don’t Big Box Carytown” campaign is  a thinly veiled PR move by Ellwood Thompson’s.  (more…)

Please consider signing the petition to the right to keep the park public and open during and after renovations.

*and feel free to share the video far and wide, but please forgive my incoherent ramblings that somehow didn’t get edited out.

A year ago, a conflict over coffee at my office made me give up drinking the stuff.  Well, that and I did a two week raw food detox that made me quit all kinds of fun things. My coworkers and I couldn’t come to agreement between their big red Folgers tubs and my Equal Exchange beans (or whichever fair trade bags crossed my path). I even offered a mid-level compromise of Eight o’Clock’s Colombian (Consumer Reports’ Best Buy). Eventually, I threw in the coffee filter and surrendered. Let them drink brown water.

During my time off the bean, I still had energy in the morning. I didn’t really miss the caffeine. About that time Lamplighter opened, practically in my back yard, and I wanted to support it, especially since the charming Jen Rawlings, of 17.5 fame is roasting the beans herself. So, I started ordering decaf drinks from Lamplighter, and the stuff was so good, I realized that I really missed the flavor of coffee, more so than the jolt. Also around then, Ellwood Thompson’s coffee shop (apparently being recast as a cafe type restaurant now) lowered their Clover coffee price down to something that wasn’t embarrassing to pay – that’s the coffee they brew with the ingenious Clover machine. Between these two coffee experiences, I started to get a fever for the flavor of really delicious coffee, and it sent me on a hunt around Richmond.

I don’t know what it was that drew me at first, maybe a trip to Aziza’s on the same block at 21st and E. Main, but I wound up at GlobeHopper getting a feeling for the East End’s sipping style. They’ve got this cute back porch and snacks that make me wanna hang out using their wifi all day long. But, it’s the coffee that brought me back repeatedly, quickly kicking me off the decaf bandwagon. GlobeHopper brews with Counter Culture beans, roasted and shipped from Durham, NC. I didn’t want to like the stuff, because the name seemed too target markety, an “alternative” you can identify with (to match our Che Guevara posters and Carhart pants). But, then I heard more about the “direct trade” ethics of the company, and I got a lot less offended when realized that in Counter Culture’s play on words, “counter” is where you set your cup of coffee at the bar – it’s about the coffee, not prescribing a lifestyle. (more…)

It’s not really as bad as the title sounds. But, it did make for some head-scratching, probably like you’re doing right now.

This tree is up to something.

For the past couple weeks, my wife has come home saying that the tree pictured here has got a bunch of Asian people under it wielding 5-gal buckets and rooting around on their hands and knees. What gives? And why the plastic gloves? Karen wants to know! She’s very curious that way. Give her part of the puzzle and she’ll work to find the other pieces. (more…)