With new pizzerias introducing styles of pizza that are relatively new to Richmond, the quality of the pizzas that we make in our own kitchens should be skyrocketing from all of the inspiration. Anyone who’s been to Bellytimber is probably not about to bring home a Boboli to dress up for dinner. If you’ve had Aziza’s snappy thin crust, then a spongy pan pie will probably feel like a brick in your belly by the second slice. Making the pizza rounds in Richmond can be an exciting roller coaster, with new spots like Belmont Pizzeria and Fresca on Addison joining in and keeping it interesting. But for many of us, the real taste adventure begins at home, when we try yours hand as amateur pizzaiolos. This entry will hopefully start a compilation of shortcuts and best practices to help you (and me) make better pizza – for dinner and for fun.

Saucey and cheesy with melt-in-your-mouth dough.

Back in June, amidst all of the hype over woodfired ovens (a favorite flavor generator of mine), I weaseled my way into an invite to the Pizza Club gathering that had been meeting for most of the year. Victoria and Joe’s communal food party had just landed in Richmond Magazine, and the guest list was starting to get unwieldy for a Richmond row house. All the same, I really wanted to see what I could learn about making pizza from the folks calling themselves the Pizza Club, so I stopped by, totally unprepared (no pizza toppings or wine to contribute – just my cute toddler as a foil for my sleuthing).

White pizza with spinach.

Once I got past the Pizza Club’s secret knock, (more…)

Cooking and eating vegetarian food for nearly the past two decades hasn’t been all about coping with self-imposed limitations for me (I’m pretty permissive, actually), it’s also inspired and motivated me to have fun with food and make damned sure that my meals are anything but boring. This mission led me to explore wine on the off chance that a good bottle could take my food to the next level, or fill in a missing flavor puzzle piece, and keep cooking interesting.

I never saw myself caring about pairing wine and food until I realized that the most common advice assumed the food in question was meat or seafood.  Red meat = red wine. Chicken and fish = white wine.  Aside from the unbelievable oversimplification, why should meat-eaters claim grape juice as their domain?  Wouldn’t you think fermented grape juice would naturally compliment something besides meat? Like say, other plant matter, maybe? Some other quadrants of the food pyramid, perhaps?  Not every main dish revolves around animal products, not to mention all those awesome veggie side dishes that aren’t getting their due.  And are we doomed to the token recommendations of whites wine and light reds, so as not to overwhelm “delicate” vegetable flavors? And lastly, I want the non-vegetarians to know that you don’t have to run out and buy some meat just so you can enjoy a really special bottle of wine.  If Starbucks is “pairing” their burnt bean brew with microwaved frozen egg sandwiches, there’s got to be a better way to approach pairing wine and food.

To explore this issue deeper, I asked 10 year vegetarian and 7 year wine professional, John Witherspoon, to help me get a handle on these questions and to start a discussion among visitors to this site. I contend that vegetarianism fuels my appreciation of wine (as novice and cheap as I am with it), and wine education has added a great deal to my palate as a moderately conscientious eater. Reading John’s blog over the years, I was happy to see him combine adventures in wine geekery and vegetarian epicureanism. John’s name above links to the wine shop of which he recently took ownership, the Wine Cellar, way out on Midlothian. Be sure to visit him if you enjoy his contribution below, or to continue the debate if you don’t (and non-prose readers, scroll down to catch ‘the lightening round’ at the end – very useful cheat-sheet). The questions were all mine. The answers were all John’s. No prompting or conspiring. We actually haven’t met yet, but I hope to visit his shop soon. Read on!

Me: Why do we pair wine with food? Why is the wine and food better together than they are when consumed separately, or what’s going on between the corresponding flavors?

John: We pair food and wine because it’s the right thing to do, and in actuality wine can and should be considered just another food item on the dinner table. Although there are certain “perfect pairings”, the rules of pairing are not written in stone. Usually when pairing food with wine it can be broken down into two things, the acidity and/or the tannin structure of the wine. For instance, the reason Chianti (a Sangiovese based wine) goes so well with tomato based dishes is because of the acidity of the tomato is matched with the acidic backbone of the Sangiovese grape. (more…)

Let’s get to the point: I want the Saturday morning Monument Market to be as successful as the South of the James Market. If local growers and artisan foodies are going to make it in this town, they’ll need more markets in which to find their niche, and WE RICHMONDERS will need more opportunities to find them and support them.

I got all these surplus seconds for $10 at the Monument Market. Where were you?

I want the people who live in or near the Fan to buy their produce and craft-foods there. I want the vendors to return each week because they have good reason to believe the surrounding neighborhoods will turnout to support the market.  And I want to be able to get a cup of coffee and some breakfast/lunch food in that church parking lot on Saturday morning while relaxing and rubbing elbows with craftspeople, farmers, and friends.  Now that it’s closed for the winter, I want the market to come back bigger and better next year, with electricity for the vendors who need it and a promotional effort that will put the parking lot at Robinson and Monument on the Richmond map.

That’s the basic pitch. Once you’ve seen the pandemonium at SOTJ, it’s not so hard to imagine. Now here’s the wind up:

(for what it’s worth, I finished writing this in late June – my friends know I talked the issue to death back then. It was going to be published by a new magazine that never materialized. So, I stole it back. Better late than never.)

Farmers market shoppers in Richmond are at a really lucky point as we’ve seen the number of market locations multiply exponentially over the past few years.  We turn out in droves to support local produce and handmade products, to patronize our favorite vendors, and it seems that we stay to mingle with friends and take part in the community-building aspect of the weekly gatherings.  However, when the markets occur at exactly the same time, shoppers and vendors seem to be going where the established crowd can be found.  This doesn’t distribute the business very evenly, and it doesn’t help a new market get off the ground. (more…)

If you buy locally grown produce, and especially if you don’t, you probably have some burning questions about the whole farm-to-table movement.  So, please let your curious consumer queries spill out here, and I’ll get Russell Bell of Edible Old Dominion to “field” your questions.  In fact, I’ll throw out  a few soft… tomatoes to get the process started.

Pic from a provocative NYTimes piece. Click the pic.

• What’s more important? Local or organic?
• How do I know if my farmers’ market vendor is using natural/sustainable methods?
• Everything my toddler touches, he asks me, “Where did this come from?”  And, nine times out of ten, I say, “It came from the store.”  Is this a bad thing when it comes to food?
• Where can I get some local mangoes, avocados, and kiwi fruits?

Okay, that last one might not be very realistic.  But, when you’re not growing/producing your own food, it’s hard to differentiate between regional produce and the tropical stuff.  Should we not eat food from far away?  Remember, there are no dumb questions (my toddler would agree).  If you’re not sure about something, there’s probably a thousand other people out there who are too self-conscious to speak up.  So, let’er rip!  We’ll get a discussion going, and maybe we, the eaters, and the farmer both will learn something from each other.

FYI: We’ll cut off the questions after a couple days and post the answers when the farmer is good and ready. However, the new nested comments feature lets you post clarifying questions or responses after each comment/question.  And Russell may use that to mix it up in this post as well as a future response piece.

In the past couple years, I’ve been hearing people deride and malign the term foodie and anyone labeled as such.  The animosity is not unanimous, but it sure seems fashionable.  Have you spat on a foodie today? Have you met your anti-foodie tweet quota for the week?

It makes me wonder what foodies are doing that is so offensive?  It also makes me want to stand in solidarity, let my foodie flag fly, and see who wants to take a shot at me.  But, despite my self-assigned knick-name, RVAfoodie, I don’t think I’m really a foodie. At least, not the stereotype that seems to irk people (who really should find more important things to rail against). Not that I don’t irk people, mind you. But that’s another blog post.

This is probably something I should have addressed earlier, but it’s a real can of worms. Fortunately, the issue was kind of forced on me when Richmond.com decided to feature me when they kicked off their 5 Questions for a Foodie interview series.  Of course, I’m grateful for the exposure and the platform to explain my point of view (please do check it out), but this foodie phenomenon deserves further discussion.

What is a foodie?

I’m not sure I really know. But, people seem to have a clear image in mind when they get hostile about it. (more…)

This is a plug. I made reservations to attend a six course dinner with Belgian-style beer pairings on November 9th, but it might get canceled if more people don’t sign up BY TODAY.  After looking at the menu (below), it was a no-brainer.  Cafe Gutenberg, during the Banh mi throwdown a few months back, served up what I think might be the best and heartiest vegetarian/vegan sandwich in Richmond.  Six courses from the same kitchen, all made to satisfy beer drinking meat eaters, but with ingredients in line with vegetarian and vegan diets. That sounds like an exciting spread to me. And beyond that, the six Belgian-style beers are all highly regarded, and generally out of my price range.  People who are into beer or wine dinners and multi-course meals tell me this is a bargain for sure.  So, now that I’ve laid it on thick, please consider signing up ASAP (kinda has to be today).  The menu below should help you deliberate/salivate.

Epic Vegan Beer Dinner

1. Truffle Honey Frites
   Fresh Herbs and Parmigianna Reggiano or Nooch Crumbles*
   Duvel Strong Golden Ale
2. Pumpernickel Toasts with Brown Sugar Onions and Cabot (or Vegan) Cheddar Nutmeg Sauce with Warm Spinach and Sultana Salad
   Chouffe Trippel IPA
3. Red Chili Rooster Wings, Pickled Daikon Radish
   Ommegang Abbey Ale
4. Local Oyster Mushroom Pasta with Porcini- Truffle Cream or
   Vegan Sweet Pea Mac and Cheese
   McChouffe Brown Ale
5. Sauerkraut Spring Rolls!
   Wholegrain Mustard and Sour Cherry Sauce
   Maredsus Brun
6. Leifmans Kreikbeer Milkshake

It’s Tuesday, 11/9.  Tasting starts at 6:30 PM and is $38 pp BEER INCLUDED!… Seats are by reservation only, so RSVP with an email to info@cafegutenberg.com. Deadline is November 3rd so make your reservations soon!

*Nooch is an affectionate term for nutritional yeast. How they’ll make crumbles out of it, I don’t know. Can’t wait to find out.

UPDATE from Jen at Cafe Gutenberg (who says the event is officially ON!):

“we can keep taking reservations until Sunday. I’ll order lots of beer and keep fingers crossed.”