I didn’t want to tell you all about Cook Out coming to town. There were plenty of ways to spin it, and I used all of them. But, I also didn’t hide the truth. It’s cheap and tasty, the everyday food that people generally look forward to (until they step on the bathroom scale). The NC chain is going to have lines into the street on Quioccasin even after they add more Richmond locations. So, to make sure your trips to the West End are fruitful when you drive past Cook Out feeling exasperated, here are three reasons you should have been getting your take-out near Regency Mall for years now instead of lining up like lemmings at the drive-thru for bags of heart attacks wrapped in Bible tracts.
Read Mediterranean. Think Middle Eastern. Taste Heaveny.
Mediterranean Bakery and Deli
Part market, part sit-down cafe, but most notably a deli counter with to-die-for prepared foods that you’ll want to cart home by the pound and never cook again. And the falafel sandwich, one of the best in Richmond, you’ll eat that in the car on the way home. The frenzied togo food experience may be a guilty pleasure that few of us admit to. But this fine falafel will be less shame inducing than the Cook Out experience.
A few highlights:
Mjadra - this place introduced me to one of my favorite foods. Lentils, rice, olive oil and onions. That’s it. But the flavors are so satisfying.
Falafel – rolled tight in a pita with pickled idunno whats and a pile of minced herbs, tahini sauce, and sparse tomato and lettuce so as not to water it down. This thing packs a punch in every bite.
Meat pies/cheese pies/spinach pies: called fatayer in Arabic, you’ll recognize these from Greek menus and markets. There are numerous kinds of fillings, including chicken, all generously stuffed. My wife liked the warmly spiced ground beef so much, she forgot all about the greasy burger she’d had her heart set on.
Shawarma: even the least adventurous eaters swear by this sandwich (usually the chicken). They also offer lamb. Better yet, if Cook Out had you gearing up to ingest more muscle fibers in one sitting than you can actually flex on your own body – in addition to the 6″ shawarma, they also have a 12″ version.
Feta cheese(s): they have Greek feta, Bulgarian feta, French feta, and domestic feta. Oh, did you think there was only one kind? Talk to the person at the counter, and they’ll talk you through which one (or two or three) will suit your needs.
Baba ghanouj: …that straight tastes like butta. No really. My wife wouldn’t take more than one bite, spooked by the butteriness. I love it. Smoky-smooth. Someone explain to me how they elevated roasted eggplant puree to this.
Fantastic customer service at the deli. Any question I’ve ever asked has was fielded in a thoughtful way. There’s no one giving you a hard sell, and still you just can’t leave there with one thing – instead, arms overloaded with deliciousness.
Some highlights from the market:
- bulk spices for cheap
- more pita than you’ve ever seen in one place
- harissa for $1.69 (north african chili paste)
- Olive oil and ghee.
- Bulk nuts and seeds. Two things most people should eat more of.
- Frozen okra, artichokes, and *green* fava beans.
A small West-End taco stand with BIG flavors.
Habanero’s Taqueria
I’m not going to tell you about this place. It’s not that I posted about it before. I really just want to bring you someone else’s take. Kristen Holmes used to keep a food blog called Downtown Foodie. But, in the past year, there haven’t really been any posts there (she’s been in Miami). Instead she’s logged dozens and dozens of thorough Yelp reviews (places in Richmond you’ve never heard of!). In a recent rave, she covered Habanero’s Mexican Grill, now called Taqueria Habanero’s. Here’s an excerpt from that entry:
You want real Mexican food in this city? There are not many places to choose from. Most places are TexMex, which I am no fan of. One of the few places to choose from is Taqueria Habanero, aka Habanero’s Mexican Grill.
If you’re anything like me, the English version of the name scares you off. Don’t be scared, you hole-in-the-wall lover you! This is no chain restaurant with cheesy murals of rural life on the walls. This is a super clean taqueria, my friends, yes, a taqueria at its finest. Tortas, burritos, tacos y ya (I lied, they also have salads, burgers, nachos, quesadillas, etc, plus fajitas and a couple other dinner entrees with rice and beans)! You ain’t gettin’ no enchiladas verdes up in here, panas; this is Mexican food and done so well you’ll start drooling at the sound of its name after the first time you try it.
So, on to what I ate– torta de carne asada– Mexican toasted sub with chunks of real grilled steak, avocado, and jalapeno peppers with mayo and such. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s amazing. Habanero’s does this sandwich the best, hands down! The meat was better seasoned than anywhere else I have ever had it, the bread was like the best sandwich bread I have had. I don’t even know what kind of bread it was, but it was soft and fluffy and shiny on top. The meat was cut in perfectly-sized small chunks and there was tons of it, Mmm!
The other thing I had was my first taco al pastor. This is a marinaded pork taco with lots of fresh cilantro and onion and lime juice. I am SO glad I tried my first taco al pastor, and really my first authentic taco ever, at this place. The meat was seriously well-seasoned, very spicy, perfect-sized chunks, nice sweet onion with a tangy bite from the lime juice and the delicious brightness of tons of cilantro. Seriously, I could’ve never even imagined something so simple could be so incredibly good.
Thanks, Kristen. Glad we both like this place.
She goes on to compare their food and prices to La Milpa (yes, she’s had authentic tacos before, I’m sure), but generally tries to prepare you for the reality that this is a West End take-out joint – sanitized, a tiny bit more expensive, and with burger options (along side the tamales, sopes, and tacos de lengua y cabeza de vaca for those who want the authentic Mexican cuisine).
That little guy makes good pizza.
Pizza Express
Richmond has got plenty of pizza options, but only a few really good ones. This Pizza Express is one of the good ones. The first person to tell me about it was Gary York, owner of Coast and Enoteca Sogno. I think he rates it second behind Capriccio’s for Richmond area pizza.* That’s high praise from an Italophile (real word, look it up – dude loves everything Italian, especially GOOD pizza). Gary is funny like that. If you make a product that he holds in high regard, he’ll be by to give it a try and make his assessment. I’m the same way. Make sense of the world by scooping it up in your hot little hands and tasting it.
I was certainly drawn in by its unsuspecting appearance. And the name, Pizza Express? The generic name seems to help somehow. While ordering, you watch the staff tearing through pizza after pizza. Stretching dough, saucing, scattering cheese, spreading toppings and repeat. Shuffling pizzas back and forth from the oven. This rhythm is what you’ve got to entertain you while you wait for your pie. The hypnotic effect helps pass the time until you get your own.
The crust is light and the toppings are in proportion while delivering good flavor. Pizza Express passes the test with flying colors for lots of NY style pizza fanatics around Richmond, and it puts a little strip mall near Regency on the map. I liked the plain cheese. But, they also do extreme stuff like bbq chicken or steak and cheese, and everything in between. The place really tries to be everybody’s style, while sticking to their NY style foundation. I’m sure their food makes the West End feel a little bit… no, not like New York City, but maybe New Jersey.
*Gary has since had some some less than stellar pizzas and may have sworn off Pizza Express. I think we need to go and find out for ourselves. He’s getting his permits for Enoteca Sogno, by the way, and hopes to be open in a couple weeks.
You forgot Bodega Latina, Two Brazilian places, El Caporal (quite good, esp. the carnitas), and I think there’s a Bosniak place in the area, too.
Great suggestions. I’ve changed to title of the post to reflect incoming wire reports from our Southside correspondent. Stay tuned, folks.
Agreed. El Caporal is awesome!!
Not mentioning the fried plantains at Taqueria Habanero’s may in fact be a crime.
I had no idea. Putting those on my list. Lately, I’ve been having dynamite fried plantains at the more authentic latin places. It’s a good sign that Habanero’s is no exception.
The baba ghanouj from Mediterranean Bakery and Deli is really awe-inspiringly good. I wish my brother and I had as much restraint as your wife. We’ve been known to polish off whole tubs of it with alarming speed.
But, how do they do it? My baba doesn’t taste/feel anything like that. My wife didn’t show restraint. She was repulsed. The texture was too unexpected.
thanks for the tips – my mom lives ‘out there,’ so I’ll definitely have to try these!
At the end of the day Cook Out is just another fast food place. Might be better than some worse than others, but they are still just another fast food joint. The less fast food we have the better. I kind of wonder how you do 40 flavors of shakes with real stuff. But hey that is just me. And they are opening another on Broad St. near Staples Mill in the old Bullets. I will say that Cook Out isn’t Quaker Steak and Lube, but they are trying. They can keep their preaching where it should be, in their own minds and hearts. My relationship with God is just fine. Med bakery has some good food. Place is kind of below basic but I am there for the eats. Pizza Express can be pretty good or not. Shame they can’t be more on target.
Gary, I am not sure i understand your comparison to Quaker Steak and Lube?
I’d avoid Trak’s. Seems to be a place for the bridge club ladies at lunch and expensive.
love love love Pizza Express.
They do have some die-hard fans. Speak up if you’re reading this and Pizza Express is your favorite.
They are both in a race to the bottom. With just the type of stuff that Richmond can’t seem to resist. I am sure that Style will call them both a great addition to the dining scene. And RTD will give them 3 stars. Jason has given CO more press than they could have dreamed or prayed for.
I generally agree about Richmond’s “race to the bottom” when it comes to food. It’s not that we don’t have positive developments, but places like Cook Out just appeal to the most base elements of society’s culinary impulses. And if it’s not tremendously tasty, like those Cook Out fans will attest, then it’s utter crap that somehow keeps meat-market bars in compliance with ABC regs.
As for driving press to Cook Out, I may have tried to be first, but that freight train was on a collision course with Richmond regardless. I just wanted to get in a few cheap shots, maybe get people thinking about it critically, before each and every person in town swallowed their shtick whole. That’s my philosophy in general, in case anyone missed it in the “crap Style Weekly says” comments. Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away. I’d prefer to apply pressure, get people talking, and hope that our collective culture develops a habit of fighting back when confronted with BS.
Oh, and Quaker Steak? I heard they air the UFC fights. Maybe I need to pay a visit sometime. ;o)
Now, I don’t know anything about this Quaker place, except that it
Great list. I’m a huge fan of Medit. Bakery. In addition to the mujaddara, fatayer (both the beef and the feta) as well their grape leaves (yum) and kibbe, it’s one of the best places, in addition to Nick’s Produce on Broad, to stock up on Lebanese olive oil, tahini and big jars of ghee. Prices are very reasonable and the owners are super nice. Glad to see it’s doing so well.
We used Med Bakery “catering” (really, just big containers of take-out) for our wedding rehearsal dinner held at a friend’s house. It’s our go-to comfort food place (I’m veggie and my partner is half-Lebanese). I could totally live on the Mujadara!
Watch out everyone, your going into the “Ghetto” naming such nice ethnic spots as above. Oh… be very careful. “Ghetto” was a term recently used by someone in a RTD comment about the upcoming Cloverleaf project area. Others, chimed in with basically the same garbage. Yep, they were talking about an area that has some good Peruvian chicken, a Mexican bakery and Ice Cream among others.
Thanks Jason- I hardly ever get further than Horsepen when eating out (mostly because there are so many amazing options within walking distance) but I will have to try some of the above mentioned. Thanks for taking all the hard work out of finding delicious dining options.
I remember when that Mediterranean Bakery was a Boston Market in like 1996. Thought that was the greatest food on Earth when I was in high school. Haven’t been since the change about 14 years ago. Guess I should check it out. Love your blog, I am a new reader.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing my review, Jason! I love Taqueria Habanero
. Mmmm, just saying it wants me make a torta al pastor right now, haha. Too bad Miami can’t deliver in terms of Mexican food.
Great post on Mediterranean Bakery. I’ve been telling myself I’d go see what it was about for years now (remember when it used to be Montana Gold Bakery? Yum!), but I’ve yet to set foot in there. I love falafel, so that’s a good pull for me:) Mjadra sounds yummy, too. I love lentils. Thanks for sharing about this place!!
In terms of Quaker State, I haven’t been, but my mom said she was seriously underwhelmed :/.
I haven’t been to the new Brazilian place that replaced the lunch spot. They had some yummy quipes that reminded me of the Dominican Republic
!
By the way, please try the delicious pupusas revueltas at Pupuseria Dona Mercedes in Chesterfield on Meadowdale Blvd and Hopkins Rd. Very unexpected location, but super yummy and delish curtido (pickled cabbage salad).
Yay, I’m loving this post and the enthusiasm for undiscovered corners in terms of Richmond’s restaurants!
correction…it’s just Pupuseria Mercedes. Pupuseria Dona Mercedes is on Jeff Davis. My mistake.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the new little gem Balkan located at 8905 Patterson Ave -right past Parham & Patterson intersection. If you leave Regency thru their back exit on Starling Dr (the road btwn Regency & BJ’s) and then take a left onto Patterson Ave Balkan will b a few feet up on your right. Their food is amazingly delicious, super friendly service & not too expensive. They have a number of vegetarian options which I’ve yet to try because the meat choices are too delicious to pass up. Jason -Karen would be quite content. Also the coffee/espresso mixture is amazing & only $2 a cup. It’s a family owned business & we were told they make everything but the gyro meat in house. The place smells of their freshly baked lepinja bread which is wonderful all on its own. I could not recommend this place enough & we plan on stopping by on all of our BJ trips from here on out.
Thanks RVA! I’ve never been to Mediterranean Bakery but have wanted to for a long time, thanks for the push in the right direction.
And nice call on Taqueria Habenero’s. Having just moved from Boston, I was missing them and glad to find one I liked here in RVA.
Just had tacos at the (new?) Taqueria Habenero cart at 10th & Main!
Yum! No tongue tacos on the menu there but they said to come by the Quioccasin location, which I’ve been meaning to do.
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