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…)

In September 2009, I came across a brightly colored palm card advertising ice cream and popsicles in Spanish.  The card showed pictures of day-glo frozen treats that seemed too psychedelic to be real. After searching online and coming up empty, I put the idea of scouring Hull and Midlo for this place pretty far out of my mind.

You want these.

Since then, my friend Matt took me for a surprise dessert treat after a trip to El Vaquero. Low and behold, in a strip mall behind Chicken Fiesta and La Sabrosita, sits the barely noticeable La Michoacana heladería (ice cream parlor). That visit was surreal. We sampled flavors frenetically. One tasted like a pat of butter on your tongue, another was straight essence of strawberry. I wound up with “moccacake,” a combination of coffee ice cream and thin ribbons of crispy chocolate. (more…)

This post has nothing to do with pizza. I’m not posting this to harangue Stuzzi’s owner for overhyping his alleged Neapolitan certification, nor expose him for seeming to fabricate Zagat reviews just as he’s purported to have stuffed the Richmond Magazine ballot boxes back in his Pasta Luna days.  Whatever with that stuff.  Richmond is a small town, and even our small time crooks can be seen as quaint when they’re being crooked.  So, we let them get away with whatever forever.

But if there’s one thing that’s very un-Richmond, it’s ugliness.  Publicly dishing out abuse is just not done.  Despite Stuzzi’s controversial popularity, there is a common thread running throughout the commentary on the various blogs and review sites: Peter Caserta is a misogynist, and an angry one.  His pattern of publicly belittling and coming on to his female employees and patrons crosses a line, or lots of them. As an employer, it’s an abuse of power and trust.  And for customers, his transgressions are upsetting and creepy.   But, don’t take it from me. The comments below speak for themselves.

From a comment on Varmit Pickrel’s Richmond.com review:

I have to say the owner did leave a bad taste with us… we asked to speak with him and he got belligerent with the waitress who relayed our request to meet with him. She apologized for his actions but the way he treated her and us as paying customers does make us put a return visit to on hold indefinitely. (more…)

I’m totally fascinated by anyone who steps out of the mainstream, defies conventional wisdom, and takes a stand despite certain consequences.  That’s why I’ve been meaning to write about the cash only rule at McCormack’s Whisky Grill and Smokehouse for months now and why I can’t resist tackling the topic as they’re getting ready to make some compromises in their principled stand. (but not in the spelling of whiskey with no E)

When I first perched on a barstool at McCormack’s Whisky Grill on Robinson, it was in their first couple weeks being open. Mac, the bartender and owner, let me know up front, “we only take cash.” Well, I’ve got $10 if that’ll afford me a rusty nail. Thanks to Mac’s willingness to explain the philosophy behind his bar’s economic system, I got a lot more than the drink for my ten bucks (gave the rest as tip).

The other guys at the bar were clutching their wads of greenbacks, ordering whiskey and canned beers alternately. But Mac made time away from them to explain how he’s learned from his experience running McCormack’s Irish Pub in the Bottom that credit cards and bars don’t mix, at least, not in the bar he was hoping to helm on Robinson. From the sparse looks of things on that night, I wasn’t immediately convinced, but I was riveted by the valiant effort.  Not only was Mac pushing the tantalizing flavors of hundreds of bottles of booze, he was putting it out of reach of anyone who didn’t play by his basic rule: cash only.

Drop the Debt

Mac went on (and on) about the trouble that comes with running credit cards (more…)

In the past couple months, visits to El Vaquero, Latinos Unidos, and various taquerias have brought memories of my honeymoon in Mexico flooding back.  Basically, I’ve been pining for the food that I encountered in Mexico City, Puebla, and Veracruz ever since that late 2006 trip, but it’s just recently that Richmond has shown me anything that even reminded me of those days.  This walk down memory lane is, without a doubt, a symptom of withdrawal from international travel. And since there’s no trips planned for the foreseeable future, it’s probably the beginning of a series where I mine my Mexican memories for a few fresh insights.  But hey.  Fantasizing about going abroad is cheaper anyhow, right? (making sad face now)

El Vaquero’s Fin de Semana

On the weekends, the alarmingly sparse El Vaquero offers special foods and drinks that you can’t get during the week.  There’s tamales for $1.50 a pop (be sure to get some salsa verde or crema to go with, cuz tamales tend to be a little dry), sopas (mostly offal/guts, but also seafood – both pho-like  in the hangover-curing dept), pozole (high on my todo list), and a lot more. I’m still working my way through the list (or bringing people with me to see them try out the meaty stuff.  If going during the week, be sure to try the refried beans.  They look like pintos and puree, but taste more like slow cooked pork than beans, which will probably make any omnivore swoon.

Fried plantains not included.

One thing I jumped at from the weekend offerings is the drink called atole or champurrado: a thick cinnamony hot cocoa.  (more…)

Apparently, Richmond Magazine did a readers’ survey, and this blog got the most votes for “favorite food blog.” What an honor!  I didn’t even know there was a contest.  It’s kind of funny to win a popularity contest when you’re trying hard not to win any popularity contests.  But, it’s validating, just the same.  Since some Richmond Mag readers might be visiting here for the first time, I’m including a listing of posts from the past year.  I hope it helps you get to know me, for better or worse.

There are so many food blogs in Richmond with large and small followings, both local and national in scope.  I try to make mine different and worth reading, or at least worth making fun of.  Richmond Magazine had Richmond.com as the #2 favorite food blog, which is peculiar, since it’s a Media General site with paid writers (whom I enjoy reading) and a confusing aggregation of local blogs, including this one (so, were some of the Richmond.com votes intended for actual bloggers?).*  And the legendary, BrandonEats is listed third favorite, despite only posting a few times in 2010.

I don’t know how many people voted, but I take these rankings as a sign that food writers’ reputations are kind of a misnomer in terms of our usefulness to readers, blurring the lines between professional and amateur, with fanfare attached to both authoritative and inquisitive perspectives.  All in all, the diversity of approaches gives us a rich environment in which to write about the food happenings in our kitchens and around town.  I hope it continues, regardless of who thinks who is “on top” (the readers will be the winners).

I’m still not totally sure that Richmond Magazine’s voters correctly understood that they were voting for best and not worst food blogger, but I’d revel in the recognition either way.  I do feel like I got off to a better start in 2010 than any year since starting the blog in 2006. (more…)

The showdown between Boka Truck and Cafe Gutenberg is here (Monday, July 26th), and Richmond will surely be treated to a lesson in tasty sandwich making. Hopefully, we can relax a little about authenticity and precise definitions after the previous primer post.  Of course, the food will be front and center in the banh mi celebration, but the eclectic personalities behind the competition are perhaps even more compelling than anything one could put between two slices of crunchy baguette.  In this second and last primer, I want to introduce you to some of the people involved.  These tidbits should add to your enjoyment.

Jen’s secret weapon: When thinking about the chefs behind the sandwiches, the image of spunky Jen standing her ground against the invading Boka Truck driving Patrick doesn’t really tell the whole story.  You see, Jen’s got a secret weapon. Vegans may beat a path to her door, but meat and potatoes are a high priority at Cafe Gutenberg too.  Introducing Garrett Berry, Jen’s partner in every aspect of managing and cooking and life.  They met in 2004 while working for the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, fell in love while playing a shit-talking game of pool, and followed one of their buddies to Richmond in 2005. From 2006 to 2008 they ran Cafe Gutenberg’s kitchen and took it over when the owners decided to sell.  These past couple years, they’ve been working steadily to reinvent the restaurant with their dream concept in mind, “to apply the details and standards of classical cuisine to the foods that regular people really want to eat, and to squash the idea that passion and skilled execution should be reserved for expensive ingredients.”

In the Cafe Gutenberg kitchen, Jen says, “we have a good balance where he does a lot of the Low notes- sauerkraut, braises and meats, and I do the High notes, the vegetarian stuff, salads and sauces…. We split up our duties more by components than by dish….The Banh Mi is a good example- I do the Tofu and Pickles, he does the Pork and Chili Sauce.” (more…)

Usually, on the Food Network’s Thowdown TV show, Bobby Flay rolls into town in his black SUV to challenge a local favorite cook who’s built a reputation on making their signature dish the old fashioned way. Inevitably, the show concludes with the audience and judges debating whether or not Flay’s version can truly be called XYorZ traditional dish, and then they (usually) decide the Iron Chef’s version is better because it’s got smokey chipotle peppers and avocado crema or some such erogenous additive that pushes everybody’s bacon button. Who wants to reenact that kind of made-for-tv mismatch?

We'll be dining on an homage to this monster.

Although Richmond’s Banh Mi Throwdown at Cafe Gutenberg on Monday does take some of its inspiration from Flay’s TV show, we don’t have the same circumstances in place. (more…)

This past weekend was chock full of food stories. So much so, that I couldn’t bring myself to sit down and try to write any one of them. Too much going through my head.   Instead of journaling, I’ve made a list – a menu of food stories that represents an inventory of anecdotes I can cook up for you (all true. not “cook up” as in “make up”). If anyone wants to read one of the stories behind the menu item, just say so in a comment, and I’ll do the rest (within 24hrs). Some of the stories are educational, ironic, surprising, or ignorant and self-effacing. Some come with pictures.  Others are explanations of Twitter posts.  I couldn’t tell you which, if any, are the most blog worthy.  That’s why I need you to dictate the priority here.

1. Preserving lemons: Ever since Olio turned me on to preserved lemons as a blockbuster secret ingredient, I’ve been wanting to cook with them more often. I rarely see them on shelves, and when I do, I can’t rationalize $7.99 for two lemons swimming in brine.  Meanwhile, the web has loads of tutorials on how to make them at home.
   

   Get messy, but don't be sloppy like me.

   When our friend Sabrina (@murdochkittster) came over this weekend, the low maintenance recipe seemed like a good activity. (more…)