I'd just run out of these Moo cards. Another sign to give it up.

Man, I’m gonna miss it. This thing has connected me to so many people, media outlets, restaurants, good guys and bad guys, the list is humbling.  It’s really been my window to the world.  What will come of all of my thoughts that percolate up and don’t get captured by my phone?  Or the hot-button questions that need asking, that clearly concern a larger community?  Will I lose my fascination with food if I drop the exhibitionism?  I don’t know. But I do know that, besides the food thing, I have more interests and aspirations than I have time or energy for.  And I pass up on so much, because I let the RVAfoodie priority push possibly more important things into the background.  That’s reason enough to shake things up, redirect my focus, take inventory of the debts that I owe to myself and those close to me, and hopefully rediscover assets that I’ve probably forgotten.

Although I’m being vague about a complicated set of factors that have necessitated this decision, for those looking for a simple explanation, the biggest catalyst is that I’m starting a new day-job situation and need to give it my full attention.  I’ve just ended over 10 years of public sector employment, supporting Virginia’s system of adult education (namely GED and literacy programs).  And I’m going to work for a company providing online learning options toward the same goals of a GED credential and college and career readiness for people of all ages.  My background in distance education and all this experience with social media makes me more than qualified. Now I’ve just got to make it work.  It’s something I believe in, so I think I’m up to the task (contact me at guardjk – @ – gmail if this peaks your interest, or you have connections to pass along).

Yeah.  My motivation is partly economic, as much as it is about trying a different approach to life in pursuit of a fresh perspective. I’m sure I could find time to squeeze in a scaled down amount of blogging and tweeting, but I’d rather not.  I wanna see what life reveals to me while going cold-turkey from the habits (both bad and good) that went along with the extroverted food commentator hobby. It is ironic, though, that my consumer advocacy wound up being so damned consuming.  Too bad I never bothered to monetize it, or make it truly sustainable, or establish any verifiable outcomes for the resume at the very least. Boo hoo hoo.

But don’t think for a second that I’m not proud of what I’ve achieved with this over the years, in part thanks to the participation of the commenters and guest bloggers who’ve contributed here. It’s been a real labor of love trying to balance my curious  palate, the moving target of the public’s interest, and a healthy dose of my own politics.  That’s why I don’t attribute an iota of this decision to a handful of detractors in the restaurant-bar scene, or the supposed alternative media, or the convenient overlap between the two.  I’m okay with leaving a number of accounts unsettled and things on my todo list (though a few might get posted here before January is over). But mostly, I’m comfortable stepping back and letting other voices fill that void. There’s almost 80 food bloggers at EatingRichmond.com (and more on the verge of going public).  So, keep an eye on that space. For anyone looking to pitch in, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna need someone else to step up and help the designer/programmer,  David VanBlaricom, with that food blog aggregator.

This blog grew out of a relatively innocuous impulse, and at the urging of my wife: to try and share a food experience that I didn’t feel worthy of – a wedding present dinner at The Inn at Little Washington in 2006.  I wanted my parents to be able to taste the fruits of their generous gift, if only vicariously. And I kinda felt like the experience would have been kinda wasted on me if I didn’t try to tell the tale. That last part has continued on throughout this blog and tweets. What’s it matter how much I enjoyed or puzzled over that or the subsequent thousands of food experiences, if I don’t find some way to share it?  Just consume and forget?  I guess I’ll be rediscovering that sensation come February, and ironically, my wife will breathe a sign of relief.

Hopefully, this site’s spirit of “frugality and uncouth social action” will find other outlets and spokespeople.

Thanks for reading and participating.

Jason Guard/RVAfoodie

Updated with a last hurrah of tweets on January 31:

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Retiring at midnight! If I can’t be grandiose now, when? (for @HeadPlaygirl)

31 Jan

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I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that RVAfoodie was bigger than Jesus. I shoulda said, “He is my dark passenger.”

31 Jan

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@nickdawson if u got @RoosterCart’s rooster banh mi, I dunno where u can go from that apex of vegan deliciousness. Jen is quite capable tho.

31 Jan

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In all honesty, I have no eff-ing idea where I’ll find my next creative outlet, or where I’ll go vent and/or connect.

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There’s a pattern between the foodie conclusion and my switching day-jobs. I coulda gone either way, but… gotta follow the opportunities.

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I can’t even fathom how my relationships with my wife and kids were affected by the food blog hobby. But I can’t wait to see what I missed.

31 Jan

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It’s hard to believe, but RVAfoodie is older than both of my kids and pretty much conceived on my wedding night! (a month later, actually)

31 Jan

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This thing has been a big part of my life. Maybe too big. Bigger than Jesus! ;o) (bad Beatles joke) What’s gonna fill that void?

31 Jan

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The pile of hasty blog entries I posted this month was my attempt at going out with a bang. They inspired a whimper of a response. Fitting.

31 Jan

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Despite the air of finality, I can be found on Facebook, thru @byrdparkdotnet and the much more talented, @darlingoctopus.

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I know the foodie thing is just a hobbie, but minimizing it isn’t satisfying for me while trying to balance the day-job and the family.

31 Jan

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Essentially, I like food blogging/tweeting too much to continue spinning my wheels. Not enough time in my life to make progress and grow it.

31 Jan

I never meant for my blog to be about restaurants, and maybe wishful thinking here, but I hope it ultimately wasn’t. It’s like that saying, “Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people.” Philosophically, I wanted to talk about ideas, but I often settled for ‘things,’ like new places to buy food. The people and their businesses usually weren’t really what I wanted to be involved with. Except, I often liked restaurants (and sometimes the people too) and wanted to spread the word (failing to articulately split hairs here). And in the case of those places listed above, I’ve got a good feeling, or feel some affinity, and I’m sad I won’t get a chance to send the 15 Caramelized OpiNIONS readers out there to follow up on my recommendations.

If there were any justice, all of you would take me to a surprise going away party at Phoenix Garden. But, it looks like it’s just going to be an awkward goodbye, should we hug, okay see ya, kinda thing. I guess that happens when you announce that you’re breaking up and then continue to hang around for a few more weeks. Well, I tried to leave a legacy’s cache of posts as a parting gift. And the gift that’d be a great consolation in return would be if you all would pack Phoenix Garden day and night for the next year. Not because they’re good (I really don’t know yet), but because Richmond needs this dining option: vegan pho and banh mi sandwiches, fake meatball pasta dishes, Happy Family with five kinds of mock meat. Just look at the pictures on their website!

I gave up on Panda Veg back when it was Panda Garden and China Panda long before that. It’s time to support a new kid on the block of tofu. And this one seems like it has the potential to become more Sunflower in Vienna and less Grace Street grease pit, if it can overcome its location across from The Dump and past life as a strip club. The sign on the side is a bad omen, expressing a bit of desperation. Funnel cake might bring some people in, but probably not for the vegan chicken nuggets, and they’ll probably wanna know where the scrippers at.

Bike punx: I double dog dare you to put a PBR in your bike’s water bottle holder and pedal out Brook Road, past Taco Bell and the interstate, and coast to the bottom of a the long hill that leads to Phoenix Garden. Do it weekly. Call it “a noodle ride.” You’ll tell your kids about the days when you kept a weird little restaurant open with your Blue Ribbon beer fueled bike riding.

On the topic of vegan banh mi sandwiches, I’m glad that there’s a new option, but they’re going to have a tough time dethroning Jen Mindell’s version, made famous at the now closed Cafe Gutenberg. Today was Jen’s first day back slingin those subs in her Rooster Cart. It was stationed behind Bandito’s on Patterson, just off Boulevard. She’s switched to bonafide banh mi bread from Catina at Horsepen and Broad. The light and crispy bread, along with the BBQ tofu and picked veg are all totally dialed in perfection. If you missed your chance at one of these in The Bottom, now’s your chance. The Rooster banh mi might actually surpass any of her other sandwiches, by the way (it’s spicy fried mock duck, not actually male chicken, by the way). Maybe someplace like Pasture or Blue Goat will offer a cock’s comb sandwich as restaurant retort (probably already on the menu at Full Kee).

The sandwich you see above made me crave a Vietnamese ice coffee with condensed milk. Something about the spicy wanted sweet, or maybe I just hadn’t had my coffee yet. Then, I thought, someone needs to make that a milkshake flavor, or at least a bubble tea slush drink (not a banh mi milkshake, silly).

Somehow, these impulses and epiphanies sent me straight to RealiTea on Main.* I’d been meaning to buy some loose tea for brewing at home. Of the 60 varieties, I went with one I’d never had, Liquid Jade, a green tea with bergamot oil. It’s delicious. Very adult. With each sip, I feel more mature and full of gratitude. Namas-tea.

*are any local restaurants offering RealiTea’s tea? Get with that, folks. The stuff is not ordinary. It’s a destination drink. Full of flavors, perfect for food pairings, if you’re into that.

The message of a plant-based diet is echoed elsewhere in mainstream media and the marketplace. Healthy, local, and sustainable are all over the media and on everyone’s lips, giving the impression of a paradigm shifting popularity level and a change in society’s consciousness. But part of that new analysis isn’t getting adopted: The specific conclusion that many of our best and brightest food thinkers seem to have reached is that we need to eat less meat, if not abandon animal products all together. The arguments they make are increasingly sane and reasonable, and the prescription is often delicious. And yet, it doesn’t seem like that message has broken the habits of your average diner (or you reading this, or me writing this) and certainly not the food industry which seems to be responding with a rebellious middle finger.

What are we really doing with our mouths when we’re not echoing platitudes about a more politically correct diet? Judging by the latest food buzz, we’re eating piles of fried pigs ears, bacon wrapped sliders topped with foie gras, and a smattering of animal entrails served six ways on small plates. Concept restaurant trends, obscure animal organ obsessed TV chefs, and the lack of really delicious creative healthy food on menus or in deli cases… well, it seems like business as usual to me.

Or maybe the big business of meat eating is being squeezed through a tiny loophole with justifications like “nose to tail,” or “farm to table.”  And along with those slogans returns the common meat-focused diet that wasn’t really going to go anywhere to begin with, no matter how discredited or disreputable it has become.

It’s not a surprise that change is begrudging. After years of my own not too strict and mostly non-dogmatic vegetarianism, I would never have foretasted so many influential people coming forward about the need to shift toward a plant-based diet. And yet, vegetarianism has racked up numerous victories of late.  Maybe we should celebrate with a round of french fries and onion rings (fried in trendy duck fat, of course). In an effort to curtail my own jaded and unhealthy back-sliding, I’m struggling to truly take to heart even the simplest dietary advice. Michael Pollan synopsizes his findings in the Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food as “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” I’ll admit, it doesn’t sound too exciting. I’ve managed the first part, though. His conclusion came from an open question about the environmental and personal health of our country/planet’s industrialized approach to food production. Everywhere you turn, someone is advising that we scale back our carnivorous intake, calling for only one meaty meal per day, or at least one meatless meal per day and/or a single meatless family dinner per week. The efforts to persuade have taken many forms. And still, there isn’t a single vegetarian show on The Food Network. And are there any “Restaurants of the Year” who’ve earned their reputation by providing mostly meatless meals?

I’m linking to Dr. Caldwell’s book again, not so you’ll buy it, but so you can read the fascinating discussions that follow some of the reviews.

• A book called Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer appealed to people who eat meat using his own introspection and reasonable consideration of the facts at hand.

• Mark Bittman issued his How to Cook Everything with a vegetarian version and then a treatise on the problems of our obsession with meat in Food Matters. And throughout, his NYTimes columns documented his shift toward a “vegan til dinner” approach to eating.

• Iron Chef Mario Batali, a modern archetype of gluttonous indulgence in terms of his intake and critter cuisine wizardry in terms of his kitchens’ output, is now making vegetarian food a personal and professional priority. “I’m a vegetarian all day until dinner, and I try to eat no meat whatsoever on Monday and Tuesday,” he told the Detroit Free Press in 2010. “I think overall we’re spending too much of our natural resources on producing beef, and better natural resource management is essential to our future. … So I’m trying to be more responsible..”

• The Food Inc movie came out and featured Virginia’s own Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, with a slightly less nauseating tale of woe than we saw in Fast Food Nation a few years earlier.

• Forks Over Knives delivered a disturbing and riveting result of otherwise dry data that shows animal products to be the chief element in human illnesses and life-span reduction. (Richmond doctor, Nick Dawson found this movie especially motivational in his eating habit conversion)

• Dr. Dean Ornish and the author of Diet for a New America, John Robbins, prescribe a plant-based Food Revolution to “save the world and our lives.”

• Supernatural Cooking went from blog to book form, twice.

• A punk rock home cook went from angry outsider in Vegan with a Vengance to authoritative resource with Veganomicon to full on Martha Stewart mainstream with books on vegan cupcakes, pies, and brunch.

• Even the athletics focused are jumping on board. Brendan Frazier’s Thrive is gaining momentum by emphasizing high performance foods while “considering the amount of each natural resource that goes into food production in exchange for the amount of nutrients that food offers.”

All of this sounds like we’ve undergone some serious societal change. But, looking around the restaurant world and the prepared foods section of your favorite grocery stores, it’s apparent that meat is still the top priority in the American diet. It’s either the centerpiece or the source of flavor. Sure, vegetarian options are an undeniable requirement of doing business (hello portobello burger), but they’re still often forgettable (hello again portobello burger), and certainly not the enlightened focus of many kitchens or the basis of any chef’s repertoire who wants to maintain a steady income.

So, what are we supposed to think when we take in all this information that’s contrary to the food industry all around us? Or rather, what are we supposed to think when the overwhelming majority of food purveyors encourage us to ignore health and environmental wellness. Are businesses afraid to jump on board the veggie bandwagon? Is there no profit there? Or is it customers’ job to lead by example and put our money where our priorities are?  Well, first we’d have to change those priorities.  Ya know, be the change, before the doctor mandates reformed eating habits to save our lives.

I find Sebadoh’s ballad’s more beautiful than sad, though Lou Barlow can come across as a self-obsessed drama queen. This song isn’t exactly my story, but I might occasionally identify with a line or two in there. If you do find the song morose (I don’t), try this one on for size to cleanse your palate.

Of the two starters, or small plates, the scallops were possibly too delicious.  The bed of sauteed leeks, along with the well seared and slightly sweet scallops, set such a high bar.  I mean, where could the meal go from here?  It even compelled me to email the man who cooked it, Aaron Hoskins, asking him to confess to putting some kind of bacon in the pan before serving it (ok. I did email him. no bacon. just olive oil). Along with the scallops, we got grilled cornbread with tomato ragout, a mild comfort food style of dish.  For this, I felt like I needed wine to really get maximum satisfaction out of it.

I did a double-take when I’d seen a picture of the chargrilled vegetables with garlicky hummus in my Twitter feed. An attractive arrangement that’s not overcooked isn’t very common at most Richmond restaurants.  Aside from the smoked carrots (I love smoked everything), the grilled broccolini was the star. Have you ever grilled broccoli or broccolini? Go do that now and then come back and read the rest of this. Really.  I’ll wait. Why are you still reading? Go and lightly grill some broccoli!

Alright. Whatever. You’re still reading.  Surprisingly, Brussell’s Sprouts are also take surprisingly well to the grill (after a quick steam and some kind of sauce). These were roasted (not grilled) with chili oil. A few bites weren’t the least bit spicy, while others were volcanic, but all of them were perfectly tender, and the caramelized surfaces of the sprouts were the highlights, of course.   Our order of rich and creamy risotto was served with mushrooms and more leeks (swapped in for fennel, which the kitchen had run out of). Not a bad thing, as I don’t think I can ever have enough sauteed leeks.

The brown butter ice cream was rich and delicious, though it made me want some toasted pecans or some praline in the mix, maybe as a topping. How about sea salt in the praline? What’s that topping they serve on some softserve sundaes? Wet Nuts. Doesn’t sound appetizing, but that’d be great. Maybe a little spice: ancho chili wet nuts over brown butter ice cream.

They separate their trash. If that doesn’t earn them protagonist status, I dunno what. If The Empress can fulfill their website’s promise of serving most breakfast menu items in 5 minutes or less, they’d earn a spot in my heart for sure.

Although this post is focusing on the food from one dinner visit, I’ve got other, harder to articulate, things on my mind regarding The Empress. For starters, this place bears no resemblance to The Republic. If there was initially a relationship between the two, there’s not a trace of douchbag in the old Enoteca space now. In fact, despite The Empress’ unique cozy lounge vibe, the place still feels like it’s in search of an identity. Between the crepes and the gluten-free breads and pastas, there will be plenty of finicky foodie cliques happy to adopt that niche of a restaurant. But, a larger culinary focus or theme may be necessary to broaden their appeal. I dunno where that should come from, but having room to grow is a good thing, if you ask me.

Across the fan, in Strawberry Town, that one block of boutiques Strawberry Street Vineyards are a good source for Portuguese bottles. If you don’t see the right away, check the end of the Spanish section (probably the case with a lot of wine shops).  These range from $10-15.  Not the bargain basement buys that drew me to Portuguese wines, but well within most casual drinkers’ range.

In the wooden boxes on the ground on the right side of the store, Strawberry Street Vineyard shows off the bottles that they believe are great values.  This bottle has a nice looking label and the tasting notes/hype are appealing.  They’re almost out. Any of you tried it?

On the $6.99 rack (or 3/$20, I think), SSV carries a few from Portugal.  If you’re gambling on bargain bottles, these probably won’t be a complete waste of money. I would have bought one of each, but I need to make room in my wine rack to accommodate them (damn sober January).  Any pals wanna help me with this? Come over and distract the kids while I make dinner, and I’ll pour the wine.

While on Strawberry Street, pop into 8.5 and pick up some Caputo’s double-zero flour for your pizza dough, some plum tomatoes for your sauce (yes, they have San Marzano’s too), and a bag of Blanchard’s MammaZu blend coffee. It says “the one and only,” which seems like a backhanded reference to Rostov’s Mamma Zu coffee, which I’m assuming isn’t available anymore, or maybe not Ed Vassaio endorsed? I dunno. This stuff is muy fuerte.  Kinda like asking Ed a dumb question when he’s working: Not for the timid.

Back to Kroger… Despite not having any Portugues red wine, they were flush with Chilean stuff, another area known for its quality price ratio. Santa Rita is a brand name I hear a lot, but haven’t tried. Their entry level stuff, 120s, was on sale when I passed through. Though I didn’t pick up any bottles, it was tempting. The reviews online aren’t great or terrible. Any of you tried these?

I didn’t mean to upload this picture to the blog, but here it is. Maybe this unrelated item would actually make a good pairing, and thus it’s a happy accident. On my first trip to the Big Apple Supermercado way out on Jeff Davis Hwy, I spied cans of tomatillos. Immediately, I thought of a green pizza sauce. Next thing you know, I’ve got the can along with Queso de Oaxaca (aka: Mexican mozzarella), and some cilantro for the sauce. Back home, I whipped up a salsa verde, spread it on pizza dough, topped it with way too much of the queso, some Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, some frijoles negros for color contrast and to proclaim “pizza latina,” and lastly a bit of pineapple so I’d be able to call this monster Pizza al Pastor.  I thought it was delicious.

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Sorry this post is extra sloppy, without hot links, and less than cohesive. Just getting things out of the draft folder before closing up the blog for good.

Lunch special at The Phoenician: Falafel, spinach and feta fatayer (pie), fattoush salad, and a great lemon tahini sauce (not pictured).

Before eating at Rocoto Chicken in El Jardin Market on W. Broad, you are presented with a serving of fried cracked corn kernels.  Stay for the… everything else.

These two bottles of wine were given to Karen as a Christmas bonus. We’re assuming they’re beyond our usual spending limit. Looking forward to a night when we have dinner after the kids are asleep and we can kick back and enjoy the juice.

I couldn’t convince Jasper that he looks extremely handsome in the hat I’d just bought him on clearance for $0.97.

These fishes jockied for my attention on Christmas Eve. The bug-eyed guy and one of his friends came home with me and were turned into pescada Veracruzana. They’re “pink snappers” from a sea-food shop on Belt Boulevard.

Snazzy labels could be just the enticement you need to start using Kecap Manis sweet soy sauce. Tan-A has the un-snazzy bottles, but these were on a shelf in the little Asian store by Maldini’s on Forrest Hill Ave.

I forgive Family Thrift Center for their unsafe carts, since they’ve provided Emerson with a light-saber and me with a 1972 cookbook by Diane Kennedy.

Our pug, Frankie, loves to bask in the sun on this glider. Occasionally, he falls asleep. Even less frequently, there’s a pillow handy. (not a full-sized basketball, by the way)

IThis is the best tres leche cake I’ve ever had. My coworker lived in Mexico for 25 years and now she brings one of these to every party the office throws. Actually, I just left that job. The cake might be the thing I’ll miss the most.

Feel free to pretend that Jasper is connecting with Picasso in this picture. I asked him to look at it. He did. I asked him what he sees in the picture. “Nothing.”

The Family Peace Festival took place in Byrd Park this past year. I’d always wondered what the event was like. Turns out, it’s awesome. The music, the food vendors, the kids activities and crafts. Don’t miss it next year, Richmond.

I wanted to conclude with a picture of my beautiful wife, but they’ve all got kids stealing the scene. There’s a new priority for me: take more pictures of Karen.  This one captures her ascending the steps of the National Museum of Art with Jasper in tow.

A few weeks back, one of the lovely servers here at The Empress had an exchange with a few rvadine twitter regulars about Portuguese wines. This sparked an interesting conversation between her and I one night, as we had just decided to start up our Tuesday Tastings again. That chat slowly set into motion the turning yet exhausted gears in my brain and with a few nights of research and brainstorming I had a menu. I’ll be honest, I didn’t (and still do not) know a ton about Portuguese cuisine. But the best place to start seemed to be the basics: heavy on the fish; unpretentious; soulful. So I had my outline and a few ideas and came up with what I think is an interesting, delicious menu. I even threw in some excellent (if I say so myself) vegetarian options. I was raised by a vegetarian that wouldn’t accept tofu and veggies as his only options, so I’m not comfortable offering the world things that would insult my Father. The kale and pickled chard stem terrine (that will be lightly torched to give it some smokiness), is not your everyday, run of the mill veggie burger or portobello sandwich.

Why should you come to the tasting? Well… why shouldn’t you? You get the a wonderful sampling of the world of Portuguese wines: green, white, red, and rose. We aren’t going to shove Port in your face and act like there’s nothing else. This is beautiful, well made wine that is falling through the cracks behind it’s French, Spanish, South African, and Italian cousins.

You also get a reasonably (just being honest) authentic sampling of Portuguese cuisine: ceviche, salt cod, paella, and beef tongue (plus veggie options). And the best part? It’s only $20, yes, only $5 a course. It is about as competitive as you can get in this town for what we’ll be giving you. Actually, no. I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say it’s one of the best values in Richmond for a tasting. Four small pours and four small plates, $20. That’s a steal. We aren’t breaking the bank for a reason. It’s about the food, the wine, and exposing as many of you as possible to this restaurant in a somewhat casual, playful environment. Wine tastings should be delicious, informative, and most of all: fun.

Now you’ve probably read enough to wonder “Who is this guy and why should we listen to him?” I’m new, a nobody, a cook, a food lover. I’m young and inexperienced but I live for this, the food and the experience. As well as for my own and your discovery. There is something that shakes a cook to the core about having a complete stranger tell you how happy the food they’ve just eaten has made them. I’ve been given a ridiculous opportunity to show off for the world with the food I love and make everyday and the food I have yet to think of.

There’s been a lot of focus on The Empress lately. We seem to be media darlings. Is it deserved? Some people may think that it isn’t, and honestly I may not argue with them. This restaurant has gone through some growing pains the last year or so. We’ve earned a reputation for being a bit slow and as a place that only does food meant for the gluten, dairy, or casein free. Well you know what? That’s why you clean house. Remove what isn’t working and push forward. Shake things up. Put the focus back on the food and on the dining experience so many of you enjoyed and crave. That’s why Melissa, the owner, and I practically sleep here. The future of this place is in our hands and neither of us want to see it fail. If we’ve let you down before: try us again. If you used to love us and we broke your heart: “I’m sorry baby, I’ve changed.” This isn’t going to be the same restaurant moving forward.

Melissa, maintaining her role as chief of culinary creativity, has welcomed my fresh idea and recipes and as a team we are collaborating some awesome changes. We have wonderfully exciting plans for 2012. We’ll be starting lunch, dinner and alcohol delivery for the surrounding area. Starting February 1st we’ll be having gluten-free pizza and beer nights (every Weds.) and will be selling a small amount of frozen pizzas for our gluten-free crowd. We won’t be doing restaurant week, but we’ll be doing things that week that will make you forget all about it. This isn’t the same city it was when The Empress opened. We have some amazing restaurants stepping up to the plate in this city and we refuse to be average.

So come out on the 24th. Let us surprise you.

Aaron Hoskins
The Empress