Ploafmaster General

Tonight I made it back to Secco for the first time in a few weeks (I know, I go there all the freakin' time). I was pumped, particularly, to be able to try one of the new dinner items: olive oil poached halibut. According to Chef Tim Bereika, the dish is elevated to it's tasty state using an almond crust, parsley sauce, corn cream, charred melon, prosciutto and halibut noodle. That "noodle" appears to be made by piping a halibut paste of sorts directly into the fryer. It adds a pleasant crispiness and a striking visual impact when the dish is delivered.

All components worked in concert to produce one of the tastiest dishes I've eaten at Secco. I'm already a huge fan, but this was a big deal. Richmond should be proud to have food of this caliber and creativity coming out of Carytown.

I grew up in New Jersey where Dunkin' Donuts are as ubiquitous as 7-Eleven. I'm no donut junkie, but I do enjoy them and appreciate quality. Living in Richmond, however, means a comparative dearth of donut shops. There are a handful of Dunkin' Donuts franchises around, but too far outside the city for practical travel. We have a lone Krispy Kreme that's reasonably close, and they're pretty solid. There is, of course, the excellent Country Style Donuts out by the airport on Williamsburg Rd (you can find their goodies at the fantastic Lamplighter coffee shop, as well).

So imagine my surprise when I drove past a new donut supplier yesterday on my way home from dinner in the West End. In part of the space once occupied by the Richmond Decorating Center I saw the bright blue and yellow sign for Daylight Donuts:



This morning I decided to check it out, and while it wasn't bad it wasn't really anything special, either. The chalk-written menu boards over the counter didn't indicate what donut varieties were available. Nor were there any little signs in the case by each donut. Sure, some were self-explanatory, like the cake donut with chocolate frosting and chopped peanuts, or the glazed cruller. But the filled donuts? The donuts with different glazes? I received quick responses from the staff to my inquiries, but I could see this missing basic information causing a slow-moving line during the morning rush. At any rate, I settled on the orange-glazed cake and a powdered donut filled with custard:



The donuts were okay. The orange-glazed cake donut had a decent texture, but the glaze had only the slightest hint of citrus and tasted, for the most part, like generic sweetness. My custard-filled powdered donut fared worse. This approximated, to my memory, Dunkin' Donuts' "Bavarian Kreme" variety, but with less success. The so-called custard had the same unfortunately fake flavor, but the donut itself was inferior to the yeasty baked goods from Dunkin, Krispy Kreme, or otherwise.

The shop itself felt too empty and boring - cheap and generic decor gave the impression that they'd set up in a hurry on a limited budget (perhaps they did). I understand this is a donut shop and not a fine dining establishment, but nothing about this place invites you to stay, let alone come back. I may return once more to try the aforementioned donut with chopped peanuts on top, but I'm honestly not that intrigued.

UPDATE (4/5/2011):
Lest I lose my Richmond food credibility, I think I need to add something to the top of this post. The quality of this joint fell off very quickly. I mean seriously fast. It's too long a story and involves too much conjecture, but I basically don't go here anymore. The pizzaiolo that was the star of the kitchen no longer works there, unfortunately, but the pizza fell off before he left.

I stand by my taste buds' experience when I ate that first pizza at Stuzzi, but I'm sure some of my enthusiasm was affected by the novelty of finding proper Napoletano-style pizza in Richmond. Emotions easily override reason, especially where sensory input is involved.

The main point is, I had a great pizza on that particular night. I've since had better pizza from my own oven using a pizza kit from Pizza Tonight and some fresh mozzarella. If you like Stuzzi, fine. But you won't catch me in there these days.

****************************************

The bar has been raised for pizza in Richmond, Virginia.

Valerie and I dined at Stuzzi, the new pizza restaurant that took over the much-missed 1 North Belmont location. I was worried for a while that this place would be big on gimmick and low on quality because they lean heavily on their Napoletano pizzaiolo and hand-built brick oven in their marketing. They seem to have spent more money on decoration and branding than a typical pizzeria as well.

All fears melted like their freshly-made mozzarella in a 1000 degree oven when I took my first bite.

This pizza is the real deal. Other then the fresh mozzarella on our pizza Margherita, there was a perfect quantity of crushed San Marzano tomato sauce, a few leaves of fresh basil, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. AND THE CRUST. Goodness gracious, the crust. I've opined before about the criticality of a pizza's crust. That I could eat this crust by itself and be satisfied is a mark of superior quality in a pizza. This wasn't just one of the best pizzas I've eaten in Richmond. This is one of best pizzas this Jersey boy has ever eaten (with the top spot still firmly held by L'Antica Pizzeria di Mechele in Naples, of course).

They have a reservation book, and it may be a good idea to take advantage of it if you can't make it to the restaurant by 6 PM on a Friday or Weekend evening. It was pretty busy tonight on Fathers' Day. It also took quite a bit of time for us to receive our pie, but I'll chalk that up to Stuzzi having only been open for a couple of weeks (hopefully!).

Side notes: We also started off with the mozzarella fritta - basically a sophisticated mozzarella stick, but made with their fresh cheese (round slices instead of sticks) and hand breaded. After our pizza we ordered some of their mini cannoli. These were a fantastic finish as the filling was some of the best I've had. Not too sweet, and a nice stiff texture.

It's $9 for the pizza we split, but if you're hungry you could easily scarf one yourself. It's still worth it. This is pizza as craft. But they have plenty of other toppings that look fantastic (and I intend to try) and will probably make splitting a pizza more filling for both parties.

Or you can just order one for yourself anyway. I have a feeling this stuff will make some of the best left-overs :-)

I work out in Richmond's West End, pretty close to where Parham Road intersects West Broad Street. Everyday I pass by what was, until recently, a Fuddrucker's burger joint. It's been closed for a while now, and I've been wondering what, if anything, would fill the empty building. Considering the trend of businesses moving further west toward Short Pump and leaving empty space behind, I was happy to see a construction trailer in the parking lot over the weekend.

This morning, however, I was thrilled to discover that not only will that space be occupied, but it's being taken over by one of my favorite Richmond food purveyors: Buz and Ned's Real Barbecue.

Here's how I connected the dots:
1. I searched for Fuddrucker's on Google Maps so I could get the street address.

2. Then I ran another search just using that street address, and a surprising link showed up under "Selected businesses at this address" in the sidebar: "Buz &Ned's Real Barbeque." I was immediately excited, but then a little confused because the spelling was off. Was it a mistake (on Buz and Ned's website it's spelled "barbecue")? I needed additional confirmation.

3. I searched around on Richmond Good Life's excellent (if a little over-crowded) website to see whether any recent stories talked about Buz and Ned's expanding into the West End, and I found a December 2009 article from Richmond Magazine. The article isn't specific about a location, but it's interview with Bruce "Buz" Grossberg indicates that he "arranged financing for a new place in western Henrico County and plans to close on the property by the end of January." Well it seems that closing happened, and things are moving forward because:

4. I ran a search through Henrico County's system for Plans of Development and found a case indicating that Buz and Ned's application for "Transfer of Approval" was received on April 14th of this year, and approved on May 26th, last week. The most recent update to the case was today, by Lee Pambid of the Planning Commission indicating the approval and sending of the approval letter. According to Article VI of The Rules and Regulations of the County Planning Commission for Henrico County, "Approval(s) of plan(s) of development are granted only to the owner-applicant(s) listed on the application. Subsequent owner(s) must request that the Commission transfer approval(s) to them." So this approval essentially transfers development rights from Fuddrucker's to Buz and Ned's.

I'm not really sure when it's supposed to open - and I'd be happy for anybody to fill me in - but since I drive by every morning and afternoon I'll be on the lookout as the situation progresses. It sure will be nice to have some of my favorite 'cue out by my office.

Normally after experiencing a high-quality food establishment I tend to gush about it on these digital pages rather quickly. I don't know if it's yet another sign of my dwindling energy for blogging or that it simply slipped my mind, but I've been to Secco Wine Bar in Carytown four times since May 14th and I'm just now writing about it outside of Twitter.

Secco (Italian for "dry" - hence the up-turned bottle, I think) is the long-in-the-making brainchild of Julia Battaglini, the owner of next door's River City Cellars, and it supplements RCC's fine selection of wines, cheeses, and beer with a clever dining menu. That is to say if you enjoy shopping at RCC then you probably already like about 1/2 of what they serve at Secco. What you won't find in the retail side, however, are some of the spectacular edibles such as their duck terrine with pistachios and dried cherries (wrapped in jamon Serrano, I believe), passatelli in brodo (a fresh pasta soup), pork confit sandwich, or flamenquines (pork cutlet rolled with more Serrano, breaded and fried).

The quality of the ingredients and the presentation are of a high level and, most impressively, quite affordable. The menu indicates "small plates" but the portions, while not the over-sized helpings of your average restaurant, are typically plenty for lunch. You can still put together dinner for between $10 and $20 pretty easily, and seemingly half of the excellent wines-by-the glass are around $5. Secco's menu favors sampling and sharing, and the prices make it a great entry point to fine dining in Richmond. When I consider the comfortable atmosphere and friendly staff, however, Secco also invites you to become a regular, serving equally well as a place to meet with friends or simply chat with the bar tender.

I think I may stop by for a glass of cava tomorrow evening, in fact.

(blurry photo by the kind hostess)

Yeah, that's right. I also included this post in my "Arts" category. Because the meal Valerie and I consumed over a perfectly-paced three hours was a masterpiece.

I made reservations over a month ago for dinner at Alinea in Chicago and was immediately giddy at the prospect of eating my first haute-cuisine meal. Each passing week brought the realization that I was ever-so-much closer to tonight, and as I sat down in the upstairs dining room of the stylish and contemporary restaurant (perfectly befitting the Great White City) I had the nervous excitement of a child on Christmas morning who has woken just a little too early for his parents to let him tear away the wrapping paper. I know that sounds a bit cheesy and overwrought, but I'm serious. I felt like kid. Before every course. And the excitement built before each of the THIRTEEN courses.

Valerie and I each had the smaller - yes, there's one bigger - of the two menus, but we didn't leave hungry at all. We knew there would be around thirteen items, but with a frequently changing menu we had no idea what would arrive at our table next. One set of flavors transitioned to another with varying intensity of flavor. Amuse-bouches built up to incredible major courses before winding down with three dramatically different yet perfectly complimentary desserts.

I'll not list the entire menu here - perhaps I'll update the post with a scanned image of tonight's menu when I get home - but I'll share a few highlight items. I can't begin to describe some of the preparations, though they did include gels, foams, clever service, and liquid nitrogen. Sure, call it "molecular gastronomy" - a cliché at best - but it would also miss the point. The presentation served to delight more than simply the palate. The aromas, textures, and even how we were to eat certain courses made spectacular entertainment out of what was ostensibly dinner. The food wasn't merely delicious, but it was fun to eat. It was, therefore, easy for me to dive right in to some ingredients that I had until then avoided. Shad roe? Sure! Morel mushrooms? Delicious. Leeks? Absolutely. But there was also sturgeon, confit of pork belly, Wagyū beef, fois gras, and black truffle. It was a culinary tour de force.

It wasn't cheep, and I'm sure you guessed that. And I'm sure a meal like this isn't for everyone. I have no problem with somebody wanting to eat what they grew up with, or comfort food, or keeping it simple. But if you're willing to step outside your gustatory comfort zone, save your dollars and make it happen. It's worth every penny. Is it wasteful? I'd argue it's not. There is craft, there is skill. There is visual beauty. Expert execution coupled with extraordinary creative talent. To eat at Alinea is to be a patron of the arts.

I think I feel compelled to make tacos with bacon shells at least once in my life...

Went back to Garnett's Cafe today, and finally got to take some pictures with good light.

Sure, I'll add to the growing pile of reviews for Garnett's Cafe ([www.garnettscafe.com](http://www.garnettscafe.com/) - the site doesn't work just yet, so hit up RVANews for the deets).

I decided it was finally time to try out a restaurant located on the corner of Park and Meadow (it's like, the fifth since I've been in Richmond), and it was absolutely worth our time. We showed up around 12:44 and sat down at the counter in what was so far a half-full restaurant. The barstools are comfortable, but there's presently no rail under the counter to rest your feet, so your shoes dangle as if you were a little kid. I was assured they're planning to install a standard chrome wrap-around rail in the very near future.

The general decor was just right - everything felt carefully but not obsessively selected, with wall-hangings that included various decorative plates, posters, and what I believe was an illustration of jazz singer Nina Simone. Bead board covered eight feet of the height of the walls and the lighting was just enough to supplement the ample natural light coming in through the windows. I got a similar impression here as I did when Cafe Gutenberg was new years ago, and when I first walked in to Can Can - there's a serious attention to detail here that can often bode well for the food itself.

And the food did not disappoint. Valerie ate the chicken salad sandwich with potato salad on the side and I had a croque madame. Valerie's potato salad included (what I believe was) a homemade pickle slice. My croque madame had Black Forest ham and gruyere on tasty and crusty Italian bread with - get this - Mornay sauce instead of the simpler béchamel. This meant the addition of cheddar, gruyere, and Parmesan. We both ordered their "lemonade" which consisted of the juice of lemons squeezed right before our eyes, mint-infused simply syrup, and club soda. Wow! Refreshing and delicious.

By the time we finished our sandwiches, Garnett's had filled up to capacity and some folks were standing by the door waiting to be seated - at 1:40 in the afternoon! We weren't finished with our meal yet, so we ordered dessert. Valerie tried a slice of the Hummingbird Cake - a banana and pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting. It tasted like a well crafted banana bread with extra goodness from the pineapple. I ordered a slice of apple pie and they were kind enough to indulge this New Jersey boy's request for a slice of cheddar cheese on top. The pie had clearly been cooked in a straight-sided pan, but this made for some fantastically thick, tender, and delicious crust at the corner. And it was a good sharp cheddar on top, too. I washed down the rest of my meal with a Boylan's root beer.

Now for the interesting side details: I actually ordered a croque monsieur (no fried egg on top), and Valerie had actually ordered the smoked salmon sandwich, and we both received the wrong orders. Neither of us were the slightest upset about this because I didn't mind a bonus fried egg, and Valerie loves chicken salad anyway. But when we were ready to pay and leave, the gentleman who was serving us insisted that we would not be charged for our meal. The whole thing. Even the stuff that had no mistakes. I felt bad about this - this was only their third day open, and I understand it can be difficult for new restaurants to become financially stable. And I really like this place! I want them to do well, so I wanted to pay for our meal (especially since we both really liked everything we ate). But he insisted with this condition: "Just come back."

We will. And we'll rave about it to everybody we know.

So it seems as if Akida's West End location as been replaced by Hayashi Sushi.

I'm a big fan of Akida on Robinson St. in The Fan, but despite its superior ambiance, I always thought the West End location (conveniently close to my office) edged them out on the preparation/flavor front. So what I'm left to wonder is whether a) the West End Akida couldn't stay open, b) the operators of that location bought out the location, or c) something else I'm not considering happened.

Richmond Biz Sense reported the business license for Hayashi on 6/11, and the earliest review online that I can see is from July 17th. Oh yeah, and so far no website to be found.

Anybody know what happened? Anybody been to Hayashi? I may have to go there next week to give it a shot.

Part of why I'm writing anything right now is because I feel like every passing day that I don't exercise my creative muscles I risk their atrophy. I sit at my desk at work and can practically feel my brain calcify, or some other ridiculous biological metaphor that comes with having poor writing skills (even when I DO feel creative).

But mostly I'm writing this because I'm really pumped about my upcoming weekend.

Tomorrow is the last work day of this week for Valerie and me since we get Friday off in advance of Independence Day. We're heading straight up to her mom's house in the evening to have dinner and hang out with her mom and sister for the evening. Then we drag ourselves out of bed before first light and drive up Eisenhower's Interstate to Red Bank, New Jersey. This will be my first visit to my home state since the passing of my father in March last year, and it's been far too long. There is much to be done.

You see, Red Bank celebrates Independence Day with fireworks a day earlier than most places. There's a veritable cannonade of colorful explosions in the sky over the Navesink River, a display to rival New York City (and, indeed, formerly executed by the same people). My step-mom carries on the tradition of hosting a serious party at her house marking the occasion, and there I hope to see several members of my dad's family.

Red Bank is, itself, a treat for me. It's like all the charm of Richmond's Carytown on steroids (with some of the same inherent problems, unfortunately, like greedy landlords). Whether it's Zebu, or The Bagel Oven, or even the played-out and kitschy Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash (comic book shop), I don't much tire of walking along Broad or Front Streets taking in the scenery of my youth. I have to dwell on The Bagel Oven for a moment, too, because it's seriously my favorite bagel shop on the planet. I love me some Cupertino's while I'm here in Ole' Virginny, but even their fine bread pales in comparison to the goods on Monmouth St. The only concern I have is whether I can make up my mind between an egg or salt bagel...

On the 4th itself (Saturday), Valerie and I will travel a little southeast to Sea Girt where Jammie (my mom's mom) lives. She's trying to sell her home and move down south to retire near my mom, but while she's still on The Shore I'm happy for the chance to visit her in the home where I spent half my childhood. We're definitely hitting up The Ice Hut, some of the most glorious Italian Ice around, and who knows? Maybe we'll have pizza at The Squan Tavern if I'm lucky. If the weather is as nice as expected, I'll probably take Valerie down to the boardwalk at night so we can see the other small towns up and down the coast set off their 4th of July fireworks displays.

I also have to make sure, at some point, to procure a proper pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich on a poppy seed hard roll. If half of that sounded foreign to you, you'll just have to make a trip to the shore yourself sometime. Words fail.

On Sunday we'll start the long drive home, but we'll stop in Delaware to see my brother, Mugs, his wife, Valorie, and our nephew, Donovan. There's even a chance that our newest nephew will be there to greet us...

Those are the roughly-laid-out plans, and here's some needless alliteration for you: family, food, and fun. It'll be a welcome break from the daily soul-suck of work this past month. And of course I'm taking a load of pictures :-)

I'm always entertained by Alton Brown, and this little clip from Serious Eats is no exception:

http://blip.tv/play/AfeHdIKEWA

This does NOT look promising:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXklTRsLui4&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=580&h=470]

Why is it that a movie partially concerning one of the most important figures in America's food landscape is coming from the same abysmal writer who struck out with a trifecta of crap in her last three movies (Bewitched, Hanging Up, and You've Got Mail)?
(via kottke)

Today was rough.

From the moment I sat down at my desk, feet still aching from the 10k, I was busy. Request after request seemed to pile up with seemingly little time to dig myself from the fast-growing pile of work in my queue. There were deadlines, questions, confusion from co-workers, and a general sense that today's pressure greatly out-paced that of my day-to-day. As 4:30 loomed I started to feel like I needed a dramatic break from the mentally cramped environment of the day but I wasn't sure how I'd accomplish that without going straight-away to bed. Not one to call it a night early, I recalled that Can Can has a weekly cocktail tasting that I had yet to attend.

I'm not going to say that I needed a drink but the prospect of good mixology lifted my spirits, so Val and I headed to Carytown for some light fare, cocktails, and atmosphere.

Can Can's cocktail tastings work thusly: from 6-7 on Tuesday nights they mix up free (!) tasting portions of the evenings tipple while the full size is a special price all night. Tonight's sampler was a Gin Rickey (theirs had Bombay, lime, soda, and simple syrup on the rocks) mixed up right, and weighed in at $6.50 if you went for a full dose. Pair that with the Fontina Fondue (which we had at our first dinner there) at $4 bucks and you have a reasonably inexpensive night out with a cocktail and a fancy snack in a classy atmosphere. This evening, however, we had a few other drinks - London Pride on tap, for example - and couldn't resist dessert.

I also crossed a gustatory threshold; I tried, for the first time, oysters on the half shell.



I chose to have my first oyster at Can Can for two reasons. First of all, I'm pretty comfortable with the freshness and quality of this restaurant's food. More importantly, I was able to snag oysters one-at-a-time for $2.50. Steep? I don't know yet. But I do know that I didn't have to commit to a plate of bivalves with the possibility of hating them.

It turned out, however, that raw oysters aren't scary or slimy. They taste...well, they taste like the sea. Nether fishy nor smelly, the oysters and their liquor (the briny liquid in the shell) went down the hatch easily with a quick burst of flavor. The bartender, hearing it was my first experience with oysters, helped me out. I was first served a little guy which was a bit more intense in flavor. I ate this small serving unadulterated since it was my maiden voyage, and the experience was good enough for me to order a second. My next oyster was considerably larger and I spiked him with a squeeze of lemon for a touch more brightness that worked well against the ocean flavor.

All told we were in and out of Can Can in about an hour with some quality eats in between. It was the perfect week night diversion to take my mind off a brutal day in the cubicle farm.

Mercy me, but Patton Oswalt's review of the KFC Famous Bowl is funny enough to bust guts.

There's a new website for food in the Richmond area called Food Around Richmond. I'm going to gently dismantle it today.

The first thing that slaps me in the face is something I can't say too much about, but it's still worth a mention: It looks pretty foul. Yeah, I'm using a slightly broken Wordpress theme myself, and I've not taken the time to clean it up. That doesn't mean I can't recognize another website with visual issues. The header appears to be three stock food photos of varying size stitched awkwardly together with a not-so-appetizing transparent embossed "Richmond" stretching nearly the full width. There's the tag cloud, the 500-ish wasted pixels below every post dedicated to subscribing, tags, sharing, advertising, etc.

Oh yeah, the "advertising." The entire website feels like an ill-conceived money-making project. There are four permanent spots for sponsor placement in addition to the banner ad at the end of each post. So far they're all empty (though the banner advertising is BOTH "cheap" and "affordable"!). You know why? Because nobody really reads this website yet. It's as if the site owner erected billboards in the middle of farm land that might possibly have a road built through it someday.

But you know what? You could have an ugly website littered with ad space and still have a winner if you have good content. The content, though, is the most unfortunate part of Food Around Richmond...

Problem #1: There have been five reviews since February 9th, and the first three were chains. Richmond is replete with outstanding and varied independent restaurants. It's nearly criminal to start off a local food blog with a review of Outback Steakhouse.

Problem #2: Four of the five reviews have been well outside of the city limits. The only review of a restaurant in Richmond proper was for Weezie's Kitchen.

Problem #3: No links to restaurant websites. Sure, "the social networking application of Twitter and YouTube is cool," (lifted directly from the site) but you can hardly talk about the social aspects of the web if you're not linking to the websites of the restaurants you review. I know not every eatery has a website of their own, but that's not the case for Weezie's or the three chains reviewed on the site. Restaurant websites nearly always have menus, pictures, and other useful information, so it's unfortunate that Food Around Richmond couldn't include links.

Problem #4: The "twist of video" for each post doesn't add much. I don't expect a new site to have professional video production, but these short segments don't serve the food well. The shots are often too close to focus, and the lighting is usually too dark which frequently leads to the food looking unappetizing.

Problem #5: Food blogging usually requires food writing, and the writing here just isn't that good. I don't mean to insult the author(s) because not everybody writes well. I don't consider myself a good writer, but you don't have to be a good performer to recognize whether a performance is good. The style here is too direct, adding little more than simple descriptions and statements of fact.

It's not that I expect a fledgling food blog to be A+ in it's first few weeks, but there are already several solid food columns and blogs in the Richmond area that you can't avoid good examples if you spend five minutes looking for them. I don't mean to say that you shouldn't start your own food blog just because there are some out there, but it would be hard to take you seriously if you're just more noise instead of at least standing tall among the existing players. If the goal is to rake in some advertising dollars, as seems to be the point with Food Around Richmond, you have to do at least as well as Richmond.com. I just don't see that so far.

If you want a broader perspective of food in the Richmond area, check out Richmond Good Life's sprawling aggregation of reviews, etc. You'll find links to plenty of worthy Richmond food reads and even write-ups of restaurants by other blogs/sites around town.

Words fail to express how surreal and messed-up is the very notion of a whole chicken in a can.

As part of their "One in 8 Milliion" series, the NY Times site has a short audio/photo piece on Georgiana DePalma Tedone, a 90-year-old who still makes her own mozzarella cheese in Brooklyn.

Goodness gracious, I couldn't have said it better myself...Michael Ruhlman rants about the anti-bacterial obsession of American culture.

Hey, guess what? I eat pork that's pink in the middle. I eat burgers cooked medium...sometimes medium rare (even at - gasp! - restaurants). Ever since I was a kid, I've been eating leftover pizza that spent the night in a cardboard box on the kitchen counter. And you know what? I get sick maybe once every 12 months or so - and it hasn't been a digestive problem in at least 5 years.

Correlation is NOT causation, but I do subscribe to the notion that being less fanatical about food sanitation (while not ignoring common sense precautions) makes for a stronger immune system.

I'm a big fan of Dan Benjamin and his many varieties of content on the web. But today he posted an entry on his blog that he calls "Help for The Potential Vegetarian." I think he wisely disable comments on his post, but I wanted to say something about it, and my own blog is the ideal venue, so here goes. From his (short) post:

"For those of you on the fence about becoming a vegetarian, just watch this video showing how bacon is made..."

The YouTube clip is from the show How It's Made and shows how bacon is produced on an industrial scale.

Okay, I have no problem with Dan Benjamin or anybody else that is a vegetarian. It's a personal decision, and while I don't always agree with everybody's reason, I see no moral problem in one's electing to keep meat out of one's diet. But how is this supposed to help a person on the fence about vegetarianism make a decision?

Is a person considering vegetarianism because of health reasons? Then you don't need to see a bacon facility to make up your mind. What about vegetarianism for the sake of the animals? Well we don't see how the pigs were raised/fed/slaughtered in this video, so no help there. And if you just don't think it's right to kill an animal, you'd avoid bacon (or other meat) before watching this clip anyway. I mean, frankly, if you didn't know bacon wasn't healthy or that it came from an animal before watching this clip, you're probably not intelligent enough to make the call on vegetarianism anyway. Just keep eating your Cheerios, and somebody will take you to nap time shortly...

Dan's post bugs me because it seems to say, "Look at this gross industrial process. Are you sure you want to eat that?" If this video grosses you out and you're not already a vegetarian, I think it makes a stronger case against commercial meat processing than it does against meat in general. In fact, I'd say that commercial food production for some vegetarian or vegan foods might look just as unappetizing.

So again, no disrespect to Mr. Benjamin. I simply wish his post was a bit better...um...fleshed out. Now I'll go on waiting for the next episode of Tack Sharp :-)

Okay, it's no secret to my friends and readers that I'm a fan of Can Can in Carytown. But it took until tonight for Valerie and me to have dinner in what is now clearly my favorite Richmond restaurant. We were celebrating my GMAT results with a fancy dinner, and I used that as an excuse to finally see if Can Can's evening offerings equaled the day service.

I think my expectations were exceeded.

Now I've read mixed reviews online about Can Can. I understand that each person's experience is different, but Valerie and I had fine service from start to finish in addition to creative libations and amazing food. Combine that with what I already consider to be one of the classiest atmospheres in town, and it all made for a fun and enjoyable night of dining.

We started off with some cocktails - Valerie's French martini (Grey Goose, Chambord, pineapple, and Champagne) was well-crafted, and my Pimm's Cup was interesting (though the combination of ginger beer and mint makes it unlikely I'll order again). My "individual" hours d'oeuvre of fontina fondue was easily enough for Valerie and I to share, and the freshly-made potato chips were the perfect accompaniment. Our next round of drinks consisted of Valerie's delicious blackberry bellini and my "dark and ginger" - a mixture of dark rum, ginger beer (they really seem to like that for cocktails right now) and lime - was tasty as well. Our entrees arrived shortly thereafter.

Valerie's hanger steak with Bordelaise was grilled just right and came with a potato gratinee served artfully beside. I ordered the tasting portion of the braised lamb and was surprised to receive what was certainly enough for a full meal. Before me was the most flavorful piece of lamb I have yet consumed, and the shoulder cut was so tender as to be almost spreadable. My dinner was served upon a bed of roasted root vegetables, mushrooms, and a puree of of celery root and pear.

How could we skip dessert at a restaurant which makes some of the finest French pastries in Richmond? Valerie had the apple babka which really looked like "apples three ways" - her own personal Iron Chef-style dish. There was the babka, an apple fritter, and fresh butterscotch ice cream with a small dish of apply syrup to tie it all together. I decided 14 minutes was worth waiting for a chocolate soufflé which arrived with fresh chocolate ice cream atop a chocolate cookie with a caramel sauce. Oh yeah, and Val had cappuccino and I had espresso. I can't pass up Can Can's coffee :-)

While I can't justify eating dinner at Can Can on a regular basis, tonight's outing was so great that I hope to repeat it soon. If it wasn't for its proximity to Valentine's Day, I'd have a hard time passing up their next wine dinner on February 19th. But I think I could enjoy grabbing some cocktails and hours d'oeuvres at the bar in the near future...

So I followed Ruhlman's advice and decided to finally make some brown butter. Last night, for dinner, I cooked up some simple cheese tortellini. Rather than use tomato sauce, I decided to drop a stick of butter into a medium frying pan over medium-high heat.

The effect was quick and satisfying: after the butter melted it began to foam, and as the foam was clearing it began to turn dark gold, then amber-brown. The smell was amazing - cooks aren't kidding when they say it smells nutty. I tossed the tortellini in this, and stirred in some freshly grated Parmigiana Reggiano. I added a mixture of freshly ground pepper and coriander (I mixed a few coriander seeds in with the pepper in the mill - it's fantastic).

Brown butter is extremely versatile - either as a simple sauce or the base for myriad other dishes. I can already think of using some when I cook eggs or bake desserts. A graham cracker pie crust that uses brown butter would be incredible.

The New York Times has a great article that fusses a little obsessively and in great detail over that most magical of ingredients, butter. There's a great mix of low-level science and advice tucked into what is ostensibly a discussion of Christmas cookies.

I was at Cupertino's yesterday with Valerie, and after I enjoyed one of the finest meatball parm subs in my life (with everything but the cheese made on premises) I had a chance to chat with the owner. He told me he'd been in Virginia now for about a year and a half, so I asked him where he liked to eat a good pizza. He'd eaten pizza from JoJo's downtown, but his recommendation was for this newish place in the middle-West End: Capriccio's.

Situated in the old Jersey Mike's slot (I think there have been a few other places since Jersey Mike's left) in the T.J. Maxx shopping center off Broad/Tuckernuck, Capriccio's pizza may be a true rival to any pizza I've yet tasted in the R-I-C, and could hold its own among the great pizza of the Northeastern US. Naturally, further research is required (lots of research), but everything about their true Neapolitan-style pie is done right. The sauce, the cheese, the crust, the balance of everything...oh my, it's delicious. The crust, particularly, the literal and figurative foundation of any good pizza, was second only to my experience in Napoli. It was as crisp as it needed to be, chewy the rest of the way through, and tasty enough to eat on its own. This place is close enough to my office that I may become a frequent lunch patron...

This is probably a good time to make another statement, though. I tried Tarrantino's a while back (I could have sworn I wrote about it, but I can't find the post...) when it was starting to receive heavy buzz around town, and I was flabbergasted by how good it was. I talked to the young tattooed fella in the kitchen and he claimed to make the sauce and pizza dough himself. It was truly amazing. So I revisited a few times, but I never saw this guy there again, and each time the pizza got progressively worse. It wasn't bad, per se, but it just wasn't good. I fault the fact that it was part of
Tarrant's Cafe (which is decent on its own, but it's not a pizzeria) and was really just an add-on in the first place.

Capriccio's, on the other hand, is a stand-alone Italian food joint that seems mostly to be a pizza parlor. The owners know what's what, and seem to be involved in the food more intimately. Let's hope it sticks around for much longer than the six weeks they've put in already. I certainly plan to support them with my money and stomach :-)

This edible info graphic is spectacular. I wonder how it tastes...
(via swissmiss)