Ploafmaster General

My older brother in the field beside my parents' house on Christmas morning, 2010.

This was from the second pair of shots taken with my Speed Graphic, and I used one of the old holders that came with the camera. This side clearly wasn't light-tight at the flap, so the right side is overexposed to the point of near total white-out.

At least the important part of the frame was okay.

This is my first shot taken with the Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic I purchased before Christmas. I finally have my Epson V700 scanner, and with the help of Silverfast scanning software, I've managed to see what I saw on the negatives and contact prints. My focus and exposure could use a little work, but at least the shutter appears to be firing fairly accurate at the higher speeds.

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Why not, says I. I'll write about that new (to Richmond) burger joint, Cook Out, in the old Bullet's location by Regency in the West End. When RVAFoodie posted about this place today, he remarked that his wife, "couldn’t recall what a Five Guys burger tasted like, but she couldn’t imagine it could possibly taste any better." Having just enjoyed Five Guys for dinner last night, I made the terrible decision of having a bacon cheeseburger two meals in a row and headed down Parham Road on my lunch break.

Yes, the menu is pretty cheap. This is, indeed, fast food - both in speed and prices (more in the Wendy's than Mickey-D's range). My combo was ready by the time I drove up to the window - surprising for something that was freshly-grilled - and the cashier pleasantly delivered her valedictory, "See you tomorrow!"

The problem is that the food also tastes cheap. It's not bad - it's certainly better than McDonald's, Burger King, Sonic, and Wendy's (but only slightly), but I won't be making the slightly out-of-the-way trip for another Cook Out burger any time soon. The fries were decent, if not crispy enough, but the other side (you pick two sides!) consisted of generic, formed chicken nuggets. I really enjoyed my mint chocolate chip milkshake, actually, but that was the only high point. The burger? Consider this my dismissive, "meh." Let's just say that grilled doesn't automatically equal good. The first bite or so was nice as the vague Burger King-esque charred flavor gave way to real flame cooking. But the burger patty itself was just boring. The bland bacon and cheddar cheese "sauce" didn't do much to help. If RVAFoodie's wife liked it better than or thought it equal to Five Guys, that's fine - she's not wrong, we just have different taste. For my part, though, I'd only go back for a milk shake.

One more thing, just because RVAFoodie asked me about it on Twitter: the whole religious angle of the company. It turns out that cups and other packaging come with a mixture of Biblical scripture references and religious/patriotic phrases. Of course, I'm a Christian. I make no effort (consciously) to hide it, so I'm not offended by the sight of a scripture reference - especially now that I've looked them up. I'm also trying very hard not to be cynical about the reason for including religious material on food packaging. I don't know whether they're sincere or being manipulative, so I'll make no conjecture.

Does it bug you that the business owners publicize their faith on their own products? Don't support their business. I don't agree with the humanistic messages of many manufacturers, but if I was offended enough by one I'd simply take my money elsewhere. Does it bug you that the owners have religious messages on total junk food? I guess a Christian should never sell triple cream cheeses, either (I'm not comparing the quality of the two types of food - but nobody can tell me that regular consumption of triple cream cheeses is good for your arteries). I am, however, bothered by the conflation of religion and patriotism, but only barely in this case. It's not in my face, and its not spelled out in much detail (Triteness aside, if you like where you live and you believe in a God who blesses, why not ask Him to bless where you live? That's hardly threatening on its own.).

Ultimately, it's the food that counts here as far as I'm concerned. And it doesn't add up to much. Unless I'm near Regency or have a sudden craving for one of their shakes, I'll probably forget about Cook Out by the end of next week.

I photographed the 2010 Black and Blue Classic where the University of Richmond destroyed Virginia Commonwealth 72-60 (that was one of the narrowest gaps of the night). More shots over at RVANews if you please.

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Happy Up Here from ploafmaster on Vimeo.

This is the clip from my test reel of Super 8 film. I'm pretty happy about it, considering I'm no film maker, editor, or what-not.

Shot in downtown Richmond where folks gathered to watch my friend Lindsey rappel down the side of the Suntrust tower.

Music:
Happy Up Here by Röyksopp

I was fortunate enough to have a media pass to the chute at the end of the HCA 8k, McDonald's Half Marathon, and Suntrust Richmond Marathon this past Saturday. A host of my photos are up now as a feature on RVANews. Check it!

The second post on this website, back in July 2005, was about Sufjan Stevens. I've been a pretty huge fan ever since that time, but I've never yet made it to one of his shows. Couldn't make the 9:30 Club in DC a few years ago because of the week combined with it being at least 1.5 hours away. Couldn't make it to see one of the BQE performances because, well, they were exclusively in Brooklyn. Last night I finally made it, though, and caught Mr. Stevens at The National Theater right here in Richmond, VA.

This was one of the best concerts I've ever attended. Each musician was spot on, from the wonderful backup singers to the double drummers, and of course Sufjan himself. The visuals projected on screen reinforced the mood of many songs, and the sound was mixed quite well. It was still a proper loud show in a concert hall, but I could actually hear each instrument and singer clearly and distinctly. The whole set - including a several song encore - lasted around 2.5 glorious hours.

Most exciting, however, was how this show reshaped my appreciation of The Age of Adz as an album. I have to admit that, while I certainly enjoyed some tracks before the show, I was a little let down by Sufjan's latest effort. I'm not sure if it's because of the seemingly heightened sonic bombast or something else, but it was a slight step below The BQE on my ranking of Stevens' work. This concert, somehow, shifted my opinion. Perhaps it's my fond impression of the live performances, or maybe it's the way these touring arrangements seemed to have highlighted what made these songs good to begin with.

Whatever the case, I listened to a few tracks on Adz this morning with renewed ears. I sure hope Sufjan comes through Richmond again in the future, too. I'll be there.

I'll be out of town this weekend, so tonight was my last chance to take advantage of a restaurant week menu here in Richmond. I suppose I took the easy way out going to a restaurant I've visited before, but any opportunity to eat at Acacia is tough to pass up. Besides, with a frequently changing menu and prices that keep me from being a regular, it's not likely I'd be eating something I've had before.

So let's get right to it. 'Cause this meal was THE JAM.

First course: duck confit with gnocchi, swiss chard, cranberries, and pomegranate molasses. I'm pretty easy to please with duck confit, and this didn't disappoint. The chard was tender but still a pleasant bright green. But oh, the gnocchi...

I've eaten plenty of gnocchi in my short life. I've made some crappy gummy gnocchi of my own, I've eaten fantastic examples in New Jersey, New York, Florence, and hell, even at Acacia. But these gnocchi were the most pillowy-soft, perfectly cooked nuggets I've had. It seems they'd been in the pan with the duck because they had a fine browned exterior and smacked of the savory essence of the confit.

I had mixed feelings about my main course, if I'm totally honest. I ordered the rib eye, a cut of which I'm not too fond. It's generally a little fatty for my taste, but it was cooked perfectly and tasted delicious. But I ordered this course for one of its accoutrements: the bone marrow pancake. This fluffy, rich, buttery disc was the most delicious thing I'd eaten in a few months. How something could be so light yet so lip-smackingly unctuous I cannot fathom. I would have eaten a short stack had I the chance. Worth the price of admission.

My dessert was the cherry sherbet with black forest cake. Now somebody's already complained about the size of this offering and, taken on its own, yes, it's smaller than Acacia's desserts I've had in the past. But I'll say two things about it beyond how delicious it was. First, after a meal this size, the portion was just right for me. I was able to eat and enjoy the entire dessert without stuffing myself. Second, the execution of this dessert was nearly flawless. I say nearly because I think the sherbet had been sitting on the plate a bit, having melted about 30% by the time it reached my table. But the cherry "paint" on the plate, the little chocolate pebbles, moist nuggets of cake, and the sweet flavor of the sherbet were a delight both visually and on the palate.

So yeah...incredible meal, incredibly satisfying. I don't have to sell Acacia too hard in this town.

I've been fortunate to have experienced a trifecta of great dining experiences during my first year participating in Richmond's restaurant week. I hope that next year I can hit up at least two places - places I've never been - and keep a good thing going. They can't all be hits, but adventure always comes with at least a little risk.

I know. I've written about Secco a few times. I've been there over 25 times since May, and I gush to nearly everyone I know about the place. So please, for your own sake, take what follows with a healthy dose of Maldon sea salt...

I wasn't expecting to dine at Secco for Restaurant Week. What, after all, is the point of going somewhere you already know and love when there are untested (untasted?) restaurants to explore? Tonight, however, was Valerie's last night of a class at The Visual Arts Center and, as she's only halfway able to taste anything while she recovers from a cold, she gave me the all-clear to get in one extra night of dining by myself. Fortunately I was able to score a table when I arrived just after 6:30, and I came ready to order from their Restaurant Week menu (though they appear to be serving from their standard menu as well).

I started with the velvety cream of cauliflower soup, poured over brown butter, sweet curry, and dark chocolate. I've had this soup before, and tonight was an improvement on what I already enjoyed. The curry stood out a little more and the chocolate was just subdued enough not to overpower the light flavor of the other ingredients. I had a glass of pinot blanc from Alsace to wash it down, and it really brought out the butter in the soup nicely.

Secco's special menu allows you to choose two items for the second course. This is, I'm sure, because of the "small plates" nature of their offerings, but it also makes for a serious value at the restaurant week price. I went with the braised octopus and the lemon-infused maltagliati with duck ragu. I'll start, as I did while dining, with the octopus.

This was the third or fourth time I've eaten octopus in any form, and I suppose it comes with the territory that it's a little chewy. I'm not talking rubber bands now, but it does require a little more jaw work than most seafood. That's not to say it wasn't delicious. The braise added plenty of flavor, and it was clearly finished over some fire which gave it a nice crisp exterior. My cephalopod was accompanied by Yukon Gold potatoes that Tim smoked using a nifty kitchen gadget. Lovage, a green in the celery family, rounded out the dish and balanced the smoky flavor of the potatoes.

This was the second time I've had the maltagliati, a rough cut pasta that, in this case, was served with lemon zest and a rich duck ragu. This dish is one of my favorites at Secco because it's simultaneously complex, fragrant, and comforting; the perfect cold weather dish. I'm not sure whether it's duck confit or braised, but it's super tender and generously applied.

My dessert was completely new to me, however. A chilled plate arrived with a scoop each of olive oil gelato and rosemary sorbet. Holy daring flavors, Batman! Tim informed me that he used a nice sweet finishing olive oil in the gelato, and it added just the right hint of fruitiness. But oh my, the star of the plate was that rosemary sorbet. Full disclosure - there was a bit of a frozen chunk in the middle. That was small, though, and it still tasted wonderful. The rest of the sorbet was as smooth as you could ask for, and the aroma and flavor of rosemary was just right. I'd love to stir a healthy dose of this stuff into a quality gin to make a cocktail :-)

Sadly, I have class tomorrow and Thursday, so my next (and final) Restaurant Week adventure won't be until Friday, but I'll be sure to report on that excursion as well.

I'll keep this simple and to-the-point. Dinner at Six Burner, for the first night of Richmond Restaurant Week, was awesome.

My appetizer was snail risotto. Yes, there were land mollusks in my rice. There was also deliciousness in my rice. Warm, tender arborio, just the right amount of what I think was wine in the mix, and oh my, the snails were delicate and flavorful.

I went for the 56-hour braised short ribs. Gimmick? Maybe. Bursting with richness and complexity? Absolutely. These were short ribs as tender as a perfectly-cooked piece of sirloin at least, and the crispy/browned bits on the outside of the meat were the Maillard icing on the beefy cake.

Dessert came with a bonus - I'd ordered the panna cotta with local honey and fresh fruit (baby kiwi in this case!), but the waitress accidentally dropped off the arroz con leche - an incredible rice pudding tasting of cinnamon with fresh raspberries on top. The waitress realized her error and dropped off my proper dessert which was, in fact, superior.

Recap: super tasty from start to finish.
Coming soon: Acacia on Friday. But I already know I love that place :-)

Taken in a parking lot at the corner of Virginia and Cary during InLight 2010 in Shockoe Slip.

There's a 2-day-old pizza place in town, Belmont Pizzeria, near Patterson.

RVAfoodie mentioned it this afternoon after West of the Boulevard News linked to an initial review from One Way Richmond. So I checked out the place tonight.

It looks like a real pizzeria - only a counter for sitting, a drink cooler, and a menu with typical pizzeria fare. Meatballs for a topping, garlic knots! The pizza wasn't bad, but on reflection there are issues.

RVAfoodie later described the pizza as "... huge, thin, greasy, + cheesy So... New Yorky. The crust is light, limp. More spongy than chewy." I agree with most of his assessment except for the light, spongy, and "New Yorky" parts. My medium was a bit too dense (perhaps too much dough for that size pie), and hence kinda toothy in the wrong way. Not the chewiness I love in good crust. And the "New Yorky" part, well, if all these dings are true about a pizza, it's not representative of New York pizza (not to this Jersey boy, at least). There's bad pizza everywhere, even New York, but even touristy Little Italy in Manhattan has more good pizza than bad, using better mozzarella, just the right amount of sauce, and crust that holds up when it's folded in half.

That aside, though, there are real problems. It's a shame, too, because it looked and smelled pretty good. But let's start with what was right on top. The cheese. I always order a plain cheese pizza when I try out a new pizza joint because I figure they oughtta be able to get the basics right. Well the cheese on this pizza was some seriously low-grade mozzarella. The pool of grease was a big tip-off, and unfortunate.

The sauce was forgettable - literally, because I don't remember anything about it. At least there wasn't too much.

And the crust...well, that's the most troubling part. There's some actual decent flavor to the crust, but beyond that the texture isn't right. Whether that's from my suspicion of too much dough in the medium pie, or because they didn't give the dough enough time to rise, it still means it's kinda dense.

I'm not throwing out the leftovers, but this doesn't replace Capriccios, JoJo's, or Carini for me. Maybe I'll try out Arianna's next, since it's a block over from Belmont.

I've been waiting to write about this until I had this photo back from the lab. Alamo BBQ in Church Hill has been open for a few years already, and I'm ashamed it's taken me this long to stop by. I went once a couple of weeks ago on word that their brisket was supreme in the River City, but they were out when I was there (to be fair, mid-afternoon - they were waiting for another brisket to finish), so I had what I felt was so-so pulled pork.

Last weekend, however, I took Valerie up the hill for lunch, and I finally had my brisket. I skipped the default onions and jalapeños (not a fan of the flavor), but the sandwich still had plenty of zing, no doubt from copious amounts of black pepper in the rub.

I still like Buz and Ned's pulled pork better, but this is a new winner for brisket in my book. Beats Ronnie's, too (though I still really need to try those ribs...). Get it.

Tonight Valerie and I were privileged to attend "A Conversation with Chuck Close" at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts here in Richmond. Preceding the event was a book signing wherein the artist and his biographer signed my newly-acquired copy of Chuck Close: Work. That was one of my gifts from Valerie for our 6th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow :-)

At any rate, the conversation itself also featured the artist and his biographer, alternating between anecdotes, personal history, technique, and opinion. Everything was so engrossing for both my wife and me that I found it jarring when an official from the museum walked on stage to inform Mr. Close that they were essentially out of time. I don't think I'm the only one in the sold-out auditorium that would happily have stayed another hour.

It was a real thrill to have a living treasure of the art world in my fair River City. I look forward to the arrival of the Picasso exhibit this winter.

So I don't expect it to be heavily updated, but there's now a website for the Edgehill Civic Association. I put together this little Wordpress blog so the neighborhood organization could be a bit less reliant on paper flyers, and, if we're lucky, act as a source of information about our little corner of Richmond.

Carytown, Richmond, VA.

A friend of mine recently told me that his wife saw a yet-to-be-opened bagel shop on Cary Street. Well today I saw it for myself in Carytown on my way from the bank to the farmers' market.

Jaks Bagels & Deli is expecting to open late October, and I'm pretty pumped. All you have to do is search my site for "bagel" and you'll get the picture. They're not likely to supplant my craving for porkroll, egg, and cheese sandwiches on poppy seed bagels that only Cupertino's can fulfill (in the Richmond area), but having a bagel shop closer to home has me pretty excited.