Ploafmaster General

Richmond finally got enough snow to mean something - at least 6 inches in some places - and I'm sitting here at work.

You see, my office doesn't have an official inclement weather policy, and my job generally requires me to be here when I can. Since I have butt-loads of work to accomplish in the first half of this week and no ability to telecommute, I had to venture out into the snow in my trusty Jetta (man, that traction control came in handy today!) and rock the lower three gears of my transmission all the way up Broad Street.

I'd rather be out in the snow taking photographs. Maybe I'll knock-off early and do just that...

So Val and I never made it to the grand opening (circumstances as they were), but this evening we watched our first film at Movieland. We saw Frost/Nixon (4 out of 5, by the way), and were generally impressed by the design and operation of the theater. So impressed, in fact, that we will return tomorrow to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as originally intended.

A few notes:
1. The projection was gorgeous. Crystal clear, vivid, and all the benefits of brand-new screens and projectors.
2. I look forward to the velour-like seats getting a bit worn in. Even in jeans, I felt as if I was stuck to the seat.
3. I hope they get some automated kiosks for purchasing tickets - not simply for picking up pre-purchased ones. Or they should at least keep five registers open for ticket sales like they did this evening.
4. Dyson Airblades in the bathrooms. Sweeeeeeeeeet.

Tonight's the night that Bow-Tie Cinemas' Movieland at Boulevard Square opens. Valerie and I are still debating which movie to see and when, but I'm currently lobbying for tonight's 7:20 showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

I think (when the weather is nicer) I'll see if I can make it there on my bike in 15 minutes - then I'll never have to worry about parking :-)

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.

I finally got some pictures worth sharing. This dude was rocking faces (while hiding his own!) in front of Plan 9 on Friday the 13th.

Tonight is the opening for the new VCA exhibit, "Building Images: Seventy Years of Photography at Hedrich Blessing." There will be around 80 images, many quite large, which showcase a broad spectrum of the studio's work. The exhibit runs through April 12th.
(image courtesy Ansel Olson)

Today was so foggy and incredible that I just had to take some photographs. I rushed home at lunch time to grab my Yashica, and headed down to the Carillon near Dogwood Dell. While I my foggy photos didn't quite pass muster, the mini-shoot wasn't a total loss.

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...

Tomorrow from 10 - 5 is the Handmade Holiday Craft Show at the Visual Arts Center (where I took my photography course), and my buddy Phil is hawking is mighty wares. I plan to check it out, and if you're in or near Richmond tomorrow, you should, too. If you're participating in the mass consumerism around Christmas, you should at least consider supporting local artists and craftspeople.

Check out some fine examples of Phil's work on his Flickr account.

This past Saturday I was able to get at least one decent shot of the James Center lawn decorations...

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 :-)

I have two shots up on Flickr from my first roll of Efke 25 - a super low ISO black and white film from Croatia. It's interesting so far, but I think I need to try the second one in more appropriate shooting situations or with a tripod.

Continuing my unintentional string of movie-related posts, I have some more details by way of Richmond BizSense about the eventually-to-open Movieland theater on Boulevard...

What I'm most interested/concerned about is the notion that they're looking to create an "upscale" movie experience with beer, wine, and no pre-movie ads. That lack of ads spell higher ticket prices in my mind (we'll see), and should help determine whether movie-goers prefer low prices over ad-free cinema.

I have some new snaps on my photostream. This latest batch is pretty motivating for me because for the first time in ages the results look exactly as I imagined them. The only edits I've made are the clean-up of a few obvious dust spots. The color and exposure are otherwise spot on. Wewt!

While it's not nearly as extensive as the Library of Congress' account, the Library of Virginia has it's own presence on Flickr. It's only 200 images as of this posting and the range is limited, but there's plenty of info for each where available. CHECK IT OUT.

This morning my RSS reader had an exciting entry. The Fan District Hub pointed me to Melissa Ruggieri's review of a nascent bagel joint smack in the heart of VCU's Monroe Park campus. This was awesome - something closer than Cupertino's but serving their bagels. Even if the Bagel Czar didn't make their own (unfortunate, but not the end of the world) at least they sourced them wisely.

Now I care far less than Ruggieri about the decor of my bagel purveyors. I'm not sure what background (and I don't mean to doubt it) makes her a "bagel snob" and I don't want to sound contrarian, but nearly every worthy bagel shop I've entered from Delaware to Manhattan is a little on the plain and utilitarian side. Sometimes even hole-in-the-wall. What matters is the bagels, and here's where things started to disappoint.

Having tasted Cupertino's wares a number of times, I'm doubtful these bagels were their work. While the West End deli and bagel shop isn't quite like the Tri-State area, they at least have that slightly crispy skin on the outside with a slightly chewy interior. The Bagel Czar, on the other hand, was a bit too chewy for my taste the whole way through. It's not simply the subjective evidence that makes me question the origin of these bagels, though. Their own website has the following message in the title bar of the browser: "Bagel Czar: serving authentic NY H&H bagels to the greater Richmond community." So I asked the gent behind the bar this morning where they procured their dough and he told me that it's not even H&H anymore. The bagels were apparently too small and - surprise - couldn't stay fresh that long coming all the way from NYC. So they switched to some distributor whose name he couldn't quite recall for sure; either "Walther" or "Walter" or some such place, and he didn't know where they were located.

Is it possible that at 7:30 AM the wage employee didn't really know who dropped off the food? Sure. Is it possible Cupertino's owns a truck with some other name on the side? Sure. But if these are indeed their bagels, then I have greater cause for disappointment since it would mean the quality is slipping.

Granted, the bagel I had wasn't terrible. I like to test a new place by trying a plain bagel with butter (or an egg bagel if they make them - sadly, not at the Bagel Czar, but available at Cupertino's), and this was decent. Look, if you're a student who can't hoof it out to Cox Road for a worthwhile bagel, this place beats the crap out of whatever Kroger has to offer. But if you can and are willing to drive a little, the Bagel Czar isn't worth your time.

UPDATE: The proprietor of Cupertino's told me that the Bagel Czar does, indeed, carry his bagels. I dunno if perhaps they don't always have fresh stock (and I haven't exactly returned), but unless I'm desperate for time, I'd rather make the trek to the Far West End and get them from the man himself.

I suppose my weekend was so relaxing that I completely forgot to write about my first visit to Lulu's in Shockoe Bottom, so here I am, four days after my brunch, making up for just that.

The interior was visually interesting if a bit disjointed; the jury's out on the pairs of close-set columns separating the booths between the bar and the rest of the main seating area. I did, however, like the bar, the open kitchen, and the spectacular back seating area with what must have been 30-foot ceilings and skylights. I'd really like to check the place out at night and grab some drinks (unless anybody has reason to avoid it).

The food, so far, is another story. Very little about my first meal there calls me back. I ordered the Pork BBQ with cheesy scrambled eggs (hold the slaw, please), but what arrived wasn't actually BBQ. Sure, it was tasty and spicy shredded pork, but it was clearly braised pork. Not smoked. The color, the texture, the flavor...no smoke at all, and perhaps not even liquid smoke. Additionally, there was half a handful of chopped red peppers and scallions scattered across the plate of food, something not indicated in the menu (or I'd surely have asked to leave them out as well). Finally, the gray-brown thinly sliced potatoes on the side were presumably home fries, but they were soggy, limp, and thoroughly unappetizing.

Better luck next time, whenever that is.

As if you couldn't tell, I'm hopped-up on photography these days. I'm also, as you may have noticed, a fan of my locality, Richmond, VA.

It's truly a shame, then, that it's taken me this long to highlight the photography of Ansel Olson. With a background in photography and interior design and a practice in the graphic arts, Olson has a clear eye for well-conceived photographs, be they digital or film. From the literal to the abstract and sometimes surreal, there's a rich variety of work, and plenty of inspiration for a novice photographer like myself.

Tonight I decided to eat dinner at Chiocca's in the Museum District. It looks like my favorite sandwich in Richmond has been usurped by a piled-high pastrami and cheddar on rye, nice and hot.

If you can take the smokey and dive-yet-comfortable interior, grab a seat and enjoy. If you can't, call a head and take out. Either way, bring cash, because they don't take plastic (and as of this writing, their in-house ATM is busted). This is the real deal as far as deli sandwiches are concerned.

I have six fresh frames on my Flickr page tonight.

This past week I was fortunate enough to experience two inventive foods - each from two of my favorite Richmond food establishments.

First off was the pork/pistachio/truffle sausage from the Belmont Butchery. When Tanya suggested this initially I decided to try a link mostly out of curiosity, but I was completely taken aback by how well the components blended, particularly the pistachio and the pork. The black truffle shavings were so spare as to have only a small influence over the complete flavor, but they certainly rounded out the whole thing.

The second was this evening at DeLuca Gelato. While Valerie was deciding which flavors of sorbetto to combine, the proprietor offered me a taste of a new flavor: Balsamico Estasi - Balsamic Ecstasy. Here were raspberries steeped in quality aged balsamic vinegar mixed into a rich base of gelato with shavings of chocolate. Now chocolate and raspberries are a no brainer pairing if you already like both, but the balsamic provided a subtle fruity complexity and tanginess.

Richmond may not have a larger city's profusion of top-notch food outlets, but we sure do have our share of inventive places to chow. This week's surprises confirm that, and reinforce my love of eating here.

This morning I finally had a chance to stop by the 17th Street Farmers Market to check out Veronica Perez's macarons. She sells them under a little side business called Petites Bouchées, and after the free sample of the hazelnut with salted caramel (pictured above, I believe, from her Flickr account), it was an easy purchasing decision. Val and I bought two pleasantly-wrapped three packs including (between the two) vanilla with buttercream, pistachio with chocolate ganache (AMAZING), raspberry, and the aforementioned hazelnut with salted caramel.

A few important notes:
1. So far these are ideally found at the farmers market on Saturdays only. I believe she'll do Monday orders, but according to her website, I think they're only for out-of-towners (assuming I understood that correctly).
2. Because of today's heat, they were in a cooler instead of on display. The card attached to each packet recommends letting them come to room temperature before consuming. I whole-heartedly agree. I couldn't wait at first and ate one, and I was a little disappointed at the lack of the faint crisp skin I expected from the macarons in Paris. After I was home and they'd warmed up a bit, I had another and presto! Just like France. Delicious.
3. Unfortunately, she only seems to offer the min-sized pastries which are about the diameter of a quarter. Part of me wishes for the larger variety that were available in Paris - a single one is just the right size snack - but then I suppose she'd have to call these grandes bouchées :-)

Whatever the case, these are ALL delicious, and I highly recommend checking out her stall in the market. This week (and perhaps all the time?) she was in the center closer to Main Street, and it's important to note that she won't be there the next two Saturdays, but it's definitely worth waiting until later in June for these authentic goodies.

Well well well.

I just returned from an early morning bagel run to Cupertino's N.Y. Bagel and Deli in the West End (do they actually have their own website?). This is my third visit including yesterday morning - investigation requires work, after all - and I'm convinced now that I've found something resembling a decent bagel shop in Richmond (and possibly even a good deli!). I've since had some more bagels (pretty good), a capicola and mozzarella sandwich on their fresh baked rye bread (not quite a deli-portion of meat, but it was DELICIOUS), and even some of that Boylan cream soda I dig so much. Next time I go over there (how soon is too soon?) I plan to hit up some of their fresh crumb cake in addition to some fresh cold cuts for the week's lunches.

Is this a true transplanted deli from the Northeast? Have I found my real bagels and delicatessen?

I'd say it's halfway - but that's very promising for my fair city. The bagels are certainly a cut above anything Einstein's or Panera has to offer. The fact that I can get capicola on a sandwich is rare (but not impossible) in Richmond. The fresh rye bread is fantastic, though, and tasted at least as good as anything I've had back in Jersey. My hope is that Cupertino's remains a busy so that other bagel makers see opportunity down here in the South.

Tip o' the hat to Tripp for pointing out the joint.