Richmond Restaurant Index

We have compiled a list of popular Richmond restaurants and have included multiple blog posts on each establishment. Please enjoy. If we are missing a good review, please feel to send the request to EatingRichmond@gmail.com.

• Acacia Midtown
• The Black Sheep
• Cafe Rustica
• Can Can
• Edo’s Squid
• Sensi

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Ask the Food Bloggers: A Favorite Quick/Easy Meal, Pt. 2

Previous Recipes

Lamb and Feta over Cous Cous: Vanessa McCauley, Mommy Gourmet

I have never had a recipe for this, so everything is an approximation.  I love this, and it take no time.  If you are not a lamb fan, use chicken.  I have used boneless skinless and it came out great, I think dark meat would be great too.  Shrimp I suspect would be great too.  However, one caveat,you would think beef would be a good substitute, however. it is not.

• 1 lb lamb (blade, leg,  whatever cut you like)
• 2-3 large tomatoes chopped
• 1 onion sliced
• A butt load of feta (I realize that is an odd culinary term many of you
  might not be familiar with, to put it in layman's terms I would use at LEAST
  8 oz.)
• Olive oil  (I am guessing about 3 tbs)
• Lemon juice (I would say the juice of 2 lemons)
• Salt and pepper

Form a large foil packet and add all ingredients.  Seal up package, bake at
350 for 30 minutes, serve over couscous.

Breakfast Tostada: Belinda Carroll, Bella Lately

I'm all about throwing something in a tortilla when I'm short on time and/or
ingredients.  Any shape, size or texture will do.  Our fav around here
is the Breakfast Tostada.  This would serve 2.

• Pan fry 2 – 4 turkey breakfast sausages, cut out of their casings and broken up fine.
• Throw in 2-4 eggs, scramble it up.  Place on a warm or toasted tortilla (I like Chi Chi's taco size).
• Lay a slice of American cheese(or cheese of your choice) on top to melt.
• Finish w/salsa, sour cream etc.  (Salsa is also good mixed in with the eggs while they are cooking).

Pasta ala Matt: Matt Sadler, House of Marinara

1. In a large  pan, heat 2-3 TB of Olive Oil
2. Add 2 teaspoons of anchovy paste cook until it disintegrates.
3. Add- 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 TB of crushed red pepper.
4. As soon a garlic starts to brown, deglaze pan with cup of white wine
5. Add a large amount of broth, preferably chicken (low sodium). Fill the pan.
6. Add a small package of frozen chopped spinach
7. Bring to a boil, add linguine and cook it.
8. Add broth as needed. Watch for things burning and sticking to bottom of pan.
9. Serve with grated Parmesan or Romano or any hard Italian cheese AND a glass of white wine

White Bean & Tomato One-Dish Meal: Megan Marconyak,Adventures in Food and Fashion

This is a favorite weeknight dish that can be thrown together in minutes. Also, feel free to sub in various vegetables and beans to fit what's in your pantry. I've used garbanzo beans instead of white beans and used varying vegetables. You can also sub a spoonful of pesto for the fresh basil. All in all, I find this combo to be easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 can (13 or so oz.) white beans
• 1 zucchini,1 summer squash (both sliced thin)
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• fresh basil
• fresh Parmesan cheese

Drain and rinse white beans. Heat a pan on the stove to about medium heat. Add olive oil and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant. Add zucchini and sauté until it begins to turn transparent. Add beans and tomatoes. Cook until liquid evaporates from tomatoes and all ingredients are blended. Stir in basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste. Enjoy! You can also add pasta to this dish. I'm often trying to keep my carbs low (the other half of my blog is about fashion!) but the addition of fresh pasta, stirred in at the end before the basil and cheese, would stretch the dish even more.

Entree-Style Salad: Messy Chef,Messy Cuisine

There are a lot of things that can make preparation go faster or easier in the kitchen – and let's be honest – time is something that usually holds a lot of us up on a weekday night. Any preparation you can get out of the way on the weekend is a guarantee that you can eat well, and at home, on a weeknight.

One of the things I love to make is a entrée-style salad. Save time by pre-washing your salad, stored with a paper towel in a large gallon-sized zip bag or by purchasing pre-washed salad. Save time by pre-cooking some vegetables that require it! I just made a great salad using yellow beets. I roasted the beets in aluminum foil for 45 minutes – but if you're doing that for another recipe on Saturday, another beet can go into Monday's dinner salad. Another delicious vegetable is asparagus, cooked in salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes, then shocked in ice water. Then, put the cool asparagus into a zip bag with Italian salad dressing. The 1-2 day marinade will be delicious.

 The rest of your salad can come together in the form of slices of cheese, pre-cut deli meats, or even slices of an extra chicken breast you cooked earlier in the week. Your easy weeknight salad can really be a combination of leftovers, repurposed into whatever type of salad you want to put together. If you're short on interesting vegetables, you can pump-up the interest level with fruit: grapes, apples, raisins, and even orange slices can add just the right note of sweetness to a salad. 

Above, all, experiment and enjoy. The only "cooking" required might be
toasting some bread in our toasters

Previous Recipes

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Ask the Food Bloggers: A Favorite Quick/Easy Recipe, part 1

When you're food obsessed, what do you cook, under duress? We asked all of the Eating Richmond food bloggers what they make for dinner on an average night, with limited time. Here are the first four responses. We'll have another set of recipes later on. This installment piece could continue forever, or as long as the bloggers have recipes they want to share. For the individual blogger, these might be guilty pleasures, intimate culinary quickies, shortcuts out of a can, or five ingredient masterpieces. Above all, they're quick and easy. Try one out and leave a comment.

More Recipes

Chicken Curry Cous Cous: (Bookstore) Piet Jones, Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Since I close my store at 6, a complex dinner during the week doesn't always fly – especially with a 4 year old and a 3 month old.  We stock a number of things in the house to make an easy dish while we decompress from the day.  For the base we usually use a jar of Indian simmer sauce although making a sauce is not that hard using spices and tomatoes (All these food items are available at Whole Foods and you can get great Indian spices at Penzy's).  For the chicken we get a pack of boneless thigh meat – cheaper then breasts and more flavourful.

1 Package Chicken
1 jar simmer sauce (many varieties available at Whole Foods)
1 large onion
1 package Israeli Cous Cous (very large pearl cous cous)
1 cup Chicken Stock
Addional Indian Spices to taste

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and place in bowl.  Toss chicken in a high heat oil and add spices of your choice (I usually use either Tandoori or Rogan Josh spices) and a little salt – place to the side.  Chop an onion and toss in the same type of oil and spices.  Brown chicken in a large pan adding the onion about half way through. Once browned add the jar of simmer sauce (or one can diced tomato and a small can of tomato paste with a healty dose of Indian spices) the chicken stock and the cous cous.  Cover and let simmer until all the liquids are absorbed.  (this is the point where you can add a veg if you want – either a cup of peas or frozen spinach is easy to add) In the bread section at Whole Foods you can get some really good Naan bread – it goes bad fast and isn't always available (in the packaged bread section) so we buy a lot and then freeze it.  While the chicken is simmering we spray the Naan with a little olive oil and place in the oven to toast. When all is done we cut the Naan into strips and ladle the chicken and cous cous into bowls.

Spaghetti with Uncooked Sauce: Haley Watkins, Appoggiatura

I have a recipe that is hardly a recipe at all, but my husband requests it even on nights when I'm not trying to cut culinary corners.  I make spaghetti with garlic, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs in an uncooked sauce.  It's so easy, you can put it together while you wait for pasta water to boil.  Pasta's a great fallback when you want something filling, but you want it to be easy. To make it, set your pasta water to boil and salt it liberally.  You're going to cook half a pound of long pasta in it.  Take a serving bowl and swirl several tablespoons of olive oil in it – maybe six.  Sprinkle in a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar in on top of it.  Next, halve a package of cherry tomatoes (about 12 oz) and throw those in the bowl.  Then slice one clove of garlic razor thin.  Sprinkle it in the bowl.  Grab a handful of whatever fresh herbs you've got, give them in a rough chop, and toss those in, too.  Salt and pepper all of this well.  At this point, you should be ready to drain your pasta. You needn't be thorough, but pour off the water and get that pasta in the serving bowl.  Toss well to coat with the oil and vinegar and serve. We love it so much, I ended up posting it on my blog here.

Asian Seared Tuna Salad: Jason Guard,Caramelized OpiNIONS

One of my most frequently prepared weeknight meals is "the salad that eats like a meal."*  Delicate salad greens, slightly charred protein, crunchy toasted nuts, and thin'n'crispy crouton-like bread strips, all lightly coated with a tangy ginger dressing. Although I make it with many different seasonings and proteins (tofu, shrimps, fake sausage, tempeh, etc) Asian themed with seared tuna is most requested by Karen.  Thru practice, I've gotten so I could make this in my sleep.  But while making sure it's pretty and Karen smiles with excitement, I often manage to work myself into a stressed out perfectionist mess, in just a short time in the kitchen.  That's why it's important to have a cold beer at the ready to cool off the hot chef-temper between each step. 

Here's your order of operations and ingredients:

1. Cut some wonton wrappers into thin strips and toast them til golden brown in a lightly oiled pan, then set on a plate with a paper towel.
2. Take your protein (tuna steak or tofu are my faves) and dust it liberally with an Asian rub from a jar (or make your own).  Use your still oily wonton strip pan to sear both sides until it's got a nice crust, and set it aside to rest.
3. In a great big bowl, toss your greens (and any other raw veg) with ginger dressing (Makoto is my fave, but some of the natural/organic brands are increasingly good, and you can make your own) and place in your serving bowls.
   
4. Sprinkle liberally with salad mix nuts from Trader Joe's (almond slivers, pepitas, pine nuts, whatever you have- toasting them makes them even better)
   
5. Slice that protein into 1/4" strips, roll those pieces around in the salad tossing bowl that still has dressing coating the bottom and lay'em on top of the salad (waste not, want not, yall).
6. Scatter the top with the crunchy wonton strips.
7. Dim the lights ;o)

*I've despised salads all my life, even the first 10 years of my vegetarianism.  Then, after decades of iceberg lettuce torture, I discovered spring mix, mesclun,  arugula, mustard greens, and anything outta my garden that I please.  Plus, varied textures in that bowl make all the difference, turning rabbit food into a satisfying meal.

Improv Pasta: Virginia Roper,What I eat, apparently

One of my preferred quick and easy recipes to use is something I call improv pasta. It's the sort of pasta that comes out different every time you make it, as it's completely based on what sort of food remnants are pining away in your refrigerator. There's only two really important ingredients in improv pasta, that being the pasta itself (I prefer rotini!) and a nice jar of red sauce. So first, you boil the pasta in the standard manner, making sure to use a larger pot then you think you'll actually need. Then, snout around in your fridge for anything that's threatening to go moldy or bad on you. Err, or just anything that would taste good in pasta. I'll use all sorts of things: carrot, tomato, peppers, celery, artichoke hearts, broccoli, spinach, and pretty much any meat (or faux-meat) you might have lying about. Then, cut up whatever needs to get cut up into teenier pieces. Add anything hard to your simmering pasta immediately. Or not, if you are really into crunchy carrots in your pasta. Everything else, just dump into the pot when the noodles are done boiling, along with your sauce. Depending on how many ingredients you've chopped up, you'll suddenly find your pot much fuller then you anticipated it being. Stir until hot, adding in any random seasonings you happen to have lying about (garlic and pepper are always excellent). Then, dump on plate and pile some cheese on top! I'll often make this intending to make enough for two people, and then end up eating it for the next several days. Which works quite well if you're lazy and like pasta!

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Ask the Food Bloggers: How did you get to be an Adventurous Eater?

Messy Chef, Messy Cuisine

I’m not certain that I consider myself an adventurous eater, especially when I consider of the likes of TV personalities Anthony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern. Since I was a kid my mother labeled me a picky eater. But pickiness can be limiting, and over time I’ve constantly been shedding pickiness and trying new things. Whether it was sushi for the first time in San Francisco or duck feet in Boston, I guess I’ve been personally pushed on the more adventurous side by new friends or colleagues from different cultures or backgrounds.

Janet Raymond, Richmond, Food for Thought

I credit two people with introducing me to the art of food and my falling in love with it….my brother Bill and my Aunt June. Bill is 12 years older than me and when I was a child we would watch shows like Julia Child, The Frugal Gourmet and the Galloping Gourmet. Bill loved food and since our Mom was not a very good cook and certainly was not a foodie, he learned to cook on his own. I would watch him as he would bake or prepare a meal and he’d explain things to me along the way. Saturdays were spent with him taking me to lunch and a movie and I learned about the simple wonder that was Julian’s Pizza as well as trying my first pate in Cary town at a food tasting. My late Aunt June, who I adored, was Martha Stewart before Martha Stewart. Her house was always spotless and well decorated and I could walk into her kitchen most anytime and there would be a homemade cake or other baked good waiting, a pot of soup on the stove, or she would dig out something from the refrigerator and make me a sandwich. She hosted all of our holiday dinners with perfection and made it seem effortless. Christmas meant dozens and dozen of incredible cookies and bars of endless varieties, as she made sure everyone had their favorite. She could take the most modest of ingredients and turn them into something amazing. Once I realized how wonderful food was, I wanted to try everything (and still do). It’s my one great passion and as with wine, music, and art, the more you discover, the more you realize there is so much to be discovered.

Veronica Perez, Veronica’s Test Kitchen

I grew up in the restaurant business but I was a very picky eater when I was a child (who wasn’t?). All I would eat was meat – pork chop,chicken, duck, lamb and beef and if they were fried the better and I loved ketchup. I remembered my brother trying to get me to eat my veggies and he wouldn’t let me touch the meat dish unless I ate some of that disgusting bitter melon. My dad spoiled me rotten, so he usually would tell my brother to back off when I started cry – I mean who wouldn’t, when what was standing between you and a juicy steak was a mound of greens. I ignored fresh steamed fish, would only eat shrimp if they were peeled and that goes for fruits too. And forget about leftovers…I would not touch a dish at dinner if it was already served at lunch, I think this how I developed a hyper-sensitive palate and know when a restaurant’s dish has been re-heated. In the midst of all this, I have seen poultry butchered and dressed in the kitchen and whole ducks being strung from the rafters. I even made fun of my grandmother when the duck she was turning into ham developed maggots because the weather was not cooperative. So my pickiness did not stem from squeamishness but more because nobody forced me to eat or try anything else.

When I moved to Manila to study for my board exams and to start work, I lived with a family that included dinner as part of my room and board – so I can’t just go into the kitchen and ask for something else to eat because I did not like what was for dinner. This was when I ate my first eggplant omelet and realized that all veggies were not my enemy after all.

I also had dinner a lot with my Aunt and her sushi loving family. They made me try tuna sashimi and I was amazed at how buttery the fish was. I remembered I had the best salmon sashimi from a fish she had bought from the wet market.

Long and short is, I had to be away from my family and the comforts of home to unleash my adventurous spirit. I still would not eat the embryo of a duck egg (i’ve done it before and I don’t see what the big deal is) or try anything like brains. The one thing I’d like to try is snake soup when I go to Hong Kong – popular in autumn and winter months because it is rumored to fortify your body to ward of the cold.

I always tell people who complain about their kid’s pickiness with food that they’ll eventually grow out of it – hopefully.

And I do eat leftovers now.

Jessy Farrell, happyveganface

growing up my mother never cooked anything special for anyone. if you didn’t like what was being served – too bad – you learned to love it or you missed out. even though our family meals back in the day were pretty standard, we were always encouraged to “try it just once” and then “try it again” – we just weren’t allowed to be picky, i suppose. then about 10 years ago i ended up working for 2 years at ellwood thompsons in the deli. that’s when i got to try a lot of awesome food that i’d never heard of before (tempeh, kale, bulghur, barley, dolmas, hummus, swiss chard, etc.) & that was the beginning of me becoming a more adventurous eater. i just kept trying everything i could and it turned out that i loved most of what i tried, and i learned so much about food and all the variety of deliciousness that was out there just waiting for me to taste. when dan & i became vegan that’s when i reeeeeeally got in to food. i was so used to preparing a meal around chicken, beef, pork, etc. – but without animal products i started to really get creative & branch out a ton – that’s when this whole world of awesome just opened up. there were even foods i didn’t care for in the past (mushrooms, beets, cucumbers, raw carrots, cabbage) that i made my mission to love them & eventually i did after trying them again and again and again. i started using spices i had never used or heard of & experimenting with different cooking techniques. i began to make my own breads, my own sauces, and so many different cuisines from around the world (ethiopian, indian, mediterranean, etc.). i also started thinking about food* all the time;*i would day dream about different flavor combinations & exciting dishes i wanted to test out – and i still do! i’m always thinking about food – it’s just so much fun! when i think about “picky eaters” i can’t help but get a little sadfaced – i want to give them a gentle shaking and shout, “do you know what you’re missing out on?!? come on – just keep trying everything and you’ll find that there’s so much more to love out there!” i know how i used to be, and even though i was never a picky eater – i felt like i never really stepped out of my comfort zone much until about 10 years ago. i wish i had “made the plunge sooner” – but i am sooooo glad i finally did because it’s really fun discovering new flavors, textures, and creating all the yummies i can!

RVA Foodie – Caramelized OpiNIONS

I’m an adventurous eater…

• Cuz my parents are artsy-type gourmets who raised me in San Francisco and Washington DC.
• I’m a curious kinda guy. The whole world exists for me to discover and attempt to understand
• Vegetarianism has pushed me to branch out
• As a child, I was exposed to everything, and forced to eat nothing.
• Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations doesn’t enable scratch’n’sniff (or taste) on my TV screen.
• gastrosexual: cooking with coconut milk gets you laid (crass, I apologize)
• Karen, how bout some Thai curry tonight?
• Food provides three opportunities per day for me to challenge myself and enjoy the food hobby
• Tomatoes and pickles: I have finally overcome your tyrannical campaign of fear!
• Went through years of “meat and cheese only” phase in childhood and have been making up for it ever since.
• If I can’t afford to travel to every part of the world, I can at least find out how other cultures’ kitchens smell while trying to recreate the experience of an authentic regional meal.
• Ed Vasaio, of Mamma Zu’s, is responsible for my “eating disorder”
• If the Bush Administration had to run up $700 billion in debt, sacrifice our troops, and massacre nearly 100,000 people we’re not supposed to know or care about, all for the sake of “my freedom,” you damn well better believe I’m gonna taste everything my heart desires (at least once).
• If someone says it’s good, I gotta find out what the heck they’re talking about.
• Science!  My palate is a chemistry set. I gotta use it.
• The Food Network has totally captivated my imagination and sent me on a hundred wild goose chases to experience the food I see on there.
• I’m a straight white dude from the suburbs, working for the government. I need to get some spice in my life from somewhere.

Belinda Carroll, Bella Lately

It might sound trite, but its true- I have my mother to thank for my appreciation of all things new and wonderful when it comes to food. What I love most about food is that it’s the great unifier, the ultimate evocateur of memories, the link between past and present.

It’s ironic really b/c when I was younger, meal time meant sounding the alarms and the strapping on of battle gear. It was a fight to the death! I didn’t want to eat anything my mother had to feed me, but by God she was going to get something down my gullet! I picked, I pushed, I pouted, I stuffed my socks with peas. Anything to not eat what she gave me.

Over time, this changed. There was no hallmark moment that comes to mind. There’s just this gradual evolution that happened for me with the passing of years. I think my mother was like the ocean, wearing away the stone b/c she was always pushing the envelope with us, food-wise. Like the time we stopped on the way home from DC at what my family thought was a Chinese restaurant off of the highway (not a typical stretch for us).

Turns out, it was Korean (which turned out to be a very big stretch for us). My mom was all about it and having a “mini-adventure” as a family. Even though the kimchi was foreign to our palate and the family style shared meat, cooked ourselves on a hibachi in the middle of table blew our minds. It was a communal experience shared that I will never forget in addition to my mom’s fearlessness and optimism in approaching this new experience. *insert metaphor for life here*

Years later in Chicago on Devon St. in a hole in the wall Korean restaurant I liked to frequent, it always brought me close in spirit with her. Even though I was a 16 hour drive away (going 100 MPH, no stopping for potty breaks) at the time. It took me moving that far (geographically, chronologically, spiritually) to “get” what she was really trying to teach me about food. And now I love that that lesson is always waiting for me in a neat/messy/steaming/spicy/crispy/gooey package anytime I need a reminder.

3 simple steps to adventurous eating.
By Maya Vincelli, The Forgetful Chef.

1. Step AWAY from the California Rolls!
When dining at ethnic restaurants- don’t get suckered into picking the Americanized ethnic dishes or bland counterparts. Do a little research before you go out-Google is your friend, and don’t be afraid to ask questions! Come in with an empty belly, and no preconceived notions. If you THINK it’s going to be bad- it will be—so trust a server to pick for you, or take a look at some dishes on another table. Be nice, and talk to someone at another table who looks like they know what they’re doing. Ask about what they’re eating, for a suggestion or help. If they are friendly and helpful back, send over a drink or dessert to thank them for their help.

2. Go with a Plan.
When I was first teaching myself to cook, I loved to go to local farmers markets, ethnic markets, and even super markets and use them for inspiration. Bring a note pad, and don’t be afraid to ask purveyors about produce you’ve never seen, let alone cooked before! Talk to the butcher about how to cook cuts of meat, and peruse the international stores for interesting or odd ingredients. Long ago, I made a promise to myself to buy one random or interesting ingredient every time I went shopping. From guava paste and ramps, to canned snails and squid ink, the odd ingredient here and there challenged me to be creative, do some research and get to know other cultures. This satisfied that post college- learning urge that I still felt after school, and gave me some spectacularly delicious and some terrifically awful or odd dishes. As long as you’re not afraid to fail, and you can take it all with a dose of humor, the world is your oyster!

3. Have a partner in crime.
Remember in grade school when you’d spin a globe, close your eyes and touch a random country you could fantasize about living in? Well- bring it back old school, and do it with a menu and a friend. Shared experiences bring us together, and in my circle, I know certain friends will always “go for it” with me. We make a plan to go out or cook together, and get excited about it! Whether its ordering completely in Japanese at the sushi restaurant (without the English key), or doing the old globe trick, we have fun with our meals and the excitement and humor- not to mention eating some really great food brings us closer together. And if it turns out to be awful? You get a great story, and better luck next time! Having a light heart and an open mind has allowed me to experience all sorts of things, and once you get used to not knowing what you’re ordering, it sort of feels like a surprise birthday party. You know it’s coming, but you have no idea what it’ll be like.

We’re compiling future questions to “Ask the Food Bloggers,” so feel free to make a suggestion here or via email.  Of course, you can tell your own story in the comments to.

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