kendrabail

I am not too familiar with Kentucky style country ham, but Virginia ham is salt-cured ham. The best comes from Smithfield, Virginia and it will raise your blood pressure is a matter of minutes. It's great stuff on a biscuit with a dollop of sawmill gravy :) The Accidental Chef

For the best BBQ in town, head to Benny's BBQ. 2919 Hathaway Road. It's on the southside of Richmond, and a bit tricky to find, so I would suggest using mapquest. It's a total hole in wall, but and excellent place to sample authentic, Virginia-style BBQ (in a vinegar sauce not tomato sauce). Fall off the bone ribs. Awesome homemade bread pudding. The Accidental Chef

Let's see.... Heading down 95, you could get off at the Belvidere exit and head into the Fan area. I don't know the exit number, but if you take a left at the light (right after you exit) and then head to Belvidere, where you would take a right, you could eaasily make your way to a few nice places. Once on Belvidere, cross Broad Street (a main road) and take your second right onto Main Street (a one way street). Once on Main Street, if you head west about a mile or so, you will begin to see several smaller establishments on that road. A place called Stella's is about a mile and a half from Belvidere (and it will be on your right). It's quite good, and easy to find. About a block from it is Sticky Rice (a college-type sushi place, but fun) and across from Sticky Rice is Southern Culture (have not had the food there, but great live music--swing bands). Before you get to Stellas, you will see a place called Six Burner on your left. It's very good as well, although last time I went by, their sign was not out front yet. Next to Six Burner is the Dogwood Grill. Also, good. These are places that I feel are representative of what's going on with Richmond's dining scene, and they are easy to find. There are many other fantastic places, but they could be a little tricker to get to from 95. Hope this helps. www.theaccidentalchef.net info@theaccidentalchef.net

Oh God, don't get me started on the grocery story monopoly going on here. A certain store (beginning with "U") is so overpriced it's actually entertaining. Yes, they run specials, but the meat, produce and heinous seafood is so ridiculously expensive, it's criminal. Last week I saw filet mignon for $29 a pound. NO missprint. I NEVER go to said place. I am waiting for more organic groceries (like Trader Vic's) to come in a give the ole "U" a run for their money. Doubt it will happen. I also agree with you about Lemaire. Ate their once. Nice service. Average food for the price. Stuffy. Not my kind of place either. Now Sidewalk? That's a place I can live with. Best damn calamari in town.

I totally agree with all of you. Spend your $60 on a bottle of your fav stuff. However, if you DO go: 1. DO NOT go on Sat. Drunks flutter about with abandon. I actually saw a group of guys doing wine shots once. Sunday is a little better (relatively speaking). I noticed there were more industry people there on Sunday since they have an open house for professionals earlier that morning. 2. DO NOT THINK THERE WILL BE FOOD because their won't (probably why most of the place is tanked). There are some cheese tastings here and there, but the wait (about 20 minutes last time I went) for a cube of Gouda made me feel like an turn of the century street kid, "May I please have some more, sir?" There's ALOT of wine, but most of it is what you can find in the grocery store. The Chateau n' du pape (sp.) table is ok if you can get to it (again lines, lines and more lines). Culinary demonstrations are worth checking out if for nothing more than a social experiment on what happens to mob-like crowd when you get them totally tanked and deprive them of food. The coup de grace is when they line up 30 plates of shrimp and grits for a line of 200 people. THAT is worth 60 bucks. One woman got so angry at the lady in front of her for taking two plates instead of one, she threw a chicken leg at her head. Priceless, and well worth the price of admission. My Webpage

Been a while since I checked these posts, so sorry! Regarding Six Burner.... No non-smoking section....typical fan arrangement, but not smoky when I was in there...just at the bar Prices run about $7 to $9 for apps and around the same for some entrees...the most expensive was in the low 20's if I recall correctly. Large portions including can fish sandwich that could feed a family of four. Less expensive than Kitchen Table (and yes, the organic stuff can set you back a bit) although I thought KT's prices were very fair considering what Flemings, Mortons and Ruth Chris charge for a crappy steak. And don't even get me started on some of the newer chains in town...:) Kitchen Table would be my vote for your first visit. To be honest, I don't remember seeing anything on the menu for over $25 bucks (including a filet mignon). Head to Stella's. It's wonderful. Sticker shock will accompany the specials (listed on the chalkboard) but they are enough for two, so share. Order off the menu for a great selection of apps, soups and small plates including a very generous Mezze platter with hummus, tiropita, greek salad, spanakopita and an amazing taramasalata. We usually sit at the bar and eat apps all night. Great wine list and the entire place is nonsmoking. www.theaccidentalchef.net

Hot Pockets. Flavors of choice: Chicken Parmesan Meatball and Cheese and the worst of all?? Cheeseburger Deluxe. To add insult to injury, I eat them at about 10am as breakfast... I'm...so....ashamed....

Chitlins. Had 'em once, but never again. When cooked down, they literally smell like a dead body. Reminded me of graduate biology class.

One of the best risotto I have ever made is a simple shrimp risotto. The key to creating a full flavored dish is to make your own shrimp stock using a standard mirepoix and shrimp shells. Cook this for at least 2 hours, strain and season. Throw this mixture into your risotto and you will have a deliciously flavored dish--nothing bland here. For extra creaminess, sometimes I add about 2 tablespoons of cream. I go easy on the cheese in this dish since it does not pair as nicely with seafood as it does veggies. Also, deglazing the pan with white wine is essential to a flavorful risotto. For extra flavor in a simple risotto (for a side dish) saute up some chopped proscuitto or other Italian ham with your onions etc.. before adding the rice. It's very nice, and never bland. The biggest mistakes I've found with poor tasting risottos is no flavor. Try these tricks to avoid this!

As a native West Virginian, the passing down of family recipes goes hand in hand with drinking moonshine and pickin' bluegrass. I am actually teaching a cooking class on my grandma's recipes which include her famous chicken and dumplings, skillet cornbread (made with Mabry Mill grits--the only grit and it's not a sweet cornbread) and West Virginia Funeral Cake. Good, simple food. The class sold out almost immediately, so I think people are still interested in "old" style recipes. Some other great ones are fried apple pies, cornbread and milk and country ham with red eye gravy. You gotta love it! She still sends me clips of recipes from the Mercer County newspaper along with collections of recipes from her church. Lots of strange food combinations in casseroles (almost always involving a can of cream of mushroom soup!) and jello salads made with everything from pretzels to cottage cheese.

We were guided in the same direction to order a pre-app, and app, a salad and entree and then dessert. They suggested that we do this as if it would be some affront to the chef if we did not. It is reiterated on the menu in several places that the chef recommends this as the ideal way to share a meal. We complied to some extent (skipping dessert and sharing apps, salad and an entree which I am sure annoyed the server). Yet, we still ended up with considerably more food than we could begin to eat and a hefty check to boot. Silly place. My pet peeve when dining is to have food pushed on me in any capacity. Cheesy selling techniques should be reserved for the used car lot.

It's on West Main Street about 5 blocks west of Harrison. They don't have a sign yet, but you'll see it.

You are so right about Helen's creme brulee. The way it should be made. Not too custardy, not too creamy but somewhere inbetween with that perfect sugary crackle it makes as your spoon hits the first bite. Ahhhh... Have any of you tried the new fav Kitchen Table in Shockoe Bottom? Also, Dale R. just opened a new place called Six Burner if you're a fan of his. We ate there the other night. Excellent. Kind of a scaled down version of Acacia with a local fan hangout/comfort food slant. They make a mean white bean casserole with kale. The oyster chowder was also to die for.

Next time you are in town, try Edo's Squid. It's the sister restaurant to Mama Zu's. Ed Vasio owns and operates both places. Edo's Squid is a little friendlier and has less of a wait on most nights. But yes, Mama Zu's rocks. Every time. The gorgonzola pasta. Better than...well, you know

For those that live or have visited Richmond, VA, I am curious what eating establishments would be at the top of your list? Many say that Richmond is slowly earning its place on the southern culinary map. Waht do you think?

I've got agree with those who expect a critic to, at the very least, try the food they plan on mentioning in a review. I have been doing restaurant reviews for a publication in the Richmond, Virginia area for about 6 months (so I am little green) but I will eat anything at least once. I may not clean my plate with gusto every time, but I will put the darn stuff in my mouth, even if it's just for second. For example, I think tiny whole squids or calamari with the legs on them resemble spiders (and I've got that spider phobia thing), so I cringe at the thought of popping one whole into my mouth. However, on a recent visit to a restaurant who had barbecued baby squid on the menu (as a signature dish) I ate them anyway. With my mother's voice resounding in the back of my brain in a, "How do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it" kind of way, I stuffed one down. And guess what? It wasn't all bad. I don't need therapy because of the experience. At least not on this subject. Now if I were to review this place, I could in complete fairness. I tried it. I KNOW what it taste like, and I can now offer my opinion based on this experience. It's just plain unfair to the chef's that design these dishes and execute them nightly not give the food a try. In the future, the NYT's should assign adventurous eaters to adventurous establishments. It would save both the writer, who has to choke down the food, and the chef's, who have to read that their prized dishes were never even tasted, a lot of headache.

On my last trip to Charleston, we went to Jestine's. A solid representation of low country cuisine. No pretentions here. It's busy, but a great stop for lunch.

Had dinner at Meinyu in Georgetown this past weekend. The decor was rather overwhelming (DJ box was pretty darn cool), and it is the only place I have ever been where the bathroom attendant, while washing my hands, thanked me for coming. At any rate, I thought the food was decidely average. My husband and I were visiting from Richmond, Virginia and asked some friends from the DC area where the new "hotspot" was for food and they mentioned Meinyu. I felt it was a big disappointment. For example, a green papaya salad had NO green papaya in it, and it was so spicy hot that any other attempt at flavoring the dish was consequently lost. Green papaya salad (a la Vietnamese or Thai style) thrives on the crunch of fresh GREEN papaya. This papaya was overripe and tasted more like mango. The Korean short ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender, but were bathed in some funky peanut sauce that was too heavy of a pairing for an already greasy rib. We scraped most of it off. Last time we were in DC we ate at Zatinya and it lived up to the hype. Cool decor, great scene and amazing food to back it all up. For the price (and crazy long wait for a table) at Meinyu, I felt that even the six top hanging birdcage couldn't save it. I am curious what the local foodie scene in DC thinks of this place?