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At first I was disappointed to see the schnitzel wasn't still on the menu last week, but after tasting its replacement I was more than happy to have the cassoulet. That is the ultimate cold weather dish.....

Oh come ON! How could the offspring of David Soul and Shaun Cassidy be a dilido?

Woke up this morning with this very thing on my mind. Normally I am not someone who enjoys sickeningly sweet drinks, but I call this "The Landslide". Technically, Landslide #3 since there are already a couple of variations out there... 1oz. Ketel One Vodka 1oz. Bailey's Irish Cream 1oz. Drambuie 1oz. Starbucks Coffee Liqueur 1/3oz. Godiva Chocolate Liqueur Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour into a rocks glass over ice. Sprinkle on some shaved chocolate and/or crushed espresso beans.

Lol, my girlfriend and I both went, "why isn't this Ted Allen's show".

Not a lot more to add after this trip (other than 2 trips to Sticky Rice, one of which involved a Leaving Las Vegas level of Red Truck...a top notch cheap red wine)....but we did visit the new Trader Joe's (West End?) on Sunday. I only mention it because this was my first visit to any Trader Joe's, and despite the attack of the Sunday afternoon Stepford Wives I have to say I'm a fan. I can't say I'd ever think of it as "destination shopping", but some of the prices on things like fresh herbs ($1.29/pk vs. $2.99), California rolls, marinated meats, giant cans of soup, etc. were very impressive. And of course the ubiquitous Two Buck Chuck ($3.29 now), which was actually drinkable compared to your run of the mill box wine or brands like Fish Eye. Do ANY locations carry spices? That was a big shocker for me....zero in that department. Oh, and I thought Total Wine was GREAT.......great shopping. Can't remember what part of town though. Being born in Kansas I'll have to get back with you on the roadhouse style chain called "Topeka's".......although I will never eat there while I'm in Richmond, a concept like this one deserves some special attention......

I found the premiere episode to be a little painful.......Tony trying way, WAY too hard to play host and get the last word (he is not what we refer to as "a listener"), topics that are neither interesting enough for real food-folk, nor approachable enough for the casual Travel Channel viewer....I think it's salvageable if they shy away from people with the means to travel the Amazon in order to study chocolate and up the alcohol factor by about five hundred percent. Seriously, the second half was watchable, but it started off like nails on a chalkboard. Bratwurst, bourbon, some Dave Attell, maybe some Al Goldstein...... I don't know, but there is nowhere to go but up from the first episode.

I'd have to double check, but I think the only reference I saw was for lake trout, although croakers at Croaker's Spot would seem to make a whole lot of sense. Back home our neighborhood fish shacks have stuff like buffalo and whiting, and I'm always curious whether the names for those fish change regionally.

Just got back into town last night and the first order of business was to head over to Croaker's Spot. Long story short, on future visits this will be in the permanent rotation along with Sticky Rice. First of all, even for people with a "normal" stomach capacity, the portions are gigantic. Cheesecake Factory sized portions......with the main difference being that the food is GOOD. My girlfriend got the Shrimp and Scallop Broil and I got the Fried Seafood Platter. All of the single elements of the dishes were great....the cabbage, cheddar ranch grits, the "white rice" which was actually closer to a very flavorful dirty rice (the funniest joke in the menu is the broiled plate is meant for those who enjoy 'the lighter side of life'.... if lighter side means you put half and half instead of heavy cream on your cereal, then I guess this description makes sense), some of the most perfectly broiled scallops I've had in a long time, crabcakes, etc. However, the fried fish is really what it's all about. Granted, I live in landlocked flyover country, so good fried "soulfood style" fish is hard to find, but their filets were probably some of the best I've had in a restaurant before. I was apprehensive at first about the sauteed onions and bell peppers in a secret sauce that was going to be served over the fish, but it totally worked. Next time we visit we'll probably just split a fish boat....what is left in the fridge will go bad before I manage to eat it all. The cornbread was okay, but being later in the evening it probably just wasn't that fresh....but I'm not a big fan of cornbread unless it's covered in chili, ham and beans, or bastardized with cheese and jalapenos to the point where it is no longer cornbread. The service was super friendly and efficient, and if you are a fan of crazy-sweet homemade limeades you'll love what they are serving. And the sweet tea is damn near as sweet as what I grew up drinking at my grandmother's house.....your spoon stood straight up in her version, but theirs is slightly less sweet. You can add flavors to your limeade, so when I heard a lady across from me order a grape limeade, I said to myself....."I am home". From what I've read about Croaker's Spot, I figured I would like it, but I'm truly a fan. Again, this is from a guy who doesn't have a lot of options beyond Red Lobster for seafood back home, but that onion and pepper covered fish in a ketchup heavy secret sauce is magical. And if you have a normal appetite, share or be ready to have lunch and dinner the next day. Anyway, not sure if we'll hit any new places beyond Croaker's Spot this weekend, I may have to hit Sticky Rice two times........ but if we do I'll report back. Edited to add: The fish on the menu is listed as lake trout.... a fish I am completely unfamiliar with other than seeing it on restaurant signs while watching HBO's "The Wire", which is set in Baltimore. From looking on wikipedia just now, I take it that the fish is just a large freshwater species of trout....and with the mildness and flakiness of the filets, that description totally makes sense. I'm just not used to seeing that much "trout" on a plate for less than a couple gazillion dollars.

Okay, this will obviously take some practice, but so far off to a decent start..... I think the biggest issue for me thus far is figuring how much peeling/deveining is enough. The first batch I prepared was sliced into medallions after pressing, and it was a mixed experience with about half of them being chewy, which I'm assuming was from a lack of peeling/cleaning. The batch I cooked last night was WAY better, the difference being that I went ahead and broke them down even further into their smallest pieces instead of cutting them up. This cleared them of a lot of the connective tissue that I had originally left behind, and what I ended up with were "nuggets" ranging from the size of a nickel to that of a quarter. Totally delicious, exactly what I was hoping for. Crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, and just enough of that light livery flavor. Lots of practice in my future to really get it right, but so far what I originally thought was TOO much cleaning is the ace in the hole for me.

Resurrectin' a sweetbread thread...... Tonight I'll be preparing veal sweetbreads for the first time, and so far a couple of observations..... first of all, the trimming/peeling aspect does not do well with my OCD tendencies. I find it is too easy to go too far....following every little piece of skin or vein to the point where you are left with a bunch of little lobes (for lack of a proper term). Also, the amount of poaching required will have to be on a case by case basis because after poaching a couple of pieces for too long it is easy to mistake a cooked piece of sweetbread with skin or gristle.....and then the OCD trimming sets in. The nice thing is, I was afraid at first it would gross me out to handle and soak/poach/trim these beauties, but I find it to be even less "icky" than dealing with raw poultry. I put them in the fridge to press last night, and I think I'm just going to do a simple Wondra-dusting preparation and accompany them with a caper/shallot/lemon/butter/white wine pan sauce. On a sidenote, in order to get them at my local supermarket I had to have them special ordered and I am now the proud owner of a 20lb case ($1.59/lb), so even after doling some out to friends I have PLENTY for freezing and tons of practice. Next time I'll skip the pressing and see which texture I prefer....my guess is non-pressed because I do love the fluffiness. Sweetbreads truly are one of my all-time favorite foods, so I'm looking forward to the homework. Will report back.....

Okay, after much procrastination and frustration due to some of the newbies at the meat counter I FINALLY just got a sweetbread order in from Price Chopper in Parkville. For any of you KC folks, just ask for Charlie or have the operator connect you to him....totally nice guy and is quick to get back with you if they don't have what you're looking for onhand. The downside is you may have to order in bulk.....I got a 20lb case, some to freeze and some to hand out to friends, but the upside is they are only $1.59/lb, so at least there are cuts of meat where the price has not gone they way of the oxtail..... Off to soak some of these things and start perusing recipes for the weekend.... Going back next week to have him cut some marrow/stock bones. 'Tis the time of year for making copious amounts of beef stock and demiglace.

I totally agree, and while I do miss the "watch as I pull a rabbit out of my hat" suspense that was the standard for Irvine, it did get kind of tedious since he never completely failed. With Symon it's more "Dinner: Oh Crap This Is Going to Be Tough" vs. "Dinner: Impossible", but with Symon's personality overall I do like the show better. He's less of a drill sergeant, and I do like watching food made in bulk like that.

I'm so jealous. I want an eG boyfriend! Congrats though, I love stories like that. ← The one drawback........all this air travel back and forth does take quite a chunk out of the dining budget! Thank God for half off happy hours!

Some friends of my family ate there, I think this weekend. Their description was "if Macaroni Grill served way better food". From the way they talked about it, the similarities to Macaroni Grill were the "git 'em in, git 'em out" vibe from the staff, compounded by the abrasive weekend throngs. The food sounds decent enough, just nothing you couldn't get at other local spots minus the joy of getting elbowed to death by people acting like they are competing for a spot on a lifeboat.

Oh man, this is some classic chilehead material! On one hand, it's a terrible thing to have happen to your family. On the other, it's totally hilarious. Don't worry man, I just saw a commercial about the new Applebee's all you can eat riblet/shrimp/chicken dinners......starting at just $9.99! And also, I've had the chicken fingers at Chili's and they aren't too bad. And of course.....bottomless buckets of steak fries at Red Robin! How screwed are YOU? You should have done more research, man. I know your plight, and I can't even forecast the next time you'll get her away from the chains. Edited to add: So I'm guessing I can count you two out for dim sum this Sunday...

Wow, great topic. Great new friends, recipes, a library of info on kitchenware of every kind, all of the footwork being done for me before I visit a new town......for the most part, nothing new from me compared to other posts. However, one HUGE difference eG has made in my life is the fact that in a roundabout way I met my current girlfriend because of this site. Long story short, she visits this site and happened to read my post on a Sopranos Cookbook dinner party that I hosted and followed that to the extended version on my blog. We began chatting shortly after that, and met face to face for the first time in DC in May. The first "big date" was at minibar...which I only knew about because of eG, and since then we've been flying back and forth to visit each other every few weeks. I couldn't be happier. Go eGullet!

Congratulations! I look forward to visiting soon.

No kidding. the next time I'm out in Hell City, Hell, I'll definitely give it a try. Anyplace that serves shortribs gets my attention. Reminds me, we were doing an overnight thing at work last weekend and our boss ran over to get carryout from New Peking over in Westport. I hadn't had food from there in years, and as good as our car-trip carryout was, I definitely want to make it back there soon.

Hi Kim! Thanks for the additional dining options for my next visit. I don't know Richmond very well yet obviously, but it seems that most of what my girlfriend likes to do is over in the Fan, Carytown, etc. Your city seems almost familiar to me because it's very much like Kansas City in that even though it's not the biggest town, stuff is pretty spread out. As far as how accomodating Sticky Rice may be, their menu is just huge (www.ilovestickyrice.com), so I'm guessing you're in luck despite the rice/spice restrictions. I am very, VERY sensitive to high fat foods now, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I can eat rice and pasta with no repercussions. I'm definitely not saying Positive Vibe will have the BEST food you'll eat in Richmond (and I AM saying Cheesecake Bistro is the WORST), but the people are so nice and the menu is so diverse that you can absolutely find something you'll enjoy. Other than that, I'll ping you before I come back into town. It will probably be mid to late October. With all of the flying back and forth, we tend to stick to the "Sticky Rice's" vs. the 1 North Belmont's of the world....so your suggestion on the butcher is GREATLY appreciated. When I'm in town, I can work from her house, so I spend all day at her place while she's working.....so some good grilling/braising selections would be just the thing. Oh, when I get around to updating my blog with the Richmond info later this week, don't take anything about your city personally.....it's pure satire......I do know that statue is Arthur Ashe, and I did not have to give a password to a Civil War reenactor before I could enter Penzey's.....

Too......many.......jokes........................cannot focus.......... Do you think they are just setting up an intervention for Sandra Lee?

I just got back from a trip to Richmond and had some great food during my stay. Some background on the reason for my trip...since it's just so cute and eGullet related....I was in town visiting my girlfriend who first stalked me on this site after reading about my Sopranos Cookbook dinner, and then continued her obsession on my blog. Well, her persistence was rewarded....and we've enjoyed some great meals together while criss-crossing the country to see each other (our first real "date" was at minibar). It was great to be in a new town with someone who is familiar with the local food scene, and I'll just keep updating this thread after future visits. First of all, thank God for a town with so many 7-11's. The closest one to my house in Kansas City is about forty minutes away, so I was able to get a daily Slurpee fix in Richmond. I find the Slurpee to be the king of all frozen drinks...and since I can't bring myself to try one of their Crystal Lite selections, I should be thankful I don't have regular access to them. The first meal during my trip was carryout from Frank's Pizzeria. It is a brick oven/New York style pie, and I thought the White Pizza was just great. It's a cheese bomb, extremely rich. The crust is a little thicker than the NY-style pies I remember from visits out east, but the brick oven cooking adds that great texture and flavor I love. On Friday night we had dinner at the Positive Vibe Cafe. The goal of this non-profit establishment is to provide hands-on food service training and employment to people with physical and developmental disabilities. I don't know how many of the staff are volunteers, but the waitstaff is made up completely of volunteer labor. Overall, we enjoyed some good food and the staff couldn't be any nicer. For me, servers who are truly invested in the restaurant and your enjoyment of the food make all of the difference. We started off sharing a cup of White Seafood "Chili" Bisque...clams, mussels, shrimp, crabmeat and calamari in a spicy bechamel sauce w/onions and peppers. This was definitely the best thing we had. Very rich, and if the "cup" they serve is any indication, a bowl of it would be an entire meal. The crab tots, while they are a fantastic concept, did not deliver. They are basically fried puffs of mashed potatoes with chunks of potato and crab mixed in. They could be a lot better if they were a little smaller/crisper with significantly more spice of any kind. For our mains we got the Smoked Buffalo Salad and the Saint Barnaby's Fried Oysters. The salad was pretty tasty, with very thinly sliced buffalo brisket on top of mixed greens, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, capers and a balsamic vinaigrette. The fried oysters were cooked perfectly, but my personal preference is a flour coating vs. the cornmeal coating they serve. They came with a side of collard greens and cole slaw. The slaw was good, not too heavily dressed, but the greens weren't very flavorful. We enjoyed our meal, I would definitely go back to try some other dishes because the menu is diverse and the desserts that kept passing by looked great. This is obviously a place with a ton of regulars, I think we were the only people who didn't know most of the staff. We spent Saturday afternoon walking around Carytown, and hopped over to Sticky Rice as soon as they opened at 5pm. This is one of my girlfriend's favorite spots, and I have to say that it will more than likely be my first stop when I'm back in town. Now, I realize that Sticky Rice probably gets eye-rolls from sushi purists and anyone who is easily annoyed with the ultra-hipster vibe of the place, and to those people I say.....more for me! I am ALL ABOUT some inauthentic rolls....and Sticky Rice delivers. We started off with some Jolly Green Wontons (soy bean and wasabi filled wontons), which were good, but next time I'd opt for something new instead of getting them again. The "Crazy Calamari" roll is fantastic...tempura fried calamari, tamago, cilantro, cucumbers and sriracha rolled in tobiko and panko. The "Walk In The Woods" is great too...seasoned spinach, water chestnuts, scallions and smoked salmon, rolled in toasted walnuts. The menu is pretty huge, so I'll have to try more stuff to see what I like best, but I will say that the miraculous "Sticky Balls" will be ordered during every visit. For those who are unfamiliar with the magic of the Sticky Ball, they are inari (tofu?) pockets that are filled with tuna, crab, sriracha rice that are deep fried and topped with a ton of wasabi dressing (like a wasabi mayo), eel sauce, scallions and tobiko. I can't even fathom how unhealthy these things must be, but I will say that it only takes two small bites for my "post-gastric bypass dumping syndrome alarm" to go off...which is what happens whenever I eat something too fatty now. But those two bites are just like a little bit of heaven here on earth. Damn those things are fantastic. We have some great faux-roll options at sushi and tepanyaki restaurants here in Kansas City, but alas nothing quite like the Sticky Balls. If you haven't had them before, and have any interest whatsoever in "ultimate stoner food", go get you some Sticky Balls. One quick thing to note....on our way back to the Midlothian area where my girlfriend lives, we passed a restaurant called 1 North Belmont. The frog wearing a crown on the sign outside intrigued me so I looked it up online when we got back. Has anyone tried it? I'm probably not going to eat there, but the entree prices listed on their website are so insanely expensive I was just curious to hear about the food. The forty six bucks they charge for their Sole Meuniere could buy me a hell of a lot of Sticky Balls. On Sunday morning we made our way to Full Kee for dim sum right at 11am when they opened. A line of people waiting for them to open the door was a good sign. My experience outside of Bo Ling's here in Kansas City is limited to Golden Unicorn in NYC, The Phoenix in Chicago and Y Ben House in San Francisco, so while I'm no aficionado I will say I enjoyed Full Kee enough to go back when I'm in town. I've gotten used to the small amount of food I can eat now, but I have to say that eating dim sum is the one thing that frustrates me....I don't think it's something that would reheat well, so I'd have to be with several people to sample the variety that I would like. That aside, we managed to sample some great standard selections...steamed shrimp dumplings, baked roast pork buns, bean sheet rolls with oyster sauce (totally fantastic), sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, and a new item for me that is just NOT my thing....fried taro dumplings with shrimp paste. We also got some sesame balls, which can be very good when they are fresh out of the fryer, but these had been sitting for too long. Pre-surgery I could put the hurt on some dim sum, so I'll have to go back during my next visit to give it a proper sampling. By the time we left, the place was pretty full and even though there were only 3 carts that I saw, they were packed with a large selection and some things that I don't think I've seen before....a cold dish of baby octopus and another with sliced scallops that both reminded me of Korean banchan, as well as shrimp paste stuffed eggplant and shrimp paste stuffed bean curd. In addition to the carts, servers came through frequently with trays full of dishes in order to keep diners well stocked. The only negative thing about our visit had nothing to do with the food (unless you are a believer in the theory that the condition of the bathroom generally mirrors that of the kitchen)...but when I actually notice that a restaurant bathroom is in rough shape, that means it would probably genuinely bother most people. I'm pretty jaded from visits to gas station bathrooms in rural Mexico and Central America when I was younger, so it takes a lot to make it onto my radar. They weren't serving my food in the men's room so I didn't really care, but visitors beware. The last dining experience of my visit was by far the most interesting....if your parents were John Waters and Margaret Meade. Mine weren't, but I'm still not ashamed to admit that once in a while I will go to dinner knowing exactly how bad it is going to be....just for the experience. At some point my girlfriend and I were joking about bad restaurants, and of course when that conversation happens it is inevitable that The Cheesecake Factory is going to weasel its way in there. Well, when I found out there was a place called the Cheesecake BISTRO in Richmond, I had to check it out. Just hearing about it reminded me of this joke Louie Anderson told about how when he was a kid his dad was too cheap to take them to the real Disneyland so they'd end up going to "Earl's" Disneyland. I was hoping that the Cheesecake Bistro would be kind of an "Earl's" Cheesecake Factory, and in that regard....I was not disappointed. I'm the guy who can plainly see that the milk in the carton is not only bad, it is congealed into a greenish mass....but I still have to smell it to be sure...so there was no keeping me from this restaurant. If I hadn't scored a $25 gift certificate on restaurant.com for three bucks I probably wouldn't have eaten there, but I did, so the rest is history. Now, you know you are in for a treat when you are driving by all of the other restaurants in the mall to get to the Cheesecake Bistro and they include such classics as Brio Tuscan Grille and PF Chang's. I'm seriously no food snob....I do tend to eat most of my restaurant meals at locally owned and operated places, but I'm not above chowing down at Red Lobster with childlike glee. With that said, Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro is genuinely terrible. It's one of those chains where the staff exudes that forced happiness that comes off as "welcome to hell". And the food, while there is a ton of it, is still a horrible, horrible value despite the sheer tonnage. Our Creamy Crabcake Appetizer was actually okay. It has a few chunks of crab, but is mostly sauteed artichoke hearts, mushrooms and potatoes. Not terrible, but nothing you'd eat twice. My girlfriend got the shrimp, crab and avocado salad. It's not like it was made of poison or anything, it's a salad, but at a whopping $14 it's pretty crappy. Not much going on besides the two heads of prechopped and packaged lettuce they used to create it. I was originally planning to get the fried seafood platter or catfish, but when we arrived they informed us that the fryer was broken. That puts a hell of a dent in the menu, so I figured instead of lamenting the fact that I couldn't order something that might at least be decent since it was fried....I went all-in and got one of their "signature" items...the BBQ Shrimp Linguine. I have no clue what was BBQ about it, but this thing is a mess. It was EXACTLY the right thing to order during our little anthropological science project of an evening. We were sitting right by the open kitchen, and people were ordering a freakish amount of this thing....the look of it reminded me of one of those dishes you order in a restaurant where they ring a bell or blow a siren or something to announce someone ordering whatever undefeatable gargantuan dish the place is famous for. It's basically a cheese pizza that is topped with a pound or so of linguine and a few sauteed shrimp. The sauce, which pools beneath the noodles on top of the pizza, is kind of like Wishbone Robusto Italian dressing. I can see how they get away with charging $18 for it, because there are people who view enormity of a dish with value....but it totally, totally sucks. The pizza crust isn't really that bad, it's very thin and flaky, but between the oily dressing/pasta sauce and the greasy, cheap cheese, it is completely saturated and soggy. I'll eat pretty much any pizza that exists...up to and including those 99 cent Totino's Party Pizzas, but this was a total nightmare. I know it makes no sense, there is no logical excuse for our evening at "Earl's" Cheesecake Factory, but I'm glad we went. It was just as bad as I knew it would be, maybe even a little worse. So anyway, I really did have a great time in your city and I look forward to my next visit in October (September is her turn to come back to MY town). One way in which Richmond reminds me of KC is that it looks totally packed with restaurants for its size. I'm guessing there is a lot of great food to be had when I come back. Sticky Rice is a no-brainer for me, but between her suggestions and what I've read online, my to-try list so far includes Papa Ningo, Cous Cous, Kabab Grille, Croaker's Spot and of course Mama Zu's. Any additions are appreciated. Also, during our drives around town I spotted a Jamaican place called "The Jerk Pit" that looked intriguing as well as a Lebanese restaurant...but I can't remember what part of town that was. I'll be sure to post here before I leave KC with our restaurant plans for next time....

I was actually surprised at how much I liked this episode. It reminded me of the exact type of roadtrip or "Griswold family truckster" vacation that I truly enjoy....I'm just a sucker for things like Carhenge and the World's Largest Prairie Dog. It made me wish Tony would ever do a crossover show with the guys from "Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations". But yeah, I could have lived without seeing ANOTHER 72oz. steak......

Speaking of brunch, Pitch.com has a great slideshow this week of what goes into Delaware Cafe's spontaneous version..... Delaware Cafe Brunch

After all of the negative comments, I've avoided their regular show, but caught a few minutes of their "road show" last night........ I'm rarely speechless, but damn. Are they always like that? Are there always five hundred not-so-subtle references to boning? Do they always act like something as simple as opening a jar is rocket science? I am of the firm opinion that UNLESS they are geniuses on the level of Andy Kaufman and their intent is to torture the general public with lunk-headedness that makes Rachael Ray look like Joel Robuchon, then they should be taken off the air and never be spoken of again. They will then become the "Lord Voldemort" of the food world.....their names shall not be spoken aloud.

I have nothing of value to add here except..........my GOD it has been so nice to have skit-free shows. Columbia and Saudi Arabia were both just incredible and informative while still being entertaining. And wow, I never thought I'd see a meal that made a proper English breakfast look like yogurt and granola......those Colombians do it right!