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Eating and drinking since 1980.

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Baby hiatus! But we'll be back.

Friends, I'm not sure how this whole baby-having thing's going to go... but hopefully, I'll be back and whipping up some good content before the end of the year. I mean, it's not like I won't be eating. In the meantime, I'll try to have some guest writers add their insights to B+B.

Stick with us, we'll see you around the holidays!

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[SCAVENGER]: Market oddities you need to try

I'm a terrible, terrible sucker for foods I've never seen before. I creep around grocery stores in search of unfamiliar labels, I memorize the names of produce varietals online, and I try all the weird new flavors of chips when they come out (no, wait--I refuse to acknowledge cappuccino-flavored Lay's as an acceptable food). Sometimes I get burned. Luckily, sometimes I strike ripe, delicious gold, and that's what you'll find on this list. --Bird Cox

Cotton candy grapes. When I was little, I would sit around dreaming up new and improved fruits (I'm an only child, lay off). I feel like I might have imported these into the world via my imagination, because they don't taste like anything I've ever eaten before. They taste like healthy, juicy cotton candy. They might be a miracle. Where: Fresh Market.

White Whale 'Your Older Brother' cocktail mixer. Organic lemon, Siberian fir and sweet orange. One of these things is not like the others... but boy, is it good with vodka. This is a date-impresser or anniversary-celebrator because it's a bit pricey, but the completely unique flavor profile is so worth it. Where: Southern Season.

Jasper Hill Harbison. Alright, this is less of an oddity and more of a dangerous cheese obsession, but I realized that I haven't yet written about it and that has to happen now. It's insanely creamy and funky and salty and sweet, all at once; it pairs beautifully with juicy fruits and hearty breads. The Harbison wheels are wrapped in spruce cambium (a tender inner bark layer) cut from the Vermont farm's woodlot, which says a lot about the painstaking care they take with their cheeses. Where: Whole Foods.

Crunch Dynasty. This is one of those products that makes you sound like a proselyte when you talk about it. "I put it on everything! It makes everything better! It rescued my dog!" It's a perfect food, all crunch (obviously) and spice, with pops of garlic and sesame layered in. It inspired me to invent "summer green bean casserole": blanched French beans tossed in creamy horseradish dressing with a thick layer of Crunch Dynasty on top. Where: Saison Market.

Einkorn berries. One nod to health food, since even the grapes I put on the list are borderline carnival food. Einkorn! It's an ancient grain with a much simpler, more digestible genetic structure than wheat--but still still gluten-y enough to make a robust, nutty loaf of bread. Or a risotto that won't make you feel miserable post-meal. Where: Good Foods Stony Point, in bulk. (Note: if you haven't indulged in Good Foods' HUGE bulk section, go immediately.)

Epicurean Caramel Sea Salt Butter. Ah! Look at that, an immediate answer to the question, "But how do I make my einkorn bread way less healthy?" Epicurean makes a whole line of special butters, and they all elicit the occasional straight-from-the-tub taste test. More dignified persons might put it on bagels, pancakes, muffins, etc. Where: Kroger.

Mast Brothers Vanilla & Smoke Chocolate. The basic makeup of Mast Brothers chocolate is cacao and sugar. No cocoa butter, no lecithin. It's the divine truth of chocolate. Of course, even the truth can be shaped into a more transcendent form (they smoke the cacao and add bourbon vanilla bean). IMAGINE THE S'MORES POSSIBILITIES. Where: For the Love of Chocolate.

(Photo credit: frenchbroadchocolates.com)

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[HIT LIST] - BANH MI / THE NAKED ONION

It’s a very nice thing to have a very special sandwich shop right around the corner. The Naked Onion (here) is a very special sandwich shop. The chef/owners Lauren and Greg are a) incredibly friendly and pleasant humans and b) super talented chefs.

But this is the most important part: their Banh Mi sandwich. As it reads on the menu, this is a pretty standard, Americanized banh mi as they go - pork, cilantro, pickled daikon+carrot, aioli, baguette. The delight in this sandwich comes from every part being so well done. The baguette has a chewy crumb and crackly crust, the pickled vegetables are broader and crisper than you’d expect, and then the pork. Damn, that pork. It’s just thick enough and just fatty enough and just seared enough and just mouth-melting enough. It’s firm so that it has a little bit of a bite to it, but at the same time just collapses itself into your mouth post-bite.

SO - here’s what you’re going to do next time you want a sandwich. You’re going to go into the Naked Onion, you’re going to order the banh mi (to go, it's all takeout there), and when you get home and dig into that situation, you are going to make some for-real sex noises without the littlest bit of embarrassment. This is a really enjoyable sandwich. - Pete Cartwright

Also while you’re here: 

The Cuban is an excellent alternative if you’re sick of daikon but your pork levels are dangerously low.

I don’t love mixing a sweet with a cheese (I know I’m wrong) but everyone I know with a rational palate loves the apple + brie grilled cheese.

If tomatoes are in season, you owe it to yourself to get the BLT - it’s a solid 3/4-inch slice of Hanover tomato with housemade bacon that’s just right - crispy enough to snap but not so brittle that it shatters. There’s an add-on of a couple slices of house-brined and roasted turkey for a couple bucks. Trust me, add that on.

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Fire, Flour & Fork: It's going to be the jam

We don't have to ask if you've heard about Fire, Flour & Fork, because we know that you have. It's huge. Kinfolk Magazine, Todd Kliman (The Washingtonian), Christina Tosi (Momofuku Milk Bar), Travis Grimes (Husk) and the like will be dishing it out alongside the best-of-the-best in Richmond food and drink, and it's going to be one big culinary fireworks show. We're always stoked for October, but this takes our fuzzy fall feelings to another level entirely.

You should probably get tickets. Right now.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fire-flour-and-fork-speaker-series-registration-12176238457?ref=ebtn

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There are spectacular events happening from October 30th to November 2nd, but here's our dream list of magical experiences to attend on Saturday, November 1st:

10am: Welp, we're starting off with a crossroads. No way can we pick between Dave DeWitt's hot pepper party and Alice Medrich's dethroning of wheat flour as King of Baking.

The Pope of Peppers | Dave DeWitt | Fiery Foods & Barbecue Dave DeWitt is one of the foremost authorities in the world on chili peppers and spicy foods. His interest in chili peppers led to his writing numerous articles and books on the subject and he launched Fiery Foods & Barbecue Magazine, now a highly trafficked web site with thousands of recipes. He received the ultimate accolade when The New York Times declared him "The Pope of Peppers." Sample and book signing.

Flavor Flours | Alice Medrich Alice Medrich is one of this country's premier bakers and chocolate dessert chefs. She's the author of the new cookbook, Flavor Flours, a teacher, James Beard Award-winning author, but we had you at chocolate dessert chef. She'll demonstrate how teff, buckwheat, rice, oat, corn, chestnut, coconut and sorghum flours can, in her expert hands, add flavor rather than merely serve as lowly substitutes for wheat. Demo and book signing.

11:15am: Another tough one. James Beard history is fascinating, but we're honestly only picking that one over Chris Fultz's barbecue (ZZQ!) because we've eaten it and already know that it is, unequivocally, the absolute BEST IN RICHMOND. If you haven't had it, run to him.

Chefs on Fire | Dale Reitzer, Lee Gregory and Justin Carlisle | Kendra Bailey Morris, Moderator | Acacia, The Roosevelt | Ardent Learn the history of the James Beard House and awards from our moderator, Kendra Bailey Morris, who has been a James Beard Foundation Awards judge, and listen to the career trajectories of these three nominated chefs, two from Richmond and one visiting from Milwaukee. Reitzer grew up in Virginia Beach, working in seafood restaurants. Carlisle grew up on a cattle farm in Wisconsin and Gregory grew up in South Carolina with a love of Low Country cuisine.

Lunch: No way are we missing the Day of the Dead Luncheon at Saison with chef Adam Hall, which benefits CenterStage.

2pm: In a cruel and unusual twist, they're making us choose between T. Leggett (sheer cocktail brilliance), Travis Milton (a deep well of heirloom culinary wizardry) and Mike Isabella (uh, you might have seen him on a rather popular TV show). After way too much thought, Travis Milton's great-grandma's Apple Stack Cake recipe seems like the hardest-won treasure.

Apple Stack Cake | Travis Milton | Comfort Travis Milton, chef de cuisine at Comfort, left his beloved Appalachia to cook and write, emerging as an authority on Appalachian food ways. Heirloom apples are just one of the treasures of Appalachia and Travis knows which varieties work best for making his trademark vinegars, applesauce, apple butter and of course, his version of his great-grandmother's Apple Stack Cake. Only a few of the 1,600 known varieties of apples that once grew in the Appalachians and Southeastern U.S. have been conserved. Once you learn the secrets of Apple Stack Cake, you'll want to plant your own heirloom apple tree. Demo

3:30pm: For variety, we'd switch it up and swing by Williams & Sherrill's awesome table decor/design talk so that we can impress our friends at Thanksgiving.

Forks at the Ready | Jamie Coffey/Williams & Sherrill                         From Victorian oddities (ice cream forks, baked potato fork, baby food pusher) to modern sensibilities, we'll talk silverware, ceramic-ware, flatware and table top design in this session focused on function and form led by Jamie Coffey, Creative Director of Williams & Sherrill. Get some inspired ideas for your upcoming holiday tables.

6pm: And lastly, dinner. DINNERRRRRR.

Heritage, Husk & Hogs: Travis Grimes of Charleston Husk, Clay Trainum of Autumn Olive Farm & Joe Sparatta. 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Nonprofit Beneficiary: J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Educational Foundation

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Cronuts, y'all

(Southern Season's unfilled powdered sugar glazed doughssant.)

About a year ago, Tom Leonard's took Richmond's first stab at recreating Dominique Ansel's absurdly popular doughnut/croissant hybrid. (FYI, there's still enough demand for Ansel's original invention that you can hire someone from Craigslist to wait hours in line for you to get one. This service costs $25.) TL's called them Fro-Doughs, as Cronut™ is obviously unavailable, and sold a ton of them, but they were still pretty close in gooeyness to a regular doughnut.

Today, we will discuss the Second Coming of the Cronut™, as delivered unto us by Southern Season. They call it a doughssant. We put together an airtight trifecta of judges to weigh in--a pastry expert, a sugar addict, and a pregnant lady--and served them four doughssant iterations: unfilled powdered sugar glazed, cream cheese-filled powdered sugar glazed, unfilled cinnamon, and cream cheese-filled cinnamon. (There is a chase model: the elusive raspberry-filled powdered sugar glazed. Good luck.)

Here's what they had to say:

[PASTRY EXPERT]: It's... a pretty good croissant mixed with a really good doughnut. I really like the contrast between the butter-steamed inside layers and the crispy, sweet outside. With the cinnamon unfilled, you get the caramelization on the outside, and the texture is amazing... it has more depth. The glazed one is all sugar, all fried, but still good. It's way closer to a doughnut than a croissant.

Favorite: unfilled cinnamon.

[SUGAR ADDICT]: I'm not a fan of croissants, usually--they're too buttery, without any other flavor. Like... chocolate. I get chocolate croissants, but I just eat around the bread to get to the chocolate. I like this, though. It's like a blend of sophisticated and state fair. It's not cheap-tasting. The cream cheese filling's what the icing would taste like if Toaster Strudel had higher standards. And with the cinnamon version, there's no glaze, so you can focus on the filling.

Favorite: cream cheese-filled cinnamon.

[PREGNANT LADY]: They're buttery on the inside, and the outside's kind of crispy-sticky. I like that you can pull it apart. And you have to chew it, it's bready. Krispy Kreme and Yoder's just melt in your mouth immediately. I like the cinnamon unfilled because the caramel-y outside is like Christmas. I'm ready for Christmas. And it would make less crumbs in bed, so that's the obvious choice.

Favorite: unfilled cinnamon.

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[SCAVENGER]: Sweet summer corn / Richmond

I'm aware of the possibility that your first thought about a list of corn-based dishes might be "well, that's boring." But if it is, I am so very sorry for you. Maybe you're from some cold, hard place where fresh summer corn didn't appear on your childhood table, all tender and sugary and soused in butter. Or maybe you had tragic dental issues relegating you to the no-kernels side of life. Or maybe you have no tastebuds. If any of these (except maybe that last one) rings true, get yourself to the farmers' market immediately and get some ears to steam and eat plain before you start tackling the items below. Everyone else: choose your own adventure.

Amazing things being done in Richmond with fresh corn:

1. Metzger Bar & Butchery's chilled corn soup with creme fraiche, speck and dill. I wouldn't recommend trying to share this; your friends might take offense when you throw your spoon on the floor and stick your face in it.  metzgerbarandbutchery.com

2. Succotash at Tazza. I'm saying: it has soft-boiled egg in it. Plus oven-roasted tomato, chorizo, green beans and chives. Such a badass small plate alongside their meatballs or wings. tazzakitchen.com

(Tazza's perfect succotash.)

3. Anything made by Comfort chef Travis Milton. If you're super lucky, you'll be tasting the White Eagle corn hominy grits that he's making from scratch with his own lime treatment at the Fire, Flour & Fork dinner that he's doing with Husk's Sean Brock. It's sold out, but definitely hit him up at Comfort for the homegrown Silver King he's turning into creamed corn and Appalachian Sour Corn. comfortrva.com

4. Estilo's crunchy corn. Corn roasted on the cob until it's a bit caramelized, then covered in crema, queso fresco, lime, ancho chili, cilantro and crushed cancha (more corn! of the crunchy, corn nut variety). People cry when they visit in the winter and this seasonal dish is gone.

5. Sweet corn ice cream at Bev's. No, they don't have it all the time. Call them up. Get on their favorite flavor email list. Do you what you have to do.

Pro tip: if you've got some sweet corn in your fridge and want to wow your friends with an amped-up summer dinner, make food biz consultant Stephanie Ganz's ravioli: http://wtvr.com/2014/05/02/yummy-sweet-corn-ravioli/

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[HIT LIST] - Chicken Biscuit / Saison Market

[HIT LIST] is a new dish-feature column headed up by contributor Pete Cartwright.

Okay: this goddamned sandwich. Saison Market hasn’t been open that long, and this sandwich isn’t even officially on the menu. BUT they’ve had it every weekend for the last couple months, so I think your odds are good. This is worth getting up before noon on a Saturday - it's one of the best chicken biscuits I’ve had outside of Pies ‘n’ Thighs.

It’s just three things: a solid piece of brined, juicy fried chicken, a biscuit, and a swab of hot sauce. Sometimes there’s honey butter (in a perfect world, there is always honey butter). You’ve already noticed that the fried chicken is significantly bigger than the biscuit; this is OK. The biscuit is good - thick, buttery, salty - but the fried chicken is the star here. The house-brined meat is endlessly juicy and an excellent contrast to the deep-brown, extra-crispy crust. Speaking of crust: as you devour, chunks of the crust will fall off the chicken - this is also OK. It means you get to end your meal with a hunt for these perfect fried bits among the biscuit crumbs.

Also while you’re here:

- The smoked-cheddar pimento cheese sandwich is solid. The smoky flavor adds something unique without taking too many liberties with America’s greatest contribution to world culture.

- I don’t know if the pork belly with grits/poached egg/trotter broth/scallions is a “play” on a chasu ramen bowl, but it hits all the right notes for me - rich on rich on rich on bright+green without being overwhelming.

- People that like stouts seem to really like the nitro cold brew: a cold brew coffee poured from a stout tap and infused with nitrogen for that Guinness-y mouthfeel. I’m not a fan of stouts, but man, I bet an affogato made with this would be pretty special.

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Just a couple of highlights from last night's Southern Season preview. Oooooooh, snap.

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The Culinary Alice: Lit + Food Stylings by New B+B contributor Clara Cline

After deciding to write about writing about food by writing with food, I realized I needed something as nonsensical and over-involved as the topic at hand for my first subject, which naturally led to perennial food classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. What Pinterest won't tell you is that the food in Alice in Wonderland goes well beyond the Mad Hatter's tea party, and that our little heroine is completely preoccupied with food she probably shouldn't be eating throughout the entire story. The very first thing she does when she falls down an infinite rabbit hole is grab a jar of marmalade off a floating shelf—and then is bummed out to find that it's empty. It's like the Victorian fantasy equivalent of when you get dumped and overdraft your bank account on the same day and go home to medicate yourself with Cheez-Its, but you can’t because a couple of days ago you put the box back in the cabinet empty rather than bothering to throw it in the trash. Because even though you mean well and are generally a good person, you never really make decisions in your best interest, and looking into that empty box (or jar, in Alice's case), you are fully self-aware of how you ended up in this situation.

And this is Alice's problem in a nutshell - she's a good person, she thinks a lot about potential problems, but consistently does the wrong thing anyway. She finds an unmarked bottle and reminds herself that it would be a bad idea to drink from it since she's heard so many terrible things about children and poison, but quickly heads off all her good advice at the pass by deciding that since it's not clearly marked "POISON", it's probably fine. It's not fine, but at least before she starts shrinking, she's able to enjoy that it is "a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast". She's high-fiving herself for being the right size to go out to see the gardens when she realizes she pulled a classic Alice move and forgot to grab the key off the table before drinking her garbage disposal-flavored shrinking cordial. Rather than taking a minute to think about how her decision-making has affected her current circumstances (to wit - crawling into a hole knowing she doesn't know how to get back out, falling to center of earth, drinking from unmarked bottle and shrinking to ten inches), Alice eats a cake she finds in a box under the table. At this point, she knows that she has no idea what's going to happen and doesn't really care, and she spends the remainder of the book indiscriminately eating and drinking things and telling herself to stop crying. It's the true story of everyone in their twenties.

The story of Alice in Wonderland is so ubiquitous that I'm not sure how well read the text actually is, which is such a shame because it's just 101 pages long and hilarious, and likely to be appreciated even more if you've ever worked in a corporate environment. The real culinary highlight of Alice's adventure is the Queen of Hearts' trial. The Queen of Hearts is known as being an entirely unreasonable character, but the trial is over a grievance everyone can identify with - the Queen made tarts, someone else ate them, and now they need to lose their head for it. You might not agree with her reaction, but you can at least see where she's coming from.

The court scene is loosely modeled off the modern day conference call - everyone's pretending to work, people keep bringing up irrelevant things and saying they're important, and there's a tray of tarts in the middle of the room that no one is eating and Alice keeps wondering when they'll get passed around. The Duchess's cook makes a cameo appearance as witness to let the jurors know the tarts in question were mostly made of pepper, the Dormouse objects and says they were made of treacle, and the Mad Hatter brings his bread and butter to the witness stand because they interrupted him in the middle of his tea. The trial descends further into madness, and Alice snaps out of Wonderland by growing to her full size and yelling "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" which is number two on my list of "All-Time Best Ways to Quit Jobs" (number one being Hermey and Rudolph's "We're a Couple of Misfits" ballad from the Rudolph Christmas special).

Other culinary and party-planning tips via Wonderland:

- From the Duchess: Be liberal with pepper, and never allow your guests to glimpse the behind-the-scenes preparation of your féte.

- From the Mad Hatter: Grooming suggestions are appropriate fodder for conversation. For ease of preparation, determine how many petit fours and watercress tea sandwiches you'll need for each guest, then replace that with an equal number of insults.

- From the Dormouse: Treacle is a life-sustaining food.

- From the White Rabbit: Timeliness is of utmost importance.

[Find more of Clara's work here: http://www.claraworks.com/]

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The Rogue Guide to Salt

(Quick guide: the deeper the shade, the deeper our love!)

CHEF: Aaron Hoskins, The Rogue Gentlemen         

http://www.theroguegentlemen.com/

I realized recently that the number of different salts in my kitchen was drastically at odds with the tiny amount of salt knowledge existing in my brain. (I'm pretty sure I bought a few of them simply because they 'looked fancy'.) I wanted some advice from a culinary badass, so I sat down with the incredibly gracious Aaron Hoskins to eat and talk.

The salts: pink Himalayan (medium grain), French grey velvet (very fine), smoked Maldon (the classic coarse diamond shape), Sel de Guerande (medium grain), fleur de sel (fine grain).

The salt vehicles: Victory Farms heirloom tomatoes, RG’s homemade brioche and unsalted butter, pan-roasted Manakintowne shishito peppers.

Aaron’s insights are pretty fantastic, and so very useful to the home cook. Or the food geek. Or the amateur scientist. Here’s what he had to say during our taste test:

HEIRLOOM TOMATO

Pink Himalayan: The very light, small granules put it closer to an iodized salt, you don’t pick up texture or heavy minerality with this one.

French grey velvet: Great minerality. I also like this one with fatty things – helps cut through richness that would stick to your tongue, pulls deep flavor out of things like bone marrow and helps you taste the beef and iron and all the things that make marrow as unctuous and wonderful as it is.

Smoked Maldon: I love regular Maldon for pretty much everything. What’s cool about Maldon is that the flakes are so big that they sit on top; it’s not the greatest thing to season with when cooking because it doesn’t break down, but it’s great to add flavor and texture at the end.

Sel de Guerande: This one’s mild and takes a second to hit you. I feel like I’d season everything with it – you don’t get the granule punch, you just get the saltiness blended into what your’e eating. Cool thing about salt: it suppresses bitterness. Tomatoes taste extra sweet with just salt and pepper on them.

Fleur de sel: This tastes more like ocean salt than the others do, especially against the tomato acid. I like the size of the granule – a little smaller, more manageable than typical fleur de sel.

Favorite: Maldon or fleur de sel.

BRIOCHE AND BUTTER

Pink Himalayan: Again, really light. Nice with the butter because you can really taste it; not too overpowering.

French grey velvet: Really, really good. Obviously heavier than the pink salt – but the minerality also really works with the butter. Adds an almost grassy, earthy taste, or at least it amps that up in the butter. Which is, along the chain of things, basically made of grass.

Smoked Maldon: The smoke isn’t overpowering at all, it’s actually really mild and works really nicely – and I love the texture. Maldon has a really bright pop to it – it’s salty, but it’s not like a spoonful of salt. The crystals take a long time to break down so that you get to taste the layers in what you’re eating.

Sel de Guerande: I’m trying to think what the smell reminds me of – it’s almost chemical. Maybe the magnesium content. Metallic. This is very mild, again, small grains and not overly noticeable as a texture, a good everyday salt. I don’t get much of the minerally, magnesium taste on it. Just the smell. Salt’s everywhere – it really changes based on where you get it – from mines, from the oceans. France is known for their salt, although I think about half the world’s salt comes from the US.

Fleur de sel: The small crystals have a very strong, oceanlike saltiness on the butter; again, you can tell it was harvested from the ocean. This one’s much more useable than most fleur de sel because the crystals are smaller. Fleur de sel crystals are usually round, diamond shaped crystals which can be hard to eat, like biting into  a little rock as opposed to a thin sheet like the Maldon.

Favorite: Either grey velvet or Guerande. Brioche has a hard bitter crust because the sugar is caramelized so far – the Guerande really helped mellow that out.

  SHISHITO PEPPERS 

Pink Himalayan: Too mild. I don’t know if works well with something like shishitos. I got a lot of char and astringency in that bite. It would be really nice on raw seafood, a crudo, because it’s subtle.

French grey velvet: It really masks the bitterness! I like that. Brings out that touch of sweetness from the maillard reaction, the chemical process of caramelization.

Smoked Maldon: When we make these here, I cook them with kosher and finish them with plain Maldon. This is how I’m used to tasting them, by far my favorite of the finishing heavier salts.

Sel de Guerande: Nice as well – combining this with Maldon would be the perfect type and amount of salt for me.

Fleur de sel: A lot more pungent – in this situation, I liked it. It’s more combined with the shishito flavor, which has to do with the size of the grain.

Winner: The Maldon or the grey velvet; the fine grey salt adds an almost umami-esque thing. One of my favorite flavors, the lingering earthiness.

(Aaron making orecchiette.)

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[YOU ARE]: Brittanny Anderson / Metzger Bar and Butchery

[YOU ARE]: As in ‘you are what you eat’. Chefs share food-related details from their lives outside the restaurant.

Brittany Anderson, Metzger Bar and Butchery - Richmond, VA

http://www.metzgerbarandbutchery.com/

Transcription:

When did you know you wanted to be a chef?

I worked FOH (front of house) since I was in high school, and in my early 20s I realized I wanted to know EVERYTHING about restaurants, so I cooked for free for a month & was like, yes. This is what I want to do.

What was the first meal that you prepared that really made you sweat?

I guess my finals meal in culinary school. At FCI, they assemble a panel of great chefs to judge the final & when I learned I would be making a souffle for Mark Ladner & Adam Kaye, I started sweating a bit.

What excites you at the grocery store?

Right now it's stone fruit - if I see a fat plum, I. MUST. EAT. IT! Tomatoes are killing it right now, too.

Strongest food-related memory from your childhood?

My family is from the Northern Neck, so lots of seafood stuff - crabs, oyster stuffing. But I remember the weird stuff most - cold spinach out of the can with vinegar, my grandma's crazy jello salads, salt & pepper canteloupe, eggs & pineapple.

Number one place on earth you'd go for food adventures? Why?

Florence, Italy is amazing! Meat heaven. They have whole hog porchetta in the markets that kills me! I'm also excited about an upcoming trip to Scandinavia!

Most unusual thing you've eaten? Where?

Cured puffin in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was chewy but tasty.

Dish in your repertoire that you're proudest of?

I think cooks usually hate everything they put out & that's what motivates us to move forward & be more creative, so I'm not 100% stoked on one particular dish, although I do think I make a mean pork chop. :)

What keeps the flame burning?

My husband Kjell is always pushing me to grow & is so supportive and that really helps in this industry. I'm also constantly inspired by other chefs in this awesome RVAdine community! XO

(Pickled eggs with mustard aioli.)

(Pork schnitzel, duck fat potatoes.)

(Rockfish with summer vegetables and crispy speck.)

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[STORYTELLING]: Retro Menu Redux

I miss fried mushrooms with horseradish sauce. In fact, that’s the backbone of this entire article—the fact that, after spending at least two decades on nearly every appetizer menu in America, they are now an endangered species, and I am sad about it. I’m not saying that the food industry doesn’t occasionally retro-fashion itself (hello again everywhere, wedge salad), because it does. But in my mind, there are some delicious things currently missing from the reprise lineup.

(Because I have no deep fryer right now, I grabbed this picture from http://vegans-have-superpowers.blogspot.com/ where you can learn how to make a gluten-free/vegan version of this most valuable treasure.)

Comeback-Dish Wishlist:

1. Seriously, fried mushrooms. Cornmeal-battered and dunked in hot oil until they’re all soft and luscious inside, and when you bite into one and burn yourself, you don’t even care because the juices taste so earthy and salty and good. Not to mention that you can immediately tend the burn with an extra swipe of cold, creamy horseradish dip, which is like the crack version of sour cream.

2. Clams casino. Good god. I mentioned these to a friend the other night and he’d never even heard of them, which really bummed me out because everyone should experience the joy that is clams broiled with bacon and breadcrumbs (even people who don’t like clams). My father’s version is killer: he adds Parmesan and Vidalia onion. You can still get your fix in RVA at Bookbinder’s. And you should—they nail it.

3. Seven-layer salad. Okay, this is one of those things that most people probably think vanished for a reason, but I’m southern and I like it, damn it. It’s important to note that I’m not talking about the Mexi-inspired seven layer dip. It’s a salad, and like all good southern salads, it’s got a bunch of mayonnaise in it, along with fresh green peas, lettuce (iceberg, of course), crumbled bacon, chopped boiled eggs, cheddar shreds and onion. Pro tip: sweeten the mayo. Gross? Maybe. But then again, no.

4. Potatoes au gratin. Also, baked potatoes, stuffed potatoes, potato skins, Pommes Anna… anything other than garlic mashers. What the hell happened? Errybody likes a potato. There should be at least five variants of America’s favorite vegetable on every menu, right? 

5. Beef stroganoff. AKA Noodles Marmaduke, if you splash a bit of Burgundy into it. I seriously haven’t seen this on a menu since the 80s. Someone please enlighten me as to why any mixture of sour cream, noodles and tender beef could ever lose popularity. Sometimes I wolf down huge wooden spoonfuls of it while I’m stirring in the sour cream at the end so that it appears to my tablemates that I’m consuming a normal-person portion.

6. Shrimp cocktail. Did this get boring or something? Because I am a huge fan, down to the cocktail sauce. I’m into the idea of saucing it differently—a coconut chutney or something lime-infused—but keep the ketchup/horseradish thing going, too, for all of us whose childhood disgust turned into adult obsession.

7. French onion soup. It’s probably a huge pain for chefs to deal with, and that’s why it sang its swan song (for the most part) in the 90s. When was the last time you poked your spoon through a layer of crusty, cheesy bread to get to your soup? And did that soup contain the brilliance of buttered onions cooked down in beef broth? Outside of the fact that it’s probably on the short end of healthy, it’s the best soup ever invented. Luckily, it hasn’t disappeared entirely: you can get your fix at Can Can, Max’s and the Viceroy.

8. Jellied salmon mold. The way the sweet lime flavor gels around the briny salmon and celery… just kidding, and also massive gag. May the world never revive experimentation with Jell-O.

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We're coming back!

Friends, I took a break. A looooooooong break. During which I ate very little food of consequence, wrote absolutely nothing, and talked to very few people other than my husband and the pizza delivery guy. The first trimester deserved some sort of food blog of its very own, in which things like the appeal of string cheese and the benefits of eating six roasted sweet potatoes in a row are discussed in rich detail. 

But since I didn't want to do that to you, I opted for radio silence. 

I have once again started eating for real (pancetta-studded polenta with slow-roasted pork and fava-chanterelle sauce was a recent favorite) - and I'm gearing up to get things running again. Hopefully with some fun additions that will ensure the site's continuity through baby-having and baby-raising and baby-freaking-out-because-I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing.

(In case you want to make something with fava sauce, I adapted Smitten Kitchen's recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/04/pasta-with-favas-tomatoes-and-sausage/)

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[B+B]'S LAST MINUTE V-DAY BUY: DANDELION CHOCOLATE

Okay. This MIGHT be a bit late. But your Valentine loves you, right? Late or not, they will flip out over Dandelion. It is the most badass of all chocolate.

(Photo credit: Molly DeCoudreaux. Because I accidentally ate all of mine before I remembered that I should take a picture.)

I was recently in San Francisco for a week, and I went to the Dandelion facility on three separate occasions. I regret to tell you that you're not going to be able to mail-order the nib-laced horchata, the artful s'mores or the stupidly good chocolate chip cookies. Nor can you watch the lovely folks in aprons roast, winnow, grind, temper and pour the bars. Their golden wrappers handmade for them in India. They do this thing RIGHT.

You can, however, order bars and roasted cacao beans (which you can eat whole! I ate them! They're so odd and crunchy and strangely satisfying!) from them directly: http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/

And if you do it today--right now!--they just might get there for Friday night. Definitely get the Madagascar if you're not getting all four varieties - it's rich, fruity perfection.

(If you want American craft chocolate but need to know without a doubt that you can get it by Friday, go by For the Love Of Chocolate in Carytown and pick up some Mast Brothers. Also magical, and handmade in Brooklyn.)

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[SCAVENGER]: Grapefruit / Richmond

Grapefruit washes away my sins. If I've gone overboard on fatty dinners, I eat grapefruits for breakfast. If I've splurged too hard on the $12 Signature Cocktail menu, I sip water. Just kidding. I start ordering Salty Dogs. I even do this cleaning ritual in my kitchen in which I rub grapefruit peels all over everything. Waste not, want not, smell like shrimp not.

Favorite grapefruit fixes in Richmond:

1. The Roosevelt's roasted beets, grapefruit, feta, avocado yogurt and ginger vinaigrette salady-thing. Because they couldn't just stop at a couple of good things, they had to put them ALL on there. http://rooseveltrva.com/

2. Saison's hopped gin & tonic. Dry gin, housemade single-hop tonic, grapefruit peel. It's hard to want anything else once you've had this perfect beverage - I can't order g&t's anywhere else any more. http://www.saisonrva.com/

3. Can Can's grapefruit brulee. A broiled grapefruit with a bit of caramelized sugar on top - the perfect thing to go with a buttery, rich breakfast OR to eat as pleasurable penance for a big dinner last night.  http://www.cancanbrasserie.com/

4. Dutch & Co.'s Basil Smash. Holy moly-moles. They make their own grapefruit cordial (a 24-hour infusion) and add vodka, St. Germain, basil and lemon. It is CORRECT. http://dutchandcompany.tumblr.com/

5. Deluca Gelato's pompelmo sorbetto. Ladies and gentlemen, the only reason I ever order sorbet in the face of 36 flavors of creamy gelato. So fresh that I want to breathe on everybody around me after I eat it. http://delucagelato.com/

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[B+B]'s Elby haikus

Flu be damned, I sparklified myself and went to the Elby awards on Sunday because I just couldn't help it. The anticipation was like a flu symptom of its own, a stomach-butterflies complaint that could only be cured with Brandon Fox's voice and a stiff cocktail (okay, just Brandon's voice--I don't have the cojones to try and drink the flu away). Considering that every single nominee was well-deserving, though, I wasn't nervous about whether or not the 'best' spots would win. The A-list competition only gets stiffer every year in Richmond, and I'm sure the national, regional and local judges really had to duke it out.

So. Winners, nominees and guests... cheers to you all. A few haiku highlights:

To Host Jason Tesauro

Your rap was rapture, 

o white-tied wine god. Modern

gentleman, indeed.

To BIG SECRET and the Laser-Engraved Bread Awards

Hark! A fire-tipped sword

hath emblazoned my bread loaf.

Can I eat this thing?

To Double-Nominee Saison

But judges, did you

eat the sirloin burger? Or

drink a Mezcal Mule?

To Front of House Manager: Michele Jones of Pasture

It's a profound love

that can inspire people to

share pimento cheese.

To Pastry Chef/Baker: David Rohrer of WPA Bakery

He's my cherry pie, 

cool drink of water, such a 

sweet surpri-ise [sic]

To the Favorite Neighborhood Restaurant: Garnett’s Café

Turkey, bacon, swiss

and coleslaw, let us frolic

together always.

To Rising Culinary Star: Phil Perrow of Dutch & Company

For you, I will brave

the hot wrath of eating my

husband's leftovers.

To Restaurateur of the Year: Travis Croxton of Rappahannock

As you took the stage,

a murmur from the crowd: "Mm!

He can work some jeans."

To Chef of the Year: Lee Gregory

Invictus Two: You

are the captain of my plate,

master of my bowl.

And finally, To Restaurant of the Year: The Roosevelt

Like Luther Vandross,

I vow to be one with thee

and thou fried oysters.

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What [B+B]'s drinking today

Okay. We don't normally go in for blue drinks, but today is the exception. (Unless we find ourselves at that bar in Cocktail with Bryan Brown at the helm... that would be an exception, too.) Note, though, that today's drink is blue and GREEN.

The Lynchian Rustle

1 1/2 oz. gin 1/2 oz. blue curacao 1 oz. pineapple juice 1/2 oz. lime juice 4-5 mint leaves 

Muddle mint in your shaker, fill halfway with ice. Add gin, curacao, pineapple and lime, shake. Pour into Seahawks-logo-adorned cocktail glass. Garnish with mint or lime. But definitely not an orange slice.

Addendum: At Hail Mary time, absinthe shots are appropriate.