I Love Lucy's

Twas the Friday before Christmas
And all through the Ward
Glad tidings were abounding
Lucy's has come on board!

On my walk this morning, I headed up 2 Street to mail some last minute Christmas postcards and there on the sidewalk sat the long-awaited sign.

Lucy's, Jackson Ward's newest eatery, was open at last. Cue heavenly chorus of angels.

Immediately, my plans were altered. I had a 12:30 phone interview with a rabbi and a 2:00 curator interview at a Broad Street gallery, conveniently leaving just over an hour in between for a mid-day meal.

When I got there, I took a minute to admire the hand-crafted metal door proclaiming the restaurant's name and address with an assemblage of farm implements welded to the bottom half of the framework.

It is truly a sculptural thing of beauty.

Inside, I found a well thought-out space with brick walls, booths named after people who'd been of service in creating the space and a handsome, long bar of wood.

Joining two male customers at the bar, I wasted no time in saying how happy I was that my neighborhood has a new restaurant. Both men agreed, although neither live here.

The lunch menu had a nice range of creative sandwiches and salads, several of which featured Monrovia Farms beef from co-owner Amanda's sister's farm in Westmoreland County.

Having been to Monrovia Farms to interview the owners last summer, I can attest to the cows being raised there as some happy bovine, which means tasty meat.

Wine had arrived, but not beer yet, but since I still had another interview to do, I stuck with non-alcoholic beverage and ordered the HRT of house roasted turkey breast with avocado, house-pickled red onion and slaw on toasted wheat, a hearty sandwich and picked a side salad rather than housemade mesa chips to go with it.

Musically, the starting point had been Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("I figured that wouldn't offend anyone," my server said), making for a solid blend of old and new roots rock, perfectly pleasant with the sun shining in the big front window.

The sandwich was a solid winner, thick with turkey and getting a satisfying kick from the pickled onion and good crunch from the slaw. The side salad was far better than it needed to be with slices of celery and cucumber, carrot matchsticks, grape tomatoes and a wide-ranging array of greens.

Surely I'm not the only person who appreciates when a side salad is not a throwaway.

During lunch, the guy near me eating the O'Brien (roast beef, turkey breast, cured pork loin, salami and swiss with spicy relish mayo on a baguette) said the sandwich was named after him and I had no reason not to believe him.

He went on to bemoan his family's current home renovation which has necessitated them eating out for months.

"There's no good restaurants on the southside," he concluded. "The best is Chicken Fiesta because it's real food and simple."

Our server agreed and I abstained since I've not eaten there.

The walls of the restaurant were notable for their unique adornments. On one were paintings done by Amanda and on another were three framed "living walls."

I'd seen living walls only once at a Richmond Symphony designer house a few years ago and apparently that's where she'd seen them too, the difference being she'd been ambitious enough to create her own while I just admired them.

They were a thing of beauty, full of tiny plants in varying shades of green and leaf size and apparently thriving on the south wall near the sunny window.

It's the kind of considered touch that I'd already noticed at Lucy's.

While we'd been eating, a guy I knew from my RTD days walked in from a nearby office, asking if it was their first day open and taking a menu back to the office with him.

I'm willing to bet he'll be back for food before long, although perhaps not before I get back over there for another crack at that menu, maybe the mixed bean party salad or the downtown cheddar.

My devotion to Jackson Ward is a seven plus-year affair at this point and Lucy's is just one more reason why.

But don't take my word for it. The "open" sign is out there on 2 Street, inviting everyone in.

Even those not fortunate enough to live in the Ward.