Christmas Eve Walk on Grace Street

Hard to know what to expect on Grace Street on a day like Christmas Eve.

The only thing I had going for me was that I hadn't gotten up until 11, so I wasn't walking until noonish, so I figured at least a few people would be out and about. Had I walked in the morning, I wouldn't have been so sure that that would have been the case.

And I would have been mistaken, at least at Sally Belle's Kitchen. The sign on the door said, "Open at 11. Numbers handed out prior." Good god, you need numbers to get your Sally Lunn bread and cheese wafers? Who knew?

Well, apparently everyone but me, or at least the long-time Richmonders knew. The place was abuzz with activity as I approached it. People were going in the door empty-handed and harried-looking as fast as others were coming out of the other door, arms laden with white boxes and bags.

I stopped and played doorman for a minute, partly to be helpful and partly to be nosey (imagine!). Everyone was friendly, many of them gratefully wishing me a Merry Christmas and everyone I asked was willing to tell me what they'd come in for.

Lemon chess pie was high on the list. Sally Belle's iconic potato salad got mentioned a lot. The pecan pie was popular. That Sally Lunn bread (which I don't even care for) and those cheese wafers, too. All the things that have made RVA Chrsitmas dinners what they are for decades.

A woman waiting at the bus stop wished me a Merry Christmas and asked if we were going to get the big snow she'd heard about (you know, because I look like a meteorologist). She was excited at the prospect, saying she couldn't remember a white Christmas in her lifetime.

Up near Meadow, a guy wished me a M.C. and asked if I'd been naughty or nice. Not sure where he might want to take that conversation, I just laughed and said that was someone else's decision to make. He chuckled and wished me luck with that.

Nobody was politically correct abut saying "Happy holidays" instead of M.C. until I was a block from home. A smiling man missing his two front teeth approached me and did a sweeping bow, saying "Happy holidays, miss!"

"Same to you," I said. He did a little dance step and looked at me saying, "I got the Christmas SPIRIT!"

That or some mid-morning nog.

Taking Sally Belle to Belle Isle

"Sorry, we're sold out of sweet potato tarts today." These are not the words you want to hear upon entering that Grace Street relic, Sally Belle's Kitchen. On my walk this morning, I'd come up with this brilliant idea for how to enjoy this balmy day, so my friend and I were there to score a couple of boxed lunches and take them down to the river to enjoy on a sunny rock. Yes, we were indulging in a bit of spring fever fun, but we were powerless to resist it.

Sally Belle's is so classically Richmond; where else can you get a boxed lunch with corned beef spread? Cream cheese and nut? But I wanted a sandwich that was made on their own roll, so that let out tuna, turkey and a host of others.It was really no contest, I wanted a boxed lunch that would represent the kind of lunches Richmonders have been eating at the river for decades, so I got the Smithfield Ham on a S.B. roll, potato salad (probably the sweetest I've ever had), half a deviled egg, a cheese wafer with a walnut half atop it and a traditional inverted cupcake of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

With the food neatly arranged in the white Sally Belle box, the ancient woman behind the counter asked if we wanted our boxes taped or tied. Are you kidding? We didn't come to Sally Belle's for no stinkin' tape! Get out your string and tie those boxes up, ma'am, just like they've been tied up since the roaring twenties. It was too quaint for words.

The parking lot for Belle isle was surprisingly full when we arrived, making it clear that we weren't the only ones with spring fever. My friend grabbed the boxes and I had my straw hat and we had everything we needed. Heading over to the island, we passed joggers, bikers, a lot of dog walkers and even a guy telling the girl with him, "I am a dickweed." We admired his honesty even if she didn't.

The water was over five feet and rushing madly, which made for an almost ocean-like soundtrack. With the bright blue sky completely cloudless, all we needed was a sunny rock on which to spread out. We found one and tucked into our Southern repasts (he had a tuna salad sandwich on bread with macaroni salad and, by the way, tasted his cupcake before his sandwich, in case anyone wants to know), starting with eating the sweet pickle slice off of our salads; it's rva protocol to do so

There were what looked like hundreds of white birds perched on the rocks on the other side, doing exactly what we were doing: enjoying the sun and maybe some food while admiring the view. It would have made a beautiful photograph with their whiteness contrasted against the very blue water and sky.

Afterwards we walked the island, reading all the historic marker signs, admiring the structures that still stand and talking about all the things that had happened on the island before our time. My friend called it "nerding out together." I challenged him to tell me how we could have better enjoyed a beautiful Monday in March.

He was smart enough to acknowledge that I had nailed it.

Restaurants Not the Usual Suspects

Sunday's Washington Post Travel section had not one, but two articles about eating in RVA.

While I'm always happy to see word of our fair city in the larger press, I'm beginning to wonder about the sources for their destinations.

The first, "In Richmond, fine dining is in the details" was written by Post food critic Tom Sietsema, a man whose writing I read often and always enjoy, and chronicled his eating journey through our little town. Go ahead, I bet you can guess at least three, if not four, of the places where he chowed down.

Duh. Millie's, Can Can, Acacia and Mezzanine (because of its relative newness and Style's Restaurant of the Year award apparently) made the cut.

His only other stop was Buzz and Ned's Real Barbecue where he was underwhelmed. He also found Millie's lacking, despite having had a good lunch there several years ago. The others he enjoyed.

The second article, "For food shops, it's a capital city" was mainly about Belmont Butchery, but also gave a nod to 821, Comfort, Sally Belle's, Kuba Kuba, Yellow Umbrella Seafood and the brand new Spoonfed (formerly Stonewall Market).

The writer raved about Belmont Butchery with good reason, although Tanya Cauthen is quoted as saying that when she needs additonal counter help, she calls on local chefs from Balliceaux and Pomegranate. I question how a place as new as Balliceaux got lumped in with the defunct Pomegranate.

My question is this: can a piece about eating in RVA be written without mention of Can Can, Acacia, Millie's, Comfort, or Kuba Kuba? And, let's be real here, even 821 and Sally Belle's are semi-regulars when the topic is our restaurant scene. I'm not saying these aren't good places to eat, but who doesn't know that by now?

Clearly even the out-of-towners are aware of these places, so why can't we see an article about eating through Richmond mention some of the less obvious eateries we have to offer?

Yellow Umbrella was an unexpected surprise to see given a nod, as was the barely opened Spoonfed, but it was an article about markets after all. But a truly good story about what's worth checking out during a visit to RVA should inform the reader about the places not mentioned over and over in the travel press.

Or, at the very least, whomever is supplying the suggestions to these out-of-town writers should give them the scoop on the places the locals know are our best -kept secrets.

If anyone should need a good source in the future, I'm happy to provide a list of less obvious places worth a bite or sip, as, I'm sure, would any regular diner in Richmond.

Or are we trying to keep these places to ourselves?

Nate's Taco Truck Meets Sally Belle's

I was way overdue to try Nate's Taco Truck and with a day as beautiful as today, it was the perfect opportunity to join the line at Linden/Park/Grove and change that.

I debated as I made my way to the front of the line: tacos? quesadilla?

Or give in and have what I'd been told was Nate's piece de resistance, Frito Pie?

We're talking a bag of Fritos topped with pinto beans, shredded beef, cheese, lettuce, salsa and sour cream.

Lunch in a bag!

I had no choice because the Fritos were calling to me, so I ordered this $4.00 bag o' goodness, did my best to stir its contents and was rewarded with a melange of flavors with just enough salty, crispy goodness under perfectly cooked beef and beans to satisfy the most discerning palate (that would not be me, btw).

I find it absolutely necessary to follow salty with sweet, so I took my stuffed self a few blocks north to Sally Belle's Kitchen for a traditional Richmond upside-down cupcake (chocolate on chocolate, as it happened).

Sally Belle's is as old school as Nate's is new wave and standing inside that Grace Street institution, you lose all sense of the real world outside (a metaphor for rva in general, perhaps?).

I swear, those women who work the counter there have been there since Sally Belle's opened...not that that's a bad thing.

Might I suggest that the next time you have a hankering to enjoy lunch outside in the VCU area you consider Nate's (the Sally Belle stop is up to you)?

This is a guy who really enjoys his cooking (just ask him) and it comes through in every delicious bite.

For you health-conscious types, Fritos are optional.