Bountiful Lunch at Balliceaux

My plans to meet a friend last night at Balliceaux had to be postponed until lunch today, but given the gloomy skies, it was a great day for lunch out anyway. Since she'd never been but had heard about the very un-Richmond-like decor and interesting food, we did the full tour of the renovated space first and then covered as much of the menu as two lunchers could hope to.

The damp and cold outside made us suckers for soup; I had the split pea and Italian sausage and she savored the creamy seafood stew with rock fish, oysters, bacon and fennel. In fact, she was so inspired by the stew that I expect she'll be making some of her own very soon. Not me, I'll just enjoy the efforts of other soup makers.

Choosing a sandwich was more difficult, so we settled for our top two favorites and agreed to split them so we could each have half. I wanted the Morta Torta, consisting of shaved Mortadella with melted Raclette (like Swiss, the server told me, but with more of an assertive personality), and pickled peppers on crusty bread. Served warm, it was a salty, fatty, flavorful delight.

She got the shaved leg of lamb with arugula, red onion and pommery aioli, also on a roll. The arugula and red onion added the perfect punch to the lamb, although we both agreed that the lamb being so cold detracted a bit from the overall effect. Still, it was delicious, just not quite as good as it would have been at room temperature. Both sandwiches came with mountain o' fries, crisp and salty and unnecessary, but then we didn't have to eat so many of them, either. Perhaps it was the discussion of the secret sex signal that distracted us from noticing how many we ate.

But we did have to have dessert and with only one chocolate option, our choice was pre-determined. The mocha torte was cake and mousse covered in chocolate ganache and served with berries and hazelnut ice cream. The thick coating of ganache would have made whatever was inside irrelevant, but actually it was lovely and the ice cream's unusual flavor was worth experiencing with the torte.

My friend was amazed at the transformation of Bogart's Back Room into the sleek 60s light-filled destination that it now is. Despite my raves about the shows back there, she admitted that it's unlikely she'd be back for late night music, but I feel certain she'll want to add Balliceaux to our Ladies Who Lunch List of worthy destinations.

I'll just have to remember not to make dinner plans on days that we end up at Balliceaux for lunch.

Testing Out the Bar at Balliceaux

Waitress to bartender, glancing at me and commenting on Christmas music, "I don't want to hear, like, Frank Zappa's version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." I felt her pain.

That was at Balliceaux tonight where I was pleasantly surprised to find a nearly full house on arrival. When I told the hostess I wanted to eat at the bar, she put her arm around me gratefully and practically led me there. Both times I'd been, I'd eaten at a table with a friend.No sense wasting even a two-top on a solo diner and she obviously appreciated that.

I do like the uniqueness of Balliceaux's menu choices. As I was perusing it, the pastry chef called out my name; I know him from several restaurants ago. He told me about his dessert-making and insisted that I try one and let him know what I thought. Oh sure, like I have to be asked to order dessert. He inquired as to what I was planning to eat for dinner and said any of my choices were among the best on the menu. Of course, that could just mean we have similar taste, but I allowed myself to feel flattered nonetheless.

First off, I had the Seafood Stew with rockfish, oysters, bacon and fennel; the bartender told me it was the best of the three soups only after he served it to me. I liked that it wasn't obscenely rich but had loads of flavor. I may have enjoyed the abundance of rock fish even more than the oysters.

Despite the bartender's warning that it was large, I ordered the Butter Lettuce Salad with fried Brussels Sprouts, pickled shallots and blackberries in rosemary vinaigrette. This was an unusual and excellent combination of flavors, the highlight being the fried crunch of the Brussels Sprouts leaves and the incredibly sweet and ripe blackberries. At this time of year, they are undoubtedly from south of the equator and yet they tasted like something you'd pick on a hot summer day in the south.

I was dying to try the Lamb Sausage Shortstack, but I knew if I did it would prohibit any possibility of dessert and, well, I had given my word to the pastry chef. My wine of choice this evening had been the Trentadue Old Patch Red for its black cherry and black pepper qualities, so instead I ordered another glass of that whilst deciding on a dessert.

My choice of sweet was the Mocha Torte with pine nut gelato, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. The torte itself was a two-layer affair with a lighter chocolate cream between layers and a dark chocolate icing on top. Don't knock pine nut ice gelato until you've tried it. Delicious.

Just as I began my torte, a woman sat down at the bar and we recognized each other, having met at Garnett's the night they opened. Small town this is, as the bartender pointed out. We were shortly joined by Jennie from The Sweetest Thing Bakery, my favorite cupcake baker in rva. She and a friend completed our foursome at the bar, making for some exceptional shared conversations about my tights, old dogs and the inevitability of seeing the same core group of people out and about in this town. Point proven at a four-seat bar tonight.

At the end of the bar where I sat was a piece of wooden folk art with a painted figure and the words, "Peace on Earth" carved onto it. Mindlessly studying it before the other bar guests arrived, I was thinking how that simple sentiment summed up everything I could hope for this holiday season.

Well, that and a happy ending. That's all I want for Christmas.