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?

Reviewing the Belvidere on Broad Review

Since the Bevidere at Broad got reviewed by the RTD today, of course I had to head up there tonight to enjoy my neighborhood haunt before it's inundated by the masses.

I'd read the review but had just a few bones to pick with it.

My primary issue was the timing of the review; as anyone in the business knows, a reviewer waits three months to review a new place.

The Belvidere opened July 29th and the reviewer was in the restaurant on September 25th; by even the most rudimentary calculations, that means the place had been open 8 weeks when she descended upon it.

Restaurant critic Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post not only insists upon a three-month window to allow a new restaurant to get its footing, but also requires three visits before a review is published.

Granted, this isn't a major market, but it still seems a tad unfair to review a restaurant so early on in its life.

My other gripe would be the crab cake comment, "could have used a touch more seasoning."

I grew up in Maryland and have been eating crab since I could hold a mallet; I am of the opinion that a crab cake should taste like crab, not like seasoning.

The Belvidere's crab cakes are, as the reviewer acknowledged, pure jumbo lump crab meat.

And for any true crab lover, that's what they should be; overt seasoning is for inferior crab meat.

Also, perhaps the reviewer was not aware of Chef Chris Hassen and his crack kitchen staff's intent with the Trio Appetizer, either.

It's intended to be eaten beginning with the mildest flavor (the crab cake), followed by the bruschetta's medium and fresh flavors paired with the strongest (the superb smoked salmon), much the way wine tastings go from lightest to heaviest bodied.

My dinner tonight at the Belvidere offered an opportunity to discuss the review with the kitchen and wait staff and other regular customers, all of whom are lamenting losing our neighborhood treasure to the soon-to-arrive hordes of the curious.

The consensus seemed to be that the review read better than a mere three stars, but at least it will introduce the unaware (like the reviewer whose foodie friends had not mentioned the place to her...what kind of foodies are these?) to a really fine addition to the downtown eating scene.

And that is most definitely a good thing.

And should you be looking for a scene, I left just as the Rumours soul dance party was beginning; the play list was a retro dream.

Yet another reason to check out the B @ B.

Just don't take my bar stool.