I Think I'm Featured In Richmond Mag...

The Dine insert to be specific, but I haven't seen it. I'm visiting my folks in Arkansas and I just found out that my fellow food-lova's have gotten their grubby little hands on the local essential eating rag. Richmond magazine's content is so hot that they can't put it online. So, I guess I can't really comment on my newfound infamy stardome, but I can give you some background about the interview and photo shoot.

A month or two ago I was contacted to participate in a Dine feature about "wintertime comfort food." At first, I was stumped. Comfort food has become too familiar all year round, lately, and this was kind of a sore subject. Nonetheless, I shot some ideas over via email. The Richmond Mag writer, Megan Marconyak wanted to meet up and talk until she had some notes to work with in writing her piece.

Megan and I had lunch at the Phoenician, a favorite for both of us and located conveniently between our two offices. Getting into the topic of wintertime comfort food, I talked about my affinity for frugality (despite my occasional splurges and indulgences), sorta as a preface. Then, I talked about winter time staples, like soup, chili, mac'n'cheese, heavy carbs, Indian buffets, frequent small meals, spicy hot cocoa inspired by the movie Chocolat, heat-creating spices of all kinds, freshly baked goods, and the list goes on. By the end of it, I was amazed at myself. As it turns out, I'm a freakin treasure trove of wintertime comfort food tips. But now, I'd forked over all of my bright ideas for use in this Richmond mag piece and I couldn't blog about it for risk of stealing Megan's thunder. If only my blog afforded me a stenographer/consultant who could elicit this much content from me on a regular basis... Oh well. Perhaps, it's time I revisited whichever tid-bits didn't make the cut.

Evidently, I told her that I rarely order dessert out. But during the winter, I like to over do it a bit and have something sweet. A favorite of mine for sweets is Rowland Fine Dining and I got a call from a Richmond Magazine photographer requesting to meet me there, so they could get a picture of me eating the mini-muffins that Virginia Rowland bakes and serves for free to each brunch guest. I responded to Megan before the meeting to make sure she understood, RVA Foodie ain't about "fine dining," unless there's an exception. In this case, Virginia Rowland's baker's touch provides just the incentive to head over the footbridge from Byrd Park to the Fan to get some desserts or some brunch. I was hoping that she would capture the irony. Still crossing my fingers until I read the thing.

At the photo shoot, I was forced to pose with, and bit into, and chew, and swallow, umpteen mini-muffins. It was absolute torture, let me tell you. These light puffs were warm from the oven and fragrant with bananas, hot brown sugar and topped with a dusting of powdered sugar. After a while, I got kinda bored and started mooshing my face into the plate so I would have a whole bunch of white powder on my lips, nose, and beard. The photographer acted tickled and snapped lots of pics, but eventually he asked me to wipe my face clean so he could continue trying in vain to make me look as good as the mini-muffins. Poor guy. I can't wait to see how it turned out.

And that my friends is history now. The issue is on the stands and I'm outed as RVA Foodie in hard copy, for the first time (I'm in loads of pictures on this site). Let me know how you think it turned out and I'll do the same when I get my hands on a copy.

Cheers.

Eating Past the Point of Enlightenment: Rowland Brunch

When Rowland Fine Dining announced that they were starting a Sunday brunch service, I felt like I needed to try it out ASAP, before it got overrun with foodies. I mean, Rowland's dinners have been pretty awesome in my experience. Brunch would probably be stellar as well. Well, weeks passed without my paying a visit and I haven't heard a peep about the Rowland brunch. Until today...

At about noon, Karen and I walked up to Rowland, with Jasper in tow. We were braced for a throng of diners. To our amazement, the place was empty, save three tables. We got a secluded corner booth/table and started looking over the menu. Maybe I shouldn't have had a preconception in my head, but I was a little disappointed with the lack of egg dishes on the menu. You know that list of fancy sounding food that comes along side the egg/french toast section of the brunch menu? The Rowland menu is mostly that stuff (more on that in a bit). However, right off the bat, we were served three great surprises that made us swoon and will surely bring me back.

Surprise # 1: Lavazza coffee. By noontime on Sunday, I NEED coffee. This stuff was strong and smooth Italian brew and it was refilled three times during my meal (for $1.50).

Surprise # 2: Instead of bread or biscuits, every table got a plate of mini banana nut muffins dusted with powdered sugar. Sublime, with the coffee. Virginia Rowland is known for her deserts and it showed with these light and tasty treats. We'll be back for more, but as bakers like to try different things, I wouldn't be surprised to find another flavor next time.

Surprise # 3: I asked to start with a side: Potato latke with scallion creme fresh. For four bucks, this thing was bigger and tastier than it had any right to be. AND, here were my eggs. It looked like any shredded potato pancake with a dollop of creamy stuff in the middle, but the texture was very eggy and the potatoes were undercooked to perfection, just the right amount of crunch, and the seasoning... I dunno what it was, but please give me more. Jewish treats like these willl make me happily convert.

By this point, we had about reached nirvana. The satisaction we experienced was that euphoric (probably cuz the baby was still asleep). And we hadn't even been served our entrees. Maybe this is how Buddha got so fat, eating past the point of enlightenment. Speaking of knowledge, the list of entrees was unfamiliar brunch territory for me: mostly southern and cajun accented dishes. I was tempted by the shrimp po boy and the butterbean cakes. Karen was on the verge of ordering the skillet fried chicken with summer squash casserole (and pan gravy). Ultimately we steered toward the seafood; BBQ shrimp over creamy polenta and tuna cakes with pico de gallo.

Do those things sound fancy? Well, the fine-ness of the dining is mostly in the accents. Fried egg and prosciutto sandwich with pomme frites, apple wood bacon, Mongolian hangar steak. We'll see how they rotate their menu when we head back. By the way, the shrimps were good, slathered in a cajun gravy that was an interesting take on BBQ sauce. The tuna cakes were filled out with some corn and rice and surrounded by a crunchy crust. On top, was a very fresh salad of toms, diced red onions and jalapeno slivers (pico de gallo, but tastier, as the menu described).

Obviously, the highlights for us were the first three rounds. I don't think we'd go for those two entrees again, but we had plenty of other interests on the menu. Oh, and they do serve french toast, as it turns out. If you're smart, you'll split an entree, pile on the sides, and save room for desert.

Rowland Fine Dining is located at Main Street and Shields. Brunch goes from 10-3 on Sundays and entrees range from $7:50-13. They've also got some cute looking patio tables out front that you might like to try.