Bamboo Cafe

12/1/12:

After the parade the traffic was insane. No kidding, as there were an estimated 100,00 people in attendance. That's right, I didn't stutter. 100,00 people. So, there was a lot of traffic leaving. Since it was a beautiful day out JK, MK and myself decided to head towards Carytown to find us some lunch. As we pondered our options, I remembered that I had heard good things about the Bamboo Cafe on Yelp and suggested me try that.  They both seemed satisfied with that suggestion and we set out hoping to reach it before the crowd.

Bamboo Cafe (Bamboo Cafe) is located on the corner of South Mulberry and West Main St. which means that I have passed it on my way to other bars plenty of times. Each time I pass it I say I want to stop in, but had failed to do so until now. It's hard to miss due to the big red awning with the name on it. We had the boys and their GIANT stroller with us, but thankfully there was a place to lock it up outside. Granted, we could have brought it in with us as the waitress and bartender were very accommodating, but why struggle with it. There were tables available when we came in so we sat in the front. As I said, the waitress was great and helped us pull some tables together so we had a place to set-up the boys chairs and still have room for the 3 adults.

Once we were settled the waitress provided us with menus, indicated the specials board and swooned over the boys. We ordered our drinks and got down to studying the menu. The specials board is located on the back wall by the bathrooms and is thus hard to see, if not impossible, from the front. I took a quick walk back there and brought the info back to the table for digestion and discussion. In the mean time, the boys got fed a solid meal of chopped up turkey and cheese, fruit and some classic PB & J. They were also super well behaved so kudos to them and their parents.

The menu at the Bamboo Cafe is very basic, which I really liked. You aren't flipping through 8 pages of options hoping to spy one that strikes your fancy. They lay it out in 1 piece of paper folded in half. Perfect. And the prices are just silly low. It got MK and I reminiscing about the sausage and cheese bagels from high school, but that's neither here nor there. JK and MK decided to split a burger with potato salad and some wings. I went off my usual path and got a roast beef au jus with coleslaw. That was a bold choice for me and I was praying I wouldn't end-up longing for something else with buyers remorse.

Our food came out decently quick, which is key when dining with 1 year olds. Apparently, they have no self control when bored. Thankfully, ours remained amused the entire meal. The burger looked great and was cooked perfectly. Even after splitting it in half, both JK and MK had generous portions. And the boys got to enjoy some potato salad as well. The wings were meaty and not overly spicy, of which MK was very grateful. Overall, they were both very pleased with their split meal.

When my sandwich arrived I was still a little fearful. As soon as the plate was placed in front of me I could feel the fear beginning to ease. The sandwich looked fantastic. The bowl of au jus was steaming and the smell wafting out of it was fantastic. I quickly grabbed a half of the sandwich and dipped it in. What a delightful first bite. The sandwich was meaty and the au jus had deep rich flavor. Just a perfect blend. I confidently plunged forward, my worries from before forgotten. I would be hard-pressed to believe the coleslaw was house-made, but it wasn't bad. And for $6.95 I was very satisfied.

Bamboo Cafe endeared itself to me very quickly on this day. The friendly and helpful service, the good food and the local bar feel all combined to encourage me to return here in the future. I have also heard that their drinks are generous, so maybe a late night visit is in store. Either way, if you are looking for good food in an unpretentious atmosphere, give Bamboo Cafe a try.

The Halligan Bar

11/30/12:

I will tell you right now that this post is a mash-up. It contains photos from both Halligan Bar locations. I just wasn't able to get enough photos at both. So, sorry about it, but them's the breaks. Now on to our regularly scheduled program.

LG, JK and I went to The Halligan Bar (The Halligan Bar) in Short Pump for dinner and some beers on Friday night. LG and I had been to the one in Shockoe Bottom earlier in the week with some police officer friends of ours. I will discuss both here.

First, let's start with Halligan Shockoe Bottom. I have been here a couple of times with LG, but only for drinks. It's a great quiet little bar during the week. By little, I mean 5 or 6 tables. Really a nice place for a drink and some dinner. I haven't been here on a Friday or Saturday night, but the bartender says it's bumping. The weeknight bartender is a really nice guy. He is knowledgeable about both his bar and the surrounding area. The decor is exactly what you expect for a firemen themed bar. There is half a full-sized fire truck along one wall. All of the taps come out of the side. The lights over the bar all sit inside old fire helmets. They are really cool and something I would like to do in my own home if I had a bar. The appetizers I have had here are very tasty and a good sized portion. If you work in downtown, I suggest you get some co-workers and stop in one night.

Now on to The Halligan Bar in Short Pump. This is their second location and a much much bigger one. There are a ton of tables here, bigger staff and a full sized fire truck. The bar goes 3/4ths of the way around the truck which adds to the seating. There is even seating on top of the fire truck with some taps up there. We were advised to call ahead to make reservations for the top of the truck. We ate a full meal here and drank as well.

They have plenty of good beers on tap, like Legend Brown Ale, which is made at a local brewery here in Richmond. They also have a "house beer" here called Smoke Eater. Here is my only complaint about not only The Halligan Bar, but all Richmond bars. This "house beer" is actually Genesee Cream Ale. Being from NY and knowing this beer in my early years I can honestly say one thing, it's nasty. The servers always try to convince you it's good. It's not. It's cheap, but that doesn't mean good. Thankfully, like I said, they have plenty of good beer to balance it out.

The Halligan Bar menu is pretty much BBQ with a touch of lighter fare thrown in there. They have it down right, let me tell you. They have a wide range of platters, plates & sandwiches to choose from along with a plethora of tasty sides. LG went with the bacon cheese fries, a platter big enough to fill her up and leave plenty for JK & I to pick at. The fries were still crispy even after being baked with cheese and bacon on top. There was a nice thick layer of cheese and crumbled bacon, so no bite was ever lacking. What I also liked was that they were served with a giant vat of ranch dressing so as to ensure you never needed a refill. They made a great appetizer and there is plenty for the group to share.

JK was torn between a sandwich and the wings. It's our NY dilemma that we face in every restaurant. Wings are in our blood. It's what we do. So, he went with the wings. Then our debate was how hot. As we discussed the potential merits of heat vs. taste, the time to order arose. JK went with "5 Alarm", the hottest flavor available. When the basket arrived we could see that the wings were of decent size. Certainly not the biggest we've seen, but certainly enough to make a meal. As we extolled upon the positives and negatives about charging for celery, blue cheese & ranch dressing, JK dived into his wings. "They start out sweet and mellow. The heat doesn't seem to creep in until a little later. But when it creeps in, boy does it creep in." is how JK described the flavor. I gave one a try and that was pretty spot on. The heat hits you, but it was delayed. I'm a fan of that because it doesn't rob the eater of the flavor before the heat kicks in. Flavor-wise, JK and I agreed these wings are pretty good. 

I went with the Memphis Style Chicken Sandwich. It's smoked chicken with Halligan sauce (their signature sauce) and cheese on a roll. I got it with slaw, a house-made pickle and a side of chipolte mac & cheese. The meat didn't have a real smokey flavor, but the Halligan sauce gave it good taste. The roll was decent. It held the sandwich together nicely without distracting from the sandwich. The house-made pickle was excellent. It was tangy and crunchy. I could have eaten a half dozen more. The mac & cheese was also good, but not very chipotley. I also would have preferred a smaller pasta then a ziti noodle. but now I'm just being picky. Over all it was a very tasty meal, one I would order again.

Service left a touch to be desired. Our waitress would leave us for long periods of time without checking in. Granted, it was busy, but I would like to have seen her check on us a bit more. Especially when we were ready for our check. We sat for a fairly long period of time before we could even catch our servers eye to get our check. Having worked in food service before, that just frustrates me.

The Halligan Bar is a great place to go after work or with the family for dinner. They have good food and some excellent specials. Give it a chance next time you are looking for
some decent BBQ.

Dominion Christmas Parade

12/1/12:

I first heard about the Dominion Christmas Parade (Dominion Christmas Parade) from a lady on-line. She had attended for a couple years (back when it was the Ukrops Christmas Parade) and she raved about it. She said it was the "greatest local parade" she's ever seen. "A scaled down Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade," she exclaimed. Well, now I had to do a little more research on this parade. I found the official webpage and I was hooked. A 2 hour parade down West Broad St. with balloons, floats and bands? Sign me up! So, I put out an email, rounded up a group and we planned to go to the parade.

The day before we go I had dinner with LG and JK at The Halligan Bar (see The Halligan Bar post for my review) to firm up plans. Thankfully we did because I learned a very important piece of information: GET THERE EARLY!!! I was planning to be there about 9ish. Apparently that isn't early enough. LG said her co-worker suggested you be there way earlier. Between 7:30 and 8 to be exact. So, I agreed to be there at 8 and stake out our spot. Good choice on my end.

I got to Broad St. right about 8am. I posted up right across the street from the Arbys, right in front of the giant DMV building. There weren't many people on the street by this point, so I began to think that being here so early was foolish. I spread out my blanket, had an orange and waited. Slowly people began to fill the street. People began spreading out blankets, laying out chairs and taping off sections of the road. Once the lady busted out the caution tape, I knew this was serious. JK, MK and the boys showed up around 9:30. By that point, the street was pretty packed. People were stacking up behind those of us who had curb-side seating. LG and KW showed up about 9:45 with homemade muffins and mimosas. Well done girls. Quick side note, the DMV building and Arbys were both open for the public to use the bathrooms. We all got settled and waited for the 10am kick-off. Be prepared for the rest of this post to be photo heavy.

The parade was excellent. This years Master of Ceremonies was the Grinch. Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of him. That disappoints me, but I suppose all my other photos make up for it. Next up came the giant Rudolph balloon. I heard he had a small leak last year, but he was good as new this year. He floated big and proud this year. I love that they have to gently ease each balloon under all of the traffic lights.

There were, of course, plenty of bands in the parade. Most of them were high school bands. Some were military. Then there were your random community organization band. All of them were great. They all played and sounded great. They were well organized and well trained. Kudos to all of them.

 There were firemen, police and EMS, which is standard in every parade. Nice to see our service people representing. Sorry I only have firemen photos. They came out the best. The sun was not in my favor in regards to taking photos.

Oh hey, a naked version of Mighty Mouse... Or so I assume...

I think that my favorite part of the parade were the dance groups. I'm not talking about your Jimmy Dean School of dance kinda groups, granted there were a few of those and they were good. I'm talking about the Native American and Mexican dancers. Both groups were fascinating and had great great music. KW noted that "it's sad that Americans only bump and grind. We have no grace and class to our dance like these people do."

The Renaissance Fair people were in attendance. As was what is apparently a local Star Wars fan club. Even the Flying Squirrels baseball team mascot was spotted running around.

The parade wrap's up with the arrival of Santa. He came rolling in on his sled pulled by a slew of his reindeer. The kids all around us got super excited as he went past which is of course the reaction you want. Makes you feel good about the holiday season.

I highly recommend making this parade part of your families future Christmas tradition. It's about 2 hours long and packed with plenty of cool stuff. Remember to get there early and bring chairs as the ground gets uncomfortable after awhile. I also suggest a small cooler full of snacks. If you want to have some mimosas or maybe some Irish coffee I recommend pre-mixing and bringing them with. Take your time getting back to your car after. Traffic is kinda rough, so there is no need to rush. Go, enjoy yourself and thank me later.

Sticky Rice

11/21/12:

     Met up with some friends of mine for dinner at Sticky Rice, a personal favorite of mine. I was introduced to Sticky Rice (Sticky Rice) when I first visited Richmond about 2 years ago and I try to go as often as possible. It's a small, loud, packed, dark dive sushi bar in all the best possible ways. You will most likely have to wait for a table as they are usually full up. If that's the case, put in your name and go across the street to their take-out store "To-Go-Go". Get yourself a bucket of tots (more on these soon) and savor those as you wait for your table.

I got there earlier then my friends and was able to secure us a table. The waitress was very attentive to me as I waited. She got my water and made sure to keep my glass full. This is big for me as I drink a TON of water. She also pointed out the specials page and told me to flag her if I needed her. Most of these girls have been here a while so they know their job. They may not always be the friendliest, but they know their stuff and try to accommodate, in my opinion. As I waited, I glanced over their menu. I'm a big fan of the front cover design, not that that has ANYTHING to do with anything. Just saying.

Once my friends arrived we promptly ordered a bucket of tots. Literally, "We'll take a bucket of tots." were the words out of MG's mouth as she was sitting. Then she looks at us and said, "I mean, it's crazy not to, right?" Well played MG, well played. The tots are just your standard tater tots, like the kind you used to get with school lunch. You get a good amount too. It's enough for 3 or 4 people to have as an appetizer. And I'm saying that as a big eater. I hardly ever share. The best part of the tots is that they are served with a Sriracha-ranch dipping sauce. It's cool and spicy at the same time. It boosts ordinary tots to a whole new level. We always end up ordering more sauce because it's never enough. I also like to dunk some of my sushi in it. Both MG and I have tried to make it at home with no success. Not sure what we are doing wrong, but we can't duplicate it. I vow to get it someday...

The menu at Sticky Rice is excellent. It has a variety of dishes and caters to meat-eaters, vegetarians, vegans and gluten-free people. Most of their menu can be fixed to accommodate your personal needs. I'm a sushi man myself so I went for that. You order all of your sushi on a piece of paper that you just give the waitress. The specials are not on there, but if you want one just write it on. You can also writer special requests, like additions or subtractions on there. The sushi guys are very good at honoring what you would like. PG and I each got one of the specials, the "Eat Mor Chikin" roll. I also got a Goochland roll. MG got the Southland roll I believe. She had them add cream cheese to make it a Dirty Southland roll.

Our food arrived at our table and conversation silenced for a few minutes. All the rolls looked delicious. They are served in, what seems to me is, a manner for sharing. They put several rolls on one plate with wasabi and pickled ginger. This is very convenient as we are usually trading pieces of roll with each other. I suggest your table get a variety and try them all. The "Eat Mor Chikin" roll was a futomaki roll made with sticky chicken nuggets, lettuce, tomato, red onion and cucumber topped with  wasabi-ranch. It was very tasty. The Goochland roll is a personal favorite of mine. It is smoked salmon, goat cheese, scallions and sesame seeds. I think of it as a slightly jacked up Philadelphia roll. I can't remember the contents of MG's roll, but she gets it often and loves it. I eventually hope to eat my way through their sushi menu. I'll report back as often as I can.

From Left to Right: 2 Eat Mor Chikin, Dirty Southland & Goochland

I highly recommend you give Sticky Rice a try. It's a staple of Richmond. It's a good idea of what defines the culture of this city. Good food, average prices and a varied clientele. Give it a chance and thank me in the comments section later.

F. W. Sullivans

11/19/12:

Tonight EG and I were looking for some bar trivia and very cheap dinner. I scoured Yelp, of which I have become a fan. That led me to F. W. Sullivans (Sully's), a place that I have visited before usually late night. To visit it early evening seemed strange, but it was what we were looking for so to Sully's we go.

F. W. Sullivans is located in the strip of bars that dots West Main from Robinson
to Strawberry. There isn't always a lot of parking available, but it's pretty close to the free public parking lots in Cary Town. If you don't mind a little walk, try to park there. We prefer to park in Cary because it just helps avoid the frustration.

When we walked in, there was only 2 other occupied tables and a few seats at the bar taken. This is a big change from late night when the bar is usually packed. Sometimes uncomfortably so. If you don't like a large crowd, don't go on a Friday or Saturday night. Anyway, it was near empty when we got there. We were seated right away with menus and our waitress was with us promptly. She quickly laid out the deals for the evening: All pints on tap only $2.25 and 2 appetizers for $10. Both of these deals end at 7pm and we got there at 6:45. Not a lot of time to make a decision. Our waitress was very good with helping us choose a beer. I knew what I wanted, but EG requested some suggestions. I choose Southern Tiers Old Man Winter Ale. EG went with something a little lighter. The waitress called it "a step above Miller Light in both taste and color." Both were very good, especially at $2.25 each.

Now our big dilemma was which to appetizers to get. Bacon cheese fries were the first suggested, recommended and ordered. It's bacon and cheese... that's a no brainer. Our second choice was a touch harder. We were torn between nachos, crab dip and buffalo chicken dip. Nachos got tossed around, but were eliminated first. The dips caused us torment, but the waitress set us striaght. She said buffalo dip was rather spicy (I love spice, but EG doesn't). Crab dip it was. Now for the waiting game.

I figured that our apps would be half orders at this price. Boy was I wrong. We got 2 full sized appetizers for $10. Damn fine deal, if the food is good. The crab dip was served with both toasted pita chips and regular corn chips. I appreciate this because I enjoy the contrast of the chewy pitas and the crunchy chips. The dip was nice and cheesy, but the crab was a bit lost in it all. I would have loved to see a touch more crab meat and maybe a dash more Old Bay. But as a cheesy dip, it was right on. I suppose for $5 it can be forgiven. The bacon cheese fries are served with a side of ranch. Big fan of the ranch for dipping. The fries had plenty of cheese and bacon which is just what you would hope for. They were by no means the best fries that I've ever had, but they were certainly good.

We stayed for trivia night, which starts at 8. There were probably about 30 people in attendance, but it is a holiday week so I kinda expected that. You can win up to $80 in house money which is cool if you're a frequent customer. The host is great. He's a funny guy and keeps you interested. The music is an... interesting variety. The host told us that he has to pull some of it from the house music, hence the weird mix. The questions cover a variety of topics and vary in degree of difficulty. It's certainly a fun game and we agreed we would be back to play again.

Overall, we had a great experience. Food was good. Service was great. Trivia was fun. It's not a bad place to go on a Monday night. I'll review late night Sullys at a later date.

Phil's Continental Lounge

11/16/12:

After a nice night of beers at the Hardywood Brewery CB, JK and I decided we needed some food. JK suggested we go to Phil's Continental Lounge (Phil's) over on Grove Avenue. He said they had killer Limeaids and good food. CB and I jumped in the car and began our trip to Phil's.

We had to park off of Grove Ave a little south of Phil's. If you don't mind a little walk, and we don't, then parking is plentiful. As we walked up Grove we passed the other Continental and the Blue Goat, which I plan to try out in the future. Aside from both restaurants Grove was fairly quiet. When we got to Phil's we could hear the live music pouring out of the door. We stepped inside to a packed house, which isn't hard to do as Phil's isn't very big. The band was playing classic rock directly to the left of the front entrance. They were good and we didn't feel the music was invasively loud. We stood looking around for a table for just a minute before a waitress came by to assist us. She scoped out the tables and found us one where the people were just getting up to leave.

Once we were seated, a different waitress came up to help us. She was great. She offered us menus and joked with us for a bit before convincing us to try the Limeaids. I'll admit, I never have been nor do I foresee me ever being a Limeaid fan, but I gave it a shot. The vodka was noticeable, but not discouraging. The flavor was there, but it didn't convert me to a true believer. The boys liked theirs and promptly had a second. I switched to good old Bud Light bottles, which were $3.50 for an 18oz. I'll take that deal all day.

Both fellas were feeling some wings and the waitress guided them in the right direction. They both ordered a large wing for $10.50. I felt the need to branch out so I got "The Sailor" which was knockwurst with pastrami and Swiss melted on top all on rye bread for $7.25. How could that be bad? Our waitress took our menus and put our order in. She checked on us a few times while we waited for our food, which I appreciated. She was attentive, but not intrusive. Our food came out relatively quickly for how packed they were.

The wings were good. I assume this as our intense fantasy football discussion was abruptly halted as both fellas inhaled them. Being from NY like me and having gone to school in Buffalo, JK was the review I wanted the most. He said that they were some of the best wings he's had in Richmond. They weren't soaked in sauce, as some tend to do. The flavor was just the right combo of actual taste and heat. Size was acceptable. Phil's, you currently are our #1 place for wings. That is not a title to scoff at. We are particular to put it lightly.

My sandwich was on point. The bread was delicious with just the right light toast to it. The meats were both delicious and easily distinguishable. I added a little brown mustard, which was conveniently on the table, but the sandwich was perfect on it's own as the chef intended. I am excited to try their other sandwiches, but I feel "The Sailor" will hold a special distinction in my heart.

Phil's Continental Lounge had a lot going for it Friday night which puts it on my list of return visits. The music was good. The waitress was attractive, friendly and helpful. The beer price was nice. The food was great. And to top it all off, prices were right where we wanted them to be. Nice work.

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

11/16/12:

This weekend some friends of mine from Roanoke came up for a visit. Friday night him, myself and another Richmond friend of ours decided to go to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery (Hardywood) for happy hour. I had never even heard of it, but our friend JK said he had been there before for an event. I was up for the adventure, so we scheduled a time to meet up.

I won't say Hardywood is hard to find, because my GPS got me there fine. What I will say is that it's not where you expect it to be. It's tucked back on a street in what I will say is a warehouse district. There isn't much parking in the lot, but there is plenty of street parking. And I saw police cars drive by on 2 separate occasions which leads me to believe that the area is well patrolled. I felt no qualms parking my car and walking up the block. The other fellas agreed with me.

In the parking lot of the actual brewery was a food cart. I think they were doing hotdogs, but I didn't actually venture over to check. According to JK they always have food trucks on-site. They apparently also all converge on Hardywood every Thursday in the Fall. You can also drink in the parking lot, which is a nice added convenience.

Upon entering the brewery I immediately got the feel of a winery. There are barrels, used for conditioning and aging the beers everywhere. There are a few tables in the front room and a few in the main brewing room, but they aren't plentiful by any means. I'm ok with this as you aren't sitting down for a meal here. The front room has a bar with a few selections on tap. Today it was the Hardywood Singel and I believe the Hardywood Saison Rustica. The main brewing room had these plus the Hardywood Bourbon DIPA. They also had a tap set up for the release of their Hardywood Gingerbread Stout, but we were a day early for that.

JK and I got the Hardywood Bourbon DIPA and CB got the Hardywood Saison Rustica. We met some other friends there and they had the Hardywood Singel in pitchers plus a smattering of the other beers. I personally really like the Bourbon DIPA. I thought that the strong bourbon flavor and the bitterness of the hops played well with each other. I am a huge fan of IPA's and this did not disappoint. JK felt that the bourbon flavor was a bit much and, while he finished his beer, was not eager to join me for a second.

CB got most of the way through his Saison Rustica before deciding to switch to the Singel. I got to taste his Rustica and I enjoyed that as well. You can taste the rye and the occasional bite of the peppercorns. I would certainly get this in the future. It's a great dark beer for the Fall.

JK and CB switched over to the Singel. I tried a taste and knew it wasn't for me. I don't really enjoy blonde ales and this is certainly one. I am a dark beer guy. But both CB and JK raved about it. They truly enjoyed it enough to split a pitcher. I am glad because it means that Hardywood brews a little something for everyone.

Hardywood is nicely priced at about $6 to $8 for a glass of beer. They also do growlers in various sizes and half-glasses of beer at the bar. All of their beers that are currently out are also available at local restaurants and groceries stores.  The brewery is open until 9 pm which makes this a nice spot to stop in for happy hour before going out to dinner or the bars. If you catch them on the right night they also have live music, which makes for a great addition. The crowd here seemed to be mostly the mid-20's to mid-30's working professional so it's great for after-work drinks.

Hardywood Park runs a nice operation and puts out a fantastic product. I was very pleased and plan to visit them as often as possible.

Joe's Inn

11/15:

I had to go with my roommate AC to pick up her car in downtown this morning. We both realized we were super hungry and the neither one of us actually wanted to cook. She suggested Joe's Inn (Joe's Inn) as she had been there several times before. It's right near her brothers place in The Fan. I had been to their other location in Bon Air before for their delightful breakfast buffet. So, off we went.

Joe's Inn servers breakfast all day and also lunch and dinner. Both locations are fairly large. They have various rooms with a lot of seats. I am confident that if you were to return with a large party that you wouldn't have to wait very long, if at all for seating. We were the only patrons when we arrived so we chose a nice big booth.

As we sat down, the first thing I noticed was the huge selection of beers they have on tap and in the bottle. They are all conveniently written on a giant chalk board that covers one wall. They are all fairly priced for a pint too. Next time I'm back I'll remember to take a photo. I am a big beer fan and their list convinced me to come back to try a pint in the future. That and I knew I was hooked for a second visit when AC said, "The best part is you can get breakfast ANY time!" Sold...

AC ordered the french toast with a side of bacon and I got the American Breakfast, which is eggs, meat, potatoes and pancakes or french toast I'm a cake man myself. Our waitress was what I'll call "diner waitress friendly". What I mean by that is that she wasn't overly talkative and outgoing, but she wasn't rude. She was there doing her job and she was effective at it. She kept the water glasses filled, which is huge for me, and brought our food out quickly.


The food itself was pretty good. AC's only complaint was that it was a little too much toast and not enough french. Had it soaked a touch longer in it's egg wash it probably would have been fine. They were some pretty thick pieces of toast though... AC couldn't finish it all. She also had buyers remorse on the bacon upon seeing my ham, but she wasn't displeased with the actual bacon.

My breakfast was overall very good. The eggs were cooked very well with that runnyness I love. The ham was also fairly good for being sliced deli ham. I am a fan of a ham steak for breakfast, but the bit of crust they put on this allows me to forgive them. I enjoyed the tomato that they added as a garnish. It complimented the saltiness of the ham and the runnyness of the egg very well. The potatoes were cooked with a little onion, which added nice flavor. There was a little lack of flavor to the potatoes that a dash of rosemary or thyme could have fixed. As always, I saved my pancakes for last. They were fluffy and big, which I appreciated. Occasionally I would hit a pocket of vanilla, which made the bite extra sweet. I was not a huge fan of that, but I ate them anyway.

 The my meal, with a glass of milk, was roughly $9. I was full and over-all pretty satisfied when all was said & done. AC's meal was roughly $6 and she certainly left full. I will certainly be back to eat at Joe's Inn, in both locations. I would like to see if they pop-off late night and try one of their beers alongside my breakfast.

The Purpose

Hello one and all. Welcome to Out in Richmond, a blog that will do it's best to give a solid review of every restaurant, wine bar, shop, club, diner, store and event that I attend. My hope is to give you an idea of where to go, what to do and how to enjoy yourself out in Richmond regardless whether you're just visiting for a weekend or have lived here your whole life.

I myself just moved to Richmond after dabbling here and there along the East Coast. I don't claim to be a foodie, critic, writer, photographer, or anything other then an average guy just giving my opinion. I also tend to be out with my roommates and various other friends. I will try to document their opinions and thoughts as faithfully as I can. Take this blog for what it is and please give all these places a try for yourself. What I may find as a negative may be the whole positive of your visit. Hope you enjoy.