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.