Virginia is
the food region of 2014, according to Esquire food editor Josh Ozersky, and
Richmond’s Rappahannock was celebrated as one of the country’s best restaurants
in the same issue. To mark the occasion, it’s throwing a big party Monday, Jan. 12. Ozersky will be there, and Rappahannock chef Dylan Fultineer
will showcase Virginia specialties, including Rappahannock River Oyster Co.’s
oysters (obviously), Foggy Ridge Cider, Border Springs Farms’ lamb and Sub Rosa Bakery’s
pastries at a sit-down dinner extravaganza.
Tickets to the reception,
which starts at 5:30 p.m., are $75, tickets to the dinner, which starts at 7, are $125, and tickets to both are $175. For reservations, call the restaurant at 545-0565.
It got us thinking, the Richmond dining scene has received a lot of
accolades recently. Can you pick out which are the real-deal quotes from the
choices below?
From Saveur:
-
We think of it as paradise, if paradise means pimento
cheese sandwiches. -
We think of it as paradise in a box.
-
We think of it as paradise outside the box.
-
We think of it as paradise in an Old Testament kind of way. We go naked.
From CNN Money:
-
The Richmond food scene specializes in two things close to
its heart: cocktails and beards. -
The Richmond food scene specializes in two things close to
its heart: too much fried chicken and bourbon. -
Richmond’s food scene specializes in two things close to
its heart: the ocean and the South. -
The Richmond food scene specializes in two things close to
its heart: restaurants that open and restaurants that close.
From Southern Living:
-
What To
Order: Anything. -
What to
Order: Everything -
What to
Order: All the things that are gluten-free. -
What to
Order: All the things that go oink.
From Esquire:
-
Another night, he served a braised lamb neck with all the
meaty power of a rib steak, meltingly moist but as big as a big man’s fist. -
Another night, he served all the meaty power of a rib
steak, meltingly moist but as big as a big man’s fist. -
Another night, he served a man’s fist that looked like a
braised lamb neck, meltingly moist but with all the meaty power of a rib steak. -
Another night, he served a braised lamb neck as big as a
big man’s fist, meltingly moist but with all the meaty power of a rib steak.
From USA Today:
-
On
a given day, the whimsical menu may have some or all of the following: flounder
with aborio rice, ham yolk and calamari; hanger steak with peaches, roasted
peppers and cocoa gnocchi; Camembert with mixed berries and lovage and more. -
On
a given day, the whimsical menu may have some or all of the following: beet
cinnamon, prune Armagnac, salty caramel pretzel peanut, pomegranate molasses,
coconut Almond Joy, green tea and ginger and more. -
On a given day, the whimsical menu may have some or all of the following: flounder
with smoked potato puree; chicken
liver paté with
peach mostarda, ginger, peach gel and fennel; bourbon-barrel smoked pork belly with kimchi and bok
choy and more. -
On
a given day, the whimsical menu may have some or all of the following: maple
bacon, gingerbread, apple fritter, espresso-glazed, cookie crumble, Babe
Ruth-style and more.
From Huffington Post:
-
Southern staples? In Richmond, Virginia, forget about it
and try the pasta. -
Southern staples sing like Billie Holiday on a rare happy
day. -
But if you’re looking for fresh takes on Southern staples,
take your appetite to Richmond, Virginia. -
In Richmond, Virginia, Southern staples like peanuts get
stomped, greens are annihilated and grits grow teeth.
From Southern Living:
-
It’s bathtub gin in a bottle without the danger of brain
damage — the best way to end a night in Virginia. -
Add in a dollop of corncob jelly cream and a two-fingered
pour of George T. Stagg whiskey — it’s the best way to end a night in
Virginia. -
Relish the barn-bottom dusting of crispy hay with a long pour
of Strangeways Southern Heirloom Candy Roaster Squash Bock — it’s the
best way to end a night in Virginia. -
It’s malty, bold gingerbread in a bottle. Stir in a little piquant
mistletoe — and it’s the best way to end a night in Virginia. Permanently.
From Zagat:
-
I
expose my staff by really dropping them in at the deep end. It’s sink or swim. -
I like to cook good food and that’s generally just my goal.
-
You
don’t come into cooking to get rich. -
The
minute you start compromising for the sake of massaging somebody’s ego, that’s
it, game over. -
Cooking
is like having the most massive hard-on plus Viagra sprinkled on it and it’s
still there 12 hours later.
From Washington Post Express:
-
The secret to the soft-yet-crunchy fried chicken cutlet
is tofu instead of chicken, says the cafe’s beverage director. -
The secret to the soft-yet-crunchy fried chicken cutlet
is feeding the chicken a lot of bourbon, says the cafe’s beverage director. -
The secret to the soft-yet-crunchy fried chicken cutlet
is slapping it around a little, says the cafe’s beverage director. -
The secret to the soft-yet-crunchy fried chicken cutlet
is a double-dredge process, says the cafe’s beverage director.
From Saveur.com:
-
It’s
the kind of place you go with friends to eat pasta family-style and have loud,
boisterous conversations over bottles of the house red. -
It’s
the kind of place you go to drink yourself insensible with Chianti at the bar. -
It’s
the kind of place you go to experience garlic whiplash and pasta attacks. -
It’s
the kind of place you go to wait in purgatory, tortured by passing plates.
Answers: Saveur: No. 2 (about Sally Bell’s Kitchen), CNN Money: No. 3, Southern Living: No. 1 (about
the Roosevelt), Esquire: No. 4 (about Rappahannock), USA Today: No. 4 (about Sugar Shack Donuts), Huffington Post: No. 3, Southern Living: No. 2
(about Comfort), Zagat: No. 2 (a quote from Rappahannock chef Dylan Fultineer — the
rest are from Gordon Ramsay), Washington Post Express: No. 4 (about Saison), Saveur.com: No. 1 (about Mamma ‘Zu)
