Archive for December, 2006

Located now on Cox Rd. opposite the Comp USA/Office Max shopping center in Richmond’s far west-end, Ipanema Grill is a Brazillian-style churrascaria.

An upgrade from their previous location on Gayton Rd., this one is located in a new shopping center and features an airy dining room. The concept here is simple: serve yourself at a warm and cold bar (salad, rice, beans, fried bananas, Parmesan cheese, etc.), and waiters will make rounds in the restaurant with sword-skewered meats, such as bacon-wrapped chicken, pork sausage, pineapple, and various cuts of beef.

While my first experience some months ago here was superior, they do an excellent job at preparing these said meats. From the mouth-watering beef rib, to the chicken leg, to the pork roast, each cut is well-flavored and seasoned. This is a classy way at presenting high-end buffet eating by bringing (most) of the buffet to you, cut to your own order.

I brought my parents here and they both enjoyed it. The price for dinner is $25 per person, so it is not cheap. But, if you are a meat lover, you can hardly do better. Both the quality and variety of meat proffered is commendable.

We warmly recommend it. We previously reviewed this restaurant and awarded the same rating.

This is a follow-up review of Ichiban.

Today I had the opportunity to eat at Ichiban for a bento-box lunch. I ordered the tofu variety, which came with a ginger-dressing covered salad, miso soup, california roll, teriyaki-style fried tofu, and rice. Everything was passable, save for the tofu, which was drenched in a too-thick, and too-sweet sauce with onions. The California roll was the best part of the box.

The concept of bento is an interesting one, and there are better bento boxes to be had likely elsewhere. But service issues which plagued Ichiban in the past weren’t an issue today.

The ratings first awarded stand. The one issue I experience this time around was the strong fishy smell throughout the restaurant. A clearer, cleaner smell would be more welcome.

Over 4 months ago, a friend of a friend suggested a group of us all go out to the Old City Bar in downtown Richmond, which is located adjacent to the train station and Farmer’s Market. I never got to go then, but I did this evening, where I was joined by several friends and colleagues.

The menu had some interesting items for sure, which included lobster bread pudding, fried oysters with Virginia ham, and the duck wellington. In all honesty, none of us had been here before, and we were anxious to go.

Our server (Emily) was nice enough, and did a decent job with service. But it seemed that other aspects of service, including bar service, the speed at which dishes came out of the kitchen, and how a poor entrée presentation was rectified, left us puzzled. “How were they getting away with charging so much?”

The menu, especially in the entrée section, needs inspiration. While several diners reported their entrées were average, one was made up of steak so dry and flavorless it was shameful, and another came as a slab of well-cooked tuna, when “rare” was requested. To be fair, the tuna was replaced, and met with the diner’s satisfaction.

Appetizers were better liked, including salads and the beforementioned lobster “bread pudding.” While long pauses were the norm between courses, luckily the Old Bar hires a singer on Thursday nights who was both engaging and entertaining.

Desserts were mixed, too. The chocolate crepe our server raved about was lackluster. For a dessert, it lacked sweetness, flavor of chocolate, and variety of texture. The ricotta-chocolate cheesecake, on the other hand, was a real winner.

The coffee served to each diner was flavored with hazelnut. Many diners felt this flavored coffee should have been advertised before pouring… as some diners dislike flavored coffees, including your very own Messy Chef.

I was fair, I thought, in asking others of their opinion. “2.5 stars,” one remarked, while another said “around 3, but certainly no more.” No one dish was inspirational, and another diner felt the staff lacked personality and person-ability. My dual petite filet steak dinner was typical of many: uninspired presentation, lackluster quality: entrées that needed help and lesser price tags.

The decor and location both demand better praise. While not all was lost, we can’t honestly recommend ourselves to return. As one in our party told the manager: “I won’t be back… you guys had the chance to impress me and earn my business, but you never did,” perhaps your experience would be different. Luckily for us, a friendly waitress and good company saved the evening. But better food and drink can be found for the price elsewhere, for sure.

This (Christmas) time of year, many think to their favorite things, among them in the food world, chocolate.

In February, 2005, I began exploring different brands of chocolate to discover my personal favorite. I reported elsewhere on this project, but thought I would revisit some interpretations as a short-list guide for those of you choosing your chocolate.

Amedei is a Tuscan, Italian chocolate. The packaging was first-rate. The taste was good, if not a tad too sweet. It didn’t have an ultimate aroma and wasn’t entirely smooth in mouth-melting.

Hachez I don’t care for this brand of chocolate. It reminds me of some Starbucks-brand coffee: too dark, too roasty.

Cluizel makes some nice chocolate, known for melting smooth. The bars never snap really hard. Flavor notes are interesting, but not first-rate for me. Sometimes their lesser percentages can be a bit too sweet.

Chocolove

This was a real treat. I didn’t expect it to, but it had a nice balance of flavor, aroma, and sweetness. A nice snacking chocolate.

Valrhona

This is good chocolate. It’s rich beyond good words, never too sweet, and comes in typically crisp, hard-cracking bars. I prefer a chocolate that melts a bit easier, but this line has flavors rooted in deep cherry and other earthy notes. Well-recommended.

El Rey

The Messy Chef favorite. Inexplicable flavors and depth. The right type of smoothness, melt, and break in the bar. This is the world’s finest chocolate, I might add, from my experiences. Most enthusiastically recommended.

Scharffen Berger

Not a real favorite. I want to like this chocolate, but it lacks great aroma. No doubt you can make excellent desserts with it, but for a snacking chocolate, I like more aroma and depth.

Richmond’s duo of Thai restaurants, Thai Diner 1 and Thai Diner Too (Carytown) are two mainstays for Thai cuisine.

I recently dined at the location on West Broad Street, in the same shopping center as Super King Buffet. This trip epitomized many, where Thai Diner is “hit or miss.” A personal favorite from other restaurants, the so-called Spicy Drunken Noodles was lackluster, too bland rather than good, but served with plenty of crispy tofu.

A squid-based entrée with ginger was better. Two orders of a special called Cashew Chicken was served with medium-sized rice noodles and crunchier fried noodles. It had my salt-fearing mom grabbing for soy sauce. She left 75% without taking it home.

Yet, their appetizers were crispy-fried and tasty. And on other visits, some of their specials have been gustatory pleasures. But inconsistency in visits and across the menu is a concern for the diner looking for good Thai.

Thai Diner can do it, but not always. I hope to return again with better news.