Archive for December, 2006

Located in the Centerville area of Goochland County, Red Oak Café offers diners a small dining room and adjoining bar for both lunch and dinner off West Broad Street.

The decor won’t win you over, but the down-to-earth, homemade-style cooking may. I recently dined at the Red Oak for luncheon. We sampled from their prodigious club sandwich served on extra-wide toasted bread, their potato soup, salad, and pulled-pork barbeque sandwich with fries and coleslaw.

The cole slaw is made with typical cabbage and carrot, but with a poppyseed dressing. The pulled-pork was excellent in flavor, but lacked city penache. The red liquid coming from the sandwich dripped all over my hands, and then ran down my arm, deep into the chasm along my arm behind my sweater. I am confident the drip didn’t find its way to my armpit, but it stopped somewhere close. While the mess of the sandwich was controlled after this initial incident, I felt that a thicker, richer sauce would have presented this mishap. I would have been angry, but the sandwich was, after all, tasty.

I have eaten dinner here previously, which I recall presented standards with touches of inspiration. I do not believe there is anything overly fancy or fussy here to be had, just good takes on originals that keep customers coming back.

Approaching Christmas, last night the Messy Chef hosted the first of several holiday dinners. I have decided to share some of the recipes and details regarding this first, and successful, dinner.

Chinese Style Ribs

This recipe was once again a success. It comes from the large tome that came out 2 years ago, The Gourmet Cookbook edited by Ruth Reichl. These pork ribs got marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, ketchup, garlic, and ginger and sherry for overnight, then were roasted and basted for 1 hour, 45 minutes in the oven.

Now, what should go with that?

Chinese-Style Beans

This was my own recipe. I par-boiled French-style green beans, then later stir-fried them in a neutral oil with garlic and ginger. Added to that was salt, sesame oil, and soy sauce. I didn’t have them, but they could have been garnished with toasted sesame seeds.

Light Potato Balls

These are another Messy invention. I boiled and riced red-skin potatoes, added salt, olive oil, and garlic. I mushed the mixture together with parmesan cheese and sour cream. The mixture was formed into balls, dusted with fresh-cracked pepper, and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until lightly brown.

The balls deflated, but could have kept their shape with the addition of 2 egg whites, I imagine.

“Whoa, Delicious!” cried one diner.

Bread and Butter

Father of Messy Chef demanded to have bread, and picked up a Richmond-favorite, Billy Bread. It’s got quite a chew, and we enjoyed it slathered with a compound butter of garlic, olive oil, and salt made at Thanksgiving. To wit, the said chew:

Sadly, the dessert course was not photographed. But Mother of MessyChef concocted a key-lime pie in graham-cracker crust, and topped with whipped cream tableside by the MessyChef. Some of the dolloping got so out of hand that diners were splattered and covered in Vanilla Rum-fortified whipping cream. Hey, it’s a messy meal.

I’m guessing we earned 4-5 stars. Recommended wine: Reisling. Seasons Greetings.

You have to give credit to good businessmen (and women). Many folks probably don’t realize that many Japanese restaurants (at least in the Richmond, VA area) are run by Chinese. Samurai in the Twin Hickory area, off Nuckols Road in Richmond’s far west-end is one example. Recently opened, the dining room sported a cadre of waitresses, a waiter, and two sushi chefs.

The entrance to this restaurant is decorated with stained-glass windows depicting Mt. Fuji on one, and Samurai warriors on the other. While colorful and unique, the dining room felt cold. The colors are neutral and glossy tile makes up the floor covering. Decorations for the holidays were a nice touch, but the countrified-religious Christmas music could have been bettered for ambiance.

Sorry, but why go to the trouble of decorating it all up Japanese, then play American/Western music? No fault of theirs, but it is done just about everywhere, minus the Jesus.

The menu was large, with a primary focus on sushi, with a so many “specialty rolls” that feature various flavors and combinations of fish, rice, seawood, and other protein. One even featured a topping of filet mignon. I ordered the shiitake mushroom and cucumber roll (never had that before, and it was interesting due to the texture), a shrimp tempura roll, and the so-called Red Dragon roll, with shrimp tempura, spicy salmon, and avocado.

We also ordered a calamari appetizer and a sea bass dinner with rice.

The squid appetizer was fried for too long and came with no dipping sauce. It would have been better enhanced with some sort of sweet or tangy citrus-based sauce, but then again, we tried dipping it into soy sauce. Some pieces were rubbery. Each were a different size (not good, as they’ll cook at different rates). Sadly, this appetizer was recommended by their head waiter.

The sea bass was acceptable. It was served with vegetables on the side, but lacked dynamic presentation.

The sushi was perhaps the most successful. The spicy rolls were indeed spicy, and the others were well-constructed.

For a Saturday night, Samurai was not too busy. All the food, however, was delivered to the table quickly and servers made frequent trips to the table for refills and to ensure everything was “okay.”

Samurai is not any better than other Richmond-area Japanese locations. Quality and polish could propel it as a leader, but time will tell. The frequency of misspelled ingredients on the menu (read: chicken, shiitake, etc.), the quality of flavors in each dish (read: calamari), and atmosphere all could be altered to set this newcomer ahead.

I will likely try this again, but cannot report it an instant favorite.

Tip Thai is in the former location of Thai Country, in the Wistar Center off Staples Mills Road.

Thai County, which I reviewed over a year ago, was a delicious escape from the typical Thai cuisine one could find in Richmond. It clearly was “tops” in terms of flavor and value. It was then sold, and the resulting restaurant received one of the lowest ratings I ever bestowed, in a review.

The Phoenix rises, however. Tip is a call back to quality food. Each visit, they have not had many customers, but they should. Friendly, efficient service, coupled with simple, yet flavorful dishes can be found here. Typical favorites like Pad Thai are excellent, as are their dishes that cater to spicy tastes. Spring rolls here, both fried and fresh, are delicious appetizers.

I have only dined her twice, but enjoyed the experience. The menu is large enough (and printed in a luxurious fashion, I might add, in full color) to satisfy most tastes.

Recommended.

Where do you go in Roanoke for the best in steaks? Where in Roanoke do you go for the great American steakhouse experience? Where might you go for a dark-wood atmosphere, a small but well-stocked bar, and leather seating everywhere you look? Frankie Rowland’s which received a glowing review at Roanoke.com.

I was fortunate enough to dine here with a large group, and what perhaps made the experience all the more enjoyable was that I did not have to pay. If you go, be prepared to spend for the quality of food and quality of service you are likely to find here. Things were excellent, but not necessarily affordable.

I ordered the smaller of two sizes in filet mignon with the green peppercorn sauce. It was not the best beef I had ever eaten (this distinction goes to Daniel in New York City), but there was really nothing to complain about with this steak, either. It was expertly seasoned, and yet, while a fan of good steak, I was more impressed with the family-style-served sides and the appetizers.

What is it about shrimp cocktail that makes it so good? I think it is the texture of the protein. What made their scallops, diver-sized, served basted in an armagnac-spiked cream sauce so delicious? I am not as sure, but the texture and flavor here were most excellent. Dining in a big party allowed me to sample even more, their asparagus, their mushrooms doused with hints of richness due to a demi-glace, creamed spinach (simply delicious).

Simply put, they do classics here, and they do them well. No matter what others ordered, from a rare plate of lamb, to different cuts of steak, no one was disappointed with what was presented on their plate. Yes, some of the portions were large. Be careful. Variety gets dangerous when portions are large. The wine selection of the evening was inspired, and matched best (for me) the flavor of the mushroom side. It was a match that was really fine (the wine, incidentally, was a special of the evening, a mixture of shiraz and burgundy).

I always frown upon the dropping of cutlery on me. Here, they dropped a fork. The atmosphere was too noisy to be really enjoyable. Yet, with close quarters, and a dining room filled with conference-goers all being patronized by one corporate sponsor, I can look over this mistake with some forgiveness. At least it wasn’t a knife.

Dessert I sampled was a classic, no-frills, no flavor crème brûlée. It was delicious, done right, in a good, full-sized portion. It summed up the best of the restaurant.

Highly recommended.