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A taste of Broad Appetit 2017

Amy David | June 6, 2017

Topics: Broad Appetit, Comfort, Curbside Creations, Feedmore, Graffiato, king of pops, Maple & Pine, Rappahannock, rva food festival, Spoonbread Bistro, Tio Pablo

This past Saturday thousands descended upon West Broad Street between Henry and Adams streets to savor delicious bites at the annual Broad Appetit Festival, which was celebrating its 10th year.

Over 60 of Richmond chefs pitched tents side by side and served up some of their finest small dishes $3, with some bigger options or $5. The chefs submit the dishes to be judged be a panel of experts to see who has the “To Dine For” dish of Richmond. The festival, which was held on Sunday, benefits the hunger relief organization FeedMore each year.

Richmond chefs had the chance to compete for five different awards including the “To Dine for” (best signature dish), “To Diet For” (best dessert dish), “The Healthy Dish”, The Ambiance Award (best decorated booth), and The People’s Choice, which attendees could vote on during the festival. Winners were not announced at press time.

Anyway, let’s get down to what you want to hear about and see, the food.

As my group waded our way through the droves of hungry/overstuffed festivalgoers pouring sweat, it was hard to know where to start with two lines of food all around.

Eventually, after some confusion and discussion around the giant Duke’s mayo truck, we jumped right in and worked our way down trying as much as we could before our stomachs exploded.

Here is my little rundown of the dishes RVA Mag had the chance to try:

Graffiato: Spicy Beef Ricotta Calzone

This was tasty and small enough to get you started for the day and not make you want to take a nap like a normal-sized calzone does. The bread was warm and the cheese was delicious. There was a spicy dippy sauce that paired perfectly with the dish.

Maple & Pine Restaurant (Quirk Hotel): Pork and Shrimp Dumpling, shitake mushrooms

This was our second dish we enjoyed. The dumpling was very tasty and mushrooms are my favorite, you could put them on anything and I’m a happy girl. The Dashi broth stole the show for this dish though. It was rich, packed with flavor, very savory and the charred scallions added the perfect touch with slurping it up after I’d eaten my dumpling.

Maple & Pine also had a lighter dish with asparagus, morel mushrooms, cured egg yolk and preserved lemon with was super light and tasty.

King of Pops: Blueberry Lemonade

Now for some, this may not seem like one of the fancier stops, but on a hot day, nothing beats a cold, juicy King of Pops popsicle. Especially with their fruity, interesting flavor combos. My fiancé bought a blueberry lemonade pop and it was just the right treat to cleanse and cool our palate to get us going for the next stop!

Curbside Creations: Alligator Bites

Now as my memory recalls, these weren’t at any particular Richmond restaurant, but the flavor was unforgettable. I was hesitant to get gator bites, but my fiancé talked me into it and I’m glad I did, because they were spicy, crispy and fried perfectly. Not soggy or overly greasy at all. Cajun spices paired with a spicy remoulade was a great snack and I could have stood to get another round, but we had places to go and dishes to eat.

Spoonbread Bistro: Crab cakes with remoulade and white truffle spoonbread, bourbon bread pudding

So this came pretty close to my favorite (which I’m saving for the end) this was a tough call because of my love for bread pudding. Spoonbread Bistro is a restaurant on Floyd Avenue owned by Chef Michael Hall (formerly of M Wine Bistro) that I have been dying to try out. The food always looks amazing and its Southern style, so right up my alley. There was a whole bunch of Southern love packed into these tiny dishes. The crab cakes were delicious, stayed together and you could taste all of the spices blending nicely. The white remoulade wasn’t too heavy and helped to enhance the flavors of the crab cake and had just the right amount of tang and the white truffle spoonbread pulled it all together. I would have liked it to be a little spicier, but that’s just me.

Now, on to the bourbon bread pudding. I could not put it down. Despite the heat, despite my stomach punching me to stop eating and my fiancé looking at me like he was second guessing our upcoming wedding, I made my way through the soft and rich pudding. It was so rich and sweet and you got the just the hint of bourbon so it wasn’t overpowering. Not dry or overly soggy like many bread puddings. It was delightful. The crisp outer layer made it that much more delectable once you took a spoonful of this bread pudding.

I neglected to get a picture of this, but Spoonbread also had a giant fruit-infused drink that I believe was watermelon or strawberry with water and it was the perfect beverage right in the middle of the day to cool us down. And get me re-energized after my lovefest with the bourbon bread pudding, because we still had a few dishes to go.

Rappahannock: White gazpacho made with cucumbers, green grapes, marcona almond, blue crab and dill

So, I will admit, Rappahannock is one of my top favorite restaurants in the city and I was hoping for some oysters, but I’m guessing they wanted to keep it simple. Their dish was refreshing since it was chilled and the cucumber and dill made for a great combo with the thicker soup/gazpacho. It had a nice bite to it. The crab however, did not mix well with the flavors and this dish just was not for me. It pains me to write this, because I love them, but I think it could have used a little something else. The texture was just not sitting right with me.

Comfort: Fried Green Tomatoes & Pimento Cheese with Ritz Crackers

Comfort restaurant had pitched a tent right outside their restaurant and they were serving up two staples that describe their style and name perfectly; fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese. It’s two of my favorite southern dishes especially pimento cheese. I’m picky about it too, because it can be mushy and concealed-like in some places, but Comfort does it right. A big heaping mound of cheese with plenty of pimentos throughout with Ritz crackers to go alongside for dipping creating the perfect balance of savory and salty.

The fried green tomatoes were juicy with a tasty breading. At this point I was getting stuffed, but I power through because its one of my favorite snacks when I go to Comfort. The dipping sauce was creamy and thick, but went great with the fried tomatoes. Their usual sauce I believe.

Now I’ve saved my favorite two dishes from Broad Appetit for last…if you missed out than you will definitely want to catch them next year:

Tio Pablo: Elote (Mexican Street Corn) and Mango with lime juice, salt & chili powder

Wow. Just wow. This was only our second stop and it blew me away. The lines were so long and I talked to our group about possibly making a lap and coming back, but my fiancé saw the street corn and said no we are going to want to stay. I’m so glad I did because our group got the very last two and it was the best dish I ate at the festival. I really could go on and on and write a poem, a song, an ode to the heavenliness that is Mexican street corn, but I will just break it down for those of you who haven’t had the delectable dish. It’s grilled corn on the cob slathered with mayo, chili powder, cotija cheese and salt. It is everything you want and more. Mayo may sound a little weird to some people on corn on the cob, but for those who have had it, know it’s the perfect pairing. Its creamy and paired with the salt to kick up the cojita cheese, and the chili powder giving it the kick all all over I could not put it down.

Now on to the mango. Very simple dish, yet oh so delicious. Almost like a dessert after the creamy, spicy elote. It was a big ripe juicy mango on a stick doused with lime juice, salt and chili powder. Simple as that. But oh, so much flavor. It was a tasty treat that we couldn’t put down and the flavor combination of the sweet mango with the chile spice and tart lime were a delight. Of course, after these two dishes, are teeth were camera ready. Don’t worry, I’ll spare you those photos. Check them out in Shockoe Bottom at 1703 E. Franklin St.

I’m only bummed that I didn’t get to try everything, but in short, if you haven’t been to Broad Appetit, please venture down there despite the traffic, parking and droves of people, because the chefs work so hard and the food is truly amazing and so diverse.

Final bay grass update: Live long and prosper

Kathy Mendes | May 22, 2017

Topics: Bay grass update, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, community, environmental issues, Rappahannock

After almost six months of sweat, tears, and conscientious underwater gardening, our bay grasses, as part of the Chesapeake Bay foundation’s Grasses for the Masses program, made a new and more appropriate home on a beautiful shore off the Rappahannock river, a small and seemingly untouched area of forest with the stillest water I’ve ever seen.

Our previous planting date was scheduled for Chickahominy Park but prior weekend’s torrential downpour made it impossible to plant. Though I understood that I would have to be physically planting on the shore, I didn’t realize how big of a deal flooding is until I was in the water myself. Instead of Chickahominy, we decided on the Port Royal planting – a historic yet small town north of Richmond in Caroline County, and a brand new site arranged by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for this year’s planting.

But before anything, last Thursday, I collected the equipment from the RVA Mag office where most of the sweat and tears were shed because our AC had gone out earlier that morning. It took about five trips to the car and hoping that no one noticed me toss gallons of water from the window off the third floor. (Sorry, but not sorry?)

In order for everything to remain alive and well for the hour-long road trip, we left a little water in the pans with wet paper towels on top and loaded the larger aquarium, the lamps, the water pump, and my bucket into the back of my car. After stopping for the obligatory road trip snack, we hit the road at 4 – the planting was expected to run from 5PM to 7PM, to ensure low tide.

Arriving at the planting almost had me thinking that we weren’t in the right place. One of the final turns was into a small neighborhood, and eventually the road turned to gravel where there was a small dirt parking lot where we all had to meet. To our right was a house that looked like it was plucked out of 1804, on acres of land. To our right was the CBF set-up and the rest of the lovely grass growers, where we met up with Grassroots Coordinator Blair Blanchette, who you might recognize from the other updates. As growers kept trickling into the parking lot, Blanchette explained what the plan would be: return our equipment to designated bins and load our grasses into the back of a van that’ll be drive down as far as possible to the shore, and that we’d be walking and following the truck through a mile-long path.


The first Bay Grass Update photo – Seeds and stems

“This is the quietest planting group ever!” Blanchette would say a couple of times. This was one of the smaller plantings and seemed to be going rather smoothly. Other plantings this season weren’t just larger but experienced some obstacles like heavy rain and field trip rescheduling.

The group of about 15 to 20 growers were donned in water shoes, hats, and sunglasses and all of us had traveled some distance. One grower traveled two hours to make the planting. I mean, I know people who don’t have the energy to recycle, so we were clearly among people who really cared about service to the environment. I feel that like explained why they were all so friendly, if a bit quiet.

Blanchette reviewed with us the exact purpose behind going through these months taking care of our grasses every single day – after settling into routine, even I had forgotten exactly what the benefits were. Over the months what we really grew were habitats for underwater life, food for those critters, shoreline protection, a way of restoring the grasses that have declined through the years, as well as a way to mitigate climate change.

Bay Grass Update #6 – Eye Of The Storm

Wow. We did that!

After reviewing basic safety procedures, we set off down the road and into the woods. The shore we were headed towards is part of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which seemed successful at its job due to the large amount of bugs so weird and loud they sounded like they were playing the kazoo. The surrounding area was so peaceful and clean, we would have felt as if we were the first to explore this portion of the river if a path hadn’t been cleared for us already.

Blanchette backed her van as close as she could down the path, but it was up to us to bring the rest of the stuff down to the actual shore. After the walk and carrying stuff down the hill in 90 degree weather, everyone was pretty eager to get into the water.

Blanchette gave out long bamboo sticks to each grower for two reasons: one was to push your bin of grasses down to the enclosure, and the other was to mark the spot where you planted so others wouldn’t step on top of it. I could tell easily who were the experienced growers – one of them got a stick and hopped right into the water towards the enclosure, dragging her grasses alongside her.


Bay Grass Update #8 – encouraging growth = eventual empty nest syndrome

Inspired by this confident grass grower, I hopped in and worked my way through the shallow water – it was about knee-deep but we had to crouch down to plant. We put our sticks down into a spot of our choosing, and following the lead of the experienced growers, I dug a hole around the stick with my hands. If you’re not a huge fan of nature, I don’t think this is something you’ll enjoy, but you should do it anyway because you need to get over it and broaden your horizons.

Then, I double checked with Blanchette for the next step because it seemed a little weird.

“So I just put my hands right in the grass and pick it up and stick it in the water,” I said, a little skeptical. Blanchette explained that yes, I was to stick my hands in the soil and would need to rip the roots, which was actually a good thing. Heavy root formation is indicative of good, healthy grass, even if it felt like I was committing a crime by pulling them apart. But I proudly kissed them goodbye and buried them in the quicksand-esque river sediment that was going to swallow me whole if I didn’t get moving soon.

The last step was cleaning the pans and the larger container. If you remember, we had a swampy, smelly algae situation over the past couple months. It’s sorta-kinda like never cleaning a fish aquarium. Our aquarium wouldn’t be as bad as a fish’s, but it was still home to soil and organic matter, which is not what we want to leave Blanchette with after she’s been so helpful and excited. So we all put a little vinegar in the tubs, grabbed some steel wool, and scrubbed away.

The process was surprisingly quick and painless. The water wasn’t cold, the people were kind, and being able to end the process in such a unique and hands-on way was such an exciting experience, save the quicksand-like texture of the bottom of the river that I was sure was going to take me.


Bay Grass Update #13: Into the wild

Everyone left whenever they were done, so we ended up walking the mile back alone, admiring the open landscape and running from the kazoo-bugs.

Even if the process of maintaining the aquariums became a bit frustrating at times, particularly because it was in our office and not our own homes, the planting was a satisfying end to a very important project initiative from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Through the concerted effort of the CBF, the state of the bay has improved slowly but surely.

According to the CBF’s health index, the Chesapeake currently gets a grade of C minus. This takes into account the state of pollution, habitat quality/quantity (our grasses), and fisheries. So while you might be stoked to get a C on an exam, it’s very far from where the CBF says they want to be, and it’ll never be what it once was hundreds of years ago.

But Grasses for the Masses is an extremely important part of improving the overall health of the Bay, and not the only way that you can participate. As you might’ve noticed, the presidential administration isn’t too keen on environmental protection. Work from the CBF, volunteers, and just regular people who want to get involved, can help ensure that we don’t actually go backwards.


Bay grass update #14: Into the Rappahannock (for real this time)

Best case scenario, I hope you’ll consider participating in Grasses for the Masses in the future if you have the ability to. There’s nothing like physically planting grass to help drive home the value and importance of the effort of just one person.

The CBF has other programs and initiatives you can get involved in too. But if you don’t do anything else, stop leaving your cigarette butts and beer cans all over Texas Beach and Belle Isle. Please. It makes me and the Earth cry real tears.

Sincerely,

Verified Grass Queen

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