ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SERIES: Taste of Virginia
SOURCE: JANN MALONE RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
Jimmy Sneed is the kind of chef who's picky about his crab meat.
When he calls his supplier, he doesn't order just crab meat. He wants big lumps and no shell, so he orders crab meat picked by Thelma.
It's that attention to detail, plus Sneed's outgoing personality, that has put his Shockoe Bottom restaurant, The Frog and the Redneck, on the national food map.
Still, Sneed, who has cooked on public television with Julia Child and in the Louisiana bayous with Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, recognizes that what put him on the map are the local ingredients he uses to create a menu that changes daily, depending on what's freshest.
``If I had to name the signature dishes that will always be on the menu,'' he says, ``I'm guessing they will revolve around local products. Our local product is as good as any local product in the universe,'' he says.
He's talking about crabs, fish, veal, shiitake mushrooms, melons and more, ordered daily from about 30 different suppliers.
``We are constantly on the phone, constantly,'' he said. When his shiitake supplier took two weeks off, Sneed took the mushrooms off his menu.
``That's the beauty of writing your menu every day. Our menu changes every day, but it doesn't really. What we mean is, if the product we get in today is not up to our standards, it goes back. We just zap it off the menu.''
With Sneed, the product comes first. ``We don't spend time tying chives into bow ties so they hold together a purse. We concentrate strictly on the product.''
That doesn't mean he can't have a little fun with his food, something he accomplishes with the Redneck touches on the menu: Redneck Risotto is made with California basmati rice instead of Italian arborio rice. Redneck Lobster is monkfish; Redneck Veal is turkey. Redneck Caviar is grits colored black with squid ink.
Sneed is the restaurant's Redneck and primary owner; Adam Steely is his partner. The Frog is French chef Jean-Louis Palladin of Jean-Louis at the Watergate in Washington, whose only contribution to the Richmond restaurant is half of its name.
``You frog!'' and ``You redneck!'' are what the two men yelled at each other when Sneed was working for Palladin and things got a little hot in the kitchen.
Sneed, who also worked in Washington for German chef Gunter Seeger, eventually moved to Urbanna and opened his own restaurant, Windows on Urbanna Creek. He closed Windows and opened The Frog and the Redneck in April 1993.
Stuffiness has no place in Sneed's operation. ``The atmosphere is casual but serious,'' he says. ``The food is great but fun.
``A lot of what I've tried to do is to demystify food and the dining experience,'' he says. ``I don't want tuxedoed waiters to come up to you, because that's not real.''
Instead, his waiters wear denim shirts (the Redneck part of the uniform) and long, white bistro aprons (the Frog part).
Sneed labels customer favorites as his signature dishes: sweet red pepper soup with lump crab meat; jumbo lump crabcakes; sauteed fresh local softshell crab.
Add tapioca pudding to that list and you'll have a better understanding of what Sneed's up to: ``The tapioca's the clear signature dish, because I had it all my life as a kid. I'd never seen it in a restaurant anywhere, and it was just one of those things where I said, `It's my restaurant, I'm going to put it on.'''
He follows his grandmother's recipe, sort of. ``I use vanilla beans. I use half cream, half milk. Maybe I changed it, but that was only to make it taste as good as the memory.''
Our Somewhat Famous Jumbo Lump Crabcakes
1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
1 tablespoon good quality whole grain mustard
1/2 egg
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Mix the mayonnaise, mustard and egg. Gently fold in the crab. Brush a platter lightly with olive oil and carefully form your crabcakes so as not to break the lumps. Place in oven for 8-10 minutes at 400,F.
- Recipe supplied by restaurant; tested by members of the junior element of the Tidewater Chef's Association, American Culinary Federation and Johnson and Wales University College of Culinary Arts. (Makes 4 cakes.)
Name: The Frog and the Redneck
Address 1423 East Cary Street, Richmond Phone: (804) 648-FROG Specialty: Fresh regional products and Chesapeake Bay seafood Price range: Average meal $13-$26; meal including wine $35
Hours: 5:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Friday; 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday; Closed Sunday Reservations: Highly recommended Dress: Casual to dressy. Payment: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, U.S. Bankcard, Diners Club, Discover and personal checks Alcoholic beverages: Extensive winelist, mixed drinks, beer and champagne Nonsmoking section: Entire restaurant is nonsmoking Handicapped accessible: Yes Additional information: Banquet facilities available for 20-100 people
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Chef Jimmy Sneed opened his Richmond restaurant, Theby CNBFrog and the Redneck, in April 1993. color.