THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603050370
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: THE TASTE OF VIRGINIA
LENGTH: Long : 294 lines
THE ROAD to Richmond is long. Well, OK, it's only 97 miles, or about two hours by Interstate.
But whether you're driving there for business or pleasure, one of the first things you're likely to look for is a decent meal. To that end, we present four popular Richmond eateries. They aren't the only good places to eat in and near the capital city, but your sense of culinary adventure may be sparked by today's featured restaurants: The Half Way House, the Dining Room at the Berkeley Hotel, The Frog and the Redneck, and Millie's.
The following stories, by Jann Malone of The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Joelle M. Ligon of The Progress-Index, are part of an occasional series about Virginia restaurants. The series was compiled by the Associated Press, The Virginian-Pilot and various newspapers around the state.
Millie's looks like a diner: counter seating, wooden booths, a sizzling grill. There's a jukebox at every table - two plays for a quarter and everything from Aretha Franklin to the Stan Kenton Orchestra.
But Millie's doesn't serve diner food, at least not the greasy-spoon stuff.
Classifying this restaurant's food isn't easy, not even for Paul Keevil, who owns the spot a few blocks east of Richmond's Shockoe Bottom.
``I guess it's fusion cuisine,'' he says. ``We've also been called global eclectic. It is a fusion of lots of different influences. We tend to be a bit Asian and ethnic in our dishes. We put them together where they match and create a dish that rises above everything else.''
The diner's signature dish, a constant on the ever-changing menu since the place opened in 1989, is Thai Spicy Shrimp with asparagus, red cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, lime, cilantro and peanuts served over spinach fettuccine.
The menu changes every two weeks, with offerings such as coriander-tortilla crusted salmon with ceviche salsa and poblano chili cream; orange Szechuan smoked duckling with vegetable lo mein; and grilled red snapper with ginger-sake sauce, rice balls and spiced macadamia nuts.
Appetizers might include pan-fried softshell crab with peanut potatoes and Indonesian ambrosia or Hanover tomatoes and Stilton blue salad with basil pesto, pine nuts and black olives.
Desserts range from coconut-cream pie with rum toffee sauce to Key lime pie with mango coulis.
There's comfort food, too, especially at lunch.
``We have meatloaf,'' Keevil says, ``and even in the middle of summer, it will sell out. Our signature lunch dish is an East-meets-West, open-faced omelet called Devil's Mess.'' Seasoned with ginger, garlic, cayenne, cumin, fenugreek and cardamom, it's Millie's best seller at the midday meal.
``The bottom line,'' Keevil says, ``is good food with no compromise.''
Toeing that line has built a national reputation for Millie's, with mention in Bon Appetit, Travel & Leisure and National Geographic Traveler.
Keevil's sense of humor is reflected on the wine list, which includes a category labeled ``interesting white wines that are not chardonnays.''
The original diner was owned by a woman named Millie - on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. When Keevil moved from California to Richmond, he found the right spot for a new Millie's: a greasy-spoon cafe that fed tobacco workers.
``This was a great building,'' he says. ``It had a lot of character.''
Now, people live in the tobacco factories, and Millie's caters to a different crowd.
Keevil believes he has taught people that good food doesn't require a white tablecloth. ``It's OK,'' he says, ``to eat great food anywhere.'' DINING ROOM AT THE BERKELEY
Chef Jay Frank likes to poke around Indian and Asian markets. There, he finds ideas for The Dining Room at The Berkeley Hotel in Richmond's Shockoe Slip area.
Occasionally, he'll find some exotic food no one in the kitchen - including himself - has ever seen. ``I bring things in all the time,'' he says, ``and they ask, `What is that for?' I don't know. Eventually, it will come into play.
Like most chefs, Frank understands the importance of using fresh and seasonal ingredients. For him, though, there has to be the added element of excitement.
That's where the Indian and Asian influences come in.
He may mix Asian and Southern flavors: he flavors pork tenderloin with hoisin barbecue sauce, for example, and serves it with homemade applesauce and braised kale.
``I love home cooking, ethnic foods and everything in between,'' he says. ``I try to implement some of all that here.''
Frank has been chef at the Berkeley since 1991. A Richmond native, he started at age 15 as a dishwasher at the Salisbury Country Club. He learned on the job.
Eventually, he cooked in Austria, Germany and England. He also worked in Miami, New York City and in Virginia at the Inn at Little Washington and the Urbanna Inn.
At the Berkeley, Frank changes the menu twice a year, in April and September. Nightly specials give him more room to be creative. ``We create food for the season with the ingredients that are available,'' he says. ``Each new menu is a little more adventuresome.''
``I don't want to be known as an innovator of food,'' Frank says. ``On the other hand, I want to create food that will broaden horizons.''
For instance, his restaurant sells a lot of beef. ``I try to put it together in a way besides a baked potato and a salad,'' Frank says. That could mean pairing grilled tenderloin with an African-influenced horseradish relish containing coconut and tomatoes.
Or it could mean serving a sirloin with local spinach, portobello mushrooms and barley, a starch that surprises diners expecting a baked potato.
Or maybe the potatoes will be blue.
Even with the changing menu, one item is constant: a salad of apples, endive, roasted walnuts and Stilton cheese that goes back to Frank's Urbanna days. ``It's just a great composition of ingredients,'' he says.
Another constant is the serenity of the dining room, which has a European feel - small and intimate, with dark wood paneling.
It's a popular restaurant for celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions.
In a way, the celebration aspect fits right into Frank's philosophy of food: ``When you sit down at dinner, many people feel it's just eating, but, for me, it's entertainment.'' THE HALF WAY HOUSE
On a sloping hill in the southern part of Chesterfield County under the shade of a lethargic willow stands The Half Way House Restaurant.
Located on historic Jefferson Davis Highway, the restaurant serves a variety of culinary tastes and dietary needs. Though its location is busy, the restaurant is relaxed and unhurried. Dining there is like dipping into a warm bath and then putting on big, fuzzy robe. It conveys the feeling of indulgence without pomp.
Built in 1760, The Half Way House was named for its location - halfway between Richmond and Petersburg.
The 40-seat dining room is in the basement of a three-story home. The house has been serving customers - on and off - for more than two centuries. In 1982, Rick and Sue Young bought the restaurant and started running it as if it had never closed.
The upscale feeling of the restaurant has remained. A few of the original features have survived, including an outbuilding that houses the kitchen, complete with authentic stone floors and hearth. The hearth is strictly for looks instead of function, and modern appliances are used.
The Youngs like to say the menu has evolved naturally. Fare ranges from Virginia peanut soup to crawfish tail appetizers.
Fresh, quality food is a priority for chef Doug Haver and the owners. An unusual smoked salmon appetizer is made with the finest Scottish salmon and is served with capers, chopped egg, diced onion and the restaurant's own horseradish sauce, for example. The combination of flavors and textures comes together to make a surprisingly light dish.
Not including daily specials, the most popular dinner entree is a filet mignon and shrimp combination. Angus beef is used in the filet, and fried shrimp is prepared with fresh seafood.
Specialities keep patrons coming back, as do seasonal items such as softshell crabs. The restaurant staff will accommodate diners with special dietary needs, if given advance notice.
Desserts include fruit-based items in spring and summer. One favorite, peanut-butter pie, is made by a local baker. All other desserts are created and baked on the premises.
Fresh-baked rolls and twice-baked potatoes are staples; wheat rolls and cinnamon rolls are baked each day and served with meals.
The wine list boasts 30 to 35 wines reflecting international and local tastes.
During the warmer months, an herb garden flourishes in the space between the kitchen and the main building. Fresh herbs are picked daily and incorporated into the food.
The restaurant has private rooms for groups, and special menus can be prepared in advance. THE FROG AND THE REDNECK
Jimmy Sneed is 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 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 the local ingredients he uses to create a menu that changes daily helped build his following.
``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's talking about crabs, fish, veal, shiitake mushrooms, melons and more, ordered daily from about 30 suppliers.
``Our menu changes every day, but it doesn't really,'' Sneed says. ``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,'' he says. ``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. Redneck Lobster is monkfish; Redneck Veal, 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, D.C.; Palladin's contribution to the Richmond restaurant is half of its name.
Sneed once worked for Palladin. ``You frog!'' and ``You redneck!'' are what the two called each other when things got a little hot in the kitchen, Sneed explains.
He also worked for German chef Gunter Seeger, also in D.C., eventually moving to Urbanna, Va., to open his own restaurant, Windows on Urbanna Creek. In April 1993, he closed Windows and opened The Frog and the Redneck.
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. 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 says his signature dishes are customer favorites: sweet red pepper soup with lump crab meat; jumbo lump crab cakes; sauteed fresh local softshell crab.
Add tapioca pudding to that list if you plan to dine there. Sneed 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.'' ILLUSTRATION: COLOR PHOTOS BY DENNIS TENNANT/The Daily Press
A specialty of the Frog and the Redneck in Richmond is Our Somewhat
Famous Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes.
Enjoy this Rockfish With Shiitakes, Capers and Jumbo Crab at The
Dining Room at the Berkeley Hotel.
Millie's features Asian influences in dishes such as Thai-Style
Spicy Shrimp With Asparagus, Shiitakes, Red Cabbage and Spinach
Fettuccine.
Graphic
MILLIE'S
2603 E. Main St., Richmond. (804) 643-5512.
Specialty: American food with imaginative global ethnic
influences.
Prices: lunch entrees from $4 to $7; dinner from $14 to $20.
Hours: lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday;
Saturday brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sunday brunch from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m.; dinner from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and
from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday.
Reservations: for parties of eight or more for early evening.
Dress: casual.
Payment: Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover
Alcoholic beverages: Beer, wine and liquor.
Smoking section: yes.
Additional information: Handicapped accessible.
DINING ROOM AT THE BERKELEY HOTEL
12th and Cary streets, Richmond. (804) 780-1300.
Specialty: American regional cuisine, specializing in beef and
seafood and using many Virginia products.
Prices: dinner from $15.95 to $24.95.
Hours: breakfast from 7 to 10:30 a.m.; lunch from 11:30 a.m. to
2 p.m.; dinner from 6 to 10 p.m.; Sunday brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2
p.m.
Reservations: preferred but not required.
Dress: coat and tie preferred but not required.
Payment: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club and
Discover.
Alcoholic beverages: full-service bar and lounge area; extensive
wine list.
Smoking section: yes.
Additional information: handicapped accessible. Special events
include wine tastings and guest chef dinners.
THE FROG AND THE REDNECK
Location: 1423 E. Cary St., Richmond. (804) 648-FROG.
Specialty: fresh regional products and Cheasapeake Bay seafood.
Prices: average meal from $13 to $26; meal including wine about
$35.
Hours: from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; from 5 to
10:30 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday.
Reservations: recommended.
Dress: casual to dressy.
Payment: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, U.S. Bankcard,
Diners Club, Discover and personal checks.
Alcoholic beverages: extensive wine list, mixed drinks, beer and
Champagne.
Smoking section: all seating is non-smoking.
Additional information: handicapped accessible. Banquet
facilities available for 20 to 100 people.
THE HALF WAY HOUSE
Location: 10301 Jefferson Davis Highway, Richmond. (804)
275-1760.
Specialty: traditional American favorites with continental
specials.
Prices: lunch from $7 to $15; dinner from $17 to $30.
Hours: lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday;
dinner from 5:30 nightly.
Reservations: recommended.
Dress: nice casual.
Payment: American Express, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover.
Alcoholic beverages: beer, wine and cocktails.
Smoking section: smoking or nonsmoking on request.
Additional information: handicapped accessible. Banquet rooms
available for private parties.
by CNB