IronFish

squid
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

My wife and I went to IronFish for our 17th wedding anniversary. A Friday night, she had called ahead, but they don't make reservations so we braved it anyway. The wait when we got there around 7:30 was 45 minutes, which is not horrible but enough to get your attention and think of different options. We stepped outside and started calling other nearby restaurants, but within 20 minutes the hostess came out and called our name. We bypassed several larger parties that had been waiting longer than us, as a 2 person table had become available. I was a bit embarrassed but then figured out that they couldn't have sat those people at this table anyway. The restaurant is very nice with some booths and two table areas as well as a bar which was packed. My wife had seen the Richmond Magazine cover of best new restaurants with the fried squid and wanted to get that as an appetizer so we did. We also shared a bottle of wine (tempranillo, which we brought home and finished off the second half of the bottle at home, hey it is our anniversary)



The squid were very tasty and tender, there are banana peppers breaded and intermixed which add a nice tangyness, but my wife doesn't particularly care for that. I thought they were good. My wife ordered the crab cakes for her main course, (althought she vacilated between the lamb shank)



She liked them very much and actually brought one home and had it for lunch today, thought it was still very good. I ordered the whole branzino



Perfectly crispy with flacky meat. I love the crispy tail and flippers. I did not bring any home as none survived. We shared two desserts, the key lime pie with mango cream and the chocolate cake



both very good, but the key lime pie was the more tasty of the two. We had a very nice evening, the service was very prompt, casual and friendly despite what looked to be a very busy night. As we left we could hear the wait staff explaining that some items where sold out, but we did not run into that issue. This is another great addition to the RVA seafood restaurants, we will definitely be back.

Boricua in RVA

done
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I cooked up a puertorican christmas meal this year. Pork roast, rice and beans, bread and salad. The pork shoulder was seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil and vinegar. I roasted it at 300 deg for half hour per pound till it came to an internal temp of 180 deg farenheit. Till it looked like this



after resting...



on platter





I served it with white rice and red beans. The beans began with a sofrito. of onions, garlic, carrot, later peppers, celery, pancetta, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper. pimenton and cumin



Then added tomato paste and chicken stock



This was simmered for an hour then the beans and some cooked yuca where added, and served over white rice



Very traditional, very tasty, and some leftovers to boot.