Rappahannock Restaurant

Oysters + pearls
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I visited Rappahannock Restaurant in Richmond, VA twice, both with my parents who fell in love with the place on the first visit and insisted on a return visit. This was several months ago now, so the menu may have changed.

We ordered the brandade A potato and cod emuslion of sorts, which my father really enjoyed. Also the Cured Salmon We ordered clams Which came with toasted bread. Delicious and briny, great seasoning. I always order oysters, but we also ordered pearls and oysters, the combo of oysters and salmon roe. This combo is perfect, and my father in particular loved it and ordered it on our next visit as well. The boy and I had the lemonade from the bar which was excellent. Very likely will go back for more oysters and the great seafoood dishes. Certainly beats having to go to DC for great oysters.

Fat Dragon

kumpao shrimp
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

My wife and I were actually the first lunch guests at Fat Dragon (Jan 2013) on Boulevard the day they opened for lunch. The staff were obviously ready for us and the rest of the crowd that followed. The menu has changed considerably since then
The lunch menu at that time was limited as compared to the dinner menu or the current menu on the site. we went with some crispy spring rolls



The rolls were crispy served with a chilli mustard sauce, Tasted great.
My wife also had a wonton soup with her order.



A terrible picture but a good appetizer.
I had the Kumpao shrimp which was spicy accompanied by Kimchi wich was flavorful but not terribly spicy.


We had a very nice lunch and enjoyed the ambiance and service.

Amuse Lunch and some Chihuly

glass instalation
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

I went to lunch with a friend at Amuse after many years of talking about it. It just happens that the Chihuly exhibit is currently ongoing. My wife is a huge Chihuly fan and we went to the Q+A with him and then toured the exhibit the next day, prior to my lunch. The exhibit is excellent with mind boggling pieces of glass.





I had a drink on our first night as my wife toured the shop. I think it was described as a smoky gin drink, it was very tasty, and matched the colors of the glass below the restaurant.



For lunch my friend ordered the pork buns (no pic) and the braised squid



He enjoyed them both and renamed the pork buns as the evil pork buns as to their addictiveness

I had the sprout salad (not pictured) and the quail



both were very good, with a slight spicyness, certainly not overwhelming.
We had a terrific lunch with good service, we had arrived without reservations to what looked like a full service, yet were seated immediatlly.
Go see Chihuly, and get some food while you are at it.

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.