The House of Marinara

I am crossing a restaurant off my list of places I visit- Bailey’s Smokehouse & Tavern.

The term “smokehouse” is quite appropriate. Somehow they have managed to make the place a smoking facility by blocking of 6 tables as non-smoking and making the other 50 table tops smoking.

The food is mediocre at best, but no one really goes there for the food. They go there to watch sports and drink a crapload of alcohol. I believe in the right to smoke, and the Libertarian me has some issues with the smoking ban. That doesn’t keep me from enjoying the results of the ban and setting certain expectations. So when those expectations aren’t met, expect me to be angry.

Anyway, the place was slammed. I am convinced that every smoker in Richmond found there way out there. And such, I will make sure not to return.

*It also doesn’t help that there was open drug dealing in the rest room and angry customers wielding axes.

Croakers was one of those place I knew I wanted to visit and yet I never made it out there (out there- meaning Jackson-Wardish area). While being in the middle of the city, it really isn’t convenient.

I had heard rumors of their seafood chili being amazing; alas, they didn’t have any. So it was going to be one of their fish boats. I figured I would delve into the Buffalo Style Fish Boat, and man did I hit a home run. It was 2 or 3 huge fillets of “Lake Trout” breaded and fried perfectly and drenched in hot sauce. The “Lake Trout” was light and flakey. The breading provided nice texture and crunch without overwhelming flavor and the sauce blended well into it. Read more »

I haven’t been watching High Fidelity, but suddenly I am in the mood to rank things. So tonight, I am ranking my top 5 pizza places in Richmond.

1) Mamma Zu- They don’t advertise it. It takes forever to cook. It’s light, spicy and perfect.
2) Tarrantino’s- I am a huge fan of the char on the crust and the peppery sauce.
3) Mary Angela’s- This has been the standard. I adore the 18 inch pie. It’s perfect 30 minutes out of the oven.
4) Arianna’s- This is my neighborhood shop. The eggplant parm pie is ridiculous.
5) Cappriccio’s- Frank makes traveling to the West End worthwhile.

****8 1/2 has essentially the same pie as Mamma Zu except that it only comes in the small size. That doesn’t fly for me. I like large slices that I can cup.

Feel free to argue with me or supply me with your Top 5.

It is no secret that I like love Brazilian Churrascarias. So when I read about Dora’s Brazilian Grill, I knew I needed to visit.

Let me start by saying this is a brand new restaurant. I believe it has only been open a little over a week. That being said, the place was clean, the staff was friendly, and the service was professional.

This place is slightly different than Texas de Brazil and Ipanema Grill. Yes, they have the traditional rodizio (all you can eat meat-fest), but they also have other entrees in case someone in your party is not a true carnivore. Read more »