46 bottles of whiskey on the mall
Revolutionary Soup owner Will Richey’s new saloon-style restaurant, The Whiskey Jar, opened two weeks ago in Escafé’s old spot and it’s already making friends with its postbellum uniforms, complimentary peanuts and homemade pickles, 46 varieties of whiskey (including a half dozen from Virginia), live bluegrass, and wholesome Southern fare for down-home prices. Make a meal out of appetizers like fried oysters with spicy remoulade or boiled peanut hummus, or go bigger with entrées like fried chicken with collards or grilled local trout with hoppin’ john (that’s pork-laced black-eyed peas and rice for the Yankees). The beer and wine lists are solid too if you’re not into whiskey, but that seems a crying shame.
Coming out of their shells
Speaking of oysters, Virginia’s harvest of the briny bivalves has sailed over the past decade, from 23,000 bushels in 2001 to 236,000 bushels in 2011. In dockside dollars, that translates to an increase from $575,000 to $8.26 million. What about their value tableside though? Aside from the obvious pleasure many get slurping them down by the dozen, last year’s harvest cashed in at $22 million in economic value.
For the love of bacon
A lot of restaurants are offering special V-day menus, but nothing says love like bacon. Blue Moon Diner knows this, and is frying it up in a five-course $30 fixed price menu. Choose three starters like medjool dates stuffed with bacon, goat cheese with fresh apple salad, or corn and bacon chowder. Then pick one main, like braised jowl with poached local pears and roasted new potato. Finally, sweeten the deal with a baconified dessert like bacon beignets with Chaps Red Hot Hearts Chocolate Ice Cream. It must be love.
Last call for Siips
Siips Wine & Champagne Bar will pour its final sips on Sunday, February 19 after four years in business. We hear Corner-restaurant magnate Andy McClure’s moving into the prime Downtown Mall location. We’ll keep our ears to the bricks.
