On Saturday, January 5
th, I started out the New
Year by trying a new restaurant that I wasn’t even aware existed in 2012.
After a long, complicated process for chef
and owner Mike Yavorsky, Belmont Food Shop, located at 27 N. Belmont Ave. near the intersection
of Belmont and Floyd Ave., opened its doors on Friday September 7
th,
2012.
It was already listed as #1 in RVA
New’s
"10 of 2012's best new restaurants" (out of 44 or 46 new restaurants,
depending which publication you check).
This establishment is following a trend I’ve been noticing
recently in Richmond of good food being crammed into tiny hole-in-the-wall
restaurants. Very NYC of them :) (which is probably no coincidence since Yavorsky worked in NYC for five years). There were 12 of us in my group and we were
only able to get a reservation at 9:00 p.m. and basically shut the place down
early. Only one 2-top table remained
after our group was seated, and even though there were still about 8 or 9 spots
at the bar, our chair basically backed up into those chairs.
On
their official website,
they talk about how “in a former life, Belmont Food Shop was a small grocery
store” and how they intend to pay homage to that with their new
restaurant.
Their menu changes based on
their ingredients and how long they keep said ingredients in stock.
The whole menu doesn’t necessarily change
every week…but sure, new menu every week, whatever.
Therefore they’re following another trend in
Richmond restaurants by having their appetizers and entrees written on a
chalkboard versus handing out individual menus.
Our server went over all the desserts with us…several times…because my
friends don’t listen lol.
I started with the lobster salad.
It was alright…or rather I should say, it was
what I expected.
I’m sure compared to
other lobster salads it was exceptional!
But cold pieces of lobster over a small bed of lettuce with a light
dressing isn’t my usual choice.
There
were other appetizers that looked much more appetizing, but I was trying to
make a healthy choice.
A couple of my
friends got the butternut ravioli and loved it, so I tried some and, yeah, it
was DELISH.
For the main course, I had
the roasted chicken with gnocchi, mushrooms and greens.
It was perfect; perfectly seasoned, perfectly
cooked, perfectly moist, and perfectly portioned.
For dessert I had the silk pie, which is the
first dessert I will describe as heavenly.
It was a chocolate crumb crust with a filling that wasn’t too chalky and
wasn’t too creamy.
And in between all
the food, I had way too much sauvignon blanc
:). Their wine selection is limited (no pinot
grigio?!) but what’s there is of good quality.
What I really liked about the meal was the portion
sizes.
So many restaurants in the United
States serve you these huge plates of food that you feel obligated to finish so
that you’re not wasting food or money, but you don’t really need all that food
(especially if it’s a 3-course meal).
So
I call it “European portions” – just enough for you to enjoy the taste and feel
full.
And each plate was just the right
size for me to feel full by the end of the night without feeling stuffed and
heavy (although the silk pie was pushing it lol IT WAS WORTH IT).
For those three courses, the total came to just over $30…but
add in my wine, tax and tip and I was pushing $80. So it’s an affordable restaurant for a nice
date, or you can break the bank – it’s up to you and the occasion.
And by the way, shout out to our waiter Daniel!! Even with our small group taking over their
entire restaurant (which I think the staff kind of liked because it pretty much
meant that our group were the last customers that would come in that night and
ensured they were going to close early), spilling wine and breaking a glass,
needing to hear the menu and desserts about 3 times each, and being overall
dorky and rowdy (as we always are), he was always super nice with a good sense
of humor and a whole lot of patience. I
might be a bigger fan of Daniel than I am of the restaurant! Lol jk…or am I?
