Xtra’s Café- Bringing something extra to Carytown (yeah, I went there!)

If you haven’t been to Xtra’s Café at 3322-B W. Cary St. near the beginning of Carytown, then you are definitely behind the times and missing out.  The new restaurant and bar opened above Bangles N Beads in mid September.

You can tell that the bar is unique from the get-go when you have to immediately walk upstairs upon entering.  At the top you’ll find an open dining space to your right and the bar area to your left with another dining area.  At the end of the dining area to your right is a wall of windows.  Outside is the balcony, the only second story eating area in Carytown.  With bright décor and good natural light during the day, the whole restaurant oozes with relaxed class.

The food is a creative take on bar favorites and American cuisine, with a focus on “California cuisine”.  It’s moderately priced at $10-$15 an entree with easily affordable, well portioned appetizers.  The hummus and Canadian cheese fries are excellent starters.  The salads all look delicious, as well as the unique pizzas.  The sandwich selection excited me and I settle on the French dip, which was very good. And all the desserts are made from scratch!  We had double chocolate bread pudding, and while it was my first time trying bread pudding (no judgments!) and I can’t compare it to anything, I assure you, it was damn good bread pudding.

Drinks are what you’d expect at any bar- decently priced, well made liquor drinks, wine, and beer.  They also have a drink of the day to go with their soups and desserts of the day.  And let’s not forget their nightly happy hour and specials, like $5 appetizer night, 80’s night and couples night.  For more info on those, check out the Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Richmond-VA/Xtras-Cafe/143602305674603?v=info
and their new website:  http://www.xtrascafe.com

Delicious food at affordable prices, drink specials, positive ambiance, a nice staff, a balcony for viewing the traffic of Carytown…what’s not to like about Xtra’s???  Besides descending the staircase after a night (or brunch) of drinking maybe…

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup (Soup of the Day)

Hummus appetizer

French Dip Sandwich with a side salad

 Owner Xtra Moore and our waitress singing happy birthday to our embarrassed friend.

Four Seasons DC Review – Bourbon Steak Restaurant

So it’s not exactly in Richmond, but it’s close enough and awesome enough to be relevant.

If you get out of the financial crunch the recession may or may not have put you in, definitely check out the Four Seasons’ restaurant in their Washington, D.C. hotel.  It was pretty amazing.

First of all, the service is not that of a typical restaurant.  All I needed to do was order my food, and after that they took care of everything.  I never even had to ask for a refill of wine.  Never had to worry about flagging down a waiter for anything.  Never had to worry about being hungry while the food was cooked (they served two bread dishes before bringing out the main course).  Never had to focus on anything but the conversation and fun my table was having.

The food was … well, amazing.  I hate to repeat that word so much, but it’s the first and best word that comes to mind for the whole experience.  After studying the menu and sighing at the prices (most entrees were in the $30+ category), I decided on the chicken, ham, egg, red pepper, bread, and sauce concoction.  It sounded like a weird combination that somehow made sense. 

The sides all sounded good- from the black truffle macaroni and cheese, to the general tso’s broccoli, to the beef fried rice.  Our table got one of each, as well as the magic mushrooms (no joke, that’s what it said on the menu).

Before the appetizers came, they brought out the bread.  Only instead of it actually being bread, it was six different silver cups, three of which were each filled with a different type of French fries and three of which were filled with a different type of sauce.  I can’t explain what a perfect start to the meal this was.

After the appetizers, another bread dish arrived.  This time they were truffle and feta rolls.  They looked like mini cinnamon rolls, but clearly, were cheesy and buttery and the epitome of baked bread bliss.  I would do anything to go back to D.C. and order an entire to-go box of just those rolls.

The chicken dish was a perfect combination of tastes and textures, and was perfectly cooked.  Only one person in the entire group had any sort of complaint about their dish (which was that some fish had been overcooked) and when he requested a new dish be made quickly (I believe it was tuna tartar), they had no problem delivering and even had a chef come out to prepare it table-side on a little cart.  And they of course did not charge him for his first dinner.  As I said, the service is part of the reason to go to this place.

The sides dishes were all a hit and ended up pushing us over the edge of fullness by the end of the meal.

And let’s not forget drinks shall we?  Red and white wine were both consumed and of a very high quality.  Very few were offered by the glass though and the cheapest bottles were in the mid $50 range.

So if you go to this restaurant, you pretty much know you’re in for a good diner, just don’t forget about the price as you go.  Every side dish was amazing, but at $9 a pop, you’ll probably want to settle for one.  Especially since they feed about three people each.
Overall, a fancy restaurant done the right way.  If you get the chance, check it out.

French Fries as bread - who woulda thunk it?

Black Truffle Mac n' Cheese

Chicken Dinner

This is everything you get for a cup of tea!!!

Suggestions??

Know of any events around town that you  think deserve to be covered?  Maybe some that aren't as heavily advertised to the public as others? 

Then e-mail gritandglitter@gmail.com with the date & time.  Don’t even need a description if you don’t want….well actually, better put a description, too.

Zombie Walk ’09 Revisited

Alright all you undead pedestrians, get ready for the 6^th Annual Richmond Zombie Walk, this Saturday Oct. 30^th at 1:00 in Carytown (usually at the beginning of Carytown up near Nansemond). 

Until then, try to channel the energy from last year’s successful walk.

don't underappreciate...

The next time you're bored on a Thursday night (or Sunday morning, or many other times actually) consider a drag show.  These happen to be highlights from the Nations series entitled "Esta's Drag Race" which just wrapped up their "4th season" about two weeks ago.

 

 

Deftones at the National

As I looked around the sea of X-handed teenagers and drunken 20-somethings just waiting to be 1-man mosh pits, I almost wondered what I was doing there.  Then I remembered:  I’m seeing the fucking Deftones! (For the first time might I add.)

But dare I ask, was I too old to be going to a Deftones concert?

I can still head bang and all that (maybe not as hard as I used to, but sufficiently).  But when there’s a bunch of assholes around that are acting like they’re drunk at a concert for the first time and bumping into/jumping onto/elbowing in the head/pushing/stomping on the people, I suddenly feel old.

But Chino still has the angst of his younger successors in his stage presence.  In fact, he took it out on an unsuspecting microphone several times during his second song.

The whole show had a ridiculous amount of energy, but I just wish it had been used more on their older songs.  They played a few like “Knife Party” and “7 Words”, but stuck mostly to new songs, which I don’t know the names of.

But all-in-all, it was definitely an excellent live show that I’m glad I finally got to see!

***Note:  I've tried to upload 2 videos but Blogger keeps saying there's an error during uploading.  So, hopefully videos coming soon.

Belle Isle Labor Day Weekend

I went down there (Dead Rock specifically) the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  It was so beautiful I was surprised it wasn’t more crowded.  Perhaps Sunday and Monday were crazy then?