Food News: Pizza 2000 pops up, Aaron Hoskins says farewell, and doughnuts forge westward!

There will be pizzas at Sub Rosa, Country Style Donuts in the West End, and biscuits on Cary Street. It’s a good week for gluten.

March 12, 2015; 9:37 AM • by Stephanie Ganz

Pizza 2000 announces three dates in March

The semi-regular series of pop-ups known as Pizza 2000 will again fire the ovens of Sub Rosa for the next three Sundays (March 15th, 22nd, and 29th) according to Pizza 2000 creator, Ben Burakoff.

“We’re thinking about this as a three-night series,” says Burakoff, who hopes to be able to build on each night in order to streamline service issues and provide a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere for guests.

The menu will feature only two pizzas–The Di Fara, inspired by the pizzaria of the same name in Brooklyn, a margherita-style pizza that’s liberal with the parmesan and olive oil. And The Jefferson Ave White, which plays on the Carbonara concept with egg, house-cured Autumn Olive Farm pancetta, and black pepper and throws in house-made creme fraiche for fun (and, presumably, creaminess). They’ll finish the Jefferson Ave off with an arugula-lemon-parmesan salad using Tomten Farm arugula.

If you’ve been to the previous Pizza 2000 events you know that the lines are long, and the pies go fast. I’m not the only person I know who’s been turned away after standing in line waiting for my pizza dreams to come true. Burakoff says he and his staff, Matt McCabe and Chelsea Askew, have spent extensive time thinking of ways to make service more pleasant for everyone.

“We have come up with what we think is a system that will facilitate a much easier flow for anybody who chooses to come,” says Burakoff. “So for one thing, the first few people who come through the door will be served immediately and will be sitting down with a pizza in minutes. Beyond that, we’ll be able to quote people very accurate times.” Burakoff says his team can fire a pizza from start to finish in about six minutes, with four, maybe five pizzas in the oven at a time; but with demand as high as it is, it’s still a challenge to keep up.

Sub Rosa will open the adjoining patio space for visitors to enjoy a drink or two with friends while they wait for their pizzas. With proper communication, he says guests should be able to walk around the neighborhood or go to the park while they wait if they’d rather not hang around.

The next three Pizza 2000s will begin promptly at 7:00 pm, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Tricycle Gardens.

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State of the Plate and Beyond

Metzger Bar & Butchery received Style Weekly’s Restaurant of the Year title in their 10th annual State of the Plate issue. Style’s write-up of Metzger lets chefs and reviewers lay praise at the deserving feet of Brittanny Anderson, Brad Hemp, and Nathan Conway, whose 23rd Street restaurant consistently delivers what it promises: clever modern German food in a spot with cool vibes to spare.
The issue covers plenty of ground-from chefs’ favorite dining spots to a profile of Manakintowne Growers.

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Aaron Hoskins, The Roguest Gentleman

The Rogue Gentleman chef Aaron Hoskins announced his plans to leave Richmond for a James Beard -nominated mystery chef and a mystery city. The chef is tight-lipped about the exact location but says he’ll be moving out of state in less than two months to work for one of his culinary heroes. Trust me, it’s impossible to cross reference the list of JBA nominees to determine where Hoskins is going, so don’t even try; he’ll tell us when he’s ready.

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Quick Bits

Country Style Donuts has opened a second 24-hour donut location at 8900 W. Broad St., so now you’ve got to face your own will power issues no matter which side of the city you’re on.

Eater compares Richmond-based James River Distillery‘s Commonwealth Gin to the cucumber-infused Hendrick’s Gin this week, thanks to JRD’s unique use of cantaloupe as a primary botanical. I’m going to need a side-by-side on this one. Who’s with me?

Trevor Dickerson takes a look inside the German grocery chain Aldi, which has set its sights on RVA and plans to open six locations in the area. Here’s a shocker: Its uber-efficiency results in lower prices across the board. Thanks, Germany!

Examiner.com gives Chocolates by Kelly’s Kelly Walker a place in women-in-chocolate history, alongside the creator of Tollhouse Cookies, Ruth Wakefield. That’s pretty much the best company one could possibly be in. Go, Kelly!

If you’ve ever wanted to know how to really maximize the whole hog, you should get yourself to Lockhart Family Farm on March 28th for this.

Lemaire wants you to share, and, though virtue is its own reward, there is also a $50 MONEY REWARD at stake too. Top that, virtue!

From the people who brought you cakes…Biscuits! The Shyndigz team announced plans this week to open a take-out annex directly across the corner from their Cary Street ‘dessert cafe’ AND (and here’s where it gets awesome) a biscuit-centric brunch spot they’re calling The Fancy Biscuit. A glimpse at their proposed line-up of biscuits confirms: fancy biscuits abound.

Soon enough you’ll be able to fill your cravings for The Urban Farmhouse Market & Cafe from just about anywhere in the city. Owner Kathleen Richardson announced plans for her sixth location, this time on Semmes in Manchester in a 129-unit apartment building managed by Monroe Properties.

Deco is hosting their first-ever wine dinner on March 17th at 6pm. DC-based Sommelier Massimo Bistocchi and Deco owner Giuseppi Scafidi have paired Italian wines with five courses of seafood, fresh pasta, and Peppe’s own profiteroles.

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Elsewhere…

Preeminent restaurateur Danny Meyer suggests that the advent of the iPhone has had the biggest impact on the restaurant industry since the automobile, providing a fascinating history to back up his conclusion in his TEDxManhattan talk this past weekend.

Thanks for the lols, Eater.

Ever wonder what makes Indian food so uniquely satisfying? I always thought it was ghee. Munchies (a food channel from Vice) suggests it’s science. Good old science.

SIP OF THE WEEK: MEAD

Mead reminds us that you can ferment all sorts of things and then drink them, and you should! Black Heath Meadery, a mom-and-pop op, opened their doors at the beginning of the month, adding a new sip to the budding boozetown that is Scott’s Addition. If it was good enough for the Vikings…

BITE OF THE WEEK: COLCANNON

Irish food is more than bangers and mash. There’s also cabbage! Colcannon, a well-loved traditional Irish dish originating more than 300 years ago, is a marriage of mash and cabbage, plus occasionally kale and sometimes leeks.

So beloved is the dish, it’s inspired its own Irish pub song called, appropriately, Colcannon or The Little Skillet Pot, a repetitive chorus-driven ditty that connects Irishman to Irishman and calls to mind a time, “When troubles we knew not/ And our mothers made colcannon/ In the little skillet pot.”

I don’t know how to make colcannon. I can follow the recipes, but dishes like these remind me that I don’t really know how colcannon should taste, how it’s tasted for hundreds of years, how the tradition itself tastes. To taste the soil and history of Ireland, the cream and the butter, reserved for special occasions, the smell of the boiling vegetables. I don’t have the context of culture and place to create an expectation of how colcannon must taste. Instead, I’ve got the internet, with as many recipes are as there are clickable links, each one with its own far-fetched connection to Ireland, as if everyone has just read Angela’s Ashes, or more likely, just watched the movie.

And that’s fine! It’s a hearty, soul-bracing dish and certainly Irish, and for those of you who are into this kind of thing, it’s green enough to deserve a starring role on your St. Patrick’s Day table! To serve your colcannon, push a little well in the mound of potato goodness, and fill the reservoir with salted butter. Scoop a bit of the melted butter with each bite for maximum satisfaction.

COLCANNON

6 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and large dice
½ head of green cabbage, cored and chopped
½ bunch kale, stems trimmed and leaves chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 green onions, chopped
Salted butter (Now is the time for Kerrygold!)
Olive oil

• Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Salt the water liberally, and bring potatoes to a boil. When potatoes are cooked all the way through, remove them to a colander and place the pot back on the stove.
• Heat a few drops of oil and about a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add cabbage and cook for about eight minutes. It’s ok to develop a bit of color, but that’s not really the point.
• Add kale and continue to cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add heavy cream, and allow cabbage and kale to cook in the cream until it begins to thicken, about another ten minutes or so. Taste and season with salt and pepper. We’re not here to perpetuate the stereotype that Irish food is bland, guys.
• Add the potatoes back to the pot and mash with a fork or other mashing tool. Taste and season.
• To serve, stir in green onions. Make a well in the center for your slab of Kerrygold butter. Pour yourself a Smithwicks and start getting all teary-eyed for the old country you never knew.
• If there’s leftover colcannon the next day, heat it up with some vegetable stock, and you’ve got a really lazy, very satisfying soup on your hands.

‘GRAM OF THE WEEK: AARON HOSKINS

Warm burrata, whey, salmon roe, olive oil, radish, herbs, saffron.

A photo posted by Aaron (@aaronhoskins) on Mar 7, 2015 at 3:37pm PST

You can take our super talented chef, mystery city/chef, but you can’t take our ability to drool over plate after gorgeous plate of his food on Instagram.

March 12, 2015 9:37 AM · in East End Daily, Fan of the Fan, and more 0