Food News: Sundays with Longoven at Sub Rosa, the Oyster Trail, and Jayum

Do you crave delicious fruit jams, succulent Virginia oysters, and bubbly cider? Well, friend, this week’s Food News is for you! (Now with Stroops opening information!)

Photo by Fred Turko, Fred + Elliott Photography

Update #1 — November 12, 2015; 2:07 PM

THIS JUST IN: STROOP DOGG

Hot dog lovers, rejoice! Stroops has broken down their hogs, rolled ’em up in casing, and tomorrow, Friday, November 13th, they will be slinging them from their brand new home at 2709 E. Marshall Street. They’ll be open from 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM with dogs both regular and fancy, plus homemade sodas, stroopwafels, and stroopwafel ice cream sandwiches. We talked to the crew from Dutch & Co, which is the crew from which Stroops was born, and learned a few things about what we have to look forward to when the doors open.

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Original — November 12, 2015

LONGOVEN LOVIN’

Beginning on Sunday, December 13th, Sub Rosa Bakery will host ongoing Sunday dinners with Longoven, the culinary trio of Patrick Phelan, Megan Fitzroy-Phelan, and Andrew Manning.

Since the summer of 2014, Longoven has been popping up around Richmond in somewhat unexpected places–from Shockoe Denim to Sub Rosa to, most recently, the Robins Tea Room at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

Eager to find a way to share their food with more people more often, Patrick Phelan tapped Sub Rosa owner Evrim Dogu to see if there might be a place for them there.

“Ever since Evrim and Evin hosted us last September for a dinner, we’ve wanted to get back in the space and cook in their oven,” says Phelan. “We’re grateful to them for opening up their business and allowing us a great spot that challenges our creativity.”

According to Phelan, dinners will be four to five courses, around $45 per person, with themed menu tastings focusing on anything from seafood to game birds to dessert.

Evrim Dogu says all it took was Patrick catering a friend’s wedding 10 years ago to leave a lasting impression on him. When Longoven settled in Richmond and began looking for spots to house their dinners, Dogu was happy to offer up his bakery. “There’s just a mutual respect for integrity of ingredients,” says Dogu. “Our style is very very different, and I like the contrast. There’s something invigorating and freeing about making those relationships…It’s like Metzger doing a Sicilian dinner with us. I like those places where things overlap in ways that are unexpected.”

Expect the unexpected, including a few guest chefs and other surprises when the series of dinners begins next month. Follow Longoven and Sub Rosa to find out how to reserve a seat at the table.

HIT THE TRAILS

Governor McAuliffe visited Virginia’s Northern Neck earlier this week for the official proclamation of the Virginia Oyster Trail, just in time for Virginia Oyster Month. What can I say–it’s a great month to be alive and a great state to live in if you really, really love oysters. We can all thank Dudley Patterson, a waterman and business owner from Lancaster, Virginia, who came up with the concept for the Virginia Oyster Trail a couple of years ago. State grant funds connected the dots to make the trail possible, with the hopes that agritourism like this will continue to add to the Commonwealth’s tourism revenue.

Trail-goers can shuck and slurp their way from the Upper Bay of the Eastern Shore to the Tidewater region. The trail covers all seven oyster regions in the state and includes restaurants, wineries, breweries, and the oyster companies offering guided tours.

FROM ETHIOPIAN GASTROPUB TO VIRGINIA-BORN BURGERS

Hot on the heels of Hamooda Shami’s announcement that he would close Portrait House next month, a new owner for the Carytown location has already emerged. Charlottesville’s Citizen Burger Bar will claim the space sometime after Portrait House’s last night on December 13th. The popular Charlottesville spot focuses on locally-sourced ingredients from Virginia producers that employ sustainable farming methods. This will be the third Citizen Burger Bar location for restaurateur Andy McClure, who opened the flagship location in 2012 and another in Northern Virginia last year.

JAM ON IT

Longtime friends Abby Waller1 and Lindsay Larkin are following their pectin-filled dreams and launching a new jam business called Dayum, This is My Jam, with clever flavor combos and musically-inspired names like “Plum of a Preacher Man” and my pick for Best New Holiday Jam, “Feast of Bourbon,” which combines tart cranberries and smoky bourbon and should replace your existing cranberry situation toute suite.

FROM ELSEWHERE…

I would eat all of these musical-inspired desserts while singing ballads from the musicals of their origin, and I feel little to no shame about that.

What can the rise of crockpot cookery tell us about the way we view women? Plenty.

SIP: VIRGINIA CIDER

Cider lovers, your week starts this Friday! There are a ton of cider-related activities, including but not limited to a Potter’s Cider Paired Dinner at Harvest Grocery + Supply, a Cucpake and Cider pairing at Carytown Cupcakes, a Food Truck Takeover with Dutch & Company chefs, and a Potter’s Cider and Fried Chicken dinner at Pasture. Delve into the Cider Week VA website, and plan your next week accordingly.

BITE: MINI GREEK FOOD (FESTIVAL)

Ok, so the food isn’t actually miniature. I’m as disappointed as you are. Luckily, I can drown my tears in regular-sized baklava at the mini-Greek Festival happening today through Saturday from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM at Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Check out this totally-not-miniature menu.

GRAM: @PLEASUREHOUSEOYSTERS

They stood in wooden booths at this shucking house to keep the shells from piling up around their legs. The oyster economy was huge and touched so many lives from the shuckers to the truckers and from the watermen to the businessmen. It is still amazing at the enormous mass of oysters that was pulled from east coast waters from 1770-1970. Humanity holds so much power over the natural environment. Many doubt this but you need only to look at the decline, and hopefully the return, of the oyster as proof. #TBT #OysterEconomy #Oyster #shuckers #ShuckingHouse #OysterLife #Ostrea #virginicus #SeaHarvest #SaveOurShell #SaveThatShuck #SOS #recovery #comeback #InAHalfshell #November #VaOysterMonth #VaOysterTrail #VaOyster

A photo posted by On Twitter: @LynnhavenOyster (@pleasurehouseoysters) on


  1. Abby is also a freelance writer and an RVANews contributor, and we are very proud of her! 
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Stephanie Ganz

Stephanie Ganz thought there would be pizza.

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