Food News: Local chefs’ Thanksgiving picks, a moonshine festival, and yet another ramen popup

This week: Five local chefs share their favorite Thanksgiving recipes–from the traditional to the unique, two restaurants make a quick flip to new owners and concepts, the Elby Awards have been announced, and the inaugural Virginia Moonshine Festival comes to town this weekend.

November 20, 2014; 10:30 AM • by Trevor Dickerson

We’re mere days away from perhaps the most food-centric holiday all year–Thanksgiving! With Turkey day now in sight, Stephanie Ganz rounded up five Richmond chefs’ favorite recipes, ranging from traditional family favorites to unique creations to inspire your own feast next week. Chefs from The Rogue Gentlemen, Postbellum, 821 Cafe, Pasture, and L’Opossum all weighed in with everything from ‘traditional’ turducken to spiced pears in riesling.

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It was just three weeks ago that Pan e Vino, the Italian spot Joe Lo Presti opened in a recently-renovated building (which formerly housed Julian’s) on W. Broad Street, shuttered. But already, a new Mexican restaurant has opened in its place. Lo Presti, suffering from health issues and realizing his higher-end Italian concept was failing to gain a footing, sold the restaurant to Mario Contreras and Eduardo “Lalo” Macia, who opened Lalo’s Cocina Bar & Grill this week. Expect to find your standard Tex-Mex fare, with lunch and dinner service. The Macias plan to cater to students and younger couples in the area looking for an inexpensive meal–pretty much a complete 180 from the Pan e Vino concept.

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Much like the quick flip from Pan e Vino to Lalo’s, a Near West End restaurant is set to undergo a quick transition as well. Green Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant closed its doors this week, but owners of nearby Pho 79 will soon open a new concept in the space, to be called The House of Noodles. Owner Nhan Nguyen tells Richmond.com’s Karri Peifer that the menu will have some similarities to the former restaurant, but with more options and more “modern influences.”

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Richmond Magazine editors have announced the 2015 Elby Award nominees. The awards, which celebrate and honor excellence in the Richmond dining community, are bigger and more wide-ranging than ever, with new categories including Purveyor of the Year, Richmond Stalwart, and Employee of the Year, among others. Up for the prestigious honor of Restaurant of the Year at the 2015 ceremony, to be held January 25th at the VMFA, include Heritage, Peter Chang China Café, The Roosevelt, and Stella’s. Check out the full list here, and our slightly more digestible (See what I did there?) breakdown by neighborhood over here.

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Another week, another batch of ramen news! A noted Washington, D.C. chef (and former Richmonder) is taking over a downtown restaurant for a ramen popup Monday evening. If you’re willing to stand in what will likely be a long line outside Rappahannock Restaurant, you might get a chance to sample Chef Erik Bruner-Yang’s much talked about ramen. Bruner-Yang, owner of Toki Underground, will be dishing out bowls of ramen on a first-come, first-served basis from 5:00 through 10:00 PM. No tickets are required, but be sure to pack your patience.

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Hamooda Shami, owner of Carytown taco joint Don’t Look Back (along with neighboring New York Deli and Portrait House) recently took his restaurant show on the road and opened a second concept similar to Don’t Look Back, Yearbook Taco, a few weeks ago in Charlottesville. Stephanie Ganz has the story of how Shami, whilst waiting for takeout at Charlottesville’s El Puerto, saw the similarities between the restaurant and the space in which he opened Don’t Look Back two years ago, and the opportunity he saw to bring his concept to Hoo-Ville.

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Scott’s Addition, already home to upstart breweries like Ardent Craft Ales and Isley Isley Brewing Company, could soon be the site of an urban winery if all goes as planned. Jon Lintvet, owner of wine-on-tap service Tap 26, is eyeing a vacant city-owner property at Summit Avenue and West Clay Street. Lintvet says the property would satisfy his growing company’s need for more elbow room, but his main goal is to open an urban winery concept, complete with a tasting room. Lintvet says he plans to source grapes from nearby producers, but make a variety of wines on-site.

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If you prefer to get your corn from a jar, as the Osborne Brothers once sang about, you’re in luck this weekend. The inaugural Virginia Moonshine Festival takes place this Saturday at the Richmond Raceway Complex. Eight regional distillers, including our local producer, Belle Isle Craft Spirits, as well as others such as Hatfield & McCoy, Georgia Moon, and Old Smokey Tennessee Moonshine, will be doling out samples of their concoctions. There’ll also be a variety of food options and, of course, bluegrass. Moonshine, which many say has its roots in Virginia and may have even contributed to the origins of NASCAR (You had to have a fast car to outrun the authorities and get that stuff across state lines!), is making a comeback in the Commonwealth–except this time it’s legal and taxed.

Photo: Peter Chang China Cafe/Dave McIntyre/Brian Bassett