Food News: Grocery stores, football games, a new-old tavern, and pine tree soda

You know what? Scratch that. One delicious juice, please!

February 4, 2016; 8:09 AM • by Stephanie Ganz

HOT LIX

You know what we always say around Richmond: “We sure do need another grocery store in an area that already has tons of access to food.” I guess the folks at Publix got the memo because they’re jumping into the grocery line with a location set to open in Glen Allen some time in 2018.

The employee-owned, Florida-based chain, which has stores in five other states, will join Kroger, Food Lion, Martin’s, Aldi, and Wegman’s in the booming Richmond-area grocery market. I’m envisioning a 2020 Hunger Games, RVA Grocery Store edition–May the best store win!

HEAR ME ROAR

If the phrase “Made in America” sends your heart aflutter, make your way to Roaring Pines, a kind of general store located at 21st and Venable in Church Hill. The store, which opened yesterday, sells everything from household items like buckets, brooms, and blankets to canning jars and wiffle ball bats–all made in the states, OUR STATES! But Roaring Pines doesn’t just stop at supplies and sundries; there are also sodas, with old-timey and/or unique syrups like spruce and hibiscus. You can belly up to the eight-seat soda bar or fill one of Roaring Pines’ growlers with your goods to go.

LET’S GET SUPER

Remember our New Year’s resolutions about exercise and good eating habits? ME NEITHER, PEOPLE, THIS IS FEBRUARY. We’ve got a Super Bowl to eat our way through! But how, you ask? Let Richmond Magazine, The Times-Dispatch, and us coach you through it, play by delicious play.

THE JUICE ON JUICE

As our cold-press juice options continue to grow thanks to businesses like Ellwood Thompson’s, Ginger Juice, the Pit & the Peel, and Gulp Juicery; you might find yourself wondering What Up With Juice. Our own Holly Gordon wondered the very same thing, and she’s got some answers for all of us.

SAY ADIOS TO CALIENTE AND CHEERIO TO SHEPPARD STREET TAVERN

Caliente is a lot of things–it’s a 12-year-old Devil’s Triangle staple; it’s a Museum District bar with patio space; and it’s the home of some stupid wings–the Stupid Hot Wings, made with the notorious ghost chile that have brought Caliente national attention. But it’s definitely not a Mexican restaurant, and with a name like Caliente, owner Dave Bender has had to battle that assumption for far too long. Bender plans to change the name and the interior look of the restaurant when he closes shop after the Super Bowl to rebrand as Sheppard Street Tavern.

When the restaurant reopens a couple of weeks later, diners will find a new vibe and an updated menu of pub classics and soon-to-be pub classics like a lox reuben and a chicken and waffle sandwich, plus craft cocktails and two new taps.

FROM ELSEWHERE…

“Beyond restaurant reviews and hot takes about brunch, food journalism is too content to uphold the status quo, jettisoning the subtleties of what makes things great, crappy, intriguing, frustrating, and just okay in the interest of painting the dining scene as one endless procession of superlatives,” from First We Feast. Agree or disagree?

Let’s talk about “chefs with issues.”

Hold on to your cruelty-free butts, vegans–Ben & Jerry’s has just introduced certified vegan versions of four popular flavors, including Chunky Monkey, which, as it turns out, wasn’t made with monkeys in the first place.

SIP: VIRGINIA DISTILLERY’S VIRGINIA HIGHLAND MALT WHISKEY

Tonight! Sip your work troubles away at Wild Ginger, where Virginia Distillery Co. will be hosting an informal tasting of their flagship port-finished Virginia Highland Malt Whiskey, which according to Virginia Distillery Co, “boasts notes of rich dried fruit, toffee, and dark cocoa.”

Wild Ginger’s bar staff will be pouring cocktails made with the Virginia Highland Malt Whiskey, and the kitchen will be serving up lamb tostadas with goat cheese, tomato, and peanut satay sauce; lobster wontons with mango salsa, cream cheese, and wasabi aioli, and assorted vegetarian sushi rolls.

If you can’t make it to the tasting but crave the bone-warming comfort of malt whiskey, swing by the ABC store on your way home, and DIY.

BITE OF THE WEEK: THE SAVORY GRAIN’S SAVORY BURGER

If you pick one night of the week to try the burgers at The Savory Grain, might I suggest Tuesday, aka $5 burger night. You’ll be biting into a juicy combination of Angus chuck, brisket, and short rib that’s been grilled and topped with gouda, a smoked tomato aioli, arugula, and a slice of tomato and feeling like you’re eating at least a $10 burger, but in fact, you will be paying only half that, you Frugal Macdoogal, you!

GRAM: @FEEDMEDEARLY

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Stephanie Ganz

Stephanie Ganz thought there would be pizza.

February 4, 2016 8:09 AM · in , , and more 2

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