my heart goes boom boom

Let's get some things out of the way. I love burgers. I am a failed vegetarian. Very very failed. But I also work for a climate change non-profit and take sustainability pretty seriously. So any burger joint that sources all its ingredients locally is one I have to try. I've been watching the development of Boom Boom Burgers online and was excited on Monday to see an announcement about its soft opening for Tuesday. A coworker and I walked from our office down to 1703 E. Franklin St. to try it out.

[View from outside]

Walking in I immediately spotted a friend which added even more fun to the rare lunch out. As soon as I walked up to the counter, Boom Boom Burger owner Josh Eftekhari recognized me from my Twitter picture. I think it was the first time it ever happened to me and I was impressed. Boom Boom has a great Twitter presence, promoting information about their suppliers as well as discussing Richmond events.

[Front counter]

Boom Boom's interior reflects their brand with strong explosive graphic details and bright, fun colors permeating the space. The menu is written on a chalkboard so specials can be easily changed and seasonality is key. Currently the basic burger comes ketchup and pickles since tomatoes aren't in season. There is also a mushroom burger, a bacon bbq burger, and one with grilled ones and special sauce. I was bummed they were out of bacon when I arrived, because (we've been over this) I love bacon.

[The Ms. Boom]

So on to the most important part: the burger. Let's just say I'm glad this place isn't closer to my office because I would having burgers twice a week. Great meat, grass-fed from Polyface Farms cooked medium-rare. The bun was an unexpected treat. Buns are crucial to a good burger but I never sit down expecting to be raving about the shell of the burger. Could have used extra pickles, but it's the type of place I'm sure is amenable to that type of request. One note, all business transactions on done via iPad. Bring a debit/credit card as they don't bother with cash.

[Saving the world. One burger at a time.]

Posted inside the bathroom. I love the slight tongue-in-cheek nature of the sign. Certainly Boom Boom has a deep commitment to sustainability and local sourcing, but you can tell they don't take themselves too seriously. I don't go out in the Bottom, but if I did I'd want to end the night here having an impromptu dance party with the staff while eating delicious, delicious local burgers.

pretentious foodie post

I've been meaning to write this post since December, but every time I started it it just sounded like a dreaded foodie post. So now I'm just sucking it up and writing a foodie post.

But it really can't be too much of a foodie post because pretty much all I'm going to talk about is bacon. And I've loved bacon my entire life, even when I refused to eat most foods. Now, many kids don't eat their vegetables (and I didn't) but I also did not eat macaroni and cheese or most other forms of cheese, a childhood staple. I downed bacon, though. I didn't (and still don't really) eat eggs, so bacon and grits was my favorite breakfast. (Oh, hello. Forgot I'm from the South?)

So my love of bacon + increasing willingness to eat new foods= Husk, my new favorite restaurant. Anywhere. I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Charleston, SC, except maybe my vegetarian friends. There is too much bacon to leave still vegetarian.

Husk sources its ingredients locally and lists where each item is from on a large sign in the entrance, whether it's the bacon, benne seeds or clams. They say, "If it doesn’t come from the South, it’s not coming through the door." The focus is on Southern ingredients in Southern, particularly Low Country, recipes. All food is sourced fresh and the kitchen preserves, smokes and pickles the abundance. The menu changes daily. Sure, they list the source of most items on the menu, a common complaint of "foodie"-haters, but our waitress couldn't be described any way other than friendly and chill.

[Local food]

Our meal started with rolls with a bacon butter that I will never be able to recreate but somehow the smooth butter tasted like smoked bacon, perhaps due to bacon fat in the butter. To start we ordered a sampling of cured ham and housemade pickles, as well as fried chicken skins with a spicy honey dipping sauce, and wood fired clams with sausage, peppers and tomatoes and crispy bread.

[We ate every bit of the broth.]

[Due of pork. Pork belly and tenderloin, with parsnips, apples and granola.]

[Due of beef- filet mignon with bok choy and carrots.]

[Due of beef, other side. Ragu and mashed potatoes.]

Husk Restaurant, Charleston, SC.

pumkin overload

A few weeks ago my roommate and I made a trip to Farm to Family and purchased a large blue pumpkin. Yes, blue. It was a lovely shade of pale blue and we were told it was the best for cooking. We had no interest in carving this pumpkin. Instead, we precariously chopped it into sixths and roasted it. Since then, I've read recommendations to roast whole and then chop, but this was a large pumpkin so we chopped then roasted.


To roast the pumpkin, we rubbed the outside with olive oil and the inside with butter then roasted it for about an hour at 450 degrees. We ended up with about 12 cups of pumpkin puree. I've used some it, including this amazing Pumpkin Cake with Mexican Chocolate Icing that I made for my family's Thanksgiving (see below.) But what else should we make to use up the last 6 cups of pumpkin?

[Pureed pumpkin]

[Thanksgiving Pumpkin Cake]

dining locally at sprout

In honor of the Groupon for Sprout today, I wanted to post these pictures. The adorable little cafe sources locally and used many repurposed materials in renovating the restaurant. I went for the 'Grand Opening' a few months back (maybe June?) but then hadn't stopped by again. A few weeks ago I went in for lunch and had the best grilled cheese ever. And a pretty soup. But the best grilled cheese ever. I seriously regretted doing a half sandwich/ half soup combo because I wanted about 3 more sandwiches. (The soup was something with chicken and potatoes, and was very good.)

The sandwich was so good I let the owner talk me into ordering the last slice of the apple raspberry cheesecake. It was very good, there was a cheesecake layer, and some sort of apple compote layer, along with whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

I may use my Groupon solely on grilled cheese. Well, maybe one piece of cheesecake.

[Dried flowers in old soda bottles? Hand drawing signs? In love.]

[Cheesecake? In love.]

food on the road: charlottesville

My apologies for being away for so long. Work has kept me busy and on the road frequently so both posting and having something to post about has been difficult. But I have gotten to try some new restaurants, and revisit some of my favorite out of town spots. I was in Charlottesville at least once a week this month so here are some of my top picks for Charlottesville. They are mostly around campus and/or downtown, since that's where I was working and staying, and typically quick/cheap eats to get on the go. And because I compare everything Charlottesville to Ithaca, my comparisons are below as well. (Try it: Downtown Mall= The Commons; The Corner= Collegetown; Jefferson Theater= State Theater; UVA < Cornell.)

Bodo's Bagels. My hosts insisted we brunch at Bodos, which resulted in a dozen bagels coming back to my house. So fresh they refuse to toast them, every New Yorker I know who has eaten these agrees they rank among NYC's finest. Assemble your own cheap sandwich, just be ready to order when it's your turn in line. Three locations, including the Corner.
Bodo's Bagels= CTB minus beer.

Revolutionary Soup. Perfect soup/sandwich/salad place that places heavy emphasis on local sourcing. One exception is if you order the "Student Special" ($6) which is a choice of three soups with a grilled cheese sandwich. Your soup and bread may be local, but your cheese is classic Kraft slices. You can get the 'Gourmet Grilled Cheese' which delicious cheese options. I have fallen in love with their Rosemary Potato Soup and am determined to recreate it. There are locations downtown and on the Corner.
Rev Soup= ABC (RIP ABC.)

Zazu's. Zazu's does most of its options one of two ways- as a wrap, or as a 'bowl' over rice. I've only been by once as it's near campus but not quite walking distance (especially when I'm working.) The Thai bowl won me over due to copious amounts of fresh chopped basil on top and a peanut sauce with a touch of spice. I'm definitely hoping to be back by in the future.
This seems like a place that would be Ithaca, but I'm not sure there is an apt comparison.

Semolina: Gourmet pizza bakers, I ended up here on a Monday night. Located on the Corner, The downstairs pizza pickup was somewhat busy but the upstairs fine dining area was dead. I hadn't expected it to be quite so fancy but it had a good vibe, and the staff was nice enough to give me the wireless password so I could work and enjoy pizza at the same time. I ordered the wild boar sausage with pistachio, an amazing combinations of flavors.
My Ithaca comparison fails here, as this is nothing like The Nines.



Splendoras/ Chaps: There are two creamy frozen dessert options on the mall and like to frequent both. Splendoras offers gelato while Chaps is pure American ice cream. Both are made in store using fresh ingredients but the results are very different. Some of the gourmet flavors overlap (I've recently had pumpkin at both) but only at Splendoras will you find salted caramel, Stracciatella, or grapefruit. Splendoras also serves excellent coffee and espresso. Chaps serves food but I've never sampled it.
Chaps= Purity

Other Charlottesville favorites?

one potato, two potato, three bags of potato chips

Everyone knows kettle chips are the best kind of potato chip. They actually taste like they are made from potatoes and have such a satisfying crunch. What most people don't know is how amazing totally fresh kettle chips from the Route 11 chip factory truly are. You can find Route 11 chips around the area in their fancy bags, but if you are driving along I-81 (or, you know, actually on route 11) near Mt. Jackson, stop off at the factory to get them fresh.

[My two favorites, other than the lightly salted.]

[You can buy them in fancy gift tins...]

[But you should just get them in plastic bags. Super cheap and so delicious!]

seconds for sauce

Last post I wrote about the tomato seconds I bought for our roommate dinner. Here they are in all their glory! Mostly smaller tomatoes, some cracked, and a mix of types. I set a few aside to eat over the next few days but used most of these to make tomato sauce.

I used this 'recipe' from Saving the Season, which is really more intructions for canning than anything else. I didn't peel the tomatoes due to laziness and tossed in some basil about halfway through the reducing process. When I use it for pasta I'll probably toss in more seasoning- salt, pepper, basil or oregano, red pepper flakes. Instead of worrying about canning, I just put in bags and froze the sauce. I have about a gallon split between three bags, all from maybe $7 of tomatoes and a few hours of stirring tomatoes every 15 minutes.

[Look how beautiful they are inside!]

[In the process of boiling down]

southern fried-roommate dinner

This past weekend I bought 15 pounds of tomato "seconds" or the tomatoes that weren't quite good enough to sell individually at the farmers market (for .50 cents a pound!.) For many, it was just that they were smaller or occasionally funny-shaped, but in the mix of mostly-ripe tomatoes there were some small green ones. Upon returning home from the farmers market, my roommate and I decided to cook an elaborate Southern meal for roommate dinner that night. Using the tomatoes, I made Fried Green Tomatoes using this recipe from TheKitchn.





Our Southern-fried goodness didn't stop there. Using fresh corn cut off the cob that was left over from last weekend's cookout, I made Corn Cakes topped with bacon and avocado. Besides the toppings, the only change was that I didn't use any cheese in the mix. They aren't super flavorful but did taste of fresh, sweet corn. Cheese would have been good, but wasn't particularly needed.






And my roommate my venison sliders on baguette with brie. (The venison was supplied by her father, thanks Fred!)


Our meal- venison sliders, fried green tomatoes, salad and corn cakes. Local venison, tomatoes, salad greens, corn and onions.



Lastly, last night I watched Fried Green Tomatoes for the first time ever. Let's just say I'm sad I hadn't gotten around to it earlier.

recipe: peach arugula salad

After a trip to the farmers market resulted in arugula and peaches coming home with me, fate (or seasonal recipe choices from the editor) brought me this recipe for Ricotta and Peach Crostini with Pistachios. Apparently I blacked out after reading it because all I remembered was peaches and arugula and total spaced on the ricotta and pistachios. I knew I wanted to make it into a salad to transform it from an appetizer to a meal. So for dinner last night I followed the directions for the dressing (simplest ever), used the recommended amount of arugula and upped the peaches to 3. I also toasted some bread with brie on top. I do wish I had pistachios, the salad needed some crunch and a bit of a savory taste (without just putting more salt in the dressing.) I made a second batch to bring to lunch today and put sunflower seeds on top, but pistachios would be excellent.

domestic bliss

Saturday I picked up 30 pounds of peaches (for $25!) for my roommate and I to can. We spent about 4 hours in the kitchen yesterday and managed to make 6 quarts of Canned Peaches in light syrup, 8 pints of Peach Barbecue Sauce which will work more as a marinade because we didn't dice the peaches as finely as we should have, and Blackberry Peach Jam which was the most expensive with $10 of blackberries making 2.5 pints of jam. Luckily it is delicious. We canned 2 pints and put the rest in a half pint jar in the fridge to eat now.

We ran out of steam and pint jars (and wanted to save the small amount of peaches left for eating fresh) so didn't make the peach salsa we planned or the peach pie we were supposed to have after dinner. Instead, our other roommate ordered us pizza to thank us for our work preparing the household for the long winter ahead.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share of the process, it was too hot and busy in the kitchen to be thinking about taking photos!

summer risotto

I just realized that despite risotto being one of my more-commonly made dishes after basic pasta and stir-fry, I've never posted more than just a quick pic of those delicious meals. So here goes!

More love for my CSA in this post, as all the vegetables I used came from Victory Farms. Tuesday was a break from the hot, hot days we've been having and when I arrived home from the North of the James Market, I decided to make risotto. It was even a little rainy/stormy out so a comfort meal was called for. I had picked up squash, chinese eggplant, basil and zucchini. I sliced them all up and started the rice. My recipe below is imprecise, but it's the sort of thing you should just make up as you go. You can use more or less veggies depending on how hearty you want to make the dish.

[Chinese eggplant. Cut into disks.]

[Chinese eggplant, zucchini, squash]

Ingredients
2.5 cup arborio rice
1 cup white wine
2-3 cups chicken broth*
1-3 cups water*
3 cups veggies
.5 cup basil
1 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
Parmesan cheese (optional)

* The rough ratio is 2 cups liquid to 1 cup rice, so just have enough on hand. I start off measuring it in 1 cup at a time then just pour in more as needed. Keep the ratio in your head as you start off and soon you'll just do it by sight.

In a big pot, heat olive oil and saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add carrots and rice. After 1 minute, add cup of white wine. As that liquid is absorbed add broth than water one cup or less at a time. Stir frequently. After 2-3 cups of liquid has been absorbed, add the rest of the veggies. Stir frequently. Once rice is cooked (it will be slightly sticking to each other and will have expanded greatly) stir in the basil. Remove from heat, sprinkle lightly with Parmesan cheese if desired.

[End product. Leftovers]

The inspiration I had for this risotto was one I had recently at Azizia's (post on their pizza to come soon!) It was an appetizer and was listed as "risotto with fresh herbs." It had no vegetables at all and a strong taste of licorice- perhaps from fennel and anise. I liked it though it tasted completely different from any risotto I had made or tried elsewhere. My friend did not care for it at all, due to her dislike of licorice flavor. I wanted a more subtle herb flavor and a heartier dish and created this. I loved it when I first ate it, despite none of the vegetables being my favorites. I've heard risotto doesn't reheat well but this one was the first time I really agreed with that assessment. So enjoy this dish but don't double it for later!

i'd eat peaches every day

Every summer I'm reminded of how amazing peaches are. I always forget about them when thinking about my favorite fruit- I think of raspberries, watermelon, but always forget the peaches. Thanks to my CSA (shout out to Victory Farms) I was able to get 20 lbs of Henley's Orchard's peaches. The plan was to can them, but instead in the past few days my roommates and I have been devouring the box. Luckily, we've put in an order for 30lbs this week (only $25!)

I've managed to bake the past two nights, last night a peach galette and today a cobbler/crumble. I don't think I had ever, ever made a crust before but not having to pre-bake it I was feeling pretty confident. I had found the recipe before, probably linked by The Kitchn but I can't remember. But I tried to basically follow it, though I accidently used half the butter and had to go back and combine the rest when the dough wouldn't form. I also used vanilla instead of almond flavoring, since I'm not a fan of almond. I maximized the peach coverage, so my sides weren't folded up as pretty.

[Pre-baking.]

[Post-baking.]

[Pre-eating.]

Tonight, my peach cobbler is in the oven! I used this recipe from Orangette, with these adaptions from The Kitchn, except I used a deeper Pyrex baking dish so I could use 10 peaches instead of 5 so that hopefully I can have leftovers for breakfast!

urban farmhouse review

Since I've moved down to Richmond I've been intrigued by a storefront near my office at 1217 E. Cary St. For months coming soon was plastered in the window but slowly things were happening inside. Weeks before the opening, Urban Farmhouse established themselves on twitter, which only increased my interest in the restaurant that promised "locally sourced seasonal food and organic coffees & teas." Finally about a month ago, it opened! I checked it out on the first day it opened, stopping by as I walked past going to work.

Fresh bread and pastries.

I loved this container of animal crackers at the register.

Cozy couches and tables.

The market had a variety of food items, along with some lip balms and other simple beauty products. While small, you could theoretically come in and pick up everything you need for a simple meal from nonperishables. There are no produce, meat or dairy on sale, though the Farmhouse does sell fresh bread.


On to the food, for my first visit since it was morning I just grabbed a chai and the toast and jam option. There was an option of bread and I of course choose the delicious sourdough roll option. While delicious, it was extremely pricey for bread and jam. I did get about half a pear and a quarter of an apple in fruit slices, but the cost was high even for organic produce. I'm also doubtful of the local organic pear in January and wish Urban Farmhouse did a better job of listing where their food comes from. The chai was fine but I think if I'm just getting coffee or tea, I'll stick to Shockoe Espresso.

More food reviews and ethical debates after the jump.

About a week later I stopped by to get takeout for a lunch meeting. I was there before the lunch rush, ordering around 10:50 (for a 11am meeting!) and was hoping that I would be in an out in 5. Sadly, my order took a bit long than that (my bread and jam had taken 10 minutes but I gave them a first-day pass on that one.) The salad was solid, with good dressing. It was a lemon-cesar so less creamy than usual, perhaps due to being egg-less. (Thus possibly vegan if you don't order chicken.) The chicken was the biggest disappointment, it was dry and seemed less fresh than I expect from a local-food place. Without it, however, it wouldn't be a very satisfying meal. This was the least strong of the three meals.


This past week, I stopped in without planning ahead (thus the Blackberry picture.) I found myself very satisfied by this meal- a cuban and farmhouse salad. The cuban was great with a huge slice of pork and delicious Virginia ham. The pickles were delicious and added great flavor. The salad was also well done, with a good amount of orange pieces. My only complaint was that the dressing hadn't been tossed with the salad, instead it was just drizzled on top, which made it a bit hit or miss for having dressing on my lettuce.

Overall, I liked the meals I had there. The prices are high, which is largely due to the organic and local sourcing of food. I felt in some cases the prices could be slightly lower but I imagine the location is an expensive one as well (and likely low dinner crowds, though unlike a lot of nearby places, they are open for dinner.) Local Richmond blogger Babs Wilber felt the meals were small, finding herself hungry again 3 hours later, perhaps because she got the grilled cheese. She said she thought the chips were homemade, but I think they were salt and pepper Kettle Chips. I liked that I still got the chips with the combo deal, some places cheat you out of that. For more delectable images of their food, check out Farmhouse Goodies.

My favorite part was the beautiful design of the place and how the sustainable elements of the design were communicated.


Not so awesome was the prominence of bottled water. I understand that some people really want bottled water, and I don't really oppose selling seltzer or other bubbly water, but the bottled water was everywhere. Not cool, local sustainability place, not cool.


They won me back a bit on the beautiful bathroom, however. I kind of wished I could eat my meal in there (joking! Kind of.)


All in all, I'll be back but the high costs means it won't be as frequently as I'd like. I hope that they continue to improve the speed of service so they get heavy lunch traffic and they better convenience all of us of their sustainability and value. Twice when I've been in, the owner, Kathleen Richardson, was behind the counter and was incredibly friendly so I hope her passion for her business makes The Urban Farmhouse a success.