two minute lunch: habanero's taco cart

For a while, Richmond has had two main non-brick and mortar taco lunch options- Nate's Taco Truck located at VCU (now with the Truck Stop on 2nd Street) and the roving Boka Truck. Nate's serves up solid American-ized tacos with sour cream, cheese and lettuce. Boka goes gourmet with lots of sauces and fusion flavors. When I go to VCU for work, I try to make it overlap with lunch time but sadly those times are few and far between, and Boka rarely shows up in my next of the woods. Enter, real Mexican tacos.

[Habanero's Taco Cart. 10th and E Main.]

Three tacos (choice of pork, steak and chicken) with a salsa fresca and nothing else, except a lime wedge on the side is $5. I got one of each and though they were all good, though the pork may have been my favorite. The chicken, usually the blandest of the meats, was impressively flavorful. Just the tacos was filling, but I also got a side of chips and guac. Burritos also ran $5 with lots of options for fillings. Definitely a great addition to the area for downtown workers. Anyone else tried it out?

two minute lunch: the village

I've been to The Village a few times but never for lunch before since I work downtown. A canceled event at VCU left me hungry before heading to the office so I decided to stop in and grab lunch.

The Village is a classic college restaurant/ diner. Sit at the bar or seat yourself, service has always been fairly fast and the giant 'boots' of soda mean I don't need constant refills. The Village has a full bar, which is nice, though I've never gotten a drink there. I was there at 11:15 but I saw a lot of folks ordering breakfast, which isn't really my thing. (My favorite breakfast foods? Hashbrowns and bacon.) The french toast with banana and peanut butter that went past after I ordered was really tasty looking and a future possibility.

Most of my meals at the Village have involved forms of cheese and potato. My first visit I got the potato skins with bacon, which were solid. Today I had the loaded baked potato with chicken and cheddar. (In my head, the chicken made it a healthy option.) This is the type of food that rarely is shocking but when it's good, it's oh-so-good.

Blackberry photo, apologies.

What has transcended from good to sublime at The Village is the "fried cheese," essentially balls of delicious mozzarella fried and served with marinara. My friends insisted we share these on our first visit and I find myself craving them at odd times. Just don't, as I tried to do, get them to go. Like most delicious fried items, being shoved in a box and being allowed to cool create unfortunate situations. So take the time and grab a booth. Enjoy.

two minute lunch: nate's taco truck

Today I took my morning calls from my house and decided to grab lunch before heading to the office. Richmond is scattered with food trucks but I had heard rumors of an amazing taco truck on VCU's campus. Too far from office on ordinary days, I checked it out. I have to give props to RVA Foodie whose Camarelized Opinions first informed me of the exhistance of this magical truck.

Nate's Taco Truck is found where Staurt and Grove meet, in the middle of the VCU campus. A very nondescript truck (Nate, lemme know if you need a graphic designer!) there were constantly a few folks, all of whom appeared to be college students, waiting for tacos. Nate (I'm assuming) was incredibly friendly, chatting with the girl in front of me about The Real World and serving up tacos with a smile.

There are a range of tacos, with meat (chicken, chorizo, beef) and vegetarian (TVP, potato, black bean) which come with sour cream, salsa, cheese and lettuce. Quesadillas and "frito pie" are also available. (Frito pie is a bag of fritos with beef and taco toppings. Sounds delish!) I ordered 3 tacos- chorizo, beef, and potato- for $2.50 each.

Potato and chorizo tacos.

I ate the first two- potato then beef- in the car immediately. Started with the potato, which I had expected to have small squares of potato. Instead it was potato hash, shredded potato similiar to the type used at Waffle House. It was highly seasoned with some delicious unknown spices and despite the starch content felt very light to eat (maybe it was my speed wolfing it down?) but then I cracked into the beef taco. The seasoning tasted more along the lines of taco seasoning you buy at the supermarket, but somehow more intense. The beef was a little greasy and my tortilla that had been previously perfectly crisped got a bit soggy. Still, delicious and after the second taco I started to fill a little full. I decided to head to the office. About halfway through I started to crave my third taco. And get worried that it too would be soggy.

Ground beef taco.

Luckily the chorizo was not as greasy and the taco was in perfect condition. In fact, the time being wrapped up in the foil let the cheese get all melty and the sour cream had sort of infused the whole taco. It was the most delicious of the three (though in close competition with the pototo taco.)

All in all, I'm planning on being back on Wednesday.

two minute lunch: coppola's deli

The first time I went to Coppola's was the first day I was in my new office. It seemed perfect- on the same block, grab a decent sandwich and be back in time for a conference call. I wanted an Italian sub- lots of cured meats and a bit of lettuce and tomato. As often happens, I was sidetracked by the menu and ended up ordering a Club sandwich. It came loaded- turkey, ham and bacon- all quality meats. I knew I'd be back but it took me a couple weeks.

This week's been rainy so I haven't ventured far from my office. I went back to Coppola's on Tuesday and once again the menu distracted me. My office had been cold all day so when I saw tomato soup and a grilled cheese, I knew that would be what I wanted. I decided to eat in and the service was good if a bit standard. The soup was much better than the sandwich. Given the quality of products in my Club sandwich, I had expected a crustier bread and actual cheese. Instead I got a diner grilled cheese- Kraft American and sliced bread. The tomato soup was better- creamy and flecked with black pepper and crushed tomatoes.

When I got back to my office, I was going to write a post but my two meals were so conflicting. I looked up what others thought online and most rate the deli highly. I learned that the original Coppola's is in Carytown, and given that it is the only one referenced on coppolasdeli.com clearly the favorite. I'll keep to the one down the block.

So yesterday when at 1:53 I realized I still hadn't eaten lunch, I ran down planning on that Italian sub. But the rainy weather once again lead to craving a hot meal and after passing three people eating meatball subs, I had to have one. It was $7 well spent- 6 meatballs on a great hoagie. The sauce was particularly flavorful and clearly made fresh. I ate half and was full then snacked on the rest late afternoon which kept me full until 8pm.

I'm looking forward to more visits to my corner deli- I still need my Italian sub... maybe after I get one of these?

two minute lunch: southern railway deli

Two Minute Lunch is a series I'm starting. I work in downtown Richmond and know I'll be sampling many of the area lunch spots. Here I'll chronicle my lunches and give recommendations. I'm hoping to just spend a few minutes per post giving my thoughts and I hope the short format based around something I do often will encourage frequent posting. There won't be a set day for Two Minute Lunch 'cause, well, my life just doesn't work like that. Leave suggestions for places I should try in the comments.

Wandering around downtown I spied three young men my age with Southern drawls and blue striped shirts carrying bags of chips and Styrofoam cups that clearly had sweet tea. I knew I needed to find where they had come from and soon enough stumbled upon Southern Railway Deli.


The entrance was unassuming enough and I figured it to be a small in-and-out type place. The inside was much larger than expected and the menu was expansive. Set up cafetoria style, there is a row of different food stations, a check out and a seating area with mix-matched furniture. The place was clean with bright orange pillars and accents. Because of its large size, the lunch-time rush didn't feel to overwhelming (or maybe that's just the difference in Richmond and DC.)



After perusing what looked like good (though premade) deli sandwiches and paninis, I found the salad bar. They offer your choice of mixed greens, spinach or iceberg with one meat, one cheese, and five toppings (but don't charge for croutons, sunflower seeds, nuts or crasins.) Much more resonable than most places. There was no line so I quickly stepped up and started ordering. The veggie selection was solid and I probably should have been a little more adventerous than I was. The woman behind me was disappointed that they were out of avocado, but I was mostly just excited they offer avocado without charging extra.


When I went to stand in line, the woman in front of me had huge bowl of delicious looking pasta. I usually check out all options before ordering and it turns out I had missed the hot line with burgers and the make-your-own pasta line! Still, my salad was solid, particularly because of the plentiful grilled chicken.


Only downsides were that the coffee bar at the front wasn't staffed and the gelato looked like it was melting. The deli also tried to be a market which was successful in some areas (you can buy beer) and unsucessful in others (the understocked shelves made me wonder if I can actually buy the dried pasta to cook at home.) A small selection of specialty foods is always nice but either tomorrow if delievery day or there just weren't good design decision made when allocating space to to the market goods.

My meal: salad with grilled chicken, Sour Cream & Onion "Dirty" potato chips, bottle of Diet Coke [$10.10]
Going back: definitely, to sample other items