The Black Sheep and Good Company

You can’t beat good food, at good prices with great company. I have heard nothing but raves about The Black Sheep. This past Saturday Ms. and Mr. River City Food and Wine and my husband and I went to brunch and finally got to see what everyone was raving about.

It was a miserably cold morning but the small restaurant was nice and cozy. Everyone got something different and I think everyone was pleased. Ms. River City had the Fedora, which was a frittata with mozzarella, roasted peppers, basil and onion. It looked wonderful. Mr. River City had the biscuits and gravy. The plate was large and the gravy looked wonderful (nice brown grave not that white anemic stuff) and the biscuits nice and fluffy. My husband had the Trucker frittata which had potatoes, country ham, pimento cheese and was topped with sausage gravy. I have to admit I love me some pimento cheese. I know it is a half step up from cheese whiz, but this girl loves it. I wasn’t however, sure how well I would like it on a frittata and with sausage gravy. I have to say it was a little bit of heaven. The mix of the pimento cheese and gravy was… well, sinful. My husband said next time he will have it made sans the potato, which he felt distracted from the overall perfection. I had Grillades and Grits. Other than butchering the pronunciation of the dish while ordering (thus having to nurse my ego a bit) the dish was flawless. It was two pork cutlets in a tomato based sauce that was so rich and oily and heavenly, I wanted to lick my plate (and had I not be surrounded by folks other then my dear husband I SO would have) all of it was served over yellow grits. If I had one complaint, I wish I had more grits. I love grits, however only when they are done well. I hate grits that are cooked in water, because it results in a textureless flavorless mess. In my mind, grits really must be cooked in either a broth or milk. Period. These grits were surely cooked in milk and were rich and creamy and the prefect accompaniment to the pork, I just longed for a wee bit more.

All I can say of the two dishes I tasted, was that they both were out of this world. We all had coffee and the total bill was $37. You just can’t beat it. To top it all off we had wonderful company which always makes a great meal heavenly. So I highly recommend, the next time you are looking for a great brunch head on over to The Black Sheep and they will hook you up, the great company you must supply on your own though!!

Oyster Nirvana At Mama Zu

Last night me and my husband went to Mama Zu. I love their food. Hands down it is got to be the best pasta in town (among other things). Last night Joel and I decided to get an appetizer. We noticed they had fried oysters. Now normally I don’t like fried oysters (or most fried food for that matter) that much, however I had just been standing next to someone at the bar who was eating sweetbreads, that looked so heavenly… I think it just put me in a fried frame of mind. I think in my mind’s eye these friend oysters would have some panache, maybe some chopped mushrooms and sauce over top. Somehow I thought they would look like the sweetbreads I had been salivating over. I was so disappointed when they came out. It was just a plate of fried oysters….whoopee. Now anyone in Richmond knows Mama Zu is not only wonderful but CHEAP. I am talking $9 for a HUGE pasta dish cheap. These oysters were $15. So I expected there to be something special about them, or at least there to be a lot of them. However, it was just 8 measly oysters on a plate. Just in case you are a math whiz that is almost $2 a pop. I felt sad. Let down. Disappointed in Mama. Then I tried one. Holly Good Mother of Our LORD!! These were no typical fried oysters. They were barely breaded, they were barely cooked, they were sweet, and salty and juicy and crisp all in one pleasingly perfect mouthful.

I can now die happy. …… Or at least I can once I figure out how make them myself!!!