The Three Hundred and Forty Second...

Number Three Hundred and Forty Two:

Avalon, Dinner, Monkfish

Nice dinner with Lisa at our old haunt, followed by an after dinner cocktail at Secco while waiting to talk to Ward from Chop Suey Books about another Richmond Macabre event at New York Deli! October 29th, 4-6PM, Fears & Beers kind of thing, show up!

Date night, out on the town!

The Two Hundred and Eighty Third...

Number Two Hundred and Eighty Three:

Avalon, Dinner, Cous Cous

Lisa and I were supposed to meet one of her old pals from library grad school and his family who were en route returning from their beach trip at Mekong. Unfortunately, there are way too many people on this planet travelling on I-95 North, so we got the call that they would be held up in NC somewhere for the evening. Lisa & I had some rewards coupon at Avalon, so we shifted gears. Had a really great cous cous there, followed by this swell Napstache! On a side note, there were a lot of dummies in flip-flops at the joint for dinner.

The Two Hundred and Forty Seventh..

Number Two Hundred and Forty Seven:

Avalon, Dinner, Skillet Seared Beef Teres Major

One of Lisa's Alma Mater pals from Mount Holyoke College, documentary filmmaker Sonali Gulati, screened her touching and wonderful new film at VMFA called "i am". A nearly full house viewed this great documentary "a film that chronicles the journey of an Indian lesbian filmmaker who returned to Dehli, 11 years later, to re-open what was once home, and finally confronts the loss of her mother to whom she never came out to." It was an interesting study to me on the human condition, how being gay, no matter what your culture, deals with a lot of the same issues and conditions and fights around the world. Engaging, emotional and entertaining. Well done!

After some enlightenment, it was time for some nourishment! Avalon definitely seemed the way to go, and sure enough it was. Our pal Stephen was working, who came by to chat with us while we ate, just to say hi, and the other waitperson, the blonde woman, who is also very nice, waited on us while we watched the first seating of people leave. Good stuff on a Friday night!

The One Hundred and Eighth...

Number One Hundred and Eight:

Avalon Restaurant, Dinner, Grilled Beef Teres Major

Lisa's best friend since childhood, Mitch, was in town for a visit. They went to Williamsburg for part of the day and were originally planning on dinner there. It turned out that dinner at 4:30 probably was a bit too early and they decided to come back to Richmond, plus Mitch really wanted to participate in the Napstache! We were planning on Comfort, but it was absurdly crowded at the sidewalk, then Tarrant's thwarted us with an hour and fifteen minute wait. It was a good thing after all because we wound up at one of our favorite locations with one of our favorite waiters in town. Avalon provided the immediate table and Stephen wound up being our awesome friendly waiter. He rules! We were all smitten with the Beef dish followed by the flourless chocolate cake and a wonderful time.

Mitchstache!

The Thirteenth..

Number Thirteen:



Avalon, Dinner, Beef Teres Major with a mash of date & sweet potato

We were in the area again, getting cheese at River City Cellars (best in town!). Avalon was our walkable restaurant when we lived on Mulberry. One of the best go-to restaurants in the city for us. Great seasonal menu, nice beer and wine selection, and good wait staff. (We love Steven! Alas, he wasn't there this time.) Unfortunately for me, I feel it is losing it's touch. "It ain't what it used to be." is the old man in me talking. Despite my wanting to be curmudgeonly enough to say that, the beef balanced wonderfully with the date & sweet potato mash.

The waitress completely played it cool when L. was capturing this photo with the neon in the background. Like, "I don't EVEN want to know what your goofy ass is doing." --but in a nice way.