The804.com–Richmond VA Real Estate Blog

Deep in the heart of the East End (Creighton and Laburnum) lies the real Comfort Food capital of Richmond (with all due respect to downtown Comfort).  On Wednesday night, I had the pleasure to have dinner at Lucille’s Restaurant.  With all the economic turmoil news this week, I really needed a food pick-me up…I needed the comfort of fried chicken, mac n cheese and cornbread.  Usually Sugar n Spice on Mechanicsville Trpk is my go-to soul food restaurant, but I’ve been hearing some positive buzz lately about Lucille’s (see Urban Views and Style…

sidebar: Style Weekly Food Review Pet Peeve #1: Ever notice how Style Weekly sometimes lumps together multiple reviews of “ethnic” restaurants.  They do it with Thai restaurants, Sushi restaurants, soul food restaurants, etc; as if minority-owned restaurants don’t warrant a solo, independent review (imagine if they lumped the genre-similar DeLux, Lulu’s, and Kitchen 64 as one review?!).  My God, Lucille’s could very well become our town’s version of Mary Mac’s Tea Room (ie, the signature soul food kitchen where Presidential and Gubernatorial candidates visit for a photo-op).  Hey Style, Lucille’s freakin deserves a standalone review…sigh.

Anyways, back to my solo-review, after learning the fried chicken would take a while to cook, I opted for the baked version instead.  According to the waitress, it was a good choice since baked chicken is Lucille’s “thing.” And it was indeed a good choice as the gravy-smothered chicken was fall of the bone tender-yummy.  Sides were solid, though the cornbread was a B- (a little dry, could use more butteriness).  Yeast rolls get an A, however.

The real star of the show was the crab cake.  Crab cakes were available as an add-on for $10+.  I was hesitant at first as I thought that was a little high for a standalone crab cake…until it arrived…Ooooh, I’ve been looking all over town for this kind of crab cake, the true Baltimore style.  Yes, Bawlmer crab cakes are loaded with the crab meat, but they also utilize a thin coat of batter for crispiness.  For some reason, most Richmond restaurants go with the Crab Imperial approach forgetting the “cake” part (ie, the batter).  I actually visit Baltimore quite a bit, and Lucille’s version hangs with the best of them.  The seasoning is just right, and the $10 is easily justified by the generous and moist crab portions.  Best crab cake in Richmond???  Hmmmm, probably…

Lucille’s
1241 N Laburnum Ave
Richmond, VA 23223
(804) 644-1646

I was in Short Pump this afternoon to see if Jimmy Johns had opened.  I would have also checked out Whole Foods for my weekly groceries.  I was actually in the fancy Yorkville Whole Foods in Toronto last weekend trying to get rid of my Canadian money (didn’t take long) before returning to Buffalo (Wegmans rules), so my WF standards are very high right now.   Anyways, JJ’s was still “coming soon,” and the WF parking lot was a mess.  So I opted for good ole Ukrops (I’m reminded of Chris Rock’s bit about old versus new, ahem, you know, like Naughty by Nature once sang).  I also made a quick stop to Ollie’s (read expiration dates!) for adventurous shopping.  I actually like buying groceries/playing botulism Russian Roulette at places like Big Lots, Tuesday Morning, and, even, Salvage Barn, primarily, because they carry brands you’ve never heard of for the cheap…I like trying new stuff just for the sake of trying new stuff (I remember Big Lots was carrying Potato Chips featuring hip hop stars on the bag.  Hell, it might have been Naughty by Nature..really strange).

I digress.  So I went to that hidden Ukrop’s on John Rolfe Parkway.  Very nice, uncrowded, and, as always, the kids still take your groceries to your car.  For a lazy dude like me, that is such a nice touch (cool anomaly like Full Service gasoline).  As long as they keep doing that, I will be a loyal CLP card carrying customer.  If grocery shopping is like polygamy, then Ukrops will always be my first wife…Whole Foods, probably, the fourth (Trader Joes and Tom Leonards 2, 3, respectively…the aforementioned outlet centers are more like goomars). 

On a sidenote, I will be curious to see how much each of these establishments give back to the community (another reason to stay loyal to the first).

**Post note: When I re-read this post, I was thinking I watch too much HBO and read too much Jack Goes Forth.