Restaurant Week, Pork Belly, and Xavier

This is Restaurant Week in Richmond!  Just one more reason that you wish that you lived here.

Tuesday night we ate at Six Burner on Main Street.  We started off with fried oyster tartar and bacon wrapped fried house-made pickles.  I only got a small taste of the pickles..but the taste was pretty awsome...Bill is a little stingy with good food.  My entree was blue and king crab cake, caramelized paella rice, broccoli rabe, and blood orange butter sauce.  I didn't even get a taste of Bill's so I won't even mention it.  My dessert was wildflower and honey panna cotta with fresh figs...all so good.

Tonight we ate at Lulu's in Shockoe Bottom.  I started off with herbed tataki tuna with ginger and lentils, then crispy pork belly with roasted apple sauce, mashed potatoes, and calvados gravy, and ended with banana toffee with burnt cream.  Ohhhh the pork belly...and ohhh the banana toffee...I wanted to clean the plates with my finger.

By the way...pork belly is on my list of things I must cook...I need to find out where to buy it first though.

And I can't let Restaurant Week go by without mentioning our favorite restaurant cook...I'm not sure that we can say chef yet...but he may correct me if I am wrong.  Joanna's high school friend, Xavier, cooks at The Camel and at Zeus Gallery (and his birthday was this week).  He has wanted to cook since high school...or before.  I remember a huge pasta dinner at our house...pasta by Xavier...

The Camel is casual...bands late but good food early.  When we ate there this summer...when Jo was home...we shared the fried artichoke hearts.  I had a pork tenderloin panini with jalapeno jam and we all shared the creme brulee cheesecake.  Zeus Gallery is more upscale...it was on the short list for Restaurant Week but we ran out of days.  Xavier posts pictures on FB..taken with his phone.. of his creations ...I have told him that he needs to invest in a good camera and start a blog.  I keep sending him recipes...and I think sometimes he tries them...so when Xavier becomes a famous chef, has his own restaurant, his own Food Network show, and his own cookbooks...and you try his cheddar cheese soup or his artichoke-olive crostini...you will know that they were passed on from here to there...and probably tweeked significantly....I will, at least, feel somewhat famous :)