Tag: Richmond

Weekend in Richmond: How to Travel with a Baby

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If you have been reading this blog over the last few years, you know that we have been to Richmond many times. However, our most recent Richmond trip was the first time that we went with a baby (4 months old!) It was a lot of work but also extremely rewarding and lots of fun. Here is a recap and some tips to help with traveling with a baby.

Ride Amtrak

Rather than drive and keep our son cooped up in a car seat for three hours, we took Amtrak from Union Station to Richmond Main Street, Richmond’s downtown train station. This way, we had plenty of time together as a family. We could easily feed Bren, change his diaper and most importantly, get to play with him!

Marnay and Brendan on the Amtrak train heading to Richmond, Virginia

There are two spots in each Amtrak car that have extra leg room, perfect for changing a diaper and keeping a stroller unfolded. An airplane this is not! One spot is usually reserved for disabled riders, so keep an eye out for signs. We made sure to seek out one of these seats each time we were on the train.

Brendan on the Amtrak train heading to Richmond, Virginia

The other thing to keep in mind is that once Bren was asleep, I was able to go to the café car and get us some wine and snacks! We just relaxed, enjoyed our wine and a little time to ourselves and waited to arrive in Richmond.

Take Public Transit

Richmond Main Street Station is large, comfortable (lots of places to sit) and has nice bathrooms. It’s all you could want when traveling with a child. Once you step out on Main Street, the bus rapid transit, with its high platforms and level-boarding, is right outside the station. We didn’t have to fold the stroller on the bus, just take our son out and hold him. That was much easier than both holding a folded stroller and a baby.

Stay at a Cool Hotel

Our digs for the weekend were at the Quirk Hotel, a hip loft-style boutique hotel in Richmond’s hopping Arts District. In a great move for parents taking the train, the hotel offers Pack n’ Plays for your little one to sleep in. It was a HUGE help, because it would have been difficult to bring our travel crib in addition to all Bren’s other things.

Paul and Brendan at the Quirk Hotel in Richmond, Virginia

You can’t beat the location. Once Bren was asleep, I walked over to Charm School Social Club, home to some of the most creative ice cream sundaes (both vegan and non-vegan) you will ever see. Charm School is conveniently located within a 2 minute walk of the hotel. I’ll be honest, the vegan sundae was just as good as the non-vegan!

Vegan and regular ice cream sundaes from Charm School in Richmond, Virginia

Be Prepared for a long day out

Saturday was our big day out so we were prepared with everything Bren could need. Toys, outfit changes, LOTS of diapers and wipes and every warm outfit he owned. We also attached a “footmuff” to his stroller, which looks like a sleeping bag for babies. It was in the 30s that morning but Bren LOVED his stroller. He slept the entire time and was so cozy!

Brendan in his stroller in Richmond, Virginia

A few weeks before our trip, we realized that Saturday morning was the Richmond Marathon. That meant no bus service. Our plan had been to spend the day in the hopping (but kid friendly) Scotts Addition neighborhood, a few miles from our hotel. No worries, though! We walked the 3 miles in the cold (due to detours) but Bren kept so warm!! And his parents got to enjoy some nice walking time too!

We stopped for coffee and bagels with housemade veggie schmear at Chairlift, the café inside of the acclaimed Alpine restaurant Brenner Pass.

Bagels with housemade veggie schemer at Chairlift in Richmond, Virginia

Our main event was lunch at ZZQ. (As you know, once you have a baby lunch becomes your main event). However, we didn’t want all three of us to be waiting in line before ZZQ opened in the cold. That is why while I left to stand in line, Marnay and Brendan hung out at Chairlift. Marnay finished her coffee and changed Bren in preparation for a Texas barbecue extravaganza.

ZZQ serves up the best Texas BBQ outside of Texas. It also happens to be very child-friendly! While we were enjoying our massive, peppery beef rib, we had plenty of room to keep Bren inside his stroller. We even had enough space to move to the bar after our meal, enjoy some Lone Stars while Bren stayed asleep in the stroller! That was the biggest game changer for us.

Brendan at ZZQ BBQ in Richmond, Virginia

Besides incredible barbecue and restaurants, Scotts Addition is the land of breweries and distilleries. Post-BBQ, we hung out on the awesome heated patio of Blue Bee Cider, our first time at this location! Bren loved playing with his toys at the picnic tables and we loved drinking the dry, delicious local cider.

Brendan at Blue Bee Cider in Richmond, Virginia

Find time to rest

Once we walked back to the hotel, we took turns resting while the other one took Brendan to the lobby to play. When it came time for dinner, there was no shortage of options for takeout near the Quirk Hotel. We chose a personal sized Neapolitan-ish pizza from Stoplight Gelato Café, a cute spot for gelato, sandwiches and pizzas in the Jackson Ward neighborhood. It’s only a 5 minute walk from the Quirk Hotel, so I walked over to get it and we ate it as Bren settled into his crib for the night.

Even after all we did, we still had to end the night with ice cream sundaes from Charm School!

Vegan ice cream sundaes from Charm School in Richmond, Virginia

Treat Yourself

The next morning, we had a 9am train to catch. But when your baby is waking up at 5am, 9am doesn’t seem that early. Instead of going out for breakfast, we treated ourselves to some seriously good room service. It was wonderfully relaxing to eat in the loft-style hotel room as our son napped.

Room service breakfast at the Quirk Hotel in Richmond, Virginia

It’s only a 1.3 mile walk from the Quirk Hotel to the Main Street Station and we enjoyed the fresh air. Boarding the train can be stressful so you need to have a strategy. This station has a low platform, so you can’t easily put the stroller onboard. Therefore, I boarded first with our suitcase and backpacks while Marnay stayed with Bren and the stroller. I put the suitcase in the luggage nook by the door and then zoomed to the front of the car to reserve one of the two seaters with extra legroom. I then hurried back to get Marnay, Bren and the stroller and bring them all back to our saved seats.

Our weekend in Richmond with Bren was honestly not that different from our child-free weekends in Richmond. I think that was mainly a testament to our preparation and to Bren being a chill baby, for the most part. We were still able to do a ton of different things and enjoy the weekend as a family.

Marnay, Paul and Brendan Meyer at ZZQ BBQ in Richmond, Virgnina

ZZQ

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On the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, we made our final major pre-baby road trip to Richmond, where ZZQ is making destination-worthy Texas barbecue.

ZZQ has been on our radar for a while, as they’ve been receiving a lot of great press (Texas Monthly, Washington Post). But after our visit, we can’t help but add to the chorus of praise with our own post about their incredible barbecue and their warm hospitality.

We arrived at 10:30am, prior to the 11:00am opening. This allowed us to be first in line, a good idea since the line got very long very quickly. I was excited to eat barbecue again, so I was wearing my Terry Black’s Barbecue shirt. ZZQ is a meat-market style barbecue joint, similar to Terry Black’s in Austin. When you enter, you order your meats at the counter and the staff slices them right in front of you. It may not be the most efficient system, but (in my opinion) it’s the most fun and interactive experience for the customer since you get to chat with the staff and you might end up ordering more meat than you expected.

Ordering BBQ meat at ZZQ in Richmond, Virginia

The owners of ZZQ are Alex Fultz and Chris Graf. Chris was born in Austin and grew up outside of Dallas, while Alex is from the Richmond area. Both architects, they built and designed ZZQ from the ground up, and it looks incredible. There’s a large indoor (air conditioned) seating area as well as a smaller outdoor patio area, complete with picnic tables. The place even has a full bar with TVs. Honestly, even if they run out of barbecue it’s still a great place to watch a game.

One of the more notable interior features is a neon sign, spelled out in shapes, that says “Texas & Orange = Heart.” “Texas” represents where Chris is from and “Orange” is Alex’s nickname due to her unique hair color.

The interior restaurant space of ZZQ in Richmond, Virginia

When we got to the counter, they were just taking the briskets out of the wraps. We ordered a pound of brisket, ½ pound of pork ribs and ¼ pound pulled pork. Along the way, each employee commented on my Terry Black’s shirt. The brisket had perfectly rendered fat – this is exactly what Texas brisket is supposed to look and taste like. We ate some brisket on its own and some on white bread with pickles and onions, just like we did on a picnic table in the wind and cold at Micklethwait in East Austin.

A pound of brisket, half a pound of pork ribs and a quarter pound pulled pork at ZZQ in Richmond, Virginia

The glistening pork ribs surprised us when we first saw them, because to us it looked like they were covered in sauce. But in truth, it was just a layer of glaze that was applied during the cooking process. The glaze ended up being the key to our favorite barbecue pork ribs, both inside and outside of Texas. The initial bite gave a hint of sweetness, but it immediately subsided and turned into smoky, meaty goodness.

As we ate, Chris came over to talk with us. He asked about our favorite barbecue joint (Tejas Chocolate) and he told us that his favorites were 2M, Valentina’s Tex-Mex and Killen’s. Chris graciously offered us a tour of the smokehouse. We got to see the three Austin Smokeworks smokers, along with the Moberg smoker at that was out on the patio. That one is one for events and catering.

A tour of the smokehouse with Chris Graf at ZZQ in Richmond, Virginia

We couldn’t leave ZZQ without some merch, and of course we got a onesie for the baby. On our way out, we talked with Alex for a while. Her parting words to us: “Make sure you bring the baby next time!”

A baby onesie at ZZQ in Richmond, Virginia

Best Bite
Paul and Marnay: Pork ribs

Address
ZZQ: 3201 W Moore Street, Richmond, VA 23230
Transit: We have taken Amtrak to Richmond many times in the past, but for this trip we rented a ZipCar

Two Dinners in One Night – Richmond

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We are going to start a new feature on the blog called “Two Dinners in One Night”. We recently stayed overnight in Richmond, VA but only had one night for dinner. Since we had so many places we wanted to try, we decided to eat two dinners. There was a theme, though: both restaurants are owned by Chef Brittany Anderson, one of Richmond’s finest chefs.

Metzger Bar & Butchery

Dinner 1: Metzger Bar & Butchery

The small, intimate Metzger Bar & Butchery is the chef’s first restaurant, located in the quiet residential neighborhood of Church Hill. “Metzger” is German for butcher, and the restaurant specializes in German cuisine with an emphasis on meats. Marnay started the meal with a dry Riesling-based cocktail, that iconic German wine. Our first course was Chesapeake oysters: three Ruby Salts and three Moratticos. The Ruby Salts were all briny deliciousness, however the Moratticos were simply bland.

Metzger Bar & Butchery cocktail

A slightly inauspicious start, but Metzger more than made up for it with the next two dishes, both showstoppers. The night’s special was steak tartare, hand-chopped sirloin with shallots, capers and either turmeric or paprika topped with a fabulously runny egg yolk. The mouthfeel of the perfectly salted, chewy-yet-tender raw beef was out-of-this world. It was even better when scooped onto crusty grilled garlic toast. The last time we were at Metzger, their striped bass crudo was our favorite dish. A lesson: Metzger does raw really well.

As good as the steak tartare was, the restaurant topped it with their chicken schnitzel, so crispy yet so tender to be almost airy. We have no idea how they get the chicken to taste like this, but if we did we would be making a lot more chicken at home.

Metzger Bar & Butchery steak tartare

Dinner 2: Brenner Pass

After getting the check at Metgzer, we hopped in a Lyft and headed across town to Brenner Pass, the chef’s second restaurant located in the red-hot Scott’s Addition neighborhood. The scene at the restaurant was hopping, full of 20-somethings at the bar, the total opposite of the sedate Metzger. In DC terms, it was like going from Cleveland Park to Shaw.

Brenner Pass bar

We talked to the bartender as soon as we arrived, since going in we knew we wanted a bottle of wine. He gave us an option each for sparkling, white and red. The one he got most excited about was a bottle from the Lombardy region of Italy, so that’s what we went with. It was actually off-menu; we felt like such insiders! The wine had some weight to it, so the bartended suggested decanting it. Good choice, as letting it breathe really opened it up.

Brenner Pass wine from Lombardy

Since the last thing we ate was the schnitzel, we chose the Shaved Fall Vegetables, a lighter option. The salad was resplendent with ribbons of parsnips and carrots and topped with a cracked pepper ricotta, along with golden raisins. I don’t think that parsnips get enough respect, but I love their sweet but not too-sweet flavor, complemented by the rich ricotta.

For dessert, we ordered the Mont Blanc, which gets my award for the prettiest dessert ever. It was almost too pretty to eat! Mont Blanc is the tallest mountain in Western Europe, located in the Alps at the border of France and Italy. Our Mont Blanc was an almond cake with a snowy base of vanilla barvarian cream and “icebergs” of citrus meringue. The mountain was then topped off with a dusting of “snow” –powdered sugar.

Brenner Pass Mont Blanc dessert

Once we finished our wine, we were definitely ready to go home and go to sleep. I don’t think we will be doing many more of these Two Dinners in One Night events, but it was a lot of fun! In terms of food, Metzger Bar & Butchery was our favorite. As far as atmosphere, Brenner Pass was the clear winner. Both places offer reasons for us to go back.

Best Bite
Marnay and Paul: Schnitzel

Address
Metzger Bar & Butchery: 801 N. 23rd Street Richmond, VA 23223
Brenner Pass: 3220 Rockbridge Street #100 Richmond, VA 23230

Ultimate Richmond Adventure: Part 2

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We usually go to Richmond two to three times per year, once in the summer and once during winter. As you may recall, it was about 100 degrees on our last visit to Richmond. This time, even though it was only February, it was nearly 60 degrees outside. I had thought of a bunch of indoor activities for the day, but since it was spring-like weather, we had to take advantage of it.

Rapp Session

From Main Street Station, we walked west through downtown a grabbed brunch at Rapp Session, the more casual sister restaurant to Rappahannock Restaurant. Travis and Ryan Croxton, the owners of Rappahannock Oyster Co. and local oyster gods, also own Rappahannock Restaurant and Rapp Session. Marnay got the hangtown fry, a 19th century San Francisco creation, which is scrambled eggs, cornmeal crusted fried oysters, bacon and salsa verde served with a green salad. I have never loved fried oysters, but this dish may have turned me into a fried oyster convert. I got the absolutely addictive sourdough beer-battered fried local catfish sandwich with tartar sauce and vinegary slaw on crusty buttered bread. We try not to repeat things on our Richmond visits since there is so much to explore, but it will be difficult not going back to here next time.

Rapp Session brunch

Exploring

Because it was so nice out, we set aside our plan to go to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art and instead spent the afternoon walking and exploring. We walked down to the James River onto Browns Island and the brand new pedestrian bridge across the river to the south side, where we took in the views of downtown from the river bluffs.

Richmond James River pedestrian bridge

We made our way back across the bridge, through the Oregon Hill neighborhood, the bustling VCU campus and the Fan District. When all was said and done, we walked 10 miles! The neighborhoods would alternate between reminding us of Capitol Hill and the more quirky Hamden in Baltimore.

Sugar & Twine

When we reached Carytown, we briefly paused to have mid-afternoon snack at Sugar & Twine, a confectionary from a Portland ex-pat who decided to set up shop in Richmond. We sat on a sidewalk table off West Cary Street and people-watched while devouring a heart-shaped meringue cookie, a peanut butter brownie and an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

Sugar & Twine cookies

Isley Brewing

Each time we visit Richmond, our train back to Union Station leaves at 6:30pm. Even though we had done a lot on this trip already, we still had a surprising amount of time left in the day. After finishing our treats, we walked to the Scott’s Addition neighborhood, Richmond’s de facto brewery district. The area used to be industrial but one by one the warehouses are being converted into lofts, breweries, distilleries, CrossFit gyms, etc.

We checked out Isley Brewing, a family-owned brewery that opened in 2013. It had been a while since we had sat down and our legs were a little tired, so we grabbed a stool and enjoyed our Need for Greed black IPA and the quaffable 1708 ACDC Belgian IPA.

Isley Brewing Company

Metzger Bar & Butchery

After finishing our beers, we ubered to the Union Hill neighborhood, just east of Main Street Station. Metzger Bar & Butchery is a small German restaurant, which, just days after we dined there, was named a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award in the Best Chef Mid-Atlantic Category.

Metzger Bar & Butchery cocktails

Marnay started out the meal with a very refreshing cocktail called the Land of Flowers, with gin, mandarin thyme cordial, lime, fino sherry and luxardo bitters while I went with a bone dry Riesling from Pfalz, Germany.

Metzger Bar & Butchery striped bass crudo

Food-wise, we ordered the house bread basket, striped bass crudo and pork schnitzel. The bread basket was superb, especially the buttery parker house rolls and the pretzel rolls. I mean, if you are a German restaurant, you really need to have good pretzel rolls and Metzger delivered. The star of the show, though, was the outrageously delicious, transcendent striped bass crudo with red pepper flakes, sea salt, citrus, chives and pickled cabbage. Seriously, we could have easily eaten three plates of the crudo.

Metzger Bar & Butchery golden pork schnitzel

The finale was golden pork schnitzel, another traditional German dish. The schnitzel was glistening when it first came to the table and believe me, it tasted as good as it looks. We couldn’t linger at the restaurant on account of our train, but we will definitely be back to Metzger on our next Richmond trip.

Video Recap

 

Places we visited:

Rapp Session: 318 E. Grace Street Richmond, VA 23219

Tyler Potterfield Pedestrian Bridge: North end at Browns Island

Sugar & Twine: 2928 W. Cary Street Richmond, VA 23221

Isley Brewing Company 1715 Summit Avenue Richmond, VA 23230

Metzger Bar & Butchery 801 N. 23rd Street Richmond, VA 23223

Ultimate Richmond Weekend

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We woke up at 5:00am on a Saturday to get ready for our 7:00am Amtrak train to Richmond. Unfortunately, our train was an hour and 15 minutes late getting to Union Station.  It was fine, though, as it allowed us to walk around the station a few times before sitting on the train for over 2 hours.

Richmond Main Street is one of the nicest, cleanest Amtrak stations that we have ever been to.  The station itself is one of our favorite parts of visiting Richmond.  We left and walked straight to one of our all-time favorite lunch places, Grace Noodle. Marnay got miso ramen with ground pork and I got a rich vegetable ramen.  I am getting right now hungry thinking about it!  On top of everything, the place is ridiculously inexpensive.

While it was almost 100 degrees outside, we were prepared for it and went for a walk to the Manchester neighborhood, on the south side of the James River.  We normally like to organize activities ahead of time, but this was completely unplanned.  We stumbled across a train museum with a huge model train set which volunteers had spent years building.  We also found a modern art exhibit space called ArtWorks Richmond in a former industrial space.  In general, Richmond is doing an excellent job taking obsolete factories and turning them into lofts, artists spaces, etc.   Thirsty after all of this walking and exploring, we headed to BlueBee Cider and enjoyed a drink.

Next on our jam packed Richmond adventure we ubered to Hardywood Brewing for some more cold ones and to take advantage of their air conditioning.  We spent a lot of time at Hardywood enjoying the beer and staying cool.

By 4:00pm, we were absolutely starving, so we headed to the Roosevelt for our 5:00pm reservation.  Before we actually got to dinner, we stopped across the street at Sub Rosa, an incredible bakery, for some baked goods to help tide us over.  Our dinner at the Roosevelt was a tad inconsistent but we had a great roasted rockfish dish.  Most importantly, we were full for our long train ride home.

Richmond is easily doable as a day trip from Silver Spring/DC.  Plus if you take Amtrak like we did, you can sample as many drinks as the city has to offer without having to worry about driving home!

The Roosevelt cocktails

Places we visited
Grace Noodle: 1823 E Main Street Richmond, VA 23223
Old Dominion Railway Museum: 102 Hull Street Richmond, VA 23224
Art Works: 320 Hull Street Richmond, VA 23224
Blue Bee Cider: 212 W 6th Street Richmond, VA 23224
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery: 2408-2410 Ownby Lane Richmond, VA 23220
Sub Rosa: 620 N 25th Street Richmond, VA 23223
The Roosevelt: 623 N 25th Street Richmond, VA 23223