Caught Vang’s Bowls & Rolls pop-up at Bottlecraft Virginia Beach tonight. Did a take-out order, bringing home the SayNoelMore (Noel is the owner) and the Momma Shiela (his baby momma) rolls. So good!
Cleaver Steakhouse Pop-up
Chef Shawn Lindsay working the Prime Rib
Off The Leash!
Off The Leash pop-up at Bottlecraft Virginia Beach on Father's Day.
Hashi Chow in the Wild!
Oh lucky me!
You all know I go to the Old Beach Farmer's Market on the weekends (off season now, so only once a month until Spring rolls around. One of the things I most looked forward to the most was hitting Hashi food truck. I've been posting Hashi food shots for years, I even remember the first time I had a bite from there, before the truck made it's way to its way to the market. Marleigh, Jasper and I tried a few things from the menu and ate sitting on the bumper of the truck.
Sadly, but for good reason, the Hashi truck is no longer but owner Ross Riddle has big plans for the future. It's been a little bit since the truck was sold and I've had a chance to eat some of Ross' food since then but it's something you yearn for...always! That's why it was good news to hear Hashi was going to pop-up at Bottlecraft Virginia Beach one night with a couple of menu classics - Hashi Hash and Congee.
As soon as Shelby and I were ready that evening we ran down to Bottlecraft and weren't surprised to see a packed house. The turnout was great and it was populated by a lot of people in the industry that know what you get when Ross is cooking. He's pretty intense when it comes to planning, prepping, and putting together his creations. When we entered the shop I went past the line to the back to say Hi to Ross. I heard someone behind me yell, "No cutting!" Haha, they were joking...I think...
I wasn't cutting though I had to pay respects to the man of the hour and didn't stay back there too long. He was getting a pile of tickets but was knocking them out like the pro he is. We got in line and made our way to the front. Christie was taking orders and we ordered one of each (well, three if you look at the pics, we met up with our friend Kelly too.) Lara was the runner, it's funny because the first time we met Lara she was helping Hashi out at a beer festival. True story. I got the Hashi Hash that was "George'd up", meaning add pork belly and an egg, Scott Holl who used to work the truck with Ross came up with that.
I will add pork belly to anything, try me.
Ross' pork belly is legendary. He has it down pat. Here's a lil video:
Shelby got the Congree with mushrooms and pork belly and Kelly got hers with as it came. It was so good! It's been awhile like I said so this was an experience, one I would have been sad to miss. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get to have it again seeing how Ross has been looking for a brick-and-mortar spot in Virginia Beach. Property owners - give Ross a great deal on a spot down at the beach, you won't regret it!
(Supposed to be) A Quick Stop at The Veil Brewing
Marleigh came down from Brooklyn to drop her car off. She really had no need for it with New York Metro system taking you wherever you need to go. It was also a pain to have to move the car every other day due to the street sweeper schedule. It was nice having her home for the weekend! On the Sunday we took her up to Richmond to catch the train back to New York.
After we dropped her off we figured we'd hit The Veil for a pint and I also wanted to see if they had any cans left from earlier in the week.
Yeah, yeah I know they wouldn't. Doesn't hurt to try though!
Walking in we saw Carling behind the bar which was nice. I bump into her all the time in Virginia Beach. I asked if they had any cans left, which they didn't, but she said she might be able to dig up something in the back. Score! Carling came out with a couple of cans of their collab with Cloudwater - a brewery out of Manchester, England - called Cat and Taco. See it doesn't hurt to try :P Thank you Carling and The Veil for the hook-up, I brought back a Jester King sour for the brewery after a trip I took to Texas.
Of course Shelby and I ordered beers while the can thing was getting worked out. I sipped on our beers and investigated the food pop-ups happening outside the brewery. I was feeling like we would score again on some great food because when we pulled up earlier I smelled some woodfire cooking happening around the block somewhere. We we rounded the corner to enter the tasting room we found the source of that smoke and it was right there at the brewery.
Yes!
There was not just one, but two pop-ups at the brewery that day. One was Brasa food stand, which was the source of the smoke, and another was a oyster stand by Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program. Walking up to the Brasa table you were greeted not only by the wonderful wood smoke but a huge Serrano Ham! Take a look at the shop above to see the menu, this is a pop-up that cooks its food on embers. We had a hard time picking what we wanted on the menu (everything!) because there are only two of us and we have to eat oysters too. We picked the Oysters Mushrooms and the Ham plates.
Since we were ordering from both pop-ups we grabbed two small servings of the oysters, plus a few "extra" that ended up on our plates...thanks guys! When sat down with all our food and dove in. It was so good! I mean we're at a brewery eating some high-end stuff in the parking lot. You can't beat it! I forgot to mention that we were meeting someone there too, I mean I was just really going for the beer but Shelby was chatting with a guy named Scott on Insta about dropping off some Distinction Magazines that just came out. He's friends with Todd Wright, whose work regularly appears in the magazine. We also messaged our friend Gerrell to meet up with us. Shelby and him used to work together in Virginia Beach till he moved to Richmond, so we try to get together whenever we're in town.
Shout out to the guys in the pic above, great job with all the food. It was amazing! I ended up with an invite to an event called the Shell-Raiser's Shindig happening later that month that included Brasa and a ton of other restaurants, the guy in the pink shirt is Todd Janeski and he is the director of the oyster shell recycling program I linked at the the beginning of the post. Great guy doing good things put together the event and The Veil was going to be there too in addition to oysters from 7 of the 8 regions. Sounds like heaven.
Gerrell and Shelby
Sorry didn't mean to carry on, the gist of it was we stopped by The Veil and ended up experiencing a lot more than we thought we would and it was wonderful. Love ya Richmond!
Commune Crepes Pop-up at Pendulum
We caught Commune Crepes' pop-up at Pendulum Fine Meats in Norfolk, VA recently. Kevin and crew were whipping up crepes and serving a delicious mushroom soup using Dave & Dee's mushrooms.
There were two savory and one sweet crepe to order - we went with the Pasture-ize and the the Saison. The Pasture-ize was made with pasture raised sous vide chicken, fresh spring greens, pickles and sprint herb ailoi. The Saison was fresh spring greens, roasted benne sweet potatoes and sprint onions then dressed with whipped chevre and wild onion vinaigrette. Our creamy oyster mushroom soup was named Sedley's Finest.
There was a good crowd in Pendulum and it was nice to bump into friends and familiar faces. If you've missed Commune's pop-ups they'll be opening a restaurant in Virginia Beach with an expanded menu.
