Brunch Review: Kuba Kuba

August 30, 2015 by astoldoverbrunch in Cazey's Column, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column

For Cazey’s friend’s second day in Richmond, we decided to take her to an RVA favorite, Kuba Kuba. Sara and Cazey have both been to Kuba Kuba several times before. In fact, we tried going for our Valentine’s Day date, but there was a line, and neither of us honor the virtue patience, so we left.

In this case, Cazey was still worried about a wait since Kuba Kuba does not take reservations and does not have expansive seating. The restaurant is located on a nondescript corner in the heart of the Fan, only indicated by its flashing “Kuba Kuba” sign with a rooster. If you can’t tell, they specialize in Cuban food.

Brunch Review: F.W. Sullivans

May 31, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara

I have a hit list of places I want to brunch at in Richmond, and F.W. Sullivan's has been one since following them on Instagram. Not only do they appear to have a variety of types of meals, ranging from steak to burgers to pasta dishes and flatbreads, but they deliver (except not for brunch, which I think would be beyond clever). I used that delivery option once for dinner, and felt a bit bad about it, as it was one of the coldest days of the year and the poor bastard biked our food to us. Anyways, not the point of this post. Back to brunch.

In all honesty, we were trying to go to Sidewalk, but then it was unreasonably busy, so we went to Sully's. It was perfectly not swamped, and we got right to a table. Before ordering, a waitress brought us a mimosa that we didn't order, then realized we were new here. She then came back to take our drink order -- just coffee and water (too tired/hungover for some mimosas, who knew that was possible).

Brunch Review: City Diner

April 05, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column

We used to live two blocks away from City Diner, which means we'd go anytime we were in a hurry, hungover or lazy. The restaurant itself is rather small, so if you go with a crew, be ready to divide and conquer. They get you in and out quickly, and you can tell you're surrounded by a lot of regulars. Bonus points, because they do have a very small alleyway, which is surprisingly nice to sit in during the summer months.

I've been to City Diner a multitude of times, and I've had generally positive experiences. Keep in mind you're at a diner, and you'll definitely be satisfied. My favorite meals are their omelets because they're cheap, delicious and come with a ton of sides. If you're looking for economical, the omelet is definitely where you want to look. My favorite is meat lovers, because meat, duh.

Brunch Review: Urban Farmhouse

March 22, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara

If there is one brunch review that's been a long time coming, it's the review for Urban Farmhouse Market and Cafe. Why, you might ask? Because that iconic (can I say anything about our own blog is iconic? Probably not, but anyways) image in the header of our entire blog is from Urban Farmhouse (see below -- well and above).

We should probably begin this review with the reason we selected Urban Farmhouse for our blog launch (and subsequent blog image). Cazey frequents Urban Farmhouse often due to its proximity to other locations he goes, so he suggested it because it's well-lit and there are couches and outlets, which makes it a good place to post up for a while and work. The trip for our blog re-launch was my first time, and I was definitely impressed. It really was a wonderful place to hang out for a while, as they had a free water stand with lemon (love that I don't have to ask anyone for refills) and there were a ton of windows, making it a really picturesque area to sit. The space itself was comfortable, airy and ideal for sipping on some tea and working

Brunch Review: Helen's

March 08, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara, Uncategorized

I've been to Helen's three times in my life: New Year's Eve 2014, New Year's Eve 2015 and the weekend after New Year's Eve. The two New Year's Eves were totally alright, but the brunch was really alright. Pretty awesome, in fact. But it didn't start out that way.

We rolled with a total of 7 of us, which I get is a number. I walked in first to see if they could accommodate, and the lady replies with, "We don't usual take that big of a party," to which I replied, "You can totally split us up and that's fine." And not in a way that indicated it wouldn't actually be fine, because it would have been 100% fine. They also were not crowded.

She goes to check with the chef to see if they are allowed to seat 7 whole people at one table. I turn around and give my crew the half-shrug indicating we may or may not make the cut.

Maryland Pride

February 19, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, life lessons

This past summer, my friend Justin lived temporarily in my basement. The basement was never meant for living quarters: The ceiling touched the blond tips of his hair and spiders and other Jurassic era critters roamed the unswept floors. However, rent was cheap. Justin made it work: He hung his clothes on the exposed pipes, installed a Febreze plugin, and hung a Maryland flag on his wall.

If you can't guess, Justin hails from Maryland, and as a geography major, this means something to him. "Maryland's flag is the only flag in the country to look like this," he told me. By that, he means - and I confirmed with Wikipedia - the Maryland flag is the only state flag to be based on English heraldry aka Marylanders say "God bless the Queen, I mean President" as they drink tea with their pinky fingers up.

Justin talked tons about Maryland over the summer. He continually dropped that it was the greatest state, Maryland crabs, yadda yadda yadda. Meanwhile, I've lived in Virginia my entire life, and I lack fondness for the Old Dominion. In fact, I consider it has a has-been state: Our glory days lay behind us in buried presidents (five of them), 1607 colonizations (Jamestown for those of you who failed your history SOL), and Virginia Diner peanuts. Now all we offer are E-ZPass lanes and disgraced governors.

Brunch Review: Banditos

February 15, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara, Uncategorized

Brunch at Banditos = Better than Expected

Real talk: When I first think of Banditos, I think of a smoking bar with ridiculously cheap drinks and dollar tacos during happy hours. And a lot of company I would not usually keep.

But brunch at Banditos is super legit! They have a bunch of TV's for the sports lovers. Banditos has a big enough space to bring a crowd of friends. They have cheap drinks. And it's one of the only places I know of that serve chips and salsa as a brunch appetizer.

On the downside, if you do happen to take a large crowd, it does really cramp service time. However, if you're rolling that deep, that's probably an expected outcome anywhere. And the chips did help to fill the void.

Brunch Review: Kitchen 64

February 08, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara

We had quite the crew this one weekend, and because I write blog reviews about where I eat brunch, it fell on my shoulders to pick our newest victim-- er, I mean location -- of the review. And this time, there were seven willing critics to pitch in their thoughts and pictures. The menu is robust (and includes mimosa pitchers), which made everyone happy right off the bat.

We'll keep this review heavy on the pictures, as they almost speak wholly for themselves (and some all of my reviewers didn't have much critique to offer, P.S. love you guys). Now, meet all the plates from around the table:

UPDATED Brunch Review: Social 52

February 01, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Leisure, Life In Your 20's, Richmond Brunch Review, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara, Uncategorized

You may remember from my brunch reviews of On the Rox and Pearl that I seem to really enjoy hearty meat meals for brunch (which is definitely accurate). So it’s no shocker that I ordered the hearty brisket bowl when I went to Social 52. It fell way short of my expectations.

I had a really hard time deciding what I was going to order at Social 52, and usually that’s because there are several dishes that I’d really like to try. This was just the opposite, as there was nothing on the menu that I really was dying to eat. It’s a pretty limited menu, with no obvious shining stars.

So I went with their brisket bowl because my roommate once got the brisket sandwich for dinner at Social, and it was hot and spicy. Almost too hot and spicy, which is a problem I usually enjoy. The brunch bowl is a total letdown, especially in comparison to the sandwich brethren I was mentally comparing it to. It was a big, unflavorful bowl of baby vomit grits and meat. I should also throw them a bone and share that I don’t usually love grits, so me not liking the grits that much isn’t surprising. The lackluster meat though, is really surprising. It hardly tasted like anything at all. Also, just a non-cherry on top, the menu online says you get a biscuit with this meal, and I certainly did not get a biscuit with this meal. I did not bring it up at the time, because there was no need for more subpar food at the table. I’m not blaming anyone in the case of the missing biscuit, our waitress was a waitress and did her job as you’d hope she would. It just didn’t exist on my plate ever.

Aerial Anxiety

January 27, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Sara's Column, Tweets and Mascara

Sometimes I'm convinced that I can make an everyday event a total nail biter. Like that time I needed to fly home. The anxiety started the moment I needed to buy a ticket. Fun fact: trying to fly out of Richmond sucks. You can't just fly from Richmond to your destination. No, you need to fly several hours out of your way to make it home. And on top of that, there's millions of options to select from. After stressing for several hours about when I was going to leave, I finally settled on Richmond to Charlotte to Connecticut. Then came the stress about navigating the airports. One of my worst qualities is my directional abilities. And by that, I mean I don't have any. So I legit studied the maps and talked it through with my more well-travelled roommates.