Plate and Goblet: NA growth, Ronnie's rules, famous dishes, kudos for Crafted, hail to Heilman, and a zany museum

When I devoted most of a column to nonalcoholic beverages in 2022 (after upping my consumption in solidarity with my pregnant-and-nursing daughter), the NA industry was just beginning to expand.

Three years later, I picked up the April copy of Food & Wine and was shocked to see an article about NAs.

Really?

The editors were almost apologetic about covering such a subject in a wine magazine. Heresy!!

But the trend toward moderation that took hold a few years ago is clearly here to stay – and meanwhile, the variety (and quality) of tasty alternative beverages has surged. With Athletic Brewing Co. leading the way (after "crack[ing] the code of making NA beer that actually tastes like beer," according to F&W), brewers all over the U.S. are now selling quality alcohol-free beers. (Note that a beer can legally qualify as NA without being alcohol-free, if it contains no more than 0.5% alcohol by volume.)

"Not long ago, nonalcoholic beer was a punch line," wrote Beth Demmon of F&W. "Now it's mainstream."

While making tasty nonalcoholic wines is "trickier" – with both flavor and mouth-feel hurdles to clear – a few brands may be close to breaking through the barrier, according to F&W.

The NA spirits market has also grown considerably in the years since I wrote that first NA column (but I still keep a stock of Ritual Whiskey Alternative around for the times I serve or drink "light Manhattans." My lighter version of the classic cocktail contains a shot of sweet vermouth and a smidge of real whiskey, so it still has a kick to it – while the Ritual Zero Proof makes a suitable substitute for a large share of the whiskey.)

Which leads to an interesting statistic noted in the F&W story: the vast majority of NA consumers (82%, according to a Nielsen survey) still drink alcohol. Many just want to cut back rather than quit altogether, and alternate NA drinks with alcoholic ones during evenings out, alternate NA days with booze days, or drink NA's on weekdays and reserve alcoholic drinks for weekends.

Among the best NA beers cited on the F&W list were Brooklyn Brewery's Special Effects IPA, Deschutes' Black Butte Porter, Sierra Nevada's Trail Pass Golden, and – my personal favorite – Guinness Zero. I first tried the NA Guinness on St. Patrick's Day a few years back – and was instantly sold; it is just as creamy and satisfying as a real Guinness. I keep a stash in my fridge, and sometimes even find it on tap at Irish bars.

Ready to try an NA tasting? You can find F&W's picks by clicking here if you're looking for a starting point. For another take on NA beverages, check out this Skimm article, which focuses on canned seltzers, mocktails, and NA wines.

I've found both Total Wine and Wegmans have good selections of NA beers; let me know (patty@henricocitizen.com) if you find other sources I should know about. There's also a store in Carytown (Point 5 RVA) that specializes in NAs.

The current issue of AAA's Traveler magazine includes a story about the history of famous dishes.

As you might guess, some of the iconic menu items were crafted by creative chefs who had an idea and ran with it. But many famous dishes were devised in response to customer requests – and still others were improvised due to the availability (or unavailability) of certain ingredients.

Eggs Benedict, for example, was supposedly named for a hungover Wall Street broker who stumbled into the Waldorf Astoria New York and requested a breakfast of buttered toast, poached eggs, bacon and hollandaise to ease the pain. The chef subbed Canadian bacon and English muffins for the toast and bacon – and the rest is culinary history.

The Waldorf, of course, was also the birthplace of the Waldorf salad – concocted by the same chef for an 1896 charity ball.

A third recipe, the red velvet cake, also has ties to the Waldorf. Although the cake had been around since Victorian times (back then, it was colored with beet juice), The Waldorf popularized the it by adding it to the hotel menu in the 1930s. Legend has it that when a socialite asked the Waldorf chef to reveal his secret recipe, he obligingly sent it – with a (hefty) bill attached.

So long, "secret" recipe! The socialite got revenge by sharing the recipe publicly – and the chef got his (ahem) just desserts for having the audacity to charge her.

Other amusing stories include that of the Bloody Mary drink – supposedly named by a customer from Chicago at the New York City bar (The St. Regis) where it was invented. The customer said the drink reminded him of a waitress nicknamed Bloody Mary at the Bucket of Blood bar in his hometown. (The St. Regis chose a more refined name for the drink ("Red Snapper") but the Bloody Mary name stuck just the same.

Another drink, the Singapore Sling, was invented in the early 20th century at a Singapore bar frequented by rubber and palm oil plantation owners. The men took over the bar to sip gin and whisky, but the women were permitted only tea and fruit juices at their seats. An obliging bartender cleverly devised a drink for the ladies that contained juices of pineapple and lime, among others – but also included gin and several liqueurs. That way, the men were none the wiser (at least for awhile).

Ronnie's rules again!

The Original Ronnie's BBQ – the long-time BBQ joint in Varina – blew away the competition in the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Barbecue Bracket, finishing well ahead of second place winner Deep Run Roadhouse – another Henrico favorite.

Ronnie's also drew a shout-out in Trail Mix, the Capital Trail Foundation's newsletter, which led off its new series on "can't-miss" stops along the trail with this tribute to Ronnie's (mile marker 45): "Our first stop is a local legend: The Original Ronnie’s BBQ. This family-owned restaurant is known for its mouthwatering brisket, ribs, burnt ends, smoked chicken, cornbread, and cobbler. But the real star? Their Chicago Sampler, which took 1st place in the BBQ Showdown in Chicago! Next time you’re on the Trail, hit the brakes at Ronnie’s!"

I met a couple friends for dinner and a beer at Crafted recently, and though I had been there before, this was my friends' first time.

Wanting to try something new, I ordered The Fig & the Pig, a burger topped with brie spread, fig jam, and smoked bacon. A great blend of flavors, and my burger was perfectly done, exactly the way I asked for it -- an uncommon occurrence, I'm sorry to say.

My friend who ordered the Greek salad was also pleased. Actually, more than pleased: she raved that Crafted's was the best Greek salad she'd ever had. Standard Greek salads, she pointed out, often consist of boring, tasteless iceberg lettuce – but the Crafted version was chock-full of flavorful mixed greens, and perfectly balanced with feta and olives. The vinaigrette dressing was just right, she said, and the peppers were sliced instead of whole – an extra nice touch.

It's common practice in restaurants to toss whole peppers onto a Greek salad, leaving the diner to wrestle with the logistics of getting bite-size pieces onto the fork.

Not so at Crafted – where I expect I'll return once my friend's next salad craving kicks in.

Another spot I've recently been revisiting and enjoying – thanks to a Sunday walking group I'm in – is Heilman Dining Center on the University of Richmond campus.

Heilman is not your typical d-hall, with its modern, light-filled design and views of Westhampton Lake. In 2017, Southern Living magazine named Heilman one of the South's "most stunning" dining halls – and it's won plenty of awards for its food, too.

The Mongolian Grill station, which drew praise in 2016 for its seared seafood and ramen/pho/poke bowls, hasn't been open when I'm there for Sunday brunch. But I (and others at my table) can vouch for the quality of the all-you-can-eat buffet just the same – especially the omelets, mashed sweet potatoes, and vast choices of delectable desserts such as chocolate pecan pie and Bavarian torte.

And yes, Heilman is open to non-students, and the prices range from reasonable to a bargain, if you're able to enjoy the senior discount.

Henrico's first Smoothie Spot, serving bowls and smoothies, is now open in Gayton Crossing.

Surrounding Counties, the coffee shop previously located on Three Chopt Road near Douglas Freeman H.S., has reopened in a new space in the Village Shopping Center. The shop has trimmed its food menu and is focusing on kolaches, a Czech pastry; among the kolache selections listed on its website are a maple-sriracha-glazed sausage, egg, and cheese version, and one stuffed with chorizo, refried beans, Hatch green chiles and cheese.

I've saved this particular topic for Plate & Goblet's end – for reasons that will become immediately obvious.

A recent mention of the Disgusting Food Museum (another Food & Wine article) in Malmö, Sweden, caught my eye, since I had just been in Malmö a few months ago visiting relatives. (Wish I had known about this place then – though I'm not sure I could have found any volunteers to go with me.)

When you enter the museum, you are handed a barf bag and a bingo card. Then you find yourself in a brightly-lit interior that resembles a science lab: glass cases full of jars holding 80 examples of the world's grossest foods. The specimens include everything from fermented shark meat to whipped animal fat and crispy fried crickets. There's also a Japanese version of sashimi made from living seafood, in which the fish may still be wriggling as you eat it, and a sampling of stinky cheeses.

The smell in the specimen room is apparently so bad that a chalkboard is used to keep tally of how many days it's been since a guest last vomited. When the author visited, it had been 14 days since anyone lost their lunch (and she notes that she struggled to keep it that way).

At the tasting bar, guests have a chance to sample a menu of items to mark off on their bingo cards. The day the author visited, the rotating menu included featured durian – the only listed item I've tasted before – and a Sardinian cheese matured in the stomach of a baby goat. Topping off the tasting was a hot sauce so powerful that guests had to sign a waiver before sampling even a minuscule amount.

Clearly this is not a museum for the faint of heart – or queasy of stomach. Maybe you don't even have the stomach to read about it. But if you're up for learning more, check out the story here.