The Man vs Food Chase

So the story gets a bit convoluted but here goes ....

Early last week Tika called and said she needed some supplies for school. She emailed me a list of things for art glass including the standard glue, tape, pens, jigsaw, drill, combination square, plier stapler .... WHAT? My first thought was she was taken a class in construction but then when I looked at the list I could see all of this stuff being used for building sculptures, frames for canvasses and the like. Anyway, she asked if I could help her get the stuff so we figured Sunday would be a good day to take her sisters and head down to Richmond, do some hardware shopping and just enjoy the day.

Sunday myself, Sam and Kris headed down to Richmond. Sam riding shotgun and Kris in the back with her headphones on - but at times listening. When we made it to VCU we decided we wanted to eat and I thought that since I had not been to any Man vs Food restaurants in Richmond then we should do that. For those that do not know, Man vs Food is a Travel Channel show that myself and Laura love. Turns out a lot of other people do as well. Adam, the host, travels around visiting areas where he tries a number of restaurants and then has some sort of challenge - eat the worlds hottest curry or eat 5 pounds of hamburgers in 40 minutes. The show is entertaining and I am finding some great restaurants as we watch it. Sooooo I have been trying to hit a Man vs Food restaurant as I travel the country. My first was a German restaurant when I was in Minneapolis early last year. Myself and Tika then went to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo this summer followed by a trip to Ben's Chili Bowl in DC with Sam and Kris this fall. Richmond had 3 options but one had vegan food and was a block from campus so off to the Black Sheep for lunch.

If you are in Richmond seek out this place - FABULOUS sandwiches and not expensive. Tika and Sam shared a 24 inch Vegan sandwich while myself and Kris had 12 inch sandwiches. They do not call them subs but instead call them battleships and name them accordingly. Tika and Sam had the USS Wyoming, Kris the USS Monitor (meatballs) and I had the USS Virginia (fried Chicken Liver). These sandwiches were meals in themselves with slaw or other accompaniments on them. Tika's friend Lindsay joined us and went with a salmon burger. This is DEFINITELY place we will go back to - Kris loved her grape NEHI and Sam her Abita Root Beer.

Not the bugs - the USS Virginia

After the great lunch we did some shopping at two local hardware stores, Lowes and an old style hardware store that reminded me of home. After that we wanted some dessert. Tika had always talked about a little chocolate shop in Carytown so we headed over there.

Carytown is a cute area in Richmond with little diners, boutiques, old theaters and this GREAT little chocolate shop called For the Love of Chocolate. So Tika exaggerated a bit - it was NOT little. This place had everything from Cadbury to Leonidas. Also Lake Champlain and many other types of chocolate. They also had a fantastic candy selection. Sam was struggling with what to get. She found a Big Turk like bar, so we each got one. Everyone picked out a big and small chocolate and Sam found something unique - chocolate bugs. No these were not chocolates shaped like bugs - they were bugs dipped in chocolate. She was hesitant but I said I would share it with her. So we bought our big bag of chocolate and headed out. We did not get out of the parking lot before Sam wanted to eat her bugs - so we shared them - I ate the worms and she ate the crickets. The worms were more like larvae - and not bad. Of course everything tastes good in chocolate :-)

So Richmond opened itself to all of us on this Sunday - good restaurants, cute shops an


d unique neighbourhoods .... and one more Man vs Food City taken care of.

..... cu