At 6 p.m. on a Tuesday, one little nook in a Bon Air strip mall is humming. A large family group that likely left the kids with a sitter waits alongside a suit-clad business clutch gathered at the door, hovering around the two visibly overwhelmed hostesses. Every table is filled, and there are only a couple of newly emptied seats at the bar, one side of which is commandeered by a group of guys grabbing cocktails in-between work and home, and a few ladies-who-lunch having drinks and bites.
Humming, but not a surprise. This is Southbound, the much-anticipated brainchild of a couple of local dining heroes: Lee Gregory, executive chef and co-owner of the Roosevelt, and Joe Sparatta, executive chef and co-owner of Heritage. It’s been said that they felt compelled to fill the gap in South Side’s dining scene.
Thus far, judging from the throngs, they’ve provided an oasis in that desert.
The menu reads more like a volley than a collaboration. Every other dish’s signature belongs to either Gregory or Sparatta. It would be nice to see more on the menu that reflects an intersection of their distinct approaches. But where, under one roof, can you find both a Virginia ham plate with warm, delicate buttermilk biscuits served with a bounty of salty, sweet, crunchy and unctuous house-made accompaniments ($12), alongside salmon pastrami with soft-boiled egg, rye crumb, mustard seed, dill and sour cream ($7)?
In this modern world of fancy cocktails, I appreciate the comprehensible option of a Drink While You Think from the cocktail menu. The aptly titled duo of a 7-ounce pony of Miller High Life with a shot of Jameson is the perfect pal while lollygagging at the bar before being seated.
I only wish that the crispy chicken skins with Alabama white sauce and pickles ($8), which seem the ideal culinary accessory, were a little less one-note in seasoning and texture. But a glass of the cool, crisp, sweetly floral Riesling with the boldly garnished, beautifully textured and subtly nuanced cauliflower soup — with pickled raisin, curry, almond and charred cauliflower ($7) — may just convince you to remain on your barstool and forego a table altogether.
If you do elect for a table, you’ll find servers chatty, friendly and confident in their knowledge of the menu. The food comes out with a clip as the order hits the kitchen. On one visit, our appetizers appear before our wine, yet the gap between the clearing of those plates and our entrées’ arrival is noticeably lengthy.
Fortunately, the smoked fish fritters with tarragon remoulade ($6) and the crab salad with jumbo lump crab, avocado, fennel and grapefruit vinaigrette ($12) are faultlessly balanced with immaculate, distinct tastes. My table is more than happy to indulge the flavors lingering on the palate while sipping the light fruit of an almost weightless Dolcetto.
The entrées are hit or miss. The double cheeseburger ($13) tastes distinctly of the grill and takes me right into summer in the backyard. With house-made pickles and bacon jam on the burger, a house-made ketchup to accompany the thin, salty, crispy fries would be the cherry on top.
Chicken with Carolina gold rice, gumbo and pickled okra ($17) is my biggest disappointment. While the chicken is cooked to perfection, the gumbo lacks any soul or depth, a contradiction in terms. The mustard fusilli pasta with braised Beechwood Farms beef, cipollini onion, sour cream and chives ($20) reminds me of a surprisingly intelligent romantic comedy and really leaves me thinking: This beautiful local beef, obviously cooked with such love and respect, shares a bowl with very al dente chunks of carrots and is served up like a do-it-yourself stroganoff. I don’t want to like it, but I can’t stop eating it. And I still haven’t stopped thinking about, or trying to wrap my head around, it. Southbound’s portions are all generous and this allows me to continue my research on the dish at home much later that night.
If you still have that sweet tooth, stick with the pecan tart with sorghum, chocolate chips and pecans ($7). This is a rustic, yet rich and decadent dessert, one that leaves you on a high note. Sorghum for president.
Southbound reminds me of “Super Friends.” Separately, Gregory and Sparatta can be considered Richmond’s culinary Superman and Batman. Together though, the sum is a little bit less than its parts. Will you need to make the trek from the city to Stony Point Shopping Center to experience something new, better, different? Probably not.
But is that their intent? Probably not. And there’s no doubt that Southbound fills a want and a need in an area lusting for exactly what the duo is dishing up. And Southbound, as I hear countless times before experiencing it myself, is killing it. S
Southbound
3036 Stony Point Road
918-5431
Tuesdays-Thursdays, 5-9:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 5-10 p.m.; Sundays, 5-9:30 p.m.
southboundrva.com
