The feeling that you have is jealousy

Mama T came to town last week and we decided to celebrate the 104 degree heat on Friday by going to Julep's for dinner http://juleps.net/.  This is another one of my favorite easy eats strategies - give up on cooking and go out to dinner instead, with the added bonus of making someone else pay the bill.  Anyway, let's discuss what we ate.  First of all, it is important to mention that all he food at Julep' is locally grown and the menu is based on whatever is in season, which makes a huge difference.  You can definitely tell that everything is fresh and cooked with love.

Julep's, Richmond, VA - courtesy of the restaurant website

We split some appetizers:  fried green tomatos with jalepeno lemon aioli, and molasses and bourbon braised crispy pork belly with spinach, vidalia onion and grilled watermelon.  The tomatos were not the heavy breaded variety...it was a melt in your mouth delicate fry and the lemon in the aioli was nothing short of perfection.  Pork belly - well seriously, you can never go wrong with pork belly.  It is the best part of a pig, and this is exactly why pigs are holy creatures in some cultures (though I do not understand why anyone would give up eating them).  Grilled watermelon is delicious, always.  No bbq is complete without it, quite frankly.  The whole thing was complimented by my champagne with watermelon puree.  Divine.

fried green tomatos with jalepeno lemon aioli

Main courses:  My mom went with the lump crab cakes over roasted fingerling potatos and local succotash.  Maryland gets all the credit for crabs in these parts, but I can say from my own personal crabbing experience that Virginia has the same delicious crabs.  And Virginia sweet corn is amazing.  I couldn't resist the chef's special - sauteed sea scallops over bacon mashed potatos and drizzled with fresh blackberry reduction, with blackberries grown by the chef's mother.  I ate every last morsel.  Once again, the holy pig was invoved.

Pigs are cute, and delicious.

This whole endeavor was followed up by tableside bananas foster, which my mother loudly refers to as "flaming glazed bananas," which is awk.

We eventually waddled out of there.  As I said...that feeling is jealousy.  If you make it to Richmond, I highly recommend Julep's, and please know that reservations are a must because that place fills up fast.