Can-Can & Delux - Zinc & Concrete - A Tale of Two Bars

Yesterday was haircut day for the boys. Since Little Finn and I get our cuts at Legends, Can-Can is where we go to celebrate a successful trim. We saddle up to their zinc bar and upon the approach of the bartender Finn requests bread and gougeres. I disagree with RVA-Foodie about it is like having a drink at Nordstroms. The amount of tile on the walls and it's impact on the acoustics does give the place a feel akin to being in a large bathroom. The bar, well if they ever go under (god forbid!) or move, I want to bid on a piece of that zinc to build a bar in my house.

The breads at Can-Can are made in-house and are wonderful and varied. You never know what may be in that basket they bring. This time it looked like some sort of ciabatta with garlic baked in. Finn grabbed for that and I buttered it for him. It actually turned out to be baked apple inside and Finn was a very happy three-year-old. I, being on South Beach, settled for a martini (Tanqueray 10, up, twist).

The gougeres were a special order. Normally not available at that time during the day (it's good to know people). Basically they are little cheese puffs. Light and airy with a bit of cheddar. I personally don't like them. Just not my cup of tea. Finn, however, could live on these little puffs. He also made me very proud by climbing off his barstool, taking the plate of gougeres to share with a little two-year-old girl he had been eyeing across the room. This could be trouble in twelve or fifteen years....

From there we headed home. The day, which had started gray and very rainy, had cleared up nicely. I looked around at where we were and realized just a block away was Delux. We parked on Cary and made our was to see what had been done with the burned out shell of Southern Culture.

Wow, someone tried really hard. That's really the only way to describe it. If you don't look out the window at Sticky Rice you would forget you were in the Fan. Concrete bar (2 of them actually), big windows that don't occur naturally in the Fan, huge trendy paintings on the wall, big open space over the bar with tables overlooking you (why yes, I will have a side of vertigo with that blue plate special). Taking a look at the 2nd bar and tables upstairs my brain couldn't help but feel that Edo Squid and 3rd Street Diner had hooked up in a drink fueled evening and this was the result. The ceiling has two liver shaped indentions that are backlit with shifting pastel blues and greens. Someone (M Williams & Co) dropped a lot of money here.

The first disappointment was the gin selection. Just the usuals. Beefeater, Bombay, & Tanq. 15 or 20 vodkas, but only 3 gins. Oh bother.

The second was the menu. I am a firm believer in the Gordan Ramsey philosophy. Keep it simple and focus on what you do best. The menu is a bit scattered. High end apps, big salads, sandwiches, blue plate specials (did I go to The Hill by accident?), high end entrees. It gets confusing when even the restaurant doesn't know what it wants to be. How do you order to get the best of what they have to offer.

Since M was en route I ordered an appetizer that we all would like, lobster dip. The homemade chips for the dip were very tasty but a tad salty. Had it been table salt the amount would have been fine, however, it seemed to be sea salt and that requires a lighter hand. The lobster dip was excellent. Shredded pieces of lobster held together with a creamy backdrop. The saltiness of the chips was forgiven.

When M arrived I ordered her a White Cosmo. It came out with little dried cranberries sitting on the bottom. Visually pleasing and very refreshing.

M and I contemplated our next move. We were going to First Friday a bit later so we decided we needed a bit more food. Dessert for Finn and a sandwich for us.

Finn had the fritter. A big scoop of ice cream surrounded by whipped cream and homemade fritter. It was huge and he was happy. The fritters were excellent. Balls of dough fried till nearly crispy. The were kind of old school, but in a good nostalgic way.

M and I decided on the Avocado BLT, minus the T. M's funny about whole tomato in restaurants and if there's tomato on my sandwich I can't taste anything else. I have the same problem with green peppers. Brandon, of Brandon Eats, just had a post about supertasters. Not sure if I am one but raw slices of tomato or any green pepper overpower every other taste for me. The sandwich came, with tomato. Sent back, it returned very fast. The sandwich was, excellent. Great textured whole wheat bread, smoky bacon, crisp lettuce, smoothed out by perfectly ripe creamy avocado.

It was really nice to see Michelle Williams in-house directing the kitchen. I've always believed that The Hard Shell suffered a bit (it has since recovered, Europa not so much) as she transitioned out to other projects. The amount of space devoted to the two bars makes me wonder about the target customer. I seem to recall going to the Metro for really good food if you caught the place early enough in the evening before the customers switched from diners to drinkers. While I thought the decor a bit odd and overdone, the few dishes we had were worth going back for another visit. A good sign for such a new restaurant.

Off we went to pick up friends and head for First Friday. We managed to get separated and I was left herding a three and nine year old. Did run into M, the owner of Galaxy Diner, and have a little whine with my wine. My last visit there the fries were very sub-par. He apologized and promised to make it up to us.

Recap of the day - One old favourite, good as ever. A new place with a promising start. The TrailBlazers won in overtime. Finn got to meet his first transvestite. Not a bad start to the weekend.