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• SLIDESHOW: Check out more outdoor dining spots around town
• OUTDOOR DINING GUIDE: From Carytown to Church Hill, there's lots of options. Check out our list of the best patio and front porch restaurants. |
• SLIDESHOW: Check out more outdoor dining spots around town
Usually when I eat lunch outside it's on the backyard deck of my home.
That's not because I have any particular yearning to commune with nature, but because I've been working in the yard and -- not to put too fine a point on this -- I'm too filthy and stinky to dine indoors. At least that's what I'm told by those who crack open the door and slide out my plate of food.
On the other hand, there are plenty of fine places in Central Virginia where, assuming you aren't filthy or stinky, you can dine al fresco, enjoying good food and fresh air.
The other day, I found myself at one such place -- Kitchen 64, 3336 N. Boulevard for lunch with friends. Besides an indoor dining room, Kitchen 64 offers a canopy-covered patio that shields diners from the sun. On a hot day, fans kept the prized breeze moving.
Although our table was just a few feet from the Boulevard and its cars and buses, the noise didn't disturb our conversation. In fact, there was something relaxing about just sitting there, sipping iced tea, while the world bustled past. That, and food alwaysseems to taste better when enjoyed outdoors. My already-excellent grilled eggplant and zucchini sandwich certainly did.
"It's a great place to sit with family, enjoy and share large portions and the company of friends," said Wendy Martin, a mother of three who lives in the Fan District. "It's bikeable from our house and makes for a fun family destination."
In an utterly unscientific survey, we came up with a lengthy but surely incomplete list of high-quality establishments offering al fresco -- open air -- dining in Richmond and the surrounding area. These days, even glorified gas stations in the suburbs have tables and chairs outside for grabbing a quick bite.
What makes for good open-air dining? Good food and good location, either for scenery or people-watching. Or both. Of course, warm weather helps. For some of us, cold beer does, too.
What you don't want: Traffic noise. Exhaust fumes. Dining without benefit of shade.
Times-Dispatch restaurant critic Dana Craig highly recommends a number of places with outdoor patios:
She also likes:
But there are others worth visiting, and they are scattered about.
Brio at Stony Point Fashion Park and Bar Louie at Short Pump Town Center are popular spots. Baja Bean Co., 1520 W. Main St., has a tree-shaded patio. In Shockoe Bottom, you'll find Rosie Connelly's, 1548-A E. Main St., and Café Gutenberg, 1700 E. Main St. The small patio at Buddy's Place, 325 N. Robinson St., is often crowded and the surrounding streets busy, but a recent lunchtime diner said it was a most pleasant atmosphere with nearby diners even exchanging waves with a friendly truck driver who beeped hello. The food was good, too.
Legend Brewing Co., 321 W. 7th St., offers a 200-seat deck overlooking the James River and the downtown skyline. Bottoms Up Pizza, 1700 Dock St., has a two-story patio with a view of train trestles.
In a slightly more serene setting, visitors to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, 1800 Lakeside Ave., can dine outdoors at the Garden Café.
In Charles City County, Charles City Tavern, 9220 John Tyler Memorial Highway, provides two screened-in porches for a somewhat more civilized version of outdoors dining.
In Goochland, The Farmhouse at Manakin Road, 1840 Manakin Road, has a large patio dining area on the front lawn of the old estate.
In Old Towne in Petersburg, Andrade's International Restaurant serves Latin American food on its patio.
Want to eat outdoors but don't feel like sitting in a restaurant? Wendy Martin, the Fan resident who enjoys restaurant patios, said, "I maintain the very best place for al fresco dining in Richmond is at Maymont."
Buy a takeout meal at a restaurant and then walk or drive there, she said, and go find a nice, shady spot near the aviary or a babbling brook.
"Bring a blanket," Martin said.
Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or wlohmann@timesdispatch.com. Staff writers Katherine Calos, Wes Hester, Ed Kelleher, Luz Lazo, Michael Martz, Olympia Meola and Mary Anne Pikrone contributed to this report.
