travels of life

Indochine
2923 West Cary Street
Richmond, Virginia 23221
1.804.353.5799

We only ate here once, but we both would happily return for another tasting. Check out their website, usually there are coupons posted, at the moment a 10% discount if you mention their website. The atmosphere was nice and quiet, but rather cozy. Fortunately, we went on a night that wasn’t too crowded, but if you are going on a weekend, I imagine it could get quite cramped. Be prepared to spend a little extra money here, but we didn’t feel as if the prices were out of line with the food and the service we received.

Don Jose’s
7128 Hull Street Road
Richmond, Virginia 23235
1.804.675.2700

This is your typical Mexican joint, fast hot food, decent margaritas and great service. It does lack in atmosphere, but then again it is a Mexican restaurant. Very extensive menu, but our favorite meal was definitely the Chori-Pollo (chicken with chorizo sausage and cheese, served with tortillas and of course, rice and beans). We’ve also ordered the enchiladas, which were very good, but different. It was a cheese enchilada with all the meat on top. A little strange, but yummy. Go with the Chori-Pollo. You can’t beat a good Mexican restaurant for hot, tasty food at a low, low price.

Legend Brewery
321 West 7th Street
Richmond, Virginia 23224
1.804.232.3446

For those of you Blacksburgians, this is the closest thing to The Cellar I have found - in terms of atmosphere. Very yuppie, good beer, service is unimpressive, just a neat place in the middle of Richmond. In Wisconsin we got very spoiled with beer joints all around us, now that we are back in the Bible Belt they are much harder to come by. If you like darts, this place has it…but you are contained to a very smoky room if you want to play. There is, however, one dart board in the non-smoking dining area if you are lucky enough to snag it. There is a smoking dining section and the bar is smoky, but I imagine there are some nights where you can hit it just right and you will get a non-smoking crowd. If it is warm enough they also have outdoor dining. A warning - the spicy foods are pretty spicy, so take caution!

Cici’s Pizza

Having read an article in the newspaper about this nationwide chain, and having seen several advertisements on the television for the restaurant, we decided to try it out. For those nights you are too exhausted to cook, Cici’s offers an all-you-can eat buffet of salad, pasta, pizza and desserts at a low, low cost of $3.99. Kids cost $2.49, children under 3 are free. This is a steal. Really! Where can you eat this well for under $5.00? The restaurant has figured out how to cut costs wherever they can - they make their own dough from scratch, no refrigerated stuff here. No servers, just a buffet line. For those of us who have done our own weddings, we know how much money that can save! The selection of pizza is very nice, AND, here’s the kicker. Don’t see any pizzas you like on the buffet? You can order slices of pizza or a pizza just for your table! This is the perfect place to go for somebody who doesn’t want to cook dinner, but doesn’t want to eat fast food or fancy. This is right in the middle.

Wasabi Japanese Restaurant
10915 Hull Street Road
Midlothian, Virginia 23112
1.804.745.8816

Wasabi was our absolute most favorite Japanese restaurant in the Richmond, Virginia area. It was easy to get to, never a wait, the staff was friendly, the whole restaurant was non-smoking (a BIG plus for us), and we could always print out coupons before going. Our favorite dish (aside from the sushi, of course) was an udon noodle bowl combo with tempura. I tried the yaki soba, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Wagamama’s, or even our own recipe. If you want to sample Japanese food, this is a great place to go.

Yamato Japanese Restaurant
13607 Hull Street Road
Midlothian, Virginia 23112
1.804.639.9601

I am not a big fan of Japanese Steakhouses. I’d rather eat my meal without somebody flipping food at me while I try to enjoy my meal. But since sushi in the Richmond, Virginia area is limited, you take what you can get. At Yamato, the prices were very reasonable and unlike many sushi bars where you are stuffed like sardines, you are out in the open. Both times we went, it was during the week and we were seated immediately. The downsides? The sushi bar is right around from the restaurant’s bar, so there tends to be a lot of smoke around you, something I can’t stand. The service, well, pretty much stinks and pray you go on a night with friends when they have more than one sushi chef. I’m not unwilling to go back, after all, it’s not like there’s a sushi bar on every corner here in Richmond, but I have to say I am very willing to try other places.

Roy’s Place Restaurant
2 East Diamond Avenue
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877
1.301.948.5548

If you’ve got a hankering for a good sandwich, but can’t make up your mind, this is the place for you. This funky restaurant serves (I kid you not) 200 different types of sandwiches. I recommend going, if only just once, to check it out. The atmosphere, along with the menu, was unlike anywhere I’ve been before. If you are with a group of friends, I’d splurge and share some fries or onion rings to go along with your sandwich. This is not your stuffy DC-suburbanite restaurant, although the prices are a little steep, its just not the kind of restaurant you’d expect in Gaithersburg.

Shell’s Diner
2609 Springs Road
Hickory, North Carolina 28601
1.828.256.2275

If you go to Hickory, North Carolina to shop for furniture, be sure to go get some good North Carolina barbecue at Shell’s Diner. The food is good and the service is phenomenal. When we placed our beverage orders, I inquired about their slushes, but decided to stick with sweet tea. However, the server brought us a sample of their slush mix to taste, since it is their most popular drink (the people beside us ordered four tall glasses of the slush!). Before she placed our barbecue order she brought us some to sample to make sure we would like the tangy, vinegar based barbecue before ordering a plate. For $7.00 we got a plateful of barbecue with slaw, fries and hush puppies. The sweet tea was as thick as syrup and wonderfully refreshing. Our waitress even asked us if we wanted some sweet tea to go! When’s the last time you had that kind of service?

One of our favorite hobbies is traveling. We love the adventure, meeting new people, seeing new things and learning about the world around us. We could go on and on about the places we’ve been, so now we’ve created a blog to share our stories.

Over the years we have kept a rudimentary travel journal…bits and pieces of information and various memorabilia. I’ve wanted to figure out a way to piece it all together in an organized fashion. My hope was to create something that would not only document where we’ve been, but also share the information with friends, family and the lone journeyman.