Recent raves The most recent restaurants to receive three or more stars from restaurant reviewer Dana Craig The Black Sheep 901 W. Marshall St.

I like wine. He likes beer. I like sampling my way through an array of small plates. He likes sticking to one entrée, preferably without my fork making its way
over for a taste.

Cold, smoky, slow and absolutely delightful, the Hermitage Grill is the perfect spot for the working lunch for people not particularly concerned with getting back to work. A recent lunch for two stretched out for well more than an hour. It was hard to figure out why—the five people seated were already eating when we walked in, and we ordered standard fare off the menu—but just as hard to care.

Recent raves The most recent restaurants to receive three or more stars from restaurant reviewer Dana Craig The Black Sheep 901 W. Marshall St.

Wolfgang Puck revolutionized pizza, topping it with duck, smoked salmon, caviar and other goodies. Good Chicago deep-dish pizza is something of a religious experience. And one of the most satisfying meals of all time is a good, rich, stuffed spinach pizza, oozing cheese and calories. But sometimes, you just want a pizza. Sometimes, you just want Jo-Jo’s.

Aurora, the new bakery-restaurant-lounge on the corner of Grace and Fourth streets, has impressively high ceilings. And for that I’m glad, because all the potential swirling around this Euro-chic, open-air, are-we-really-in-Richmond? establishment needs plenty of room to keep on growing.

Thai food isn’t just Pad Thai anymore. Unless you’re our dining companion, who gets Pad Thai every time we go to Elephant Thai Restaurant. But that’s fine, because the Pad Thai there is excellent. Then again, so is everything else that we’ve tried—and we’ve tried a good-sized chunk of the menu. Nestled in the VCU/Fan area (which means parking can be problematic), Elephant Thai is a neighborhood restaurant worth driving to. It features impeccable service and a wide variety of traditional, fresh Thai food.

Great dining and a tattoo parlor?  Who knew!  Check out the slideshow of Stronghill Dining Company on Boulevard. 

The thought of getting food—real food, not the kind in crinkly plastic—at the same place you pump your gas still makes many food snobs wrinkle their noses in disgust. Too bad, because they have no idea what they’re missing. Wawa, the convenience chain based in Pennsylvania, not only provides the usual low-cost selections for people in a hurry—need a doughnut? Yogurt? A bag of cheese curls? A banana?—but its deli area is the definition of handiness.

I don’t hunt. I don’t fish. I don’t wear camo. And I don’t normally frequent chain restaurants.  But Islamorada Fish Company? That’s a different story.  I’m almost embarrassed at the degree to which I feel the need to rave about the Islamorada experience.  I call it an experience because dining here is not just a meal.
SLIDESHOW: Islamorada restaurant in the Bass Pro Shop

It’s Thanksgiving. Most likely, you’re knocking back a few cups of coffee, reading the paper and procrastinating as long as you can before you have to pop the bird in the oven.  If you’re anything like me, toiling away all day to produce a homemade meal simply isn’t your thing.

Recent raves The most recent restaurants to receive three or more stars from restaurant reviewer Dana Craig The Black Sheep 901 W. Marshall St.

1:39 p.m. Arrived at Su Casa restaurant, 4013 W. Broad St. 1:40 p.m. Seated by hostess. Chips and salsa brought to table. 1:41 p.m. Placed order for the $4.75 quezadilla lunch special and a glass of unsweetened iced tea. 1:46 p.m. Food arrived at table. This was probably my fourth or fifth trip to Su Casa but the first time there for lunch. The one thing that struck me on previous visits for dinner was the quick service even when the place was full.

Davis & Main is one of those restaurants where one minute you’re at the bar chatting up Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones (a rumored regular), and the next minute, you’re reminiscing about the junior prom date you took here years before.  Hey, it could happen. Davis & Main is a Fan District institution, serving grilled American cuisine in all its tried-and-true glory since 1987.

Mama Cucina, tucked between Dairy Queen and Capital Ale House in Glen Allen, serves gargantuan portions of authentic Italian fare and impresses our critic.