the continued search for the perfect mussels(Mr. Patrick Henry's)

When I heard that Mr. Patrick Henry's in Church Hill was reopening its doors, I was elated, but wary... for several reasons. Back in 'the day' when MPH was going full swing, I waited tables there, and was an enthusiastic patron as well. The back garden is without a doubt one of the most beautiful spots in Richmond to relax and enjoy food and drink, the inside dining rooms, with their fireplaces and warm lighting are cozy and romantic, and the pub is a perfect smoky, dark hidey hole. In short, it's one of the best spaces around. The food back then was on the pricey side, but always managed to be both traditional, reasonably innovative and most important- delicious.

I worried that with the name staying similar, I would inevitably make unfair comparisons. So when we visited recently, I made a studied effort to come in with an open mind and not to compare. We went on a Thursday night, and I was almost giddy as we climbed the familiar stairs to the main dining room. When we went in, there were a few tables occupied, but overall it was very quiet. We asked to be seated in the back garden, so we could smoke unharrassed- and it was completely empty. Which is a shame really, because it was a lovely night and I would have thought neighborhood folk would have at least been out for a cocktail and a snack under the stars.

We ordered lemon drop martinis- I know, we have GOT to find a new cocktail- but these were particularly good- very lemony and icy cold. This seemed to bode well for the food, and we had heard good things about the mussels, so we started with a bowl of them in the white wine and garlic sauce as an app. While the sauce was garlicky and savory, the mussels themselves were kind of subpar. They were doing that weird stringy thing that not-so-great mussels do- like coming apart when I pulled them out of the shell. And a couple of them tasted a little funky to me

Side note: I was still being optimistic and giving them the benefit of the doubt until we got mussels at Can Can a couple days later- Now *that* is what mussels are supposed to taste like. Can Can's mussels were plump, juicy and fresh- popping with goodness in my mouth- pretty much what these were not.

But I digress. I've heard good things about the new MPH. and I really really wanted to like it. Especially because we like sitting in the garden, and in the winter I love the fireplaces.... For an entree I ordered the Shrimp PoBoy sandwich and K ordered a Chicken Parmesan sub.

While I studiously avoided comparing the food to the past glory of the place, I could not help doing it with the same dishes that we've had from other restaurants recently.... While K's sub portion was large, and it looked good, it was not even in the same ballpark taste-wise, with a Chicken Parm we got from Valentino's the week before (Valentino's is a little pizza-shacky place on Grace St, that we got delivery from and were pleasantly surprised) It was okay- and I felt guilty for comparing. The chicken was sort of dry, and the marinara, while reasonably tasty, as just not all that. And it wasn't cheesy enough. I know that's probably unsophisticated of me, but I like really good mozzarella on a sandwich like this and it just wasn't happening.

My Poboy was likewise, okay. The shrimp were big and fried and probably the best thing on the plate. It came with a nice tangy remoulade, but I wished they had given me a ramekin of it on the side. The biggest sin, to me, was that the sub roll was not toasted. When you have that big a piece of bready bread, it just needs to either be a really high quality piece of bread, or at least toasted. The result being, that every bite was a huge mouthful so-so bread and a little shrimp and lettuce. And my orzo was so tasteless I probably put 2 teaspoons of Sriachi on it.

We ordered Tiramisu for dessert, which was an amazingly generous portion. And like everything else, was almost good. There was something kind of oily about it that just didn't set that well with us.

In all fairness, if we had orderd the chef's specials, it probably would have been great. I'm sure there's really good stuff on that menu- I just haven't found it yet. I'm sure we'll give them another chance, partly because of the space, part nostalgia, the vibe there, and part because everything we had was 'close.' It's like they just weren't paying attention, maybe because it was slow that night, I don't know... I've never felt so guilty for panning a place. The service was great- our waitress could not have been nicer- there, I've said something nice.

Patrick Henry’s Pub & Grille
2300 E. Broad St.
644-4242