Weekly Food News: L’Opossum wins big at Elbys, Ukrop’s is back, new life for Zeus, Anchor Bar, and more

L’Opossum takes home major hardware at the Elbys

It was a good night for owner-chef David Shannon at this year’s Elbys, Richmond Magazine’s annual restaurant awards gala. Shannon took home hardware (namely, beautiful custom-designed flask sets made by local agency Big Secret) after having his Oregon Hill restaurant L’Opossum chosen as Restaurant of the Year.

Shannon himself was also named Chef of the Year, taking home two of the biggest honors of the evening. Our reporter Amelia Heymann was there and has a great recap of all the winners and some photos from the Altria Theater. Check out our recap here.

Ukrop’s is poised for a big comeback thanks to Kroger partnership

What’s old is new again in Richmond. After the sale of Ukrop’s to Martin’s in 2009, the Richmond grocer’s selection of fresh-made bakery items like fried chicken and pizza, and prepared foods such as macaroni and cheese, bread pudding, Watergate salad, and even Rainbow Cookies remained in the purchased stores, but it seemed the selection of foods dwindled over time and the grocer promoted the products less and less. With Richmond area Martin’s stores set to close as Publix takes over many of the company’s Richmond facilities, Martin’s exclusive agreement to carry Ukrop’s goods came to a close.

Kroger is fully seizing on the opportunity to carry a wide selection of Ukrop’s products (all across the Mid-Atlantic region, in fact), which a recent study the company commissioned found still have a strong presence in Central Virginia. So strong, in fact, that they actually draw some customers into grocery stores they may not otherwise venture into. That’s pretty impressive if you ask me.

Anyway, if you grew up on Ukrop’s food like I did as a kid, it’s kind of exciting to see the resurgence of the brand. On a visit this week to the Kroger on Lombardy Street, their branded items were selling like hotcakes.

Style Weekly’s Brandon Fox sat down with Bobby Ukrop, president of Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods, for a great Q&A about the new partnership, where he sees things going, and more. Get caught up here.

Former Zeus Gallery Café space to reopen soon as The Stables

In a pun-filled article that makes my dad joke-filled heart well up with joy, Richmond BizSense broke the news this morning that Zeus Gallery Café space is coming down the homestretch and on track to reopen soon. Stephen Gooch with Juno Restaurant Group will open a new concept called The Stables along with some help from a former Café Caturra staffer, and it should be very soon.

Read on to learn more about the menu’s influences and when to expect the Museum District restaurant to open right here.

The home of the original Buffalo wing flies into Stony Point

I got a chance to check out Anchor Bar last Friday night at Stony Point Fashion Park, just before it opened Saturday morning, as you can clearly see in the above photo in which I’m awkwardly holding up a single wing as if to say, “Hey look, they really do have Buffalo wings!”

Located in the former home of Champps Sports Bar, it’s the first location of the chain that claims to have invented the original Buffalo wing outside of the state of New York. The original style wings were on point–tangy and spicy, but not overly drenched in sauce like some of the varieties you’ll find around town.

Are they the best I’ve had in Richmond (or beyond)? I wouldn’t say so, but they were still really, really good. The pizza is pretty tasty, too. En Su Boca’s salt-brined wings al pastor still have my heart, though. There’s plenty of stuff to try. Check out the full Anchor Bar menu here.

A cheesy love story: pimento cheese in RVA

Because we’re lucky enough to live in such a richly blessed foodie town such as Richmond, we have a breadth of restauranteurs and chefs large enough for any publication to assemble a guide to something as specific as pimento cheese, and I can’t tell you how much I love that. Richmond Magazine’s Stephanie Breijo asked a few local food purveyors what they love about the northern-made, southern-embraced delicacy and what it means to them, and it’s worth a read.