Searching for Sushi with Justin Lo
Welcome to the inaugural Census RVA Interview! Our first guest is Richmond Times Dispatch Restaurant Critic and Church Hill dweller Justin Lo.
Raw. Fish. Loved by many, but not for all, sushi is often an acquired taste. When I asked Justin about his obvious love of the Richmond food scene, he brought up one glaring omission: the scarcity of good sushi.
“And when I say sushi, I mean a 12-course omakase by a chef who apprenticed in Japan, who delicately brushes every piece of nigiri with a fancy-ass paint brush and hands it to you from across the counter. Give me that, and I’m good,” said Lo.
Lo, who grew up in Honolulu, had a pit stop in New Haven, CT while studying at Yale, and spent almost a decade in New York City, has called Richmond home for almost four years now. Justin and his husband specifically chose their neighborhood, Church Hill, for two reasons: great restaurants and a great dog park. And hopefully at some point: a great sushi joint.
“Surprisingly enough, the latter was the most important factor, not the restaurants. During our real estate search, I literally scouted out all the dog-friendly parks in the city. My morning routine involves taking our dogs to the neighborhood park and meeting with a group of other dog parents so our dogs can be silly and frolic around together for an hour or more. Chimborazo Park is the best place to do it; in fact, we’ve met some of our closest RVA friends at the park in Church Hill,” said Lo.
Richmond, specifically Church Hill, has provided more comfort for Lo than the hustle and bustle of New York.
“…we lived in New York for more than 7 years before [Richmond]; I’ve come to feel more at home here, in that short span of time, than I ever felt there. While I enjoyed many things about Manhattan and had many happy moments in the city, I was also at my lowest when I was living there. For me, Church Hill is both a neighborhood and a community,” said Lo, while acknowledging that what makes something a community versus a neighborhood can be different. “The AAPI community is just a community for me, and Manhattan’s Financial District was just a neighborhood when my husband and I lived there. Both consist of people (and other living beings) united by something they all share, like the same zipcode, the same interests, the same profession, the same racial identity or sexual orientation. A neighborhood is more geographic, while a community can be based on other kinds of commonalities.”
“In Richmond, I consider myself a part of the Church Hill community, the Chimborazo dog park community, the food writing community, the legal community, the AAPI community, and the LGBTQ community,” said Lo.
One community where Lo experiences some crossover in his personal and professional life is the Richmond food scene, which has quickly gained notoriety over the last decade and more of becoming a great place to eat. As the Richmond Times Dispatch Restaurant Critic, he has used his keen eye for details (Lo is a lawyer), and diverse palate to cultivate honest reviews of our local scene.
“…Compared to big metropolises like NYC, Richmond’s restaurant scene seems to encourage slightly greater risk-taking, which, in my opinion, leads to more creative freedom. NYC restaurants have to worry about appeasing their investor groups, along with the insane cost of operating in the city and their already razor thin profit margins — so at times, it can feel as if they end up playing it too safe culinarily. There were times, living in NYC, where it felt as if I was going to different restaurants but reading the same menu over and over again.”
What’s next for Richmond’s food scene?
“Tasting Menus,” said Lo. “Longoven has been at the forefront of pushing Richmonders into becoming more comfortable with the concept. We’re not quite there yet. But if we want to truly excel in the fine dining area, we can’t shy away from this format.”
Lo, who himself says he’s “not an expert on food”, but “an experienced and passionate eater”, knows that the food itself isn’t just the point of a restaurant review; it’s about the dining experience.
“A reader can’t taste the cooking method used in a particular dish, but they can taste your description of the sensations you felt when you ate it. A baseline knowledge of food is obviously helpful; at the end of the day, however, readers of restaurant reviews want to know about your experience at a restaurant. If they wanted to understand how to perfect a dish, they would pick up a cookbook instead.”
Not a fan of “best of” lists, Lo likes to see it as “places I take visitors to most often”, which include the aforementioned Longoven, Adarra, and Grisette.
What does a restaurant critic do on a typical lazy Sunday in and around Richmond, you may ask?
“Dim sum was a Sunday ritual for my family. So I’d likely insist on going for a dim sum brunch at Full Kee. After that, my husband and I might do some antiquing at RVA Antiques or meet up with our friends Erin and Monica in Scott’s Addition for beers and a round of cards. And then, because we’re homebodies, we’d probably head home and make Marcella Hazan’s bolognese recipe for dinner.”
At the end of the interview, Lo gave some fantastic answers to our Census RVA rapid fire round:
What’s your most used emoji when texting? — Thumbs Up
Mac or PC? — PC. Macs suck.
Carytown Burgers & Fries or Burger Bach? — Cobra Burger!
Naps: yes or no? — Yes
Lamplighter or Roastology? — I can’t wait that long for coffee. I make four shots of espresso on my Nespresso machine the minute I wake up. Otherwise, I turn into a pumpkin.
Michael Hippchen interviews, writes, and publishes Census RVA. Hippchen, a Realtor ® with One South Realty Group in The Fan District of downtown Richmond, lives in Midlothian with his wife, son, daughter, and two cats.
