Joseph W. Cates reviews Sine for Style Weekly, and lauds the “excellent service” but not the “unimpressive bar food”:

So, on my next trip downtown I didn’t bother searching for real changes to Siné’s spruced up menus, and instead focused on the tried-and-true. I wasn’t looking for authentic Irish food. If I want that I’ll turn to my Grandmother Maryellen’s recipe box. And I wasn’t looking to be impressed, just satisfied; centuries before Virginia required bars to serve food, the Irish had perfected the art of using food as an accessory to drink. But even by these second-fiddle standards, I was let down.

Style’s weekly restaurant round-up Short Order confirms that Croaker’s Spot, the jewel of Jackson Ward, will be opening a 2nd location in Manchester:

A new branch of the soulful seafood business is under construction at 10th and Hull streets, part of the 50-unit Old Manchester Plaza apartment building. The second Croaker’s Spot will have 60 seats, a larger kitchen and a broader menu, says its operations vice president, Enjoli Moon. “We’ve been pretty blessed with a nice, steady flow of customers from the beginning,” she says, “and we’ve been asked to expand into this new location. There’s so much development going on, there are condos and apartments being built all over.” The Hanson Co. is developer on this project, not far from the Manchester Courthouse.

Fulton Hill’s Run to the River is a new, challenging 10k event to benefit the Neighborhood Resource Center (NRC). The event will lead runners along Richmond’s historic and scenic riverfront, with a 5K walk through Greater Fulton taking place simultaneously. Runners and walkers will celebrate at the finishing line party, which will feature an alternative health fair, healthy food, and live music in the NRC’s new Garden Cafe.

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Andrew Cothern has posted some great before&after photos from this weekend’s Arts in the Alley.

eating out rva puts together a $15 slice of pizza from Bottoms Up and says that it’s worth every penny:

To me, what separates the pizza boys from the pizza men is the sauce, and I will say that Bottoms Up had some of the tastiest red sauce I have come across- rich and tangy with just the right density and consistency to hold down the array of toppings. The toppings were well portioned out so that there was plenty of everything but not so much that it weighed it down or made it soggy. And the various cheeses tasted fresh and had the perfect gooey cheesy consistency as well. Probably the best thing was that the veggies were obviously not canned, but had been recently sliced.

Arts In The Alley; GlobeHopper 6 months celebration; Saturday Growers; Bohemian Market; Walking Tour of Historic Tredegar Iron Works; Arts In The Alley; Canal Boats And Cobblestones walking tour; Sunday Vintage Market; open mic @ Poe’s Pub; Mini Flicks & Stories; Thursday Fresh Market; Unhappy Hour @ the Poe Musem; MORE…

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In what may be the first ever review of the place not disparaging of the service, Ginger Warder visits Cafe Gutenberg for richmond.com and describes the experience as “great American food in a classic European environment”:

While the vibe is totally European brasserie, the cuisine is contemporary American, and I have yet to eat something at Café Gutenberg that I didn’t like. Chefs Jen Mindel and Garrett Berry use local and seasonal ingredients to create soul-satisfying meals from breakfast to dinner, and the prices are incredibly reasonable for the quality of ingredients.

The nationally-renowned SlamRichmond will be hosting first a Poetry Workshop (5PM, $5) and then a Poetry Show (8PM, $5) at ArtSpace Gallery (Zero E 4th St, 804-232-6464) this Saturday, August 23rd. [via]

wric8 confirms that good sized blue crabs have been spotted in our run of the James River.

When the river gets low, blue crabs often migrate up the James. [...] Michael Seebo of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science says the crabs may come to the river looking for freshwater clams to eat or for the higher oxygen levels found in rapidly moving water.

Once again, Manchester merchants, galleries and cafes are uniting to provide an evening of art, food and fun on Fourth Friday.

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The Richmond Folk Festival is set for Friday-Sunday Oct.10-12:

Last year, nearly 175,000 people came down to downtown Richmond’s riverfront to celebrate the roots, richness and variety of American culture through music, dance traditional crafts, storytelling and food. This year will offer the same overwhelming excellence you enjoyed last year, with a whole new list of performers, artists and exhibitors.

Arts in the Alley will be giving Shockoe Bottom a facelift and a party to celebrate this weekend.

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Shows of paintings by Marti Fann and photograph by Alison Overton will open the 2008-2009 season at 12 12 Gallery on August 24th with an artists’ reception that afternoon from 2-5PM. The show runs through Sunday, September 28th.

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Folks from the Back Porch Energy Initiative will show clips from the documentary Manufactured Landscapes at GlobeHopper coffee house on Monday evening as part of the ongoing Back Porch conversations. Gathering begins at 6:30PM, multi-media discussion begins promptly at 7PM.

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Sunday Vintage Market; Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Meeting; open mic @ Poe’s Pub; Agnostic Front; Mini Flicks & Stories; Thursday Fresh Market; Arts In The Alley; Walking Tour of Historic Tredegar Iron Works; Arts In The Alley; Canal Boats And Cobblestones walking tour; MORE…

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A few of the Richmond Tree Stewards were in Shockoe Bottom this morning putting in volunteer hours pruning the crepe myrtles along 18th Street. The autumn classes start in October if you want to get involved.

Like they did with dueling Black Sheep reviews, the RTD and richmond.com both have gushing reviews for Savor out today.

Southside Richmond, published by Shennen Dean, is a new community blog focused on the area in the 6th, 8th, and 9th Districts on the southside of the James River, south of where Hills & Heights and River District News leave off. Southside Richmond serves an area of Richmond that has mostly been offline up until now and ought to be a great addition to the pile of Richmond community blogs!

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A couple of big events are scheduled for the 17th Street Farmer’s Market in the next few months: Bakers’ Bonanza happens some time in September and Shockoe on the Halfshell, “our first-ever oyster festival”, is set for October 11-12.