Hot Tomato Summer Menu Is Insanely Delicious!; “If You’re Not Careful…”; Strauss And The Big Screen; Gettin’ Fizzy With It; Fundraising Ride.

RVA 5x5 - Easy Evening Read - July 24, 2023

No algorithms. No content filters. Honest and insightful analysis.
You can find the 5 main stories from Friday’s edition here, and today features the “ALT 5” stories for a nice, leisurely, evening read. Enjoy!

This week check out our five stories on:

• The Hot Tomato Summer is now on at eateries near you and serving up insane delights starring Duke’s mayo and Hanover tomatoes. What a great combo and what a great menu…

• A great quote (and warning) about the Mayor’s plan to dissolve the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which would remove the proper oversight and transparency and turn funding for affordable housing into nothing but a political patronage tool and cash dispenser for politicos (and friends) at Tammany-City Hall.

• There is buzz on the street about the movie “Oppenheimer” and one of the main characters (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) grew up right here in RVA and lived a very interesting life (certainly once he left Richmond — coincidence?)

• A local non-profit is continuing to ride bikes to raise funds and raise awareness to help those with physical disabilities have access to sporting opportunities in the region.

• If you are a kombucha or kefir lover (or more likely a hater), you might want to take a look at Owl Spoon Water Kefir and their emerging line of water kefir options — they promise all the gut-healthy probiotics without the “acquired taste” of the more tangy and sour aforementioned fizzy drinks.

THE ALT 5

ALT #1 — OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Hot Tomato Summer Menu Is Insanely Delicious!
It is late July, and late July means tomatoes, and tomatoes mean Duke’s Mayonnaise. And tomatoes+Duke’s=Hot Tomato Summer, which runs today through Sunday, July 30th all over town — and the menu looks insanely and dangerously delicious.

As we wrote back in June (The Duke Is King), Richmond’s own Duke’s Mayonnaise created the Hot Tomato Summer event for Richmond a few years ago and has expanded it to three other cities. Here is part of that post:

Each city’s participating restaurants will endeavor to to create combinations of Duke’s and tomatoes that might sound strange at first but taste delicious when experienced. For example, last summer’s big hit was the Nightingale Ice Cream’s Duke’s Mayo and Banana Ice Cream Sammy, which on the surface sounds weird but it is quickly overruled by the taste buds. Do yourself a favor and find one this summer. On the podcast everyone also fawned all over the Duke’s Ice Cream scoop at Ruby’s Scoops which apparently is out of this world! They also mention a crab dish at CanCan with Duke’s which, again, doesn't sound right, but hey, it’s worth a shot!

And if that isn’t enough to make you hungry, then listen to the podcast starting around the 27:40 mark (I had to listen to this part twice to make sure). That’s where Lupesco reveals that during this summer’s Hot Tomato Summer, social media users who take a photo of their Duke-inspired goodies and tag them @dukes_mayonnaise (thus spreading the gospel), Duke’s will then “Ven-may-o” you the cost of it and maybe even some Duke’s swag to boot. Thats right — they will pay you to eat delicious delights made with Duke’s mayonnaise and tomatoes.