Garnett's

Garnett's Restaurant Review:

Souvenir plates adorn the walls and wicker picnic baskets line the shelves at this pie wedge of an eatery, exhibiting the quaint and quirky charm of a favorite great-aunt. But there’s a hipness, too, a contemporary undercurrent, that makes sandwiches like chicken salad and sliced cold meatloaf, which could have come straight from a mid-twentieth-century American housewife’s playbook, feel fresh and now. Classic croque monsieur or a twist on the croque such as the Provençal adding tomato-and-herb mayo, as well as a ploughman’s plate ramp up the eclecticism. The same menu of soups, sandwiches and salads holds sway all day and night. Beer and wine are available, but it’s more fun to watch proprietress Kendra Feather, who also owns the vegetarian Ipanema Café near VCU and is a co-owner of The Roosevelt and WPA Bakery, hand-juice lemons for an effervescent ade. Desserts, made at WPA, change often and could be a mixed berry pie with an undulating crust or the preternatural red cardinal cake (named for the state bird, it’ll set you humming).