Edo's Squid

If someone asked me to name my top three favorite restaurants in Richmond, one of them would definitely be Edo's Squid, or Mama Zu, both owned by Ed Vasaio.

Edo's Quid is located at 411 N. Harrison St., near the intersection of Grace & Harrison streets, in the heart of VCU. Over the years I have been to Edo's at least a dozen times, and I would say 98% of the time I have walked away from my table a very satisfied customer. The ambiance is fantastic, the food is excellent, the "feel" of Edo's is without a doubt electrifying, and even though the noise level is high, it is one of Richmond's premier restaurant's. Enough accolades. Let's move on to the review.

I arrived at 12:27 on a Wednesday afternoon, and was seated promptly by a very pleasant waitress who asked for my drink order, and within a few minutes returned with my iced tea and a basket of fresh bread.  The bread was exactly how I like it, with a crunchy crust and a nice softness to the bread itself. At 12:33 I placed my order for the "Spaghetti and Clams" ( Linguine is not served) which is priced very reasonably at $10.00, and continued to look over their menu and munch on the great bread. At 12:45 my bowl of Spaghetti and Clams arrived and I was immediately taken by surprise by the amount of broth in my bowl. The broth was heavy on clam juice and oil , as opposed to an oil, butter mixture. There must have been at least three cups, maybe four, of garlic infused broth. I am a large fan of garlic, and I know from previous experience's that Edo's is heavy on the garlic, but this broth was just way too much liquid for the amount of spaghetti that was served. The amount of spaghetti was fine for a lunch portion, but proportionally the broth  vs. spaghetti was out of whack. On the positive side, the clams were cooked perfectly, as was the spaghetti, and I counted 10 clams(all in their shells) total in my bowl. The broth did have a nice flavor to it, and I definitely tasted the red pepper flakes, which I thought added to this dish. I would like to know how many garlic cloves are diced into each bowl of Spaghetti and Clams, because it seemed with every bite of pasta I twisted around my fork, there must have been five pieces of garlic.

My overall experience having Spaghetti and Clams at Edo's was fine, but not the "wow" experience I would have expected from this establishment. I would say the best part of the meal was the crunchy bread dipping into the garlic infused broth, and savoring the flavor of the entire mixture in my bowl. What threw me off was not the flavor of the broth, which I thought was very tasty, (albeit too watery), but the amount of the broth.

 My search contiunes to find the very best Linguine and Clams in Richmond. Next week I will be visiting La Grotta in Shockoe Slip, to find out if they have what it takes to have the very best Linguine and Clams in Richmond.