Foode has always been making food fit for a proper, white-walled, grand building. Before it moved into the National Bank Building (where Abraham Lincoln once spoke on the steps)—the vault is now one of the dining rooms—Foode sat around the corner with 30 seats inside, plus an alley morphed into a darling patio with tables and chairs. The Southern-ish theme moved along with majority owners Joy Crump and Beth Black into a space holding more than three times as many guests. Good thing, too, because this place is packed.
Like many menus today, the top half is loaded with snacks and starters and shareable plates best for nibbles over early cocktails or, better yet, to mingle with all night (most of these dishes are under $10). There’s pimento cheese toast, a carryover from the old location, and the irresistible crispy fried chicken skins. Curls of pink shrimp are spotted with marks from the heat and are good enough alone, but pairing it with bright black cherries and a cutting tarragon butter sauce turns this into something far beyond its parts. A sumptuous bed of soft polenta welcomes mushrooms and corn, plus a pop from chevre, for a dish both comforting and fun, just like Foode.
Foode
Modern American | $$$
900 Princess Anne St., Fredericksburg
