My drive from DC to Darien had a scheduled stopover in Richmond, and that’s where I met up with Neffie.
It was my first time meeting her and we first started chatting on the AMBW forum on Facebook.
We agreed to meet at B & B Seafood – there were lots of people coming for snowcrab legs and shrimp. Neffie and I decided on crab cakes and peel and eat shrimp. The crab cakes were delicious, thick with very little filler. For $25, Neffie and I gorged on four cakes and a pound of shrimp – a great bargain.
After dinner we decided to head down to Shockoe to get some drinks. We entered an Irish pub and met a nice bartender named Katie who welcomed us to take a seat.
“So what’s the story behind this pub?”
“Poe’s Pub has been here for 25 years. Mike Britt owns the restaurant and building.”
“Wow, I’ve always thought that Edgar Allen Poe was from Baltimore – that’s why the city chose to name their football team after his most spooky poem.”
“Yes indeed, The Raven – I’m grown to admire his poetry working here,” Katie said.
A fellow sitting to the right of me chimed in. “While Poe was born in Boston and lived in Baltimore, he considered Richmond his home and the Poe Museum is just down the road.”
“Interesting – you learn something new everyday. Do you come here often?”
“I’ve been coming to Poe’s since the late 90s. Back then I lived up the hill and have become good friends with Mike, and also his son Dan.”
“Yeah the drinks are reasonably priced and the food is really good,” another patron at the end of the bar chimed in.
“Really, what do you recommend?””You should try the Poe’s Chili with the Ravens fries.”
We were still stuffed from our seafood feast, so we were content just ordering drinks. Neffie had never drank a Guinness before and since we were in an Irish pub, we didn’t mind celebrating St. Patrick’s Day a tad early.
“So did Poe drink Guinness?’ I asked naively.
“Don’t know. Poe wasn’t Irish but Dan tells me that Poe loved absinthe, and he drank a lot of it.
“Perfect, and that’s why he has his own namesake pub,” added Neffie.
“Yes, in that case, pour me an ounce of that , and I’ll take it with the sugar.”
“I’m sorry, it’s actually banned in this country. The alcohol could kill you long before you got drunk from it.”
No that wouldn’t be good at all – in Poe’s case, that would be a very unhappy hour.
