Photo by Breonca Trofort
Richmond has some darned good, established restaurants. One of those, without a doubt, is Pegasus on Patterson Avenue. Run by a lovely Greek family and a chef who makes everything from scratch, you can understand why they have a loyal following. But the attention to detail, the quality of the ingredients and a great bar make it worth a visit. Very honestly, we had driven by this place for a couple of years until one day, we just got curious enough to stop.
On our first visit, my husband tried his famous test dish. Veal parmigiana is simple enough, but it's easy not to do well — there's just no place to hide. At Pegasus, the veal scallopinni were hand-cut, pounded thinly, dusted in flour and quickly sautéed. When covered in a homemade red sauce and a high-caliber cheese, and thrown in a hot oven, it's about as good as this dish gets.
It was nice to know that the Greek green beans that came with it were served with a different red sauce. There are too many kitchens in town where there's one red sauce — and it goes on everything.
Commercial salad dressings are pretty easy to spot, but there are none to be seen at Pegasus. The house dressing is homemade and full of freshly squeezed lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic and oregano, making for a beautifully clean and fresh-tasting salad.
We've been back frequently, and my husband's favorite dessert is tiramisu. That's a home run here, too.
We've taken guests, we've taken family and we've consistently had fabulous meals. I dearly love family-owned and -operated restaurants, and Pegasus is a great example. It's open only for dinner Monday through Saturday, and it's well worth calling ahead. With good food, good service and a welcoming environment, I think it's time to take Pegasus out of hiding and share it with everyone.
Pegasus
5604 Patterson Ave., 282-3719, pegasusrichmond.com
Prices: Appetizers $6 to $13; entrées $12 to $26.
Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. Friday to Saturday.
