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Photo by Ash Daniel
Cider-braised rabbit with dark cherry compote, served over gingersnap spaetzle
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Photo by Ash Daniel
Classic tarte Tatin atop house-made caramel sauce and buttermilk crème fraîche, with a Riesling-and-ginger-poached pear
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Photo by Ash Daniel
Chapel Creek Oysters Rockefeller with spinach, pine nuts and mascarpone, topped with grated Gruyère
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Photo by Ash Daniel
L'Opposum interior
Photo by Ash Daniel
Chef David Shannon bought the picture at a boardwalk art show in Virginia Beach when he was 5 or 6 years old. The painting of a black-and-white dog with a cutesy red cat hangs in a corner of L’Opossum — Shannon’s new restaurant in Oregon Hill — alongside morel mushroom statuary and an Andy Warhol portrait. Dark Shadows and Star Wars collectible plates dot crepuscular walls, barely illuminated. Shannon fills the rest of his 1970s time capsule of a dining room with French culinary skill with a Southern spin, throwing shade at formality.
Order a drink. Stew on the interior. Listen to Dusty Springfield. Pore over the whimsically worded menu because it, like the décor, demands your full attention.
Shannon grew up in Richmond in an era of Southern potluck cuisine: ham biscuits, ambrosia salad, black bottom cupcakes — the restoratives found at church picnics and funerals. You’ll find elevated versions of some of these dishes on his menu today. After a stint at the New England Culinary Institute, he rose to executive sous chef at The Inn at Little Washington, cooked at Helen’s and in 2003, opened Dogwood Grille and Spirits. Along the way, Shannon gathered servers and cooks who’ve become his collaborative posse. Like a director, he scripts image-driven mnemonics, employing “Shannonisms,” little stories within the dishes, which force you to remember his food. Take for example the “Eldorado Low Rider: a succulent lobster taco rolling up on a Tomatillo Drift.” The name belies the work: shelling lobster; sweating tomatillos; soaking, boiling and drying black beans before deep frying them; searing foie gras. When I speed off post-meal, I think of that unusual ensemble cast of goose liver, avocado, beans and lobster.
L’Opossum has so much fun with its name, vittles and décor that you could just as easily call it LOLpossum.
With a classical menu of rabbit, baby chicken and foie gras that could incite a PETA protest, choices are playfully categorized by course — “Les Appetizers,” “Les Entrées” and “Lez Deezerts” — avoiding small plates entirely. We begin with tubby escargot on a ham biscuit. The snails need more salt, but the sweet, garlicky beurre blanc and house-made quick bread redeems. Another appetizer, Chapel Creek Oysters Rockefeller, divides the table; one loves the crème fraîche in the spinach filling, while another had her heart set on less cream. Agreeable to both is the fragrant tableside squirt of absinthe. A 1990s classic, grilled Caesar salad, resurfaces in eggy, white anchovy glory. We wipe the plate with our bread to get it all.
At L’Opossum, main dishes are canvasses for complicated kitchen brushstrokes. Madame Dot du Powhatan’s cider-braised rabbit, peppered with gingersnap spaetzle, is a must-try. Whole, semi-boned, pan-fried chicken over mashed-potato waffles gets even better with the addition of cayenne cinnamon butter.
Some entrées remind me of elevated country club fare: lump-crab-topped filet mignon, seasoned with country ham scraps, shallots and Champagne; crab cakes in a tangy, tarragon-laced béarnaise. I’d buy a membership to eat at this club.
Craft cocktails and thoughtful French and American wines by the glass wash everything down with ease. Enjoy exploring lesser-known wines, like the Treveri Cellars Extra-Brut “Blanc de Blanc” from Washington state. The zero-dosage, dry sparkler makes for a great beginning, but pairs especially well with the lobster taco. One nit-picky observation: When asked if the wine was dry or off-dry, our server couldn’t say.
On a sweet note, happy endings like the black bottom cupcakes à la mode with vanilla gelato, chocolate ganache and whipped cream are not to be rushed, but savored. The Oregon Hill Alley Apple dessert arrives all apple tarte Tatin. I have to ask about the meaning of “alley apples,” and the answer might explain why restaurants in Oregon Hill are nearly windowless: When moving in, a neighbor told Shannon that Oregon Hill alley apples are “bricks thrown through the window of someone that pisses you off.” Perhaps the architects were just being cautious, but they needn’t have bothered; L’Opossum is deliciously hospitable enough to afford installing a picture window, if they so chose.
L’Opossum
918-6028
626 China St.
lopossum.com
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight
Prices: $7-$29
