UR Hungry: The Daily

UR Hungry: The Daily Kitchen and Bar

When The Daily first opened up in Carytown I was very intrigued by its health focused menu, constant busy environment, and trendy atmosphere. I have now eaten at The Daily twice and can attest to why it is always so full with people.

 

The Daily is located in Carytown on the same block as The Byrd Theatre. It has a busy bar scene, good food, and nice outdoor seating. The atmosphere is very trendy but down to earth with trees and branches being the theme throughout their decor and logo.

 

I've been to the restaurant twice, once for dinner on a quiet Wednesday night and once for appetizers and drinks at the bar on a Saturday night. Wednesday evening was pretty calm and there were still plenty of people there to enjoy a nice meal in good company. Saturday night was a completely different story: there was at least an hour wait and no open seats at the bar, the noise level was pretty loud, and it had been this crowded starting at 5 PM. We weren't sure if we would be able to get seats but we only ended up waiting a few minutes to find seats at the bar since most people at the bar were waiting to be seated at a table.

 

I have ordered a variety of items off the menu including soup, salad, appetizers, pizza, and dessert and all of them were very light and delicious.

 

The soup I ordered was a special of the day and was a 3-lentil soup; it was very tasty but semi-bland and I was pretty over it before I was even halfway through. My friend and I ordered the edamame crostinis to share and I thought they were unique, delightful, and good for you. The crostinis had edamame, sweet corn, feta, roasted peppers, and balsamic reduction. The seared rare tuna salad was also healthy and yummy; it is mixed greens and seared rare tuna with edamame, grilled pineapple, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, and sesame vinaigrette. It was one of those salads that had so many leaves that I did not think the lettuce to toppings ratio would work out, but it was actually a nice balance. The waitress warned me that the salad was huge and she was right, I could barely eat half of it! My friend ordered the chicken stir-fry; it was probably the first stir-fry I have ever had that was not greasy but still flavorful.

 

The next time I went there my friend and I just wanted to have a light meal and a cocktail before going out. Throughout the meal we ordered a few different drinks: the triple ginger, the acai-blueberry martini, and the salted caramel apple martini. The martinis were very good (and the apple one had brown sugar on the rim!) but the triple ginger was straight bourbon...still wonderful but not what I had intended to order. We decided to order the seared scallops to start and they were probably the most unique dish I have tried there. They are maple-chipotle glazed seared scallops with pomegranate and sweet potato puree. They were also served with a watermelon foam and all of the flavors combined were surprisingly lovely. Then we wanted to order a pizza and the waiter recommended we get it on the gluten free crust since it is crunchier than the regular crust. We decided to order the mushroom and kale pizza which comes with pesto, mozzarella, parmesan, smoked cippolini onions, and truffle oil. It was really flavorful but not overpowering and we absolutely loved it. Then for dessert we ordered the passion fruit brulee that came with a tres leches cake coconut macaroon. As soon as I see passion fruit on a menu I am inclined to order it since it is found far and few between and the tres leches macoroon just sealed the deal. The tartness of the brulee and the sweetness of the macaroon balanced each other well and was a great ending to a great meal.

 

The Daily is a super trendy and fun restaurant in a great location. I would definitely recommend going there for any meal (I hear their brunch is great...) but I preferred going there to just have a couple of appetizers and drinks. If you are looking to eat healthy and be satisfied, this is the place to be.

Contact contributor Sarah Stewart at sarah.stewart@richmond.edu