Caliente Caliente
2922 Park Ave. (N. Sheppard St.)
Richmond, VA 23221
804-340-2920
Map
Cuisine: Eclectic
Hot spot offers fun and food sparked by anywhere the sun shines.
Openings: Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly, Brunch Sat.-Sun.
Caliente, Richmond, VA


Caliente Restaurant Review:


Even if you flunked high school Spanish, you still might remember that "caliente" means "hot." After one meal at this friendly corner restaurant and bar, you won’t forget. Caliente’s theme is anyplace warm, tropical or sweat-inducing. That’s why stuffed jalapeños seems right at home on the menu next to a Thai Cobb salad, which nudges in next to low country shrimp and grits. Mussels span accents from lemon grass and green curry to Cajun. Not every dish carries a through-the-roof heat index. A quesadilla with chicken, for example, delivers more of a slow, smoldering burn than a melt-your-eyeballs inferno, and island breeze chicken, with a toasted-coconut crust and orange-chipotle vinaigrette, is as much sweet as heat. But if you order Stupid Wings, you’re on your own you daredevil, and even the swell microbrew selection might not be able to save you. Desserts ignite excitement, too, be it the signature piña colada bread pudding with coconut rum hard sauce or a rotating, titillating “something chocolate du jour.” A colorful panoply of hot-sauce bottles lines the kitchen pass-through window like strung fiesta lights and the whole feel, from the outdoor patio to the inside bar, is more south of some border than museum district.