David Shannon’s masterpiece restaurant transports you to another world.
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Clockwise from top: White Asparagus Vichyssoise Caressed by Virginia Viognier, Les Escargots à la Ham Biscuit, and Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras Havin’ a Fit of Spring Fever.
Photography by Fred + Elliott
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Les Escargots à la Ham Biscuit
The atmosphere is dark and moody, but the décor is light and fun. You’ll find anything from Star Wars collectible plates emblazoned with the Millennium Falcon to foot-tall golden statues of Michelangelo’s David lining the red walls—all items owner and chef David Shannon has collected over the years. “I wanted to capture the feeling of the restaurants I grew up with in the ’60s and ’70s,” says Shannon. Specifically, he wanted to evoke the contrived fanciness of a French restaurant of that era—“a French restaurant in the Cleveland airport in 1977,” he says. What he has accomplished with his Richmond restaurant, L’Opossum sur la Colline de l’Orégon, is transportive.
Chef David Shannon
The Richmond native attended Virginia Commonwealth University, studying art history, before getting into the catering business with a friend. Finding a new direction, he attended the New England Culinary Institute, and then worked under chef Daniel Bonnot at Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel in New Orleans and chef Patrick O’Connell at The Inn at Little Washington, where he started at the cold station and worked his way up to executive sous chef. Earning his stripes under renowned chefs, he would go on to open his own restaurant in 2003. Richmond’s Dogwood Grille and Spirits provides the origin story for many of the dishes on Shannon’s current menu—he has cooked versions of some for many years. But choosing to sell Dogwood in 2007, Shannon needed a change of pace. He swore off the restaurant business and began working as an addiction advocate.
And yet there was an itch that was hard to ignore. “I would drive by empty buildings, imagining what kind of restaurant I would open there,” Shannon says. When he saw 626 China Street, in Richmond’s Oregon Hill neighborhood, he knew exactly what he would do with the space. Shannon opened the doors of L’Opossum in 2014.
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La Petite Mort au Chocolat en Flambé
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Filet Mignon of Beef “Swellington”
Sipping complementary mint-infused water and reading the menu pulls you deeper into Shannon’s world. Fabergé Egg Bèdazzled with Caviar and Dill Cured Salmon with Vodka Powered Accoutrements et les Jigglés de la Champagne Rose. Tangier Island Oysters Rock in a Green Fairy Fog of Absinthe Mist. Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras Havin’ a Fit of Spring Fever. Housemade bread is served with butter, “whipped real good.” Shannon explains that his fanciful dish names are meant to break the ice between the server and customer. In previous experiences, “A customer would ask a question, and the server would lean over and read off the menu,” he says. His menu lowers the wall and gets a dialogue going without a script. Plus, he says, it’s fun to write.
Autumn Olive Farms Pork Cheek Stuffed Roast Quail Creole
Les Escargots à la Ham Biscuit is the dish that best encapsulates Shannon’s culinary goal: Southern food spiked with French inspiration. The buttery escargots, a stereotypical French menu item, cascade from the salty Virginia dish of Shannon’s youth. The venison carpaccio, “orbiting Jupiter in a constellation of lingonberry, rosemary, mustard, rocket, and gin,” is painted onto the plate like abstract art. A Winter Bouquet of Manakintowne Mesclun, with grapefruit, avocado, chèvre, and candied pistachios, topped with an orb of tarragon-infused Campari ice, refreshes.
As first dishes fade, entrées materialize. Pork belly and sea scallops (“a searing paradox”), perfectly cooked, are warming and tender. Crisp pork cheek-stuffed quail with Creole dirty rice and crawdads harkens back to Shannon’s time in New Orleans. The Swank Bank—macaroni and cheese dressed with white truffle mornay cream and studded with buttery Maine lobster—is already rich, but is nevertheless finished with shaved black truffle. Dessert is a production. La Petite Mort au Chocolat with black cherry compote is drizzled with liquor and set aflame. Foie gras bread pudding is another classic given new personality. The food is satisfying—as deeply comforting as it is indulgent.
Likewise, the bar program, led by William Seidensticker, comprises both classics featuring local ingredients, such as the Belle Isle Negroni with grapefruit moonshine, and twists on the traditional, as with Safeword, made with Plymouth gin, Chartreuse, and Domaine de Canton. With Throwing Shade, Seidensticker completes Woodford Reserve bourbon and Aperol with brûléed orange.
Statues of David in the dining room.
Supported by sous chef Jared Martin, Shannon changes the menu when the mood strikes. His cravings have proved to be spot on: Shannon was named a 2016 James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region. In 2018, L’Opossum was awarded the South’s Best Restaurant by Southern Living.
As for the name of the restaurant itself? It is another nod to Shannon’s marriage of his Virginia heritage with French influence, laced with a dose of his humor. “Well, you add ‘L’’ to something, and it’s supposed to make it fancy,” he explains, “like Pepé Le Pew.” He smirks. “But it’s still a skunk.” LOpossum.com
This article originally appeared in our August 2019 issue.
