My Winter "To Dine" List

I did okay on my fall "to dine" list: we made it two of the four restaurants on the list - A Chef's Kitchen in Williamsburg, VA, and Union Square Cafe in Manhattan.

Here's where I'd like to eat this winter:

• I still haven't made it to the Boot (not for lack of trying!), so it stays on the list.
• Topher & I still haven't made it to One Fish Two Fish either (my fault on that one).
• I'll add Blue Talon Bistro and Fat Canary, both in Williamsburg. (I'm hoping for another weekend getaway!)
• Terrapin - New American cuisine near the Virginia Beach oceanfront (a recommendation from Lisa Has Chickens via her aunt, who's a good friend of mine)

Let's see how well we do this quarter!

My Fall "To Dine" List

Here are a few places that I want to try this fall. Watch for reviews to come!

• The Chef's Kitchen - a restaurant in Williamsburg set up stadium-style, so you can watch the chefs prepare your meal and learn as you go; this one is leftover from my summer "to dine" list
• One Fish Two Fish - a seafood restaurant in northern Virginia Beach; also a leftover from my summer "to dine" list ... sort of ... to see what I mean, check out this post (it's a funny story)
• Boot - a "local kitchen & wine bar" in the Ghent area of Norfolk, specializing in locally grown foods
• Union Square Café - in NYC; uses meats & produce from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket; highly recommended by our good friend Jen

Actually, my "to dine" list is quite long, and it just keeps growing as I get recommendations from family & friends (which I love, by the way)!

Where are you dying to eat this fall? Do you have any suggestions for me?

Celebrating Local & Regional Food

It seems that August is the month for celebrating local & regional food, both here in Virginia and across the country.

This week (August 1-7) is National Farmers' Market Week, and the Suffolk Farmers' Market is celebrating today 10am-1pm with live banjo music, a rug weaving demonstration, special discounts and food samples, and a farm animal petting zoo.

The Virginia Dept of Agriculture & Consumer Services is sponsoring a Farmers' Market Photo Contest: "Submit your favorite digital photograph taken at a Virginia farmers' market between July 8, 2010 and August 18, 2010. The winners will receive a Virginia Grown/Virginia's Finest prize package worth $100 each."

So if you head out to the farmers' market today, don't forget to bring your camera!

Next week (August 8-14) is Farm to Feast Week, and 11 restaurants in the Hampton Roads area - including Stove, Tautog's, Todd Jurich's Bistro, the Boot, and Croc's Eco Bistro - will be offering 3-course meals that feature local meat, fish, wine, cheese, & produce for $20/$30.

And finally, the American Farmland Trust is sponsoring the America's Favorite Farmers' Markets contest - vote online now for your favorite market!

For some ideas on what to do with all the yummy produce you pick up at the market, check out this post from Whole Foods.

If you're on Twitter, you might like to follow ...

@VirginiaGrown

@BuyLocalHR

@saveourfood (from Richmond, VA)

@VAWineEvent

Note: Photo at top was found online here.

A Locals' Favorite in Ghent

Since my husband Topher and I switched churches a few months ago, there are some good friends who live in Norfolk that we don't get to see as often as we used to. So I make a point of scheduling "dates" with those friends every few weeks or so, to make sure we stay in touch. Plus, it gives me a great excuse to sample (and review) fun restaurants, like Press 626 and No Frill Grill.

No Frill Grill in Ghent is one of those places that you can always count on for a good meal and enjoyable dining experience. Their menu has something for everyone, and the atmosphere is casual and relaxed. The dining room isn't huge, so if you show up with a large party right at dinnertime, you might have to wait a while, but it's worth it. They also have a covered outdoor patio.

What I Ate:

• Grilled Chicken, Portabella and Andouille with wilted baby spinach, provolone, and sundried tomato garlic pesto over penne pasta, tossed with roasted red peppers, onions and tomatoes, served with herbed pita points - plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day!
• peach pie with vanilla ice cream - yeah, I know I just talked about leftovers, but there's always room for dessert

Other menu highlights include ...

• Spotswood Salad: baby spinach, granny smith apples, bleu cheese crumbles, bacon, Bermuda onions, radishes, cucumbers, red peppers, mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, caramelized almonds and raisins (add your choice of grilled chicken, grilled tuna, shrimp, or London broil for a few bucks more) - my cousins' wives LOVE this dish
• Crab cakes served with corn and black bean salsa, remoulade, cornbread and your choice of two sides - from a girl who tries everybody's crab cakes, these are pretty good
• New York Deli Style "Special": Medium rare roast beef (or oven roasted turkey or pastrami) piled high on thick Jewish rye bread with Swiss cheese, 1000 Island, coleslaw, tomatoes, onions, and spicy brown mustard

The Scoop:

No Frill Bar & Grill is located in Ghent at 806 Spotswood Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23517. They're open Sun-R 11am-10pm and F-Sat 11am-11pm. Their brunch menu is available on Sun 11am-3pm. You can reach them at (757)627-4262. They also have a location at Hilltop in Virginia Beach.

Note: The photo above of the Spotswood Salad is from HamptonRoads.com.

Birthday Dinner at Tautog's

My good friends Heather & Ally have birthdays only four days apart this week, so we celebrated together yesterday in Virginia Beach. The three of us laid by the pool for a couple of hours and read, then met up with our husbands for dinner at Tautog's.

Housed in the wood-shingled Winston Cottage just a block from the oceanfront boardwalk, Tautog's has a cozy atmosphere – a cute screen porch out front, lots of dark wood décor inside, and a friendly, laid back wait staff.

The regular menu includes standard "seafood at the beach" fare: crab cake sandwich, salmon salad, cornmeal-coated oven-fried catfish, tilapia au gratin with asparagus, and Mid-Atlantic pasta (penne tossed with shrimp, artichokes, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms in marinara sauce). Last night the specials looked amazing, so we decided to go with those.

They also have a pretty decent wine list, including quite a few from California (Seghesio, Frog's Leap, Hendry, Honig, Cakebread, and Chateau St. Jean). Topher chose a bottle of Nautilus for the table – a nice crisp, citrus-y New Zealand sauvignon blanc that went well with the fish.

The Appetizers:

• Spinach artichoke dip, served with corn chips – much better than the average dip! Made with cream cheese and large leaves of spinach
• A dozen steamed shrimp, served with butter & cocktail sauce
• She-crab soup – Ally's favorite that she generously let us taste – rich & creamy!

The Entrées:

• Topher: Pepper-seared mahi, served over pasta with homemade spicy red sauce, topped with chopped fresh herbs & lemon butter
• Ally, Heather, & Reid: Oven-baked salmon, served over Kahlua sweet potato hash and sautéed green beans, topped with saffron hollandaise
• Me & Seth: Oven-baked tilefish, served over buttermilk mashers and cauliflower infused with smoked apple wood bacon and parmesan, topped with Old Bay beurre blanc

The Dessert:

• Key lime pie

The Scoop:
Tautog's Restaurant at Winston's Cottage is located at 205 23rd Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. Their hours are Sun-W 5:30pm-12am, R-Sat 5:30pm-2am. Reservations (recommended) are available by calling 757-422-0081.

Three notes about my entrée:

1. I had never had tilefish before, so the guys enjoyed using their Blackberrys and iPhones to educate me on the spot: tilefish is a mild, firm white fish similar to flounder or tilapia. While delicious, it's not recommended for pregnant or nursing moms, due to concerns about its mercury content.
2. I feel that cauliflower is an overlooked and often neglected vegetable, kind of like the forgotten stepsister of broccoli. I appreciate a chef that can bring out its subtle flavors. :)
3. As the photo below attests, my entire dinner plate was white!

My Summer "To Dine" List

This summer I have a "to dine" (rather than a "to do") list. Here are a few places in Hampton Roads that I want to try:

• 465 Fish - a seafood restaurant in downtown Norfolk with a great reputation (we have a gift card from my Aunt Kay & Uncle David -- thanks so much!)
• Still - an allegedly chic tapas spot in Portsmouth (girls' night out, anyone?)
• The Chef's Kitchen - a restaurant in Williamsburg set up stadium-style, so you can watch the chefs prepare your meal and learn as you go (another gift card from my Aunt Kay & Uncle David - thanks!)
• Todd Jurich's Bistro - we went for restaurant week in February and were slightly underwhelmed (the food was good, but not great), but we have a gift certificate, and I'm looking forward to giving it another chance
• Amici's Pizza Cafe - a Suffolk favorite; I've been there only once, with some girlfriends; the food was good, but the service was less than impressive (our supposed 20-minute wait for a table turned into a 45-minute wait; once seated, we waited another 20 minutes for the waitress to even take our order); I'm hoping Topher & I will have a better experience next time

Here's to happy summer eating!

Il Giardino and the Shamrock 8K

About two months before our wedding, my husband ran the 2009 Shamrock 8K in Virginia Beach with some friends from work. He had been doing CrossFit with them for several months at that point and was in terrific shape. I, sadly, was not. He wanted me to run with them, but I wiggled off the hook: my maid of honor planned a bridal brunch in Philadelphia for me that weekend (thanks, Anne!).

This year, no such luck. March 20th was wide open on my calendar. So in January, I reluctantly agreed to train for and run the 2010 Shamrock 8K with him (and some friends from our church). Neither of us likes to run, but he's much better about it than I am. I HATE running. Throw me in a pool and I'll swim for hours, but lace up my tennis shoes and I'm toast.

The race started at 8am in Virginia Beach, about an hour drive for our house, so we got a hotel room on the oceanfront the night before. Our good friends Jen & Rob were also at the beach that weekend, so the four of us decided that we should carb load together at Il Giardino.

The meal was amazing, but I was most impressed by Jen & Rob's six-year-old daughter: she special-ordered a dozen clams steamed in butter & garlic and proceeded to eat them all by herself!

What I Ate:

• Calamari Fritti - Squid, lightly dusted with flour & deep fried, served with marinara sauce
• Capellini Piselli e Proscuitto - angel hair, tomato cream sauce, mushrooms, peas, & proscuitto ham
• Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc, Napa, 2005
• Caymus Conundrum, California, 2007

The Scoop:

Il Giardino Ristorante (http://www.ilgiardino.com/) is located at 910 Atlantic Avenue, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. Their hours are 5-11pm. Reservations are available by calling 757-422-6464.

Back to the race: Since I had promised my husband that I would run the 8K with him, I did. Or at least I tried. He runs a 9-minute mile. I run/walk a 12-minute mile. After trying to stay together for the first half mile or so, I let him beg off and run at his own pace. He finished about 20 minutes before me, but we both finished. I'm proud to say that I've done it, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to do it again.