Category: Adventures in Eating

We are participating in the Motorcycle Grand Tour of Virginia 2013. It has stops that are hotels, bike shops, and restaurants. Today I (Gary) decided to take a ride and visit a few of the stops. My route took me to Port Royal and the River Haven Restaurant.

I walked in and was greeted by one of the nicest hostesses that I have ever met. She sat me next to the widow overlooking the river. I sent a message back to MaryJo with a picture of where I had stopped for lunch.

It took me a while to narrow the food choices down to just two. I asked which was a better choice, the Lobster Mac and Cheese or the Crab Cake sandwich. She told me that both were great, but she liked the crab cake sandwich. I took her advice and was more than pleased.

We will have to go back to try more things on the menu, including the desserts.

Stay tuned for more on this place!

Not bad for a Japanese place near Williamsport. Unexpected.

Hacienda El Paso in Fairfax. DEFINITELY.–has now closed. I am in mourning. We drove by one night, and it was gone!
Los Arcos in Bristol, VA.
Tippy’s Taco House in Centreville. Old standard. Can’t go wrong with this. Just plain old comfort food.
El Charro.
The Mexican restaurant in Floyd, VA.

The Rio Seafood Buffet.
The TI Buffet.
Hash House A Go Go.
RA Sushi (2 times)
Winchell’s Bar and Grille
Bread and Butter (2 times)
Pho at the TI (2 times, one by myself)
The Coffee Shop at TI
The American Grill at the Rio (me, myself, and I)
Kahunaville at the TI (2 times)

Fallback places….
Starbuck’s
Dairy Queen
Ben and Jerry’s

Don’t even bother–Senor Frog’s at the TI

   

CRONUTS!

If you ever are in Las Vegas and are in need of a great breakfast fix, go out to Henderson and check this place out.

The smoked salmon bagel plate is better than anything you could ever get anywhere else, and for the price, I got a big heap of salmon, scrambled eggs, sliced red onion, capers, tomato slices, cream cheese–and oh, yeah, a toasted fresh (and I mean fresh) huge bagel.

We had to throw in the cronut–the vanilla custard filling. The only difference between the one today and the ones Gary and I had two days before was that the smaller ones had one less layer. The regular size ones have two layers of incredible filling, but there is nothing like a fresh-made cronut.

And the other pastries…they are really huge. Worth the trip. Just look at the pictures. And you thought we were kidding.

How about home-cooking: cold boiled shrimp (cooked in water with seafood broil seasoning, a halved lemon, a celery stick and peppercorns) and couscous (out of a box) mixed with chickpeas, dried cranberries, and pecans? Sitting on the deck with a whiskey sour for Gary and Fanta orange for me. Relaxed and enjoying the sunshine.

Yum.

It is with mixed emotions that I write this review.

We were out and about in Vienna last night after work. Waiting for the light to change at Nutley and Rt123, MaryJo asks if I am hungry now or if I want to wait until we get home. With it being about 7:30, I was hungry. We both spot this little place in the strip mall next to us. Almost as if an omen, the car in front pulls forward just enough that I can pull into the lot.

We look over the menu in the window and decide to go in. We order hummus and a pair of Gyro platters. I have had some good gyros, and some bad ones, in the past. I never prejudge how it will come out. The hummus and pita bread came out and it was great. This was a sign of things to come (MJ’s comments follow from here…)

One of the best gyros we have had the pleasure of eating. Wow. For a one-man operation, this was excellent. The meat was tender, the sauce just the right consistency, not watery like other sauces when you combine cucumbers and yoghurt together. And the salad? The home-made dressing, which was the chef’s secret recipe, was fantastic. Definitely worth a return trip.

Get the breakfast platter with ham. It was a thin slice of country ham, salty and cooked just right, scrambled eggs, the little potato rounds fried crisp, and a serving of biscuit and sausage gravy. And the gravy was among the best I’ve had. And it’s a chain, but I think it’s because it was Southern food in a Southern town. I’d eat here again in a heartbeat.

Shares a building with Roma, another Italian place, down the street from Anna’s.

Wow. For the price, we had our fill of good food, especially shrimp. For another ten bucks, you can get snow crab legs in the buffet, but shrimp was enough for me. Garlic shrimp, spiced shrimp, seafood combo, shrimp fried rice.

Friendly servers. Homey atmosphere. And a shy toddler at the next table who was willing to play peek-a-boo.

What else could you ask for on a Saturday night?

Shrimp scampi for me and lasagna for Gary. Don’t get your hopes up. Tiramisu left much to be desired.

Maybe we’ll try something simpler off the menu next time.