The Roanoke Times | File photo.

For the second year in a row, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is working with restaurants to raise money for the country’s most visited national park — that’s right, the Blue Ridge Parkway attracts more visitors every year than Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon combined.

But it lacks funding, so it needs our help. The Blue Ridge Parkway brings in an estimated $2.3 billion in revenue to localities situated along its path, so it makes sense that some local businesses are giving back. The money raised through this fundraising effort, Plates for the Parkway, will be used for various projects such as the ones described here. Last year, Plates for the Parkway raised $8,000.

Here’s how this works: Participating restaurants agree to donate a certain percentage of their profits between June 10 and 13 to the foundation. Some restaurants plan special events to raise money for their donations. All you have to do is go out to eat at a participating restaurant during the designated time.

Here are the participating restaurants for 2013 and their donation amounts. The foundation is still looking for additional restaurants to support this cause, so if you are a restaurateur reading this and you’d like to help, click here.

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The Virginia Cooperative Extension offices in Floyd and Montgomery County sent along the following information about upcoming canning classes.

April 27: Home Food Preservation Safety
This is a prerequisite course for all home food preservation classes. Topics to be covered are common food-borne pathogens; basic sanitation and safeguards against bacterial and cross-contamination; proper temperatures for food preservation and the role altitude plays. A receipt will be handed out to those in attendance at the close of the class and must be presented upon future registration for home food preservation classes.
Location: Jessie Peterman Library, 321 W. Main St., Floyd, Va.
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Fee: Free. No registration necessary.

May 18: Home Food Preservation Safety
See April 27 listing.
Location: Montgomery Co.: St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 2803 Merrimac Road, Blacksburg, VA
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Fee: Free. No registration necessary.

May 25: WBC 101: Basics of Water Bath Canning
Learn the basics of safely canning high-acid foods in a boiling water bath. Topics to be covered are: Basic jars, pots and utensils; what is a high-acid food; adding acidity to foods; problem solving; recognizing a product gone bad. Class is hands on.  Participants will prepare, pack, process, and take home a jar of a high-acid food. Please wear comfortable closed-toe shoes. An apron is suggested but optional. Prerequisite for this class is completion of the Home Food Preservation Safety Class (see above listings). Class is limited to 15 participants.
Location: Montgomery Co.: St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 2803 Merrimac Road, Blacksburg, Va.
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Fee: $15 in advance, $20 at the door (as space allows). Contact the Floyd Cooperative Extension Office to register at 540-745-9307. Payment may be mailed to or dropped off at the office at 209 Fox St NW, Floyd, VA 24091.  Remember, the only reservation is a paid reservation.

June 1: Basics of Water Bath Canning
See May 25 listing.
Location: Floyd Co.: Farm Bureau, 335 E. Oxford St, Floyd Va
Time: 1pm-4pm
Fee: $15 in advance, $20 at the door space providing.  Contact the Floyd Cooperative Extension Office to register at 540-745-9307. Payment may be mailed to or dropped off at the office at 209 Fox St NW, Floyd, VA 24091. Remember, the only reservation is a paid reservation.

June 15: PC 101: Basics of Pressure Canning
Learn the basics of safely canning low-acid foods in a pressure canner.  Topics to be covered are: basic jars, pots and utensils; a pressure cooker is not a pressure canner; what is a low-acid food; problem solving; recognizing a product gone bad. Class is hands-on. Participants will prepare, pack, process, and take home a jar of a low-acid food. Please wear comfortable closed-toe shoes. An apron is suggested but optional. Bring your pressure canner dial gauges for calibration. Prerequisite for this class is completion of the Home Food Preservation Safety Class (see above listing). Class is limited to 15 participants.
Location: Floyd County: Farm Bureau, 335 E. Oxford St, Floyd, Va.
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Fee: $15 in advance, $20 at the door (as space allows). Contact the Floyd Cooperative Extension Office to register at 540-745-9307. Payment may be mailed to or dropped off at the office at 209 Fox St NW, Floyd, VA 24091. Remember, the only reservation is a paid reservation.

June 22: PC 101: Basics of Pressure Canning
See June 15 listing.
Location: Montgomery Co.: St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 2803 Merrimac Road, Blacksburg, Va.
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Fee: $15 in advance, $20 at the door (as space allows). Contact the Floyd Cooperative Extension Office to register at 540-745-9307. Payment may be mailed to or dropped off at the office at 209 Fox St NW, Floyd, VA 24091. Remember, the only reservation is a paid reservation.

Introducing the Lady Alice. Photo courtesy Rainier Fruit Co.

The emails piled up in my inbox while I was away last week, so it is time to clear them out and share all of the interesting food-related tidbits. This list of news ranges from a new apple you’ll soon find in grocery stores to upcoming cooking classes at The River and Rail in South Roanoke.

Read on, and then I hope you’ll go on to have a wonderful weekend!

* Kroger is going to spotlight Sunkist Cara Cara oranges with a special lunch at the Bonsack store on Saturday. The lunch will be prepared by Kroger Chef Tanner LaPrade.
LaPrade said these oranges are not new, but they have become very popular of late. He described them as a very sweet orange with a lot of flavor.
LaPrade will make Cara Cara cabbage salad with skewered shrimp or salmon and Cara Cara salsa. There will be free samples of the food in the deli/produce area of the store, and the dishes will be available for sale on the bistro bar from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The oranges will be on sale in the produce department for $3.99/3 lbs. Salmon and shrimp will also be on sale at $4.99/lb. and $5.99/lb., respectively.

* Also in produce news, it seems a new apple will soon emerge in grocery stores across the country courtesy of the Rainier Fruit Company in Washington. The apple is called the Lady Alice, and a press release describes it as “an heirloom-like fruit that is similar to a fine wine – flavorful and complex, and one that gets better several months after it is picked when the flavor reaches its peak.”
This part is also interesting: “The rarity of a chance seedling creating an apple that is quickly becoming a national favorite is a story in itself. It was discovered quite by chance on a farm near Gleed, Washington in 1978 when a grower accidentally cut an apple tree with his farm equipment. A chance seedling grew from the base and over the next 25 years, steps were taken to preserve and propagate the distinctive characteristics of the Lady Alice.  The Lady Alice brand apple is named after Alice Zirkle, the co-founder of Rainier Fruit Company in honor of her memory.”
Lady Alice apples are reportedly good for cooking and eating out-of-hand, with flesh that is slow to brown when cut and retains a firm shape when cooked.

Read more »

File photo.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension is looking for a Master Food Volunteer for the Roanoke region who can help with education and outreach for the Family and Consumer Sciences program.

These volunteers go through training to learn about basic nutrition, meal planning, cooking techniques, food safety, exercise and healthy living and working with diverse audiences. The training entails a 30-hour Master Food Volunteer training course which costs $50 and includes lunch, training materials, apron, tote bag and other supplies. Scholarships may be available for those who cannot afford the training fee.

After they are trained, the volunteers assist with such events as health fairs, food demonstrations, farmers market displays, grocery store displays, 4-H programs, food preservation demonstrations, cooking classes, after-school programs and much more.

Volunteers who go through the training must reciprocate by doing 30 hours of service within one year of the training.

If you enjoy cooking, are hungry to learn more about food and nutrition, and are looking for a great volunteer opportunity, consider this program. Classes begin in late January.

If you want to apply or if you have more questions, contact Deb Chappel at 772-7524 or email her at dchappel@vt.edu.

Cool news: There’s a little crepe stand now set up in the parking lot of Ikenberry Orchards on U.S. 220 in Botetourt County. Botetourt reporter Cathy Benson has all the details on her blog, The Botetourt View.

Click here to read about it.

If you try the food at The Original French Creperie, let us know what you thought of it.

Photo by Lindsey Nair.

A big sign has gone up on a newly painted white facade across from the Roanoke Valley Metro station. Yep, that means Sidewinders Steak House & Saloon is almost ready to open, according to co-owner Scott Howard.

Howard gave me a little tour of the country and western-themed restaurant and bar this week, and I can tell you that he and his partners are not doing anything halfway. The space features gleaming hardwood floors, a full stage, two full bars and a new sound system. In fact, if you walk by on Campbell Avenue you can peer in the windows and see for yourself. Howard said they have a working menu that includes steaks, seafood, and other fare at a mid-range price point. For lunch, there’ll be a soup and salad bar with up to six different soups.

Decor such as a buffalo head, some steer skulls and a Dierks Bentley guitar are waiting to be hung on the walls, and Howard said new furniture will arrive soon. The furniture is coming from New Jersey and has been delayed because of storm damage there. Once it arrives and the restaurant gets inspected by the health department and fire marshal, Howard said, they’ll get their ABC license and have a soft opening. He expects to have the soft opening later this month. I’ll keep you posted.

In other news …
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Donnelly. Photo courtesy The Red Hen.

Collin Donnelly, executive chef at The Red Hen in Lexington, has won Cooking Light‘s Small Town Chef Award 2012. The award is part of the magazine’s “Trailblazing Chef Awards.”

“To be a success, a small town chef with big-city cooking chops needs to walk the tightwire of trend and tradition, to find a way into the hearts of locals—who may be on the conservative side—with a deft combination of the familiar and the deliciously inventive,” wrote Tim Cebula in the magazine piece. “Donnelly walks that line with tremendous skill.”

Cebula pointed out Donnelly’s charcuterie skills (he serves house-cured meats and homemade sausages), his ability to prepare great dishes using all parts of the animal (“snout-to-tail” cooking) and his use of fresh, local ingredients. Examples of fine dishes mentioned in the article are Donnelly’s tomato and peach gazpacho with lavender and biscuit croutons and his lemon verbena–compressed watermelon with Chesapeake crab.

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Melissa and Gus Chacknes. Photo by Rebecca Barnett l The Roanoke Times.

By Lindsey Nair
The Roanoke Times

More than five months after the Roanoke Weiner Stand left the downtown space it occupied for almost 100 years, the restaurant owners are in disagreement with Center in the Square over which party is responsible for completing the interior at its new location.

Weiner Stand co-owner Gus Chacknes said he only agreed to sign a lease for the new space because he thought it would be “turnkey,” meaning he would not have to pay for equipment hookup and other finishing touches.

But according to Center in the Square President Jim Sears, the organization and its contractors — architectural firm Spectrum Design and Thor Construction — met their responsibilities to the restaurant by August.

“Center in the Square had a commitment to keep the Weiner Stand and to do what we needed to do to keep it a viable operation,” Sears said. “But that did not include doing things the tenant had a responsibility to do.”

To continue reading this story, click here.

The Roanoke Times is seeking a freelancer to review New River Valley restaurants for The Burgs. If you are a foodie with a talent for writing, this may be just the opportunity for you.

Qualified candidates must have knowledge of the NRV area and should be up-to-date on new restaurant openings. Reviewers are required to visit each restaurant twice per review and must write at least one review per month. It is imperative that reviewers be able to meet deadlines.

Photography skills are not required but applicants who can take high-quality food pictures will be strongly considered.

To apply, please send in:
* Your full name, address, email and telephone number.
* A written statement (300 words or fewer) about why you believe you would be a good fit for the job. Include two restaurants you’d like to review.
* A review (500 to 600 words; published or not) of a New River Valley restaurant that includes information about the ambiance, food and service.
* If applicable, a link to any blog for which you write on a regular basis.
* Photo samples, if applicable.

Submit application materials via email to lindsey.nair@roanoke.com or mail to The Roanoke Times, c/o Lindsey Nair, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24012. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2. Please contact Lindsey Nair at the email address listed above if you have any questions.

Changes to a new Blacksburg pub. Photo by Daniel Lin l The Roanoke Times.

On this lovely, clear Monday morning, I would like to share a smattering of food-related news:

* Growlers have arrived at Blue 5 in downtown Roanoke, which means you can take home 64 ounces of your favorite beer in a big ol’ jug. Prices vary.

* Local Roots Restaurant in Grandin Village is hosting a dinner on Oct. 18 to benefit the Western Virginia Land Trust. The non-profit works to preserve natural resources in the counties of Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke. That evening, 15 percent of the dinner profits will be donated to the land trust. The regular menu will be available. For more information, contact the restaurant at 540-206-2610.

To see much more food news, click “Read More.”

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Sketches by Clark Nexsen courtesy of Roanoke City Market Building.

From today’s paper:

Visitors to the Roanoke City Market Building soon will see significant changes under way as construction begins to replace four retail kiosks and build two new kitchens.

Market building director Sara Guerry said Tuesday that operators hope to have the kiosks removed from the center of the ground floor and replaced with a mobile stage and seating area by late November, but the kitchens may take longer to finish.

A building permit filed Tuesday by Lionberger Construction of Roanoke valued the cost of the renovations at $240,000, but leasing agent Roger Elkin with Hall Associates said the actual cost of the project likely will be lower.

He said the figure on the permit was based on the most expensive possible build-out for the kitchen spaces, and some materials from the kiosks probably can be sold or recycled.

Like much of the original market building renovations, Elkin said, this work will be funded by tax credits from private investments.

To continue reading this article, click here.

To see additional sketches of the seating and stage area, click here. Click each image to enlarge it.

I don’t know about you guys, but I was pretty interested in reading the Associated Press article on the front page of today’s Roanoke Times, “Study: Organic foods offer few health benefits.”

My initial reaction to the headline was not one of surprise. Although I don’t make many purchasing decisions based on whether a food is “organic” or not, I was still disappointed that my suspicious were basically confirmed by this Stanford University research.

In all my years of reporting about food, I’ve talked to many local farmers who are not certified organic. They explain that it costs money and takes time to fill out paperwork to be certified organic, and the only difference it would make in the way they grow or raise their products is in the eyes of the consumer. Not that the consumer’s perspective is not important, but most of these local farmers’ customers have talked to the farmer and know they follow organic principals (not using synthetic pesticides; not giving their animals hormones and antibiotics; giving animals room to roam and forage) even if they have not jumped through the hoops in order to earn that label.

At the grocery store, however, it is not possible to talk to the growers. So we walk into the produce department or the meat department and know nothing more than that a product is “organic” according to government standards. And that makes a lot of people feel better, which is probably why, according to the AP article, organic food sales went from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $31.4 billion last year.
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Mabry Mill, Blue Ridge Parkway, Floyd County. The Roanoke Times l File photo.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has just announced a really cool event called “Plates for the Parkway.” It is a one-day event (Tuesday, Sept. 18) during which participating restaurants located along the parkway will donate a percentage of their profits to the foundation.

Right now, of the 23 restaurants participating, only two are in our area. Martin’s Downtown Bar & Grill in Roanoke will donate 10 percent of its profits on Sept. 18 to the foundation. Pomegranate Restaurant in Troutville will donate 10 percent of its dinner profits that night. To see the other participating restaurants (including 10 in Asheville), click here.

Martin’s owner Jason Martin said he likes the parkway a lot, so that’s one reason he wanted to do it. Also, Tuesday is always “a slow day for me, so I figured because of that, what’s the risk, really? If people get behind it and we are really busy for it, it’s a win-win.”

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is a private, independent group dedicated to protecting and developing the almost 500-mile road that winds along the Appalachian mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. The parkway is always in need of funding, and lately that need has only grown as federal funding for national parks is paltry and the parkway, unlike other national parks, does not receive any money from entrance fees.

Some examples of what the foundation does for the parkway include:

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New kid on the yogurt block. Photo courtesy Muller Quaker Dairy.

Something very strange happened in our household recently. A carton of yogurt turned up in the refrigerator, and I did not buy it.

When I questioned my husband about this mysterious carton of vanilla yogurt, he said he’d read an article about how healthy it is to eat yogurt. So even though I’ve been eating yogurt since we met about 10 years ago, he wasn’t convinced to try it until he read it in one of his magazines.

Anyway, I was not about to give him a hard time about it (at least not until now). I was just happy to hear that he was willing to try yogurt, because I have always loved it. But then I looked at the carton more closely and saw that it was a regular blended generic brand.

“I’ve got bad news for you,” I said. “This yogurt probably contains artificial sweetener.” I knew this because I figured out a long time ago that an inordinate number of yogurt varieties contain artificial sweetener. And there it was, buried in the middle of the ingredients: sucralose. If it isn’t sucralose, it’s aspartame. If it isn’t sweetened artificially, a carton of yogurt can contain upwards of 29 grams of sugar, which is more than twice the amount of sugar we’re supposed to consume in one snack.

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Tiffany Croson of Roanoke County is surrounded by her family as she holds her prize check with Food Lion store manager Teddy Boston. Photo courtesy of Food Lion.

When Tiffany Croson and her family moved into their Boxley Hills home three years ago, the kitchen was “stuck in the 70s,” she said.

But not anymore. On Monday morning, Croson was awarded a $25,000 grand prize check in Food Lion‘s Kitchen Makeover Sweepstakes. Croson entered the contest about Mother’s Day, submitting her name and MVP card number online. Since then, she has been entered to win every time she used her card to purchase a MyEssentials product at Food Lion. MyEssentials is the chain’s new store brand.

Croson said she’s been shopping at her usual Food Lion store at 6619 Williamson Road about twice a week, but she had forgotten about the contest until a letter came in the mail in early June. When she opened the letter, she was ecstatic.

Croson

“I screamed,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I screamed and screamed, then I started calling people and screamed in their ears.”

Tiffany Croson and her husband, Marcus Croson, had replaced the harvest gold-colored appliances in their 70s kitchen and installed new laminate countertops. But now, she said she’s going to make all the updates she had dreamed of making, including installing a ceramic tile floor, granite countertops, a hood/vent above the stove and a bigger refrigerator. She also plans to have a wall torn out and an island added, which will be great for her family of six.

Croson, a part-time employee at The Park at Oak Grove, is taking classes to become a registered nurse. She and her husband have four children ages 20 months through 14 years. Her kids joined her at Food Lion this morning when she accepted her check, as did her parents, her sister and her nephew.

“I’m still taking it all in,” she said.

Food Lion spokesman Benny Smith said the contest was promoted in Raleigh, N.C., Norfolk, Richmond, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Bluefield, W.Va., Charleston/Huntington, W.Va., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Roanoke and Lynchburg. The first prize winner, Susan Barbry of Sanford, NC, will receive $10,000.

Inage courtesy of PBS.org/food

The talented and delightful Julia Child, who taught so many people to be more adventurous in the kitchen, would have turned 100 years old on August 15. Even though she died in 2004 (just two days shy of her 92nd birthday), fans of the “French Chef” are remembering her on what would have been her big day.

In particular, PBS has planned a big celebration featuring special programming and online features. They’re encouraging folks to cook a favorite Julia Child recipe and share pictures and comments about it on their website or Facebook page. They’ve also got some other commemorative coverage planned. Here are the details:

* Cook your own version of a classic Julia Child recipe, then share pictures or thoughts by tweeting with the hashtag #CookforJulia. Or you can post pictures and comments at PBS Food or on the PBS Food Facebook page.

* At PBS Food, you can see almost 100 “exclusive, limited-time full episodes from: In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs, Cooking with Master Chefs, The French Chef Classics, Baking with Julia and three Cooking in Concert specials.” There’s also recipes, articles, links and a Julia personality quiz there.

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* Salem High School Culinary Arts Director Jeff Shupe was supposed to take over the Chef’s Circle at the Salem Farmers Market tomorrow (Saturday), but something’s come up and he will be unable to do it. In his place, the fantastic Chris Parkhurst of Firefly Fare in the Roanoke City Market Building has agreed to fill in.

Those of you who dine at Firefly Fare know Chris is a master with fresh, local ingredients and makes some killer vegetarian dishes in addition to meats. The Chef’s Circle is free and it begins at 9:30 a.m. It is recommended that you bring a lawn chair if you don’t want to stand the entire time.

* Big changes are afoot at Pomegranate restaurant in Troutville. On July 24, they will start serving lunch and launch a new menu. The lunch menu, which will be available 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, includes a burger, Philly cheesesteak, chicken strips and BBQ, as well as salads and side dishes.

The new dinner menu features small plates such as conch fritters with Caribbean mayonnaise and blood orange barbecued shrimp with margarita-marinated grilled watermelon. Examples from the large plate section include vegetable-crusted salmon and chicken puttanesca.

Read more »

Photo courtesy of Krispy Kreme.

Krispy Kreme is celebrating 75 years in business with continued events throughout the year. This Friday, July 13, marks the 75th anniversary of the exact day they first introduced their doughnuts in Winston-Salem, NC in 1937.

In honor of the date, on Friday they’ll be offering one dozen original glazed doughnuts for just 75 cents with the purchase of one dozen original glazed. Sounds like a good time to surprise your co-workers and get a good deal!

They will also be selling three varieties of their new birthday doughnuts through August 19. These are original glazed doughnuts topped with chocolate, strawberry or white icing, rainbow sprinkles and an icing rosette.

Also through August 19, you have a chance to enter the Hat Hat Hooray contest. By sending in a picture of yourself wearing a paper Krispy Kreme hat anywhere in the world, you are entered to win a trip to any Krispy Kreme shop in the world. The hats can be picked up at any KK store. For specific contest rules and regulations, click here.

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Local Colors and the Roanoke Parks and Recreation department are bringing back Taste of Culture, a lunchtime festival in downtown Roanoke that highlights a different culture each month.

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Thank goodness for the grill!

Like many of you, I have been powerless since Friday night.

But this morning was the first time I began to feel powerless.

Before any of you leave a comment on this blog post and tell me to join the crowd, suck it up and be patient, please know that I’m already over feeling sorry for myself and I’ve already given myself a mental kick in the butt. I know my situation pales in comparison to that of many other folks in the world and I know power company employees and contractors are busting their tails.

But until I worked up my resolve, I was whining in my head (and to my husband) about how much I miss sleeping in my own bed, how tired I am, how bummed I am that we have no food in the house and that I — a food writer — can’t do much cooking or test any recipes for my blog or column

Inconvenience aside, this situation does show us how resilient we can be, and how creative when it comes to feeding our families. I’ve heard of people cooking three meals per day on the grill — my mom’s been doing eggs in a skillet on the side burner, which is yet another reason to praise the person who invented side burners on grills. The other night, we did the whole dinner – burgers, beans and corn on the cob – on the grill. Some are grilling and eating a lot of meats to keep them from going bad, eating a lot of cold suppers, inviting friends and relatives over for meals, and volunteering at shelters to help feed the temporarily homeless.

Also, although a good many restaurants are still closed (my hubby drove a stretch of Williamson Road last night looking for an open restaurant and finally settled for Wendy’s after passing several dark ones), plenty are open and are getting good business from folks like us. I had a bagel from Mill Mountain Coffee yesterday morning, some pizza from Leonardo’s in Fincastle the other night (it was VERY good), a bagel from 2nd Helpings Cafe this morning and a Macado’s quesadilla the other night.

I’d like to know how those of you who lost power or are still without power have been feeding yourselves. Are you trying to prepare any foods at home or have you been going to restaurants and friend/family’s houses? Are you worried about all the money you’ve lost on food and are now spending having to eat out?

The Roanoke Times l File photo

Macaroni Kid Roanoke, a web-based newsletter for parents, will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from a bake sale to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a non-profit organization that raises money for the research of new and better therapies for pediatric cancer patients. Money for the group is raised largely through bake sales, so Macaroni Kid Roanoke is hosting one from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 23.

The bake sale will take place outside Glazed Bisque-It at Promenade Park, 3534 Electric Road, Roanoke. Lots of local citizens and businesses will donate homemade baked goods for the sale, but local MKR publisher Jamie Clark said she is still looking for volunteers who can help with those baking efforts.

If you can help, you can contact Clark at (540) 494-3445 or jamiec@macaronikid.com. Click here for more information about Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Click here to read more about Macaroni Kid Roanoke.

Here’s some additional background on Cookies for Kids’ Cancer written and sent to me by Clark:
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In this blog entry, you will find news about:

- A temporary farmers market set up at the Kirk Family YMCA
- A local boy in the running for an Apple iPad (VOTE for him! He’s in the lead already!)
- LOA Area Agency on Aging’s annual fundraiser for Meals on Wheels, “Let’s Do Lunch.”
- The Southwest Virginia Wine Festival in Abingdon.
- Big Lick Beertopia: A Celebration of Craft Beer.

* City Market at the Y has begun. This is a satellite farmers market that will be set up every Thursday in June between 4 and 7 p.m. next to the Kirk Family YMCA at the corner of 5th Street and Luck Avenue in downtown Roanoke. Produce, baked goods, wild-caught fish and grass-fed beef will be among the items for sale.

Credit cards will be accepted, as will EBT cards for SNAP benefits. Thanks to grants from Carilion Clinic and Foundation for the Roanoke Valley, those SNAP dollars will be doubled at the market up to $50.

* O’Charley’s has announced the winners of its “Greatest Grads Contest.” One dozen winners were selected in the Midwest and Southeast, including one Vinton student. That student, James Jennings, will receive a celebration party at our local O’Charley’s and a chance to win an Apple iPad.
Read more »

nafmo/Flickr

Those of you who have been following more newsy food happenings have probably heard about the Corn Refiners Association‘s bid to change the term “high fructose corn syrup,” which is found on many food labels, to “corn sugar.”

They petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow them to make the change on nutritional labels, but the FDA has rejected that petition. The FDA defines sugar as a “solid, dried and crystallized food,” according to multiple news sources* reporting this decision.

High fructose corn syrup has become increasingly unpopular amid reports and opinions that it is a creepy, chemically processed Frankenfood that is unhealthy for human consumption. And a lot of folks got even more upset when they realized it’s in … well, just about *everything* we eat.

The corn refiners’ group wanted the FDA to let them change the term to “corn sugar” in order to get across the message that high fructose corn syrup is a sweetener derived from natural products and has the same nutritional value as granulated sugar. They started an advertising campaign featuring commercials such as this one, in which one mom judges another mom for feeding her kids HFCS.

Consumer groups, including Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, jumped in and urged the FDA to deny the petition.

Here’s an excerpt from a press release Consumers Union sent me:

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Update: Here are the artist’s renderings of what the new designs will look like. Sketches by Clark-Nexsen are courtesy of Roanoke City Market Building director Sara Guerry. Click each image to make it larger.

Click “Read More” to see the press release that explains this change in full detail.
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The cupcakes at Bubblecake have married the frozen custard at Chillypop. The Roanoke Times l File photo.

Correction: The price of an adult scoop at Chillypop is $3.25, not $3.75.

I can’t think of anything that goes better with cake than a cold scoop of ice cream. And that’s the idea behind Rob and Lisa Lusk’s newest endeavor, Chillypop, a frozen custard stand located inside the same big white house on Crystal Spring Avenue in Roanoke that houses their cupcake bakery, Bubblecake.

Chillypop had a soft opening earlier this week. When I talked to Rob Lusk yesterday, he said he recently bought a commercial batch freezer for his 40th birthday. “Most people get a Harley or a guitar or a mistress,” he joked, “but I got the ice cream machine.”

The Lusks have been making homemade frozen French custard in the machine and have already perfected 11 flavors that are available at this time. They plan to offer temporary special flavors, too. Rob said they are using all-natural ingredients including eggs, cream and sugar. They even put an entire cheesecake in a batch of blueberry cheesecake custard (that’s the flavor I’m going for ASAP).

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Miles of beautiful sights and tasty eats on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Roanoke Times l File photo.

Blue Ridge Country Magazine is in the middle of publishing a four-part series about good eats along the Blue Ridge Parkway called the Blue Ridge Parkway Foodie Tour. Part I, which ran in the March/April issue, covered parkway milepost 0-105 and featured the counties of Nelson, Augusta, Rockbridge, Amherst, Bedford and Botetourt in Virginia.

The current issue of the magazine covers miles 106-219, which includes the Virginia counties of Roanoke, Franklin,Floyd, Patrick, Carroll and Grayson. Some of the best food finds featured in this most recent edition are the peanut soup and cornbread at Hotel Roanoke, pies at The Hub in Rocky Mount, the breakfast burrito at Tuggles Gap Restaurant in Floyd, and the Ju-Ju Burger at Dry Pond Cafe in Patrick County.

Click here to see all of the restaurants and dishes featured in the current edition. Do you agree with these selections? What destinations and/or dishes would you have included?

For each of the four issues that are part of the series, readers have an opportunity to vote on the best food county. At the end of the series, there will be a “Final Four” voting, and the winning county will be featured in the January/February 2013 issue of the magazine. Rockbridge County was the “winning culinary county” for the first part.

A $250 gift card will be awarded to one lucky voter at the end of the series. Ballots are open for the second part, so if you’d like to vote, click here. And if you care to say, for which county did you vote and why?

This is the schedule for the rest of the series, from the Blue Ridge Country Magazine website:

July/August: MP 220-355. North Carolina counties of Surry, Alleghany,Wilkes, Ashe, Watauga, Caldwell, Avery, Burke, McDowell, Mitchell,Yancey.

Sept/Oct: MP 356-469. North Carolina counties of Buncombe,Henderson, Transylvania, Haywood, Jackson, Swain.

Chicken tacos from Noke Truck. Photo by Sam Dean l The Roanoke Times.

Big metropolitan areas have long been home to a variety of food trucks, but the interest in mobile restaurants has recently reached fever pitch, and Roanoke is now home to two trucks that have taken serious aim at the lunchtime traffic around the city.

Check out tomorrow’s paper (Saturday) for my Extra story about the entrepreneurs who run Bruno’s GastroTruck and Noke Truck. Interest in these trucks has been phenomenal; I could hardly do my own interviews with the owners without other media showing up to interview them, as well.

I would attribute the rise in food trucks to a couple of factors:

1. Exposure. Television shows about food trucks have popped up, and I don’t know about you guys, but they make me ravenous. And they have made me really wish we had some cool food trucks around Roanoke on a regular basis. Wish granted!

2. The economy. Although not cheap, it is far less expensive to start a food truck business than to start a restaurant in a permanent space.

What you’ll see if you read tomorrow’s article is that the owners of Bruno’s GastroTruck (Bruno and Tiffany Silva) and Noke Truck (Juan and Claudia Urrea) are extremely interesting people and are different in their own unique ways.

My article is not a first-person column, so I didn’t mention that I have eaten at both trucks. I will tell you here what I had and how it was.

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From the Botetourt View blog:

A special series in Blue Ridge Country magazine, “Blue Ridge Parkway Foodie Tour,” features signature dishes at restaurants in counties along the Parkway, including Botetourt County. For each installment of the four-part series, readers have the opportunity to vote for their favorite culinary county. At the end of the series, one voter will win a $250 gift card, and the winning county will get a feature story in the magazine’s January/February 2013 Travel Guide edition.

The Foodie Tour article is featured online here. Contest ballot is available here. Voting for Part 1 ends March 16.

Final Four county voting begins September 24.

– Submitted by Jessica Wright, Leisure Publishing

I wanted to drop in with a couple of food-related news items from the New River Valley.

* On The Burgs today is a nice article by reporter Mike Shaw about a Blacksburg High School student who balances studying, athletics AND her passion for baking. Katie Olszewski says she learned to love baking from her grandmother, and she now sells her baked goods. Many of her customers are fellow classmates. Click here to read Mike’s story.

* Chu-Cho’s, a Mexican restaurant in Blacksburg, has closed. Click here for the details.

* Also, in case you missed it, we recently ran a review of Jack’s Subs in Radford. Click here to read the review.

Frank Beamer. Roanoke Times file photo.

Restaurant news has been hoppin’ late this week, with readers most interested in reports that Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer is going to try his hand in the business yet again.

Retail reporter Amanda Codispoti has details about this announcement over on her blog, The Storefront. The restaurant will be named Beamer’s 25 and will be located in The Lofts at West Station, a warehouse on Salem Avenue that’s been renovated into new apartments. Click here to check out Amanda’s entry.

Over in Salem, a New York-style deli called Cafe X-press (on Facebook here) has opened at 206 Apperson Drive. It features a huge menu that includes breakfast platters, sandwiches, omelets and bagels; hot and cold subs and sandwiches, and specialties such as:

* The Salem: Smoked turkey and roast beef with Muenster cheese, slaw and Russian dressing
* Brooklyn: Hot roast beef with melted Swiss, coleslaw and Russian dressing
* Cajun Chicken: With Louisiana seasoning, sauteed onions, peppers, Provolone and lettuce and tomato
* Roanoker: Turkey breast with jerk seasoning, grilled onions and peppers, cheddar, lettuce and tomato

There are many more special sandwiches on the menu, as well as wraps, burgers, paninis, vegetarian options, and salad platters. Prices look pretty reasonable to me, with the specialty sandwiches ringing up for between $5.25 and $6.25. However, the menu does not indicate that includes any kind of side item.

A colleague emailed me last week to rave about this place. He lives in Salem and said he’s eaten there and loved it. If you try it, let us know what you thought. To see more info about the owners, click here to read Miranda Beck’s So Salem blog entry.

On a sadder note, several of you have noticed that Foodies, a cooking school in Roanoke County, has closed. I sent a message to co-owner Emily Capocci Sesler to confirm this news and here’s her response:

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CORRECTION: Horizon Bar & Grill has sent out corrected new hours. Please see the hours below. This post was updated on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 3:30 p.m. End update.

* Today is National Cheese Lover’s Day, as if we needed an excuse to eat one of life’s most delicious foods! But just in case you did need an excuse, I’ve just given you one.

* Two by Two BBQ, a new barbecue restaurant located in Eagle Plaza on Tanyard Road in Rocky Mount, is holding a grand opening on Saturday (tomorrow, Jan. 21). At 9 p.m., after food service has ended, a Franklin County band called Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice will perform. Tickets for the show are $2 per person. If you have tried Two by Two, please share your experience with the rest of us barbecue lovers.

* I received the following announcement from Horizon Bar and Grill in downtown Roanoke regarding their hours:

“We apologize that due to the construction downtown, Horizon Bar and Grill will be adjusting lunch hours Tuesday through Friday. This will start effective Tuesday, January 24, 2012. This is just a temporary adjustment but due to lack of foot traffic and visibility we are unable to sustain a lunch crowd that allows the doors to be open. Also, we will remain open for dinner during the construction opening at 4:30pm daily. Since construction is not being done on the weekends we will be open our normal hours Saturday and Sunday brunch. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience and hope to be open again full time by early March. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

The new hours are: Tuesday through Thursday, 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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File photo

As most of you probably know, Food Network star Paula Deen, well known for her fat- and sugar-laden Southern recipes, confirmed Tuesday that she has Type 2 diabetes.

She made the announcement on the Today Show during an interview with Al Roker. The news has caused a storm of controversy, with many criticizing Deen for promoting the kind of eating that is associated with Type 2 diabetes. Others are ticked by the fact that she apparently waited three years to make the news public, that she told Roker she has always preached “moderation,” and that she has already formed a promotional partnership with the diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk.

The Today Show clip can be viewed for free on Hulu.com. Here’s the link. I have also transcribed Deen’s exact words on the show and will paste them below for anyone to read.

What is your reaction to this news? Should Deen be ashamed of herself or should her critics lay off?

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A Rescue Mission cook prepares yogurt and donut parfaits with donated Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts. Courtesy photo.

Fortunately, that headline does NOT mean that 50,000 children have checked into the Rescue Mission in Roanoke, although I’m sure the mission does serve a lot of families with kids every year. No, that means that Dunkin’ Donuts this week donated 50,000 Munchkins (in some circles known as donut holes) from a special order that fell through.

This summer, a Craig County farmer named Sam Old donated a ton of eggplant to the Mission, where chefs creatively turned it into many different dishes. So we know the RM chefs are talented when it comes to repurposing ingredients.

According to an email from the Rescue Mission, these Munchkins have been made into donut bread pudding, yogurt parfaits with crushed donuts, donut brownies, cake balls and grilled donuts with ice cream. I wouldn’t turn down a single one of those treats!

“Whether it’s the people we serve, old buildings or property, or food, we love to turn ‘what could have been bad’ into ‘good news’ at the Rescue Mission,” said CEO, Joy Sylvester-Johnson.  “We are all about giving new purpose to things that others might think of as disposable.”

Kudos to Dunkin’ Donuts for not throwing these Munchkins away, and to the Rescue Mission for their clever use of ingredients in an effort to provide yummy sustenance to the folks they serve in our community.

I am pretty curious about those donut brownies… I’ll see if I can get a recipe for those!

The Roanoke Times l File photo

I got a call today from Tom Noelke, the franchisee of two area Zaxby’s restaurant locations — the one on Hershberger Road in Roanoke and the one on Main Street in Salem.

Noelke wanted me to spread the news that he’ll be offering all veterans a free meal with a drink on Friday, which is Veterans’ Day. He has done this for a year or two and they served about 100 veterans last year.

This is not a chain-wide event; it is something that Noelke decided to do on his own. He said he lost an uncle and a good friend in Vietnam. “It is a personal thing with me,” he said. Last year on Veteran’s Day, a 102-year-old veteran came to one of his restaurants decked out in all of his metals.

These Zaxby’s locations are open from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday. They do not check military IDs; it is based on an honor system.

I’m surely not the only one who would like to thank Mr. Noelke for this kind gesture. If I hear of any other businesses offering specials to veterans, I’ll pass that along. And if you hear of anything I’ve missed, please share!

www.cookoutnc.com

Fairlawn is about to get a brand new restaurant, the Archdale, NC-based Cook-Out Restaurant. This will only be the fourth Cook-Out in Virginia; the others are in Richmond (2) and Colonial Heights.

Cook-Out offers a simple menu that includes freshly made, char-grilled hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, pork barbecue and chicken strips. Sides include hushpuppies, fries, and onion rings. I’m told Cook-Out is known best for its burgers and milkshakes. They serve more than 40 different flavors of milkshakes, including banana fudge, cherry cobbler, blueberry cheesecake and all of the traditional favorites. And, as you can see from this drive-through sign, they have Coke and Cheerwine floats.

The business does not have its own website (a spokeswoman tells me they’re working on that), but the entire menu is posted here.

The spokeswoman confirmed the new location but said it probably will not open for 3 or 4 months. She said she did not know exactly where the restaurant will be located. Rumors are already flying on the Internet, of course. On the Facebook page “It’s FAIRLAWN, VA not Radford!!” users were saying they’d heard an old Golden Corral would be torn down to make room for the Cook-Out. So far, I have been unable to confirm that, but I’ll let you know ASAP.

The Roanoke Times photo

Today’s news package in The Roanoke Times includes an article by Mason Adams about the building’s history and the path to this reopening, Amanda Codispoti’s report on its economic impact downtown and a meet the vendors feature.

Also, don’t miss the panoramic view and video of incoming market vendors discussing their businesses, both by Ryan Loew.

Any thoughts on the upcoming reopening? Which restaurants are you most excited about trying?