Diners enjoy the courtyard at Billy’s in downtown Roanoke. The Roanoke Times | File photo.

When I first started covering food in 2007, we did a round-up of the best outdoor dining sites in our coverage area. We listed 10.

It was a short list in part because we wanted to focus on the cream of the crop. But at that time, it was also much harder to think of outdoor dining spots than it is today. When I look back, I am amazed by how many new outdoor dining options have popped up in the past six years.

Part of the boom can be attributed to the growth in downtown Roanoke. We now have outdoor dining at all of the Roanoke City Market Building restaurants, and places that have opened since 2007 — including Beamers, Billy’s and Fork in the City — were built or renovated with patios included.

But I think it has generally become a more popular experience to dine outside, so even established restaurants have caught on and added al fresco seating.

I’ve been working on a new list of outdoor dining places. So far, it’s ridiculously long. It ranges from the sprawling, huge deck of Mac ‘n’ Bob’s in Salem to the tiny handful of tables at places such as Local Roots and 202 Market.

I’d love to hear your input on this topic, including:

1. What’s your favorite place to dine outside (besides home)?
2. What do you think makes an outdoor dining location great?

Deviled egg season is upon us. Some people make their deviled eggs the same way every time, and maybe that’s the way their grandmother taught them to make it. The traditional Southern version typically is made with a little mayo, a little mustard, some pickle relish, salt and pepper and maybe a dash of paprika on top.

But eggs are so versatile that lots of folks have taken to dressing up their deviled eggs with fancier ingredients. I’m trying to get a sense as to how open folks are to a nontraditional deviled egg. If you’d take a moment to answer my poll question, I’d greatly appreciate it. Feel free to discuss!

Photo courtesy Paul Posadas / Flickr

On an earlier post, a new reader to this blog, Perch, brought up a kitchen gadget question. I’ll let you read his exact comment:

“We have noticed a problem in our kitchen in the last couple of years…opening cans! Why such a simple and universal act has become such a problem is beyond me. While we have bought several can openers in the last two years after using the same one for a decade or so without problems, we still cannot consistently open cans these days without problems. Electric ones, hand operated ones, cheap or expensive, all give us fits. Have the manufacturers of canned goods changed something? I am sorry to butt in on another subject, but I am at a loss and figured I’d give you a shot. If I’m off target and just unlucky, could you recommend a brand or type of opener that you feel comfortable with? Am I the only one who has noticed this? Thanks for your patience, I appreciate any help you can give me.”

None of my research indicates that the materials used in food cans have changed in recent years. If someone knows otherwise, please clue me in. More likely this is a case of bad openers, whether manual or electric.

I grew up in an electric can opener household and still prefer to open cans that way. If I only have a hand-held opener I’ll use it, but nothing ticks me off more than a cheap, dull, useless manual can opener that hurts my hand. Fortunately, they make good hand openers. And can the blades of can openers be sharpened?

Here’s what a few readers had to say to Perch so far:

Debbie says she has a great manual can opener that is very comfortable to use. She’s going to check the brand and get back to us.

John said he’s been happy with this manual opener he bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Kristen said she has a hand-operated opener that “cuts off the lid in such a way that there aren’t the sharp edges. I love it, and I really dislike electric openers because I feel like they get nasty fast.”

Has anybody else had problems with can openers? Are you in the electric or the hand-held opener camp? Have a great opener you’d recommend?

A CornerShot that ran in the Extra section of The Roanoke Times earlier this week generated a healthy debate over restaurant etiquette. But since CornerShots are very short, the writer, Susan Stilwell of Roanoke County, was not able to include all the details we craved as we attempted to analyze the situation she described.

Fortunately, Susan was kind enough to stop by the blog and elaborate a little on what happened when her party of eight had to wait for a table of six to clear out, even though the table of six was finished with its meal.

I’m going to share the original CornerShot again, followed by Susan’s follow-up comment. Does knowing more change what any of you had to say the first time around?
Read more »

A Roanoke County reader submitted a CornerShot for publication in the Extra section of The Roanoke Times. We ran it today.

This reader’s piece is about a restaurant experience where her party of eight had to wait too long because a party of six lingered at the table after eating lunch.

I think this CornerShot brings up some interesting questions about restaurant etiquette. I’d like to hear what you all think of her description of this particular scenario.

Would you be as peeved as she was?

CornerShot, Feb. 27, 2012

Dear Table of Six,
We’re glad you had the chance to catch up over lunch. It looks like y’all had a great time.
We’re not so glad that after you paid your bill and your table had been cleared, you spent the next hour sitting there chatting.
You see, we were next in line for that table. We didn’t mind standing the first 10 minutes, but when 10 turned into 20, we were a little peeved.
The hostess apologetically squeezed us into another table where we enjoyed our lunch, a meal that lasted 40 minutes.
As our server cleared our plates, your group inched away from the table and said their goodbyes.
May I offer a little piece of restaurant etiquette? The next time you clear your calendars for a 2-hour lunch, please remember to leave your server a generous tip. This will help make up for the one you cost her.
Sincerely, Table of Eight
— Susan Stilwell, a reader in Roanoke County

Probably not the kind of hole in the wall she’s talking about. Photo by Lindsey Nair | The Roanoke Times.

From the reader email file today comes a request from a reader named Jessica. This is what Jessica had to say in her message to me:

“So here is the question: Looking for ‘hole in the wall’ restaurants in Salem/Roanoke. Decent food, good (great is better) price, and alcohol are are must. Any thoughts?”

So, blog readers, just what do you think of when you hear the term “hole-in-the-wall restaurant”? I think of a dark little place that looks as if it would be scary to eat there, but when you give it a shot it’s surprisingly good. One official definition of the term is “A small dingy place, esp. a bar or restaurant.”

I can think of plenty of hole-in-the-wall places that serve alcohol, but I can’t say whether they have decent food. And I can think of some hole-in-the-wall places that have good food but do not serve alcohol. What lies in the area where those two circles overlap?

I’ll start by throwing out one idea: The Community Inn in Grandin Village. We’ve enjoyed some decent cheeseburgers and other bar food at the CI, which has a friendly, neighborhood vibe.

How would you answer this question?

When it comes to food kids hate, fish is probably right up there with liver and Brussels sprouts.

Most parents probably do not hold out hope that their tots will relish a whole, skin-on, head-on fish, but it would be nice to get them to eat fish in some form that isn’t breaded and shaped like a stick.

I don’t have kids, so I don’t claim to be any kind of expert on this. I do have a big kid at home who usually requests that I bread and pan-fry fish, then serve it with homemade tartar sauce. So I kind of see what parents are up against.

I’d love to be able to offer some ideas and recipes for parents, especially as we are in the Lenten season when fish is a popular choice for religious reasons. Even outside of Lent, fish is a light and healthy supper option.

Have you had success transforming a fish hater (child or adult) into a fish lover? If so, please consider sharing your advice and/or recipes!

Meanwhile, take this fun quiz and see how much you know about fish:

Read more »

File stock photo.

It’s hard to believe January is already coming to an end. Despite the cold weather, it seems to me as if this month has flown by.

Just around the corner is Valentine’s Day, one of the strongest business days for restaurants everywhere. The day of prescribed romance falls on a Thursday this year, which means anytime that long weekend, or even the weekend before, would be a nice time to celebrate.

Everybody has a different vision of the perfect amorous ambiance for a dinner — to some it’s dim lighting and candles; to others maybe it’s a favorite spot where a first kiss or a first date took place. Or maybe you aren’t into all the cliches, so a perfect Valentine’s Day with your partner would be sharing a pie at a favorite pizza joint.

In an upcoming issue of The Roanoke Times, I’d like to help readers choose the perfect place to go to dinner for Valentine’s Day. So whether you plan to go out or not, I’d love to hear about your favorite romantic restaurant. What little details make the atmosphere perfect there?

One person who comments on this blog entry will randomly win a copy of “Sweet Celebrations” by Kathering Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne, authors of “The Cupcake Diaries,” along with a bottle of McCormick red food coloring and a bottle of McCormick raspberry extract with natural flavors!

File photo.

On Tuesday, I wrote a blog entry about a friend, Suzanne, who is trying to find the perfect method for making fried pickles. She has been foiled twice by the breading, which either turned out soggy or fell off the pickles. I turned to blog readers to ask for tips on how to make breading stick to fried foods, and you all offered some great advice.

I also thought it might be nice to take this conversation to the next level and bring in some chef advice. I emailed some chefs and asked them to read through that blog entry and comments, and Jeff Bland with US Foods responded with some guidelines. As you’ll see, we were generally on the right track.

1. Dredge the item in flour.
2. Dip the item in your wet ingredient, whether this is egg wash, buttermilk, or batter.
3. Dredge the item in another dry coating, whether this is bread crumbs, corn meal, cracker meal, or what have you.
4. Fry in hot oil. It can be peanut oil, vegetable oil, or Canola. They all have high smoke points.
5. If you are using a wet batter, you should still dip it in flour first because that will help the batter to adhere to the food. Put battered foods immediately into the hot oil and make sure you have enough oil to cover the entire object.

Another chef I talked to was a little shy about letting me use his name, but he said that once you have breaded the item, if you refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, that will help to make the breading adhere when you fry it. That obviously does not apply when using a wet batter.

So, there you have it. Suzanne, we’ll be interested to hear how your next experiment goes. Good luck!

Photo courtesy Benimoto/Flickr

One of my colleagues is on a mission to make fried pickles at home, but she isn’t having much success. The biggest problem she’s had is finding a way to bread them so the coating will turn out crispy and not slide off the pickles. She sent me the following description of her efforts so far:

“I’ve been putting oil in a pot and heating it on the stove. I frazzled the heck out of my first batch. That used a wet batter, and that did stick pretty well, it was just flabby, not crispy; the second was a dry one and involved dipping the pickles in buttermilk. The batter was crispy, but it slid right off the pickles (so much for those little grooves holding anything in place).”

I am looking for some advice from folks who have some experience deep-fat frying foods. Do you think my friend is having trouble because the pickles are too wet to begin with? Is a wet batter better or should she be dipping them in cornstarch, then egg, then cornmeal or bread crumbs? Knowing how complex the science of food can be, I’m also wondering if there is some trick such as freezing the pickles beforehand or chilling the batter.

She is determined to make this work so I’m determined to help her out. What do you all know about turning out foods with a nice, crispy coating that wants to stick around?

The cafeteria at the Newseum. Appropriate name, eh? (Photo by Lindsey Nair.)

Happy Monday, everybody. I hope you had a great weekend and that you get a chance to go outside today and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather.

We went to Northern Virginia for the weekend, where my husband attended a Neil Young concert and we went to see the Newseum. If you have never been to the Newseum, I would highly recommend it. It’s simply amazing and not just for news junkies. Our dining adventures during the trip included lunch from Qdoba in Harrisonburg (I have a bad weakness for Qdoba), dinner at a place called the Green Turtle in Fairfax, and dinner at Madigan’s Waterfront in the beautiful town of Occoquan, which was all decked out in holiday lights.

Moving right along, I’ve received a few questions from readers recently and want to put them to the group of you to see what kinds of feedback you can offer. So here goes:

Read more »

This holiday season, I want to take on one of the most contentious of culinary topics. That’s right, you read the headline: eggnog.

I come down on the pro-eggnog side, but judging by anecdotal evidence – that is, me asking people if they like eggnog – it seems it might be 50/50 or less.

I just never could understand the dislike of this traditional holiday beverage. It’s sweet, creamy, finely spiced and very accepting of a splash of rum. My favorite Christmas movie scene involving eggnog was in “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation,” when Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid guzzled spiked eggnog from reindeer-head cups with antlers.

That’s actually the only eggnog movie scene I can think of.

Okay, let’s hear from an anti-eggnog person, my dear husband.

Me: You don’t like eggnog, do you?
Him: No.
Me: Why not?
Him: Too sweet, too thick.
Me: So you like the flavor of it?
Him: Not really, no. Don’t like the flavor. I mean the flavor is not horrible, but the thickness and the sweetness of it is … gross.

Well, that’s definitely not a term we want associated with the culinary.

Eggnog is made from eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and spices, all ingredients normally delicious on their own, as well as together in countless recipes. How is it that they create such a reviled product?

Let’s hear from the eggnog haters and the ‘nog lovers in the bunch.

Why the love? Why the hate?

Gumbo is one of those dishes you can spend an entire afternoon preparing. If you’re going to go whole hog and do it the authentic way, you’ll need to prepare a dark, rich roux that takes a lot of standing and stirring.

But the great thing about gumbo is that even if you cheat and do a quickie version, it still turns out pretty tasty. With the “Holy Trinity” of Cajun and Creole cuisine – onions, bell pepper and celery – along with ingredients such as andouille sausage, tomatoes, chicken broth, and shrimp, it’s darned near impossible to end up with a bland and boring meal. Bonus: This is a bit healthier.

Over the weekend, I tested an easy weeknight gumbo recipe that earned a thumbs up from my judge. As long as you’re departing from tradition and skipping the roux, you might as well tweak this recipe in other ways that satisfy your crowd, as well. For example, skip the okra and throw in some corn or other leftover veggies. Or, if you’re on a tight budget, skip the shrimp. Just be aware that okra is a thickener, so if you do not use it and want thicker gumbo, you may wish to use a little cornstarch slurry.

Click “Read More” to see the recipe.

Finally, a reader emailed me over the weekend with the following question. I don’t have an answer but hope that someone reading this might:

“I was recently back in my birthplace, Philadelphia, and realized that the ONLY thing Roanoke doesn’t have that I wish they would was a good, old-fashioned diner that serves scrapple.  Do you know of anywhere in the Roanoke Area (I’m even willing to drive a little) that serves scrapple?”

Read more »

La Estrella Latina on Williamson Road. The Roanoke Times/File photo.

Dear readers,

I could use your help. In 2008, I wrote a series about ethnic markets in the Roanoke and New River valleys. Click here to see Part I of the series: “A taste of Asia.” From that article, you can click over to the other three parts, plus see the list of markets that existed at that time.

Since then, I know some markets have closed and others have opened. I’ve seen some new markets in my travels around town and have shopped in a couple, but I know I cannot possibly have seen them all. I’m especially concerned about my ability to find out about all the markets in the New River Valley since I don’t get to spend as much time up there as I would like.

So if you have a favorite ethnic market (or more) in which to shop, please leave a comment on this blog entry. I’ll be going around to visit all of the new markets in the near future and would hate to leave somebody out of a published list. If you are not sure of the exact name of the market, a general location would also be helpful.

Gracias, merci, doh je, hvala, dhanyawaad, arigato, komapsumnida, xie xie, kongoi, danke, dhannvaad, salamat.

In other words, thank you!

My kind of chili -- with beans! (AP Photo)

When the weather turns cool every autumn, I begin to crave more soups and stews, hot baked breads and casseroles. Most of all, though, I crave chili. And I know I’m not the only one.

This morning, my colleague told me she had dinner with friends last night at Beamer’s 25, a new restaurant on Salem Avenue. She ordered a bowl of their chili, which she said was very good and came in a huge portion served with bread, cheese and sour cream. She also mentioned that it’s bean-free chili, and that’s when I wrinkled my nose – because personally, I want beans in my chili.

I know, I know! I’m being inauthentic. Chili con carne (Spanish for “chili with meat”) originated in Texas, where the use of beans is largely frowned upon. They want their “bowl of red” to be thick with meat and spices, not with legumes. But as Lyle Lovett would tell me, “That’s right, you’re not from Texas.” And when I say I prefer my chili with beans, Texas might not want me anyway.

I am aware that many Americans fall into the no-beans category when it comes to chili preferences. According to those folks, the chili I make would be all kinds of bastardized. It contains several different colors of beans, as well as vegetables (onions, green peppers, chiles, sometimes even diced squash or sliced mushrooms).

But at least I’m consistent. I like hot dog chili with beans, too (gasp!). And I generally just adore beans in every way, whether they be cooked with a ham hock and served with cornbread, tossed cold onto salad, refried, or added to soups, stews and other recipes. I love beans! I’ll eat them straight out of the can. My chili recipe is based on my mother’s recipe, which always contained dark red kidney beans. After supper, I’d be caught in the kitchen picking out and eating the kidney beans. Did I mention that I love beans?

OK, since chili season is in full swing, this is a great time to conduct a little poll.

The question is simple: When it comes to chili, BEANS OR NO BEANS?

On the Rise now offers pumpkin latte. iStock photo.

I’ve received a couple of emails lately from readers with questions. I also want to share some news about On the Rise bakery and Sarah’s Place, both in downtown Roanoke.

* First, Sarah’s Place. This is the cafe that took over the space in the Patrick Henry building that formerly housed Uptown Joe’s donut shop. The cafe has announced that it has started carrying FitFood meals made by a local food prep company that specializes in healthy fare. If you’d like to try before you buy, head over to Sarah’s Place on Thursday between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for a sample. Later that evening, Jeff Scot Philips of FitFood will conduct a free nutrition and weight-loss seminar at the cafe. He will discuss the basic principles of weight loss and answer nutrition questions. That starts at 7 p.m.

* On the Rise has extended its hours from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Stop by and check out their new espresso machine. They’re now making and selling pumpkin lattes.

* A reader named Paula wrote to ask whether I know of any local businesses that sell fresh pepper-cured hams. She said she was introduced to pepper ham in Ohio but hasn’t been able to find it here. I gave her a couple of suggestions for places she could check, but I’ve never actually seen it. If you have any ideas, let us know.

* Finally, a reader named Beth wants to get rid of several years’ worth of Bon Appetit magazines from the 80s and 90s. She said they are bound in three-ring binders. She doesn’t have enough space for them anymore (and neither do I) but she’s willing to give them away to an interested party. I checked with Virginia Tech, which has a culinary history collection, but they did not need them. If you want them, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Beth.

Photo courtesy kristin_a/Flickr

I attended a wedding several years ago for which the bride had set up a candy buffet. It was the first time I’d ever seen such a thing, and I remember being struck by how lovely it was with all its bright colors and promises of decadence.

It seems candy buffets have grown even more popular since then, for everything from kids’ birthday parties to bridal showers and weddings. There are several reasons for this. First, candy is often beautiful, and a spread of different candies arranged in pretty vessels is really a feast for the eyes. The many colors of candy available makes it easy to customize the look of a candy buffet to match the wedding colors or the birthday boy or girl’s favorite hues.

Many of you are probably already aware that M&Ms can be ordered in special colors with custom lettering — at that wedding I attended, they had the bride and groom’s names printed on the M&Ms.

If you want to set up a candy buffet, you can purchase the candy at the grocery store or wherever you typically buy candy. But there are also lots of sweet websites where you can buy bulk candy and special-order candy. Check out A Candy Store, CandyWarehouse, Party City, Dylan’s Candy Bar and more. Make your buffet extra special with chocolates from local places such as Baylee’s Best Chocolates, ChocolatePaper, Nancy’s Candy Company or The Chocolate Spike.

Read more »

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no expert when it comes to baking. I know the difference between all-purpose flour and self-rising flour and I can follow a recipe, then pray that it turns out well. But when it comes to expert-level baking questions? Well, I defer to the experts.

Just such a question came from one of my colleagues the other day. Here’s what she wrote:

“Hey, could you ask your  blog readers where to find fresh yeast? I have a friend whose mom just moved here. She makes this incredible Polish sweet bread around the holidays but says she can only make it using fresh yeast. She’s called around the grocery stores and nobody seems to carry it. When I checked online I saw some suggestions for inquiring at a local pizza shop or bakery that might sell her some. But maybe a blog reader might point me to one they know does this or have another option.”

Situations such as this are perfect examples of why I love being a journalist. I often get an opportunity to learn right along with my readers. First, let’s begin with the basics (thanks to help from the trusty Food Lover’s Companion, otherwise known to me as the Food Bible).

What IS yeast? Yeast is a tiny living single-cell organism. As these organisms multiply and grow, they convert food into alcohol and – in the case of breads – carbon dioxide. This fermentation is what causes doughs to rise. The two commercially available kinds of yeast are baker’s yeast and brewer’s yeast.

Read more »

On Monday, a reader named Ann left this public comment on my Facebook page:

“Lindsey, I was horrified at reading in Sunday, 8/19 Roanoke Times of the FDA proposing changes in the inspection of chickens as they are being prepared for our consumption. I would expect more time for inspections instead of less and also, certainly not inspections by employees of the poultry producers, but unbiased inspectors. I may have to become vegetarian after all.
Could you find where we could complain about this and start a public outcry?”

Ann is referring to this story, which was written by a reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and which ran in our paper. The proposed new changes were also reported in several other papers, so some of you might already be familiar with the gist of it. For those who are not, here are some basics as they were worded in the AJC story:

The new proposals would:

“- Use workers in chicken and turkey plants to replace all but one federal inspector on the conveyor belt, where bad birds are removed from the production line. (Currently, chicken plants have as many as four federal inspectors on their lines.)

- Let those plants decide how much training their workers receive in identifying diseased or defected birds.

- Enable plants to speed up their slaughter lines so that the sole federal inspector, stationed at the end of the line, would be required to view up to 175 birds per minute. The maximum speed now is 140 per minute, but that workload is divided among four inspectors so that it averages out at 35 per minute for each inspector.

- Let poultry plants decide what dangerous bacteria they test carcasses for and how often they test, and no longer require plants to test for E. coli.”

Read more »

With all the restaurant news that’s been hopping on the blog lately, it’s been a while since we’ve talked about cooking at home. And I’m not going to lie — for the past few weeks, I’ve been experiencing the end-of-summer burnout when it comes to cooking. We’ve been on-the-go on the weekends and all I’ve had the energy to do is eat a lot of fresh produce and grilled meats, with the exception of some go-to dishes I’ve made for dinners and potlucks. But those are dishes I’ve mentioned on the blog or in the column before.

As the weather starts to cool down a little, I feel that spark of inspiration in my belly. I am ready to experiment again, using some unfamiliar ingredients and recipes. On my list to try this fall or winter are an osso bucco dish like this one on Simply Recipes,  Caribbean- or African-style oxtails such as this Emeril Lagasse recipe, a maple cake with maple icing (I’m a sucker for anything maple-flavored), and various dishes that call for chicken thighs. I’m always on the lookout for good chicken thigh recipes, so if anybody has one they would like to share, please do.

I also want to do a muffin column within the next couple of months, so I hope to crank up the oven and make several different kinds of homemade muffins. Got any favorite muffin flavors you’d like me to test?

Most of all, I want to hear what YOU have been cooking lately. Has anybody tried a new recipe or ingredient they loved (or hated, for that matter)? I always know that all of you foodies are out there creating great meals in your kitchens. Inspire us with your kitchen genius!

Readers have asked whether the Wing Boss restaurant is still coming to The Shoppes at Blue Hills Village off Challenger Avenue. The last information Amanda Codispoti reported was that the project had been delayed by paperwork and interior renovations that were taking longer than expected.

I talked to owner Gene Brown this morning, and he said he is definitely still opening the restaurant. He expects to open it sometime in September. He said the main hold-up at this point is installing the hood duct work.

When it opens, the family sports bar-style restaurant will reportedly serve such foods as wings, Angus burgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs and fries.

_______

I also talked to Stephan Parry, who is involved in the opening of Beamer’s 25 at The Lofts at West Station on Salem Avenue in Roanoke. Here is Amanda’s original blog post about this restaurant, which is affiliated with Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer. The restaurant will reportedly serve local food and 25 craft beers.

The last Amanda reported was that Beamer’s 25 would open about Aug. 1, but as anybody who follows restaurants knows, these initial estimates are usually a bit optimistic. Parry said they are still waiting for their liquor license and furnishing the interior, but they are now shooting to open in mid-September. He declined to provide any details about the menu at this point.

Parry is already a successful restaurateur. He owns the following businesses: Fry’s Spring Station (Charlottesville), Q Barbeque (multiple locations), Downtown Grille (Charlottesville), Shoemakers Grille (Lynchburg), Sette Pizza (Richmond), Waterstone Pizza (Lynchburg), Jefferson Street Brewery (Lynchburg) and The Craddock-Terry Hotel (Lynchburg).

Read more »

Four years ago, we ran a list of 50 culinary gems in Southwest Virginia. About one month ago, I asked for your input to develop an updated version. This time, I aimed for 100 and had no trouble hitting the mark.

The entire list was published on the front of today’s Extra section. If you missed seeing the lovely poster page designed by my colleague, Terri Macklin, click here.

Also, thanks to online intern Katrina Tulloch, a New Yorker who recently wrote a blog entry about her first three weeks in Roanoke, we have a lovely map that shows you where to find these 100 gastronomic treats (see below).

Feel free to debate my choices, folks. If you think I omitted a great food find, please tell me by leaving a comment on this blog entry. And thanks to everybody who chimed in last month!

View 100 Food Finds in Southwest Virginia in a larger map

The Roanoke Times l File 1978

In yesterday’s Front Burner column, I shared some history of The Tearoom in downtown Roanoke and asked readers if they have any memories they can share. Please feel free to leave your thoughts as comments on this blog entry or to email them to me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com. You may also snail-mail them to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.

If you leave a comment on this blog entry, please indicate whether it is OK for me to use your full name if I quote you in my article. Thank you. Random little note: I know the name of the store has an ampersand instead of the word “and” spelled out, but my blog software, Word Press, wigs out if I try to use ampersands in the title of blog entries.

Here is yesterday’s column:

Seeking Memories of Miller & Rhoads Tearoom
By Lindsey Nair

My friend Jean Robbins has treasured memories of a special activity she used to share with her daughters in the late 1960s, when they were girls.

On certain Saturdays, Jean would leave her husband, Mal, to his gardening while she and their children, Cathy and Leslie, traveled to Miller & Rhoads in Roanoke for a morning of shopping. This was always followed by lunch in the Miller & Rhoads Tearoom, where diners could eat while beautiful models showed off the latest store fashions.

“That was always a neat atmosphere,” said Leslie Spigle, who now lives in Buchanan and has kids of her own. “I think about how we don’t have anything like that today — everybody is in and out of shopping and on their way. It was a really nice, relaxing lunch.”

The five-story department store, which was built in 1957 on an old Heironimus site on Campbell Avenue, was a destination for shoppers from miles around Roanoke. The Roanoke Tearoom was smaller than the one in Miller & Rhoads’ flagship Richmond store, but it still saw plenty of traffic.

To continue reading this column, click here.

Click these links to see these Miller & Rhoads Tearoom recipes:

Chicken Salad

Opera Mints

Missouri Club

Brunswick Stew

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?

Floyd's new farmers market is one of many changes since our last survey. File photo.

In January 2008, I ran a column about “gastronomic gems,” or the 50 greatest food finds in Southwest Virginia. If you’ve been reading this blog since then, you might remember that list was a team effort – I took reader suggestions and wrapped them, with my own ideas, into an ode to the culinary treasures of our region.

I decided recently to dig through the archives and find that list to see how much it has changed. As it turns out, things have changed mightily for the better – and for the worse. Some gems, such as local farmers markets, have shown considerable growth. Other items, such as several of our favorite restaurants, have disappeared for good.

I’d like to share this updated list to see what you all think, then do an updated version for a future column. Have I missed any restaurant closings? If businesses have moved or changed ownership, are they still good enough to be on our list? What culinary gems has Southwest Virginia gained in the past 4 1/2 years that we can use to update our list? I wonder if we could get to 100 this time…

My update notes are in bold font. Go to the bottom of the list for a few of my ideas for additions. Feel free to disagree!

1. Artichoke-brie soup and veal marsala at Carlos Brazilian International Cuisine.
2. [GONE] El Palenque desserts (Yes, I know El Palenque closed. But their cakes and cookies can still be ordered at www.galvancakes.net. [No, they can't])
3. Southwest Virginia farmers markets: Peaches! Tomatoes! Flowers! Potatoes! You name it, it’s fresh and we love it.
4. Floyd County, a virtual mecca of homegrown produce and pasture-fed livestock.
5. Ethnic markets: J&L on Brambleton Avenue and the Oriental Market on Williamson Road are just the beginning. [J&L is still open and we've gained some new markets, but we've also lost a couple]
6. Hotel Roanoke peanut soup and spoonbread (recipes inside).
7. Sausage gravy at The Roanoker Restaurant.
8. Roanoke Weiner Stand chili [downtown location closed temporarily, but it'll be back!]
9. Good Things on the Market fudge [Closed]
10. Crabcakes by Capt. Paul’s seafood market in Salem.
11. Bagels at Roanoke Bagel Co. [expanding!]
12. Picking berries at Crow’s Nest Farm in Blacksburg. [under new ownership]
13. Authentic Middle Eastern dishes at More Than Coffee in Blacksburg. [Now Pita Vera]
14. Crawfish etoufee (no longer on the menu), softshell crab (seasonal) and Big Easy-style platter at Stephen’s Restaurant in Roanoke.
15. Burger in the Square: the burgers, of course! [Moved to Brambleton Avenue]
16. Subs and pizza at On the Rise bakery on the Roanoke market.
17. Table 50 in downtown Roanoke: Caribbean chicken salad, seared jumbo sea scallops in Armagnac cream sauce.
18. Taco soup at Little Dipper’s on the Roanoke City Market [Closed]
19. Rare roast beef sub (with slaw, not lettuce) at The New Yorker Delicatessen on Williamson Road.
20. Orange Dog at Towers Shopping Center (The restaurant is opening a second location in downtown Roanoke.) [The downtown location was not open long. The Towers location is under new ownership and is now called Rescue Dog]

Read more »

Photo by Lindsey Nair l The Roanoke Times

Today’s Front Burner column in the Extra section is about cherries, which have ripened earlier this year than some growers can ever recall. I know I had a passel of them on my cherry tree (pictured here) and I could only reach a tiny percentage of them. Look at all the cherries in this picture that I could not reach! Maybe I should rent a cherry picker next year!

Here is a link to my column.

Click these links for the recipes that ran with my column:

Mom’s Fruit Cobbler
Cherry-Cashew Cookies
Cherry Bounce (a cherry-infused liquor)

I didn’t have room to fit a couple of other recipes in print today, but you can find them in the PlateUp database by clicking the links below:

Strawberry-Cherry Coconut Crumble
Cherry (or Strawberry) Muffins

After you read the column and/or check out the recipes, I’ll be interested in your thoughts about a couple of different things. First, do you have a cherry tree or memories of growing up with a tree that produced enough cherries every year to do a picking?

Second, I’d like to know how my family’s cobbler recipe compares to any cobbler recipes you may have used before. Because I find that a lot of people who say “cobbler” actually mean something much different than what I grew up with. For example, some people call fruit with a pastry crust on top a “cobbler,” but that’s never been my idea of one. I’m not saying any one is right or wrong, I would just like to conduct a little sociological culinary experiment.

It’s time for a little RRR: Reader-recommended recipes. I get emails from time to time from folks who want to share a five-star recipe they tried. And I figure that’s nice for me, but it would be a lot nicer if I shared them with the rest of my readers.

Therefore, look for the occasional installment in the Triple R series. And if you have tried a recipe you want to rave about, please email me the recipe or a link at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com. I’d love to share.

This next recipe comes from reader Debbie Franco, who said: “This recipe from Cook’s Illustrated is delicious. I roasted the pork loin in the oven instead of grilling it, still turned out to be fabulous. I cut the fat off of it too, but since I had brined it first it stayed moist.”
Read more »

Blog reader Alison sent in this picture of Jewel Tea mixing bowls that belonged to her great-great-grandmother.

After our earlier blog conversation about kitchen heirlooms – appliances, gadgets, cookware and the like that have been passed down in our families – I decided to craft a special Mother’s Day column about the topic. If you have not seen it, click here. It includes recipes for blog reader Bill Joppich’s family’s “Crumbie Chicken” and Kaitlin Kennedy’s great-grandmother’s peanut brittle.

I received a few stories and a recipe I was not able to get into my column before deadline, so I’d like to share those with you here. Enjoy, and happy early Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.

From Debbie Mooty of Botetourt County:

Family food memories for a Southern family include a great deal more than just about recipes or even the meal itself. My grandmother was a fantastic cook –she could fix biscuits and gravy and good ole down home food! She always seemed to be cooking or preserving or working in the garden while I was growing up and some of my favorite memories of my grandparents’ small Blacksburg farm centered around family meals and their preparation.  However, nothing brings a tear to my eye more quickly than the sight of those brown Maxwell House mugs that I still have in my kitchen today because they represent who “my people” really were – hard working folks who could take nothing for granted and who worked for everything they had.

Back when I was growing up, my grandmother shopped at the local Radford Brothers in Blacksburg and Maxwell House coffee had these mugs that you could purchase cheaply with a purchase of their coffee. My grandmother doggedly bought one each time she got the coffee until she had 6 and I so remember my grandfather drinking steaming black coffee out of them. They were cheap and not that decorative but they are a treasure to me as I still have two. After my grandfather passed away, there were a few possessions I really wanted and those mugs came home with me the first day. At first I kept them downstairs and didn’t use them and then one day, while cleaning up downstairs, I caught sight of them on the shelf and thought,“no, Buddy and Granny would want me to use these” so I brought them upstairs and we use them daily just like my other cups.

I have purchased a lot of nice things for my kitchen over the years but those mugs to me are priceless and bring instant joy of fond memories – and sometimes a tear for all that I now miss.

Read more »

GranniesKitchen/Flickr

As Mother’s Day approaches, I wonder how many folks out there have kitchen utensils, gadgets, appliances, what-have-you that is a family heirloom? Do you? If so, what is it and do you use it or just store it as a keepsake?

Happy foggy Monday to you all. At least we had a gorgeous day on Sunday to get outside and tinker in the garden. I cleaned up my herb garden and now have three trash bags full of rosemary from my monstrous rosemary bush. I’m going to donate a bunch of it to the RAM house – did you know they’d take donations of fresh herbs? Kitchen manager Linda Cannon said she’ll dry them and store them for future use. I can’t think of a better use for my monstrous rosemary bush.

I got a neat cookbook the other day called “Sweet Home” by Rebecca Miller Ffrench. It includes a chapter about preserving family recipes. Here are her tips:

1. “Get your hands dirty and get digging.” she advises going into basements, attics and other storage spaces to look for recipe boxes, books, cookbooks and letters that might contain recipes.

2. “Keep your eyes out for baking accoutrements.” Look in cupboards, closets and storage spaces for forgotten accoutrements. Some examples she lists are shortbread molds, pudding molds, cookie cutters, cake stands, cookie jars, pizzelle irons, krumkaker presses, rosette irons, bundt pans and silver spoons. Even though most of these items are  not worth much money (at least, that’s what I heard on Antiques Roadshow), they are priceless when it comes to family meaning.

3. Take pictures of food, relatives cooking, their gardens, kitchens, holiday spreads, etc.

4. Do not fight over things. Be generous about sharing equipment and recipes. I’ll bet we’ve all seen the worst that can happen when elderly relatives pass away and their descendants get into a snatching and fighting match over the stuff they want. The author advises that if one everyone wants the pizzelle iron, for example, the family designate one person as the keeper of the iron but plan an annual get-together to make pizzelles. And copy and share recipes, for goodness sake. Don’t steal the recipe box when nobody is looking and then claim you don’t know what happened to it.
Read more »

Stuffing of the pie holes. (Seattle Municipal Archives/Flickr)

Whenever I hear about an eating contest, I cannot help but think of the pie-eating contest scene in the movie “Stand By Me”, which concludes with… well, this blog is supposed to be about stimulating your appetite, not suppressing it. But if you really want to know or revisit that particular scene, click here.

Eating contests can fall into two categories: The kind where contestants end up eating an absurd amount of food in order to win the prize or the kind where the type of food is a challenge in itself (i.e. raw habanero peppers), so the contestants don’t eat until they bust but it’s still a difficult and uncomfortable task.

It is probably a rite of passage for any teenage boy to be involved, at some point, in an eating contest — even if it is an unofficial one which takes place at the school cafeteria table. Or should I say ESPECIALLY if it takes place at a school cafeteria table? I am here to admit that while I have never in my life been a teenage boy, even I took part in a pseudo eating contest, challenging myself in front of my friends to jam as many marshmallows into my mouth as possible.

It wasn’t very entertaining for my friends or myself.

While many eating contests have no real purpose, some are competitive sport or part of fundraising efforts. Big Lick BBQ (formerly Henry’s Memphis BBQ) is having an eating contest on May 26 to benefit OMNI (Orphan Medical Network International). Prizes will be awarded for eating the most slaw, potato salad or mixed beans (your choice of which side dish); for eating the most pulled pork sandwiches; and for eating the most ribs. Sounds messy, huh?

I’ll post the rules and other information for entering the contest at the bottom of this entry. Who among you is man or woman enough to go through a pile of ribs like Bugs Bunny goes through corn on the cob? Or risk the painful result of pouring whole beans down your gullet? I know you’re out there!

I’ll finish with a poll: How many of you enjoy watching or participating in food-eating contests? How many are disgusted by them?

Read more »

aMichiganMom/Flickr

It happens to me at least once a week: I go in the drawer where I keep my measuring spoons and they’re not there.

Usually, if someone hasn’t put them in the wrong drawer (ahem), they’re either in the dishwasher, the dish drainer or under some other dirty dishes in the sink. It’s a solid score if they’re in the dish drainer or the dishwasher is clean, because that means I can use them right away. But if they’re anyplace else, I have to stop what I’m doing and wash them.

That’s not a big deal, really, but it made me realize we probably all have kitchen items that always seem to be dirty when we need them. That must mean they’re pretty important to us, because obviously we use them all the time.

I’ve attempted to solve my measuring spoon problem by buying a couple of inexpensive spare sets so I can rotate through them and wash them less often. Of course, I always prefer my nice metal set but I do find that they are sometimes too big to fit inside certain spice containers. So one of the more shallow sets is nice to have.

I’d be interested to know what item you are constantly looking for in the kitchen and always finding in the dishwasher or sink. So tell me, how would you fill in the blank?

It is time for another installment of Lost Recipes from Days Gone By. Every now and then, I get an email from a reader who is seeking a long lost recipe. Usually, thanks to the wonders of Google, it doesn’t take long for me to find it.

However, after I recently heard from a reader named Sharon, I had absolutely no cooperation from Google. Let me just say, in a brief aside, that it annoys me when I search under a term such as “apple pie filling” and get results for recipe sites that lead me to every apple recipe under the sun. Do you see how spoiled I’ve gotten in the digital age? But anyway, let’s move on.

Here’s what Sharon had to say in an email:

“When my children were young I had a cake recipe that they loved.  Somehow that recipe has been misplaced and my daughters ask often about it.  The ingredients included a can of apple pie filling and it was baked in a 9 x 13 inch pan.  When the cake came out of the oven you punched holes in it and poured a sauce over the hot cake and let it cool in the pan.  The sauce was a combination of sour cream and maybe soda????  It was a gooey cake and obviously very moist.  In your recipes do you have anything that sounds like the cake I have described?  I have ask friends and family but no one seems to have THE ONE recipe I am looking for.”

Well, it certainly sounds like an interesting recipe. Does anybody have the knowledge to make Sharon – and her daughters – some very happy ladies? If so, please share.

To sweeten the deal, I’ll send a free cookbook from my collection to the first person who finds this recipe and leaves it, or a link, in a comment on this blog entry. But I’ll have to verify with Sharon that it is the same recipe she seeks or close enough to the same.

Have a great weekend! Cook something scrumptious!

This past weekend, I was able to get together with a friend who moved from Roanoke to Syracuse a couple of years ago. While reminiscing about our times in Roanoke, she mentioned that she misses a lot about this city, including her co-workers, other friends and Alejandro’s Mexican Grill.

I love Alejandro’s, but I was amused that she specifically mentioned the chiles rellenos and other fare there because I would have assumed that Syracuse has a larger restaurant scene than Roanoke. Surely she can get good Mexican food there, right?

This reminded me of another couple who moved from Roanoke to California about seven years ago and are now in the process of moving back. While they were away, they said, they missed Nawab Indian restaurant terribly. Again, I was fascinated. Why Nawab, when there have got to be at least a dozen Indian restaurants in their city in California?

I’m sure it has a lot to do with the food at each of these restaurants, but there must be something else – a fond memory, perhaps, or something unique about these places that they’ve never again encountered.

On the drive home, my other friend and I talked about this. If we moved away from Roanoke, we asked each other, what restaurant(s) would we miss the most, and why? We both agreed on what seemed like a pretty unlikely candidate, but for reasons we both understood when we really thought about it.

Before I reveal the restaurant I’d miss, I want to ask readers: What restaurant would you miss the most if you moved far away from your current home? If you have moved a long distance in the past, did you find that you yearned for any particular place?

Cocoa in a steak rub? No doubt about it.

I’ve been working on a column this week about chefs’ secrets, but that doesn’t thoroughly explain the point of the exercise. Chefs have a lot of secrets; what I’m interested in is how they use normal ingredients in unusual ways.

For example, I have heard from chefs who use cornflakes to bread fish or pixie sticks to color meringues.

Of course, chefs aren’t the only ones who use typical ingredients in surprising ways. Home cooks might use grape jelly in a meatball sauce, for example, or salt on truffles, or cocoa powder in steak rub.

I’m no expert chef, but when I scoured my brain for an example from my own kitchen, I thought about a ramen noodle dish I make sometimes when I’m in a big hurry. I cook the noodles in low-sodium chicken broth, then add some fresh spinach, a handful of shrimp, some soy sauce, fish sauce, hot sauce and lime juice for a Thai-inspired supper in a flash. I’ve tossed chunks of frozen tilapia in there instead of shrimp before. I have also been known to pour some beer in the pan when I’m sauteeing cabbage or greens.

Stay tuned for some far better examples of chefs’ secrets in next week’s paper. And if you have a secret ingredient that you like to use in a creative way, I would LOVE to include it in next week’s column. Any chefs out there who have not heard from me? Please feel free to give me a call at (540) 981-3343, email me at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com or comment on this blog entry.

McClatchy-Tribune file photo.

I have always found individual grocery shopping habits pretty fascinating. I’m sure they say something about a person, but I’m no sociologist. Since I know my own household best, I’ll use it as an example.

We usually do our grocery shopping on Sundays, when the new sales start at Kroger and coupons and the circular come out in the paper. The weirdest thing we do is split up with our own grocery carts and check out separately. Neither of us have the patience to let the other one drive.

At Kroger, I always look for bright orange clearance stickers, particularly in the produce department, the organic frozen food department, the meat department and the deli (good scores on fancy cheeses). We also poke around in those clearance baskets that Kroger randomly parks in their stores and have found a few good deals there. For example, Howard recently found his shaving cream for $1 and it was only missing the cap.

After spending about an hour in the grocery store doing my main shopping for the week, we usually go home and remember something we forgot, which means one of us makes another short trip (or two) during the week. Recently, we’ve also started to swing by Food Lion once a week to buy things like dog food or deli meat or to check out their meat selection. I also often shop ethnic markets for better prices on exotic items and go to Wal-Mart about once a month for one or two products that are priced much lower there (namely, Clear Care contact lens cleaning solution and makeup). I rarely go to Fresh Market only because it is not near my house. When I do, it is usually for ingredients for that night’s meal or a gift/potluck situation.

My biggest pet peeves at the grocery store are probably the same as everybody’s:

Read more »