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Monday night meal at Chez Nair-Swank

Never underestimate the value of a good skewer. Also, never forget to soak a good skewer in water for about 20 minutes before you thread the food on -- it prevents the wood from burning.

From the looks of the picture, I forgot to do the presoak. But that's okay, we still turned out a healthy, delicious meal. It was so easy and delicious, in fact, that I'm dreaming of all the other foods I could put on a skewer and toss on the grill.

This supper consisted of shrimp marinated in Lawry's Louisiana Red Pepper Marinade, accompanied by lightly seasoned veggie skewers of zucchini, red pepper and onion. With a side of rice, it was the perfect light supper.

Other skewer ideas:

* Pot roast on a stick: beef cubes, carrot slices, potatoes and pearl onions. Be sure to blanch the vegetables first to make them cook a bit faster.

* Sweet and sour pork: Pork loin chunks, sweet pepper, onion, pineapple chunks.

* A night by the sea: Shrimp and scallops on one skewer; blanched potatoes and chunks of corn on the cob on the other.

* Dessert of paradise: Chunks of pineapple marinated in dark rum and brown sugar, grilled and served warm with vanilla ice cream.

I just tossed those out off the top of my head. What other "theme" kabobs could we make?

Karen Urie (far right) and her fiance, John Shields (beside her) work with two assistants in the Town House kitchen. Photo by Eric Brady/The Roanoke Times

Remember the story I did back in March about Town House Restaurant in Chilhowie, where chefs John Shields and Karen Urie from Chicago are turning out extraordinary food?

Well, I was excited to find out this morning that The New York Times has found Town House Restaurant and today published a glowing article about the establishment and its talented chefs. To see the article, which is accompanied by freelance photos taken by our very own Stephanie Klein-Davis, click here.

Haven't been to Town House yet? Well, New Yorkers may be willing to make the trek, so perhaps it's time to plan a weekend excursion!

No! Not the "closed" sigh again!

THIS JUST IN: ANOTHER closing to report, this time the Petticoats and Petit Fours Tea Room in Salem. According to their Web site, the tea room is having a going out of business sale.

From the New River Valley Notebook blog, news that The Bank Food and Drink in Pearisburg is closing, but they hope to reopen soon with a new chef and management.

Jenny Kincaid Boone has just broken the news on her blog, The Storefront, that Trio Bistro Bar Bottle in downtown Roanoke, which recently changed its name to Trio Market Bar Cafe, is closing at the end of this month.

Trio has held down the corner of Market Street and Church Avenue for three and a half years. I always thought they must be doing well to survive that long and outlast other restaurants that came and went. Now, owner Sands Woody admits that the restaurant never turned a profit, even after he hired new chef Justin Buckner to but a low country twist on the menu.

It's a shame to see such a beautiful restaurant go. I hope someone else with great ideas and deep pockets tries to make a go of it there before too long.

In other restaurant news, I received an interesting e-mail this morning from Roanoker Lisa Lusk, who says she is opening a cupcake bakery called "Bubblecake" in the white house in Crystal Spring that most recently housed Tony Pope Bistro. I'm going to chat more with Lisa about the details of her bakery, and I'll share what I can as soon as I can.

Anyone want to offer a eulogy on Trio? Are you surprised they are closing?

Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council

I don't know about you all, but I've got a wild weekend planned. Not in the sense that I plan to get wild, but in the sense that I have so much to do -- dinner at Dad's, a birthday/housewarming party at Mom's, yard work --  that it's going to get pretty hectic.

If you don't have a bunch of plans, though, I beg you to relax a little and think about trying something new for lunch or dinner one day. To help out, I've got some wonderful materials from the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council. I've always loved wild rice, and lately I've come to appreciate the fact that it is delicious either hot or cold, plain or gussied up with other ingredients. Why go with plain old white rice when you can chose something with a lot more flavor and fiber, to boot?

The Minnesota Council calls wild rice the "caviar of grains." They are trying to increase the grain's popularity even more by demonstrating that it can be incorporated into everything from soups to stir-fry to Thai dishes. I'm going to share a few recipes from the council (one for Wild Rice Crab Cakes, one for a Wild Rice Summer Wrap and one for Wild Thai Peanut Sauce Chicken) to get your creative juices flowing.

Got any other favorite recipes that involve wild rice? If so, let us know. And have a wild weekend!

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A blog reader named Paul commented yesterday on a new bakery's move to downtown Roanoke that "parking could be an issue."

Parking is frequently an issue downtown. It's something we've never discussed on this blog even though some of the best restaurants in city limits are located downtown. If you don't work within walking distance of the heart of it all, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to find a parking space, eat lunch and get back to work within an hour.

Maybe some say, "park in a parking garage!" To which I say, I refuse to pay to stop my car someplace to eat lunch in a city the size of Roanoke. It's true that some parking garages are free after hours, and that's worth looking into.

Pay lots have a few lucrative spots on downtown Roanoke's food map. Between 202 Market and Mill Mountain Coffee, for example; across from Corned Beef & Co. (and beside Frankie Rowland's); across from the bus station on Salem; closest to Macado's on Second Street.

But for the most part, when I have to drive downtown at any time of day, I just keep circling until I find a spot. It helps to have lived in a city for 10 years, and have a husband who has lived here all of his life, when checking each and every spot. But as downtown continues to be revitalized and we (hopefully) gain more successful restaurants, this could become an even bigger issue.

Anyone have thoughts or tips for those who are discouraged from making the trek?

Courtesy of Ten Speed Press and Mrs. Rowe's restaurant.

Today's Front Burner column includes a Q & A with the author of "Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies." Those of you who have been to Mrs. Rowe's restaurants in Staunton and Mount Crawford ought to know that pies were one of Mildred Rowe's specialties. Now, you can have an entire collection of those recipes at hand.

Here is the Q & A with Mollie Cox Bryan. Any thoughts?

By Lindsey Nair

The Roanoke Times

For more than 60 years, Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant in Staunton has been luring hungry travelers and townspeople with its authentic, homemade Southern entrees and desserts.
Mildred Rowe (rhymes with “wow”) died in 2003, after 89 years of working her way from the hollows of Alleghany County to behind the counter of one of Virginia’s most successful and well-loved eateries.
Her legacy lives on not only in the Staunton restaurant and the newer Mrs. Rowe’s Country Buffet in Mount Crawford, but also in several cookbooks intended to inspire home cooks to whip up great comfort food themselves.
The most recent of those is “Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies” by Mollie Cox Bryan, an author and freelance writer who lives in Waynesboro with her husband, Eric, and daughters Emma, 10, and Tess, 8.
Bryan wrote the pie cookbook on the heels of “Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Cookbook,” a sort of biography-cookbook that published in 2006.
I talked to Mollie recently about getting to know the famous Mrs. Rowe, learning her pie-making skills and what she thinks the strong-willed businesswoman would think of her restaurant dynasty today.

Q: How did you first find out about Mrs. Rowe?
I started hearing stories about Mrs. Rowe mostly from my husband who works for the Frontier Culture Museum. Her son, Mike, was on the board, and I started hearing these incredible stories.
I was intrigued by the stories and said you know, someone should really write this stuff down. I approached Michael, and Mrs. Rowe was not interested in me doing anything, but Mike was.
I wrote a biography, and to try to make a long story short, when she passed away, I was quoted in the local newspaper as being her biographer. I was contacted from all over the country. I got an agent and began to shop it around and it ended up morphing into a cookbook.

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No, I'm not talking about Star Trek. I'm talking about the latest installment in Retro Menu Madness, a sampling from my husband's dusty collection of old takeout menus that I found piled in a plastic bag in one of our kitchen drawers.

You may remember the premier installment of RMM. If not, you must check it out before you can fully appreciate this latest menu.

Tell me what you remember about this defunct restaurant:

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For the past two summers, Local Colors has organized a monthly ethnic food fest at lunchtime in downtown Roanoke. I've walked down on a couple of occasions with co-workers to purchase a big to-go container of tasty delights such as Caribbean food and Scandinavian food. I'm happy to pass along that "Taste of Culture" is about to kick off again this Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The third season begins with the Latino culture, so there will be delicious Latino food for purchase as well as merchandise and exhibits to peruse. The Twelve O'Clock Knob Band will play live music.

Taste of Culture takes place in Century Plaza across from the historic fire station on Church Avenue. It is sponsored by SunTrust Bank and Roanoke Parks and Recreation. Admission is free. Future programs include: Polynesian food in July, Vietnamese in August, Chinese in September and Scandinavian in October.

If any of that sounds good to you and you can make it to downtown Roanoke on your lunch break, wander on down to support a great organization. If you have questions, you may go to www.localcolors.org or e-mail Local Colors director Pearl Fu at pearlfu@aol.com.

Photo courtesy U.S. Potato Board

Today I am paying homage to foods that start with the letter "P," for no other reason than I wanted to write about pomegranates and potatoes. Not together, mind you. But as separate delights to have on hand around the kitchen.

The difference between these two ingredients, you may note, is that one (the tater) seems endlessly adaptable and the other, while cool to play with and beautiful and delicious, seems to have a limited number of uses. Until now, I've really only put pomegranate seeds in salads or champagne, or simply eaten them straight out of a bowl as a snack.

That's why I was pleased to receive a recipe card from the Ocean Spray company dedicated to pomegranates. Even though they call for the juice instead of the actual seeds, I'd add the seeds to both of these recipes as garnish. I'll attach recipes for the cranberry-pomegranate sangria and Greek cranberry and pomegranate marinated leg of lamb below.

On the same day, the U.S. Potato Board sent out a press kit that I might normally give a quick glance and file in the recycling bin. But I liked the recipe for grilled potato and sausage kabobs with lemon-herb drizzle and grilled potato dippers with a trio of sauces. I'll attach those below, too.

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Judging by the number of page views on the New River Notebook blog yesterday, people are bananas over burritos. However, given the debate on Jenny Boone's retail blog, The Storefront, they can't decide whether they want corporate burritos. Of course, this all stems from this week's announcement that Chipotle is coming to Blacksburg.

Some folks are excited; they've been waiting for years for Chipotle to finally hit town. Others say that Blacksburg shouldn't let chain establishments take over, or that they don't need a Chipotle right across the street from Moe's Southwest Grill, or that Chipotle isn't very good and there are already plenty of Mexican restaurants in town.

I admit to being a Chipotle virgin. I've always had good intentions of trying one, but I just never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I looooooove burritos, though, and I am a big fan of Qdoba. If Chipotle is anything like Qdoba I'll be driving up to Blacksburg on occasion just to get a big, fat burrito.

I don't know how Chipotle compares to Moe's Southwest Grill. Interested in what those of you with experience would say about that. I do think it's silly to compare Chipotle to sit-down Mexican restaurants, though. It's pretty much apples and oranges, if you ask me. There's plenty of business to support the sit-down joints as well as the fast food burrito place, especially in a college town.

What say you all? How would you rate Chipotle versus Qdoba or Moe's Southwest Grill?