La Bella

So we keep going to the same places over and over again (namely Cogan's and Green Onion because they're so awesome) but we finally went somewhere new. La Bella is an Italian restaurant in Ghent on 22nd Street, set in an unsuspecting strip mall next to The Market. The inside is nicely decorated, with the entrance being a little Italian store. They had lots of desserts and pastas for sale, but it also appeared you could order a sandwich to go there and the sandwiches sounded wonderful.

Dinner: To start we had a calamari appetizer ($9). I'm always skeptical about ordering this, but there's was a good size plate (enough to share) and was quite tasty. For an entree I had the Penne All Ortolana ($15) which was penne with eggplant, tomato, basil, garlic and topped with ricotta. It was a really heart pasta dish but the ricotta on top gave a nice light touch to it. It was a big portion and I actually took half home. My husband had the Vitello Ai Tre Scallini ($20) which is veal topped with pancetta and provolone topped with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes in a brandy sauce. It was delicious. Seriously, I don't usually eat veal and this was awesome. It came with a side of penne with sauce (marinara or bolognese). I would definitely recommend this dish to anyone.

Drinks: I would say the one disappointment is that there wasn't a huge selection of wine. They did have a nice glad of red that I really enjoyed, but I can't recall the name and the don't have it listed online unfortunately. I remember it was a deep red with hints of blackberry and is one of the owner's favorites. I think it was about $8/glass. They also had a full bar and several different bottled beers.

They had sort of pre fixe menu that was $25 for 4 courses. It included a Caesar Salad and then a smaller portion each for an appetizer, entree and ddessert. 

Overall I would recommend La Bella. I feel like it's hard to find a decent Italian place sometimes, so I was happy to go here and have a decent Italian meal. 

Price: $$

Food: 1.5 forks up

Drinks: 3 drinks (out of 5)

Atmosphere: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Restaurant Week January 2009!

To anyone who reads this, it's Restaurant Week in Norfolk (both downtown and Ghent) and Virginia Beach right! If you have a chance, go out and try something delicious! If you're going to Terrapin tonight, I'm jealous!

http://www.destinationghent.com
http://www.downtownnorfolk.org
http://www.vbrestaurantweek.com/

Pasha Mediterranean Cuisine

Pasha...really more of a Turkish place (which I visited earlier this year and loved) with wonderful mezze. For all of you who don't know, mezze are basically tapas or small plates. So you get to try a lot of stuff and share. They also have a few entrees averaging arounf $15-18 if I recall. The Pasha I visited (there are two) opened in Ghent a few months ago on 22nd Street between Colonial and Llewellyn. The atmosphere is great, they have wonderful outdoor seating (if it's not cold of course!) and the food is great.

Since it was mezze style I can't recall everything ordered, but I will say that I vividly remember the stuffed calamari which was awesome. We had to order a second plate! They also had a great plate of different spreads and vegetarian stuff that was really good. Several variations of meat on a stick were available and we tried a few, but the lamb and rice bowl was far better than those I thought. The wine selection is fairly decent and not too pricey. But you must save room for that cup of Turkish coffee which made me feel like I was back in Istanbul. Yum!

Overall I would give my experience an 85%
Food: Pricing - $-$$ (you can spend a little or a lot!)
Drinks: 2 wine glasses up
Atmosphere: 4.5/5

The Boot

Last night I went to the Boot for the first time in almost a year. I returned (after begging my husband) hoping that the service would be better. It was. Luckily the food was just as good as I had remembered!

For those of you haven't heard of the Boot, it's a ways from Colley down 21st Street, but it's well worth the trip. The menu is Italian inspired but uses mostly local and seasonal ingredients. They have a great selection of VA cheese, wines, and beer as well. (Tuesday is half price bottles of VA wine!)

For starters we got a cheese plate. My one critique is there isn't enough cheese on there, especially when they're all so delicious! We had a soft chevre-type, a medium gouda-type, and a hard cheddar type, all from VA. It came with a cut up Asian pear, honey, peanuts, olives, and homemade zucchini bread. Very good overall.

For my meal I decided to skip out on the full portion of pasta and instead do a salad and a half portion of pasta. Great idea because it let me try more! I had the arugula with dried figs, prosciutto and chevre. It was delicious! For a pasta, I had the shrimp and crab in a creamy tomato sauce over penne. A half-portion of this was great because it is a little heavier, but it was very good. My husband had the black angel hair with calamari, garlic, capers and tomato. It was excellent and so light and fresh. I would definitely recommend either of these plates! My husband also did the half-portion pasta and paired it with a fried oyster and grilled romaine salad which he said was awesome.

Although we didn't stay, another great thing about the Boot is the live music almost every night of the week. It starts around 9pm and includes everything from acoustic rock to blues. 

Cost: $$$ (out of 4)

Ambiance: 2 thumbs up

Deliciousness: 4 out of 5 stars

No Frill Grill - Brunch

So last weekend we ventured out for brunch at No Frill Grill. I love NFG for it's food and atmosphere but somehow in the past 2 years had not been for Sunday brunch. The brunch menu is small but hits all your brunch favorites, plus they have the whole normal menu. To top it off they have $3 brunch cocktails, including Bloody Mary, mimosa, and others. Definitely ideal for the brunch-going crowd..

I decided to try the croissant "french" bread brunch item. Delicious. This french bread really stood out because it used croissants as the bread...yum! Super tasty and soft with just a little crust which is how I like it! All brunch options come with cheesy hash browns and a cup of fruit salad. The hash browns were clog yo' artery good, though a bit over the top since brunch tends to be carb-heavy. The fruit salad was decent, though I don't think I've ever seen too much fruit, and these were awfully small cups. My husband had fried chicken and biscuits topped with gravy. His was super heavy but extra delicious. I think he walked out waiting for a heart attack to hit him in the street. 

The friends we went with ordered off the regular menu, a salad and a crab cake sandwich platter. The salads at NFG are awesome and never disappoint. I didn't hear our other friend complain about the crab cakes, so I assume they too were tasty.

So yeah, NFG...great restaurant, great brunch, go tomorrow. But make sure you can enjoy the brunch cocktails...that's my only regret!

Cost: great deal, $$ ($8-$13)

Food: awesome, 2 thumbs up

Atmosphere: chill but nice, 2 thumbs up

Luna Maya

Stuck in the middle of a strip mall on 21st Street in Ghent, Luna Maya is the best offering of Mexican food I've had yet in Hampton Roads. The location could be better, but it never hurts for business so clearly they have no motive to move. However, once inside you don't realize that you're next to a paint store and cheap hair salon and you become immersed in the nouveau Mexican experience.

The menu is a bit pricier than your average La Tolteca or the like, but the food, drinks and options of each make up for it. To start with, the drink list is awesome. They make their own sour mix, so the margaritas are simply delicious with no trace of frozen "fresh" margarita stuff within a block radius.

So, onto the food...since no Mexican meal is complete without some guacamole, we started with that. The guacamole is awesome...fresh made and always amazing. The platter comes with salsa too, which is a nice addition but nothing compared to the guacamole.

For entrees there are several that I usually tend towards, including the pastel de choclo con chorizo (a delicious chorizo and corn casserole), the spicy shrimp tacos or burrito, and the tamales. This time I decided to try a special: a shrimp and avocado salad. I hate to say it but my salad was decent, while certainly nothing amazing which disappointed me a bit. The shrimp was tossed with some sort of chipotle ranch dressing, while it would have been better if it had had the spicy shrimp on top instead. I love avocado on a salad, but not when the salad is mostly made of shredded cabbage. So, sadly my meal was not as good as had hoped. My husband stuck with one of the classic dishes though: the tamales. He described them as a little sweet from the masa with perfectly seasoned pork. It is served in the corn husk with a sour cream sauce on top and beans on the side. Friends of ours had the spicy shrimp tacos and the vegetarian tamales. I didn't hear any complaints, but sadly didn't inquire to get their full opinion.

So, overall here's my rating for this visit
Food: 3.5 forks (I wish it could be higher, but my salad just wasn't that great)
Price: $$ ($7-$10 for margaritas/mojitos, $10-18 for entrees)
Atmosphere: 1.5 thumbs up (love the inside, but hate having to park in a strip mall)

Cogan's

After the Green Onion my favorite place in all of Norfolk is Cogan's. It's in Ghent on Colonial Avenue near 20th Street. It has the best pizza of anywhere...mainly because of the spicy sauce, which is a must on every pie. The atmosphere is laid back and very casual and all the servers and bartenders have a great personality. There is often a huge wait if you go on Sundays ($5 off all pies plus $5 cheese pizzas), so be prepared. There is a lunch buffet of all you can for $8, but none of the pizza have spicy sauce...a travesty indeed. Happy hour is great too and they have great specials every day of the week. Oh and did I mention they have over 30 beers on tap? They always swap a few out for different seasonals, but they have a great selection of both your favorite domestic pilsner to microbrews and more obscure but delicious European types.

I've been to Cogan's many a time and most of the specialty pizzas, but tonight I had the Mediterranean pizza...with spicy sauce of course. This combination of flavors (spinach, artichoke, kalamata olives, feta and roasted garlic) was awesome. The spicy sauce only complemented each item. In fact, it may even be my new favorite specialty flavor....after the New Yorker of course which is a great classic combo of pepperoni and cheese. Other great specialty pizzas include the margherita, big kahuna, five cheese, and wild mushroom. Not saying the others aren't delicious, these are just my favorites.

So, if you're looking for the best pizza in Hampton Roads...go to Cogan's in Ghent. No question.

FYI - there is a Cogan's location at HarborView East in Suffolk. I've been to both, but remain partial to the original Ghent.

Food - 5 forks
Cost - $ (a pizza and a pitcher is around $25)
Atmostphere - 2 thumbs up for a chill place to drink beer

Green Onion - Brunch

Just a heads up, the Green Onion is my favorite restaurant in Hampton Roads, and probably the whole world. Every time I go it is absolutely amazing, and it is the standard by which I compare all other eating establishments at this point in my life. So, I'm just giving you fair warning when you read this post. Let me also say that some friends who used to live in Norfolk came down and visited, and they special requested Green Onion...clearly I am not alone in in thinking the Green Onion is amazing!

I will do a separate post another day for dinner, but this weekend I went for brunch, so I start with it...

The Green Onion is located on Colley Avenue, right in the middle of Ghent. It is in the space where a place called The Wild Monkey used to be if you know that. The chef at Green Onion is amazing, and one of my favorite things is the fact that it is run by almost all women! Also, all the ingredients are either local and/or organic which is also amazing. The dishes are always so fresh and delicious.

For brunch they have quite an extensive menu, with classic brunch options like pancakes & bacon and steak & eggs, but also regional options like fritatas and shrimp & grits, in addition to lots of great sandwiches and soups for lunch. They also have an amazing cheese selection, though we did not order a cheese plate this visit.

So, after getting a mimosa for me and bloody Mary's for the rest we ordered. I'm not a bloody Mary fan, I have been told these are the best blood Mary's around. I had the chorizo and red pepper fritata, my husband the soft shell crab sandwich, one friend ordered the applewood smoked bacon, apple, and cheddar sandwich on country bread, and the other friend the "lobstah" roll. My fritata was awesome...the chorizo gives a great bit of flavor and the red pepper complemented wonderfully. However, I think the winner of the day was my friend's bacon, apple and cheddar sandwich that was grilled like a classic grilled cheese. It was phenomenal. The three flavors combine so well together into an delightfully rich combination. I think I'll try to recreate this one at home as a panini... the soft shell crab sandwich and lobstah roll were supposedly excellent as well. I'm not one for soft shell crab, so I didn't try it. And, I didn't have any room left for the lobstah roll, but it looked awesome. The friend who had that is originally from Boston, and he thought it was amazing, so I feel like carries some weight since he should know his lobstah rolls! I believe all our plates were $13 each, but the range of the brunch menu is from $8 - $13.

Like I said at the begining, the Green Onion is the best restaurant in Hampton Roads...if you haven't been there, you need to go now, either for brunch, lunch or dinner! Four stars without question!

Brunch rating:
Food - 5 forks!
Cost - $$ ($15/person)
Atmosphere - 2 thumbs up for this funky place with local artists featured each month/season