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

Enrico's Ristorante

So the other day I went to Enrico's for lunch in a group of about 20. Though somewhat off the normal path, it's on Colley so near to Ghent, but also near to ODU at 40th Street. This place was quite good all around, and I heard this from multiple people. It's kind of Italian and Mediterranean but also American food.

I had a Mediterranean Pita ($6.99). Excellent. Chicken, lettuce, feta, and tzatziki sauce wrapped in flatbread. The wrap was awesome, mostly by the combo of the feta and tzatziki sauce. Nice and creamy with lots of great flavors. You get one side (option fries, pasta salad, or veggie of the day). I got the pasta salad (pasta, tomatoes, herbs, feta, and olive oil) which was very good and not too oily like patsa salad tends to be at most restaurants. Two coworkers of mine also raved about their meals. One had a hamburger and commented, that "it was best hamburger I've had in all my 51 years!" at $6. The other had a crab cake sandwich which he said was excellent; I think was a special that day and cost around $9. They also agreed the pasta salad was unexpectedly good for a side.

The service was also very good. I've been to enough restaurants with large groups to see how they can screw it up (such as last week's visit to Ruby Tuesday with 35 people for a retirement). But the service for this was good, quick and courteous.

Food - 3.5 forks
Cost - $$ ($12 for lunch, $20 for dinner)
Atmosphere - 1 thumb up