Shebeen - Charlottesville

With the holidays and threat of snow, I have to say we haven't been out to eat much recently. Luckily January is forcing us back out into the world of wonderful Charlottesville dining, first with just a random Friday night dinner and soon with Restaurant Week! So, here we are with my first restaurant review of 2011, and it's a great one!

Shebeen is your standard pub, except that it's not Irish or English, it's South African. You'll find fish and chips and sandwiches on the menu, but you'll also find things from the braai (grill) and wonderfully seasoned and delicious dishes unique to Africa. The location is nothing special (a strip mall on the backside of Staples, facing MacDonald's near the downtown mall) but they did a lot with the decor inside.

The menu should keep most people happy with the variety on it. For starters we decided to go with the brinjal fries, also known as fried eggplant wedges and a banana "ketchup." The "ketchup" was amazing...a nice cooling effect on a piping hot fry.

For entrees, I opted for something from the braai while my husband went for a slow cooked dish in a
small iron pot. I had the peri-peri shrimp (pepper basted shrimp on skewers...9 of them!) with sides of mealie pap and mixed vegetables. I was a bit worried by the description of the peri-peri sauce, so I asked for the kitchen to go light on it. It was perfect. The mealie pap is described as South African cheese grits. Let's just say that this Southern girl loved the stuff. I would eat it everyday if I could! The vegetabeles were pretty standard but very good. My husband had the lamb curry potjie which was full of spices and flavors. It had a corn muffin with it that seemed to have a creamed-corn effect going on in the middle. Yum!


Overall I would definitely recommend Shebeen if you're looking for something different. Expect it to be crowded, so be open to getting a pint of one of their delicious pints before hand. But mostly, go to try some new flavors and relax!

Charlottesville - Beer Run

My love for a particular type of alcoholic beverage – be it wine, beer or spirit – tends to go in phases. Most recently I have been in a beer phase thanks to the proximity of a great microbrew in Louisville, countless amazing restaurants centered around beer, and the lack of local vineyards. Even though I am now in Charlottesville and my love for wine for will certainly return with a vengeance, the need to find a good watering hole was high on the list. Enter Beer Run…

Located on the edge of Belmont, Beer Run is a beer store, bar, and restaurant all in one. The parking lot isn’t that big so as you drive up you are sure to see countless cars lining the street. As you walk up you will see a large outdoor patio that may or may not have plastic walls up to help protect against the rain or cold. Additionally there are a few picnic tables, where I was fortunate enough to enjoy my evening.
Of course we must start with the beer. There are about 15 beers on tap ranging from the ever-popular PBR to some of my favorite Kentucky beer Jefferson Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout to some deliciously imported Aventinus. You can buy draft beer in 10, 16 and 20 ounce sizes, but they appear to do growler refills – always a plus in my book. But what is on tap doesn’t begin to compare to what is inside, where the selection is organized by state or country.
Of course the food selection pales in comparison to the beer list, but they know what they can and cannot do. Most of the choices are sandwiches and yes, there are vegetarian options. They also have a bison burger, salads, and a few pasta and rice dishes. My husband and I tried some sandwiches that were quite good and our friends had the bison burger that seemed to satisfy their craving.
Overall this is a great place to go for really good beer and grab a sandwich. If you sit all the way at the picnic tables the service may be a little slower, but our server did a good job of making sure our glass was always full.

Louisville - Tony Boombozz Taphouse

There are at least 5 pizza places along Bardstown Road, so how do you choose which to get your pie from? You may have read my blog of the rather tasteless and pitiful pizza from Bearno's. So I had to try something new: enter Tony Boombozz, self-proclaimed gourmet pizzeria.

Located at the intersection of Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway, this is a very conveniently located restaurant. They have several other locations in the city, but this location has become the premier because of the "ice bar," which I will explain below. The inside is very nicely decorated, well lit, spacious and has huge flat screens lining the wall with lots of sports for all of you who don't want to go to Buffalo Wild Wings.

The menu is pretty large so there are lots of great choices for all. You can of course build your own pizza choosing your crust, sauce, and toppings. Or you can try one of the gourmet Portobello Bello, Chicken Fajita or the new Chicken Artichoke or Brooklyn Pizza Pie. There are also a wide number of sandwich options, though not very many pasta options. If you go during lunch there are some good specials. We decided to try the Irish Nachos and a custom pizza with a wheat crust, chipotle red sauce, artichokes and portobello. The Irish nachos were decent, though nothing amazing. The pizza was quite tasty but I would have liked more of the deliciously spicy sauce. (I think a lack of sauce must be a Louisville thing.)

The "ice bar" is a pretty great concept: all draft beer is kept at 32 degrees F and all liquor is kept at 5 degrees F. Can't complain about a drink that's too cold! They have about 30 beers on tap, though I would break it out approximately like this: 25% domestic such as your Bud and Miller products, 40% craft including BBC and Goose Island, and 25% import (the remaining 10% is ever-changing). Happy hour happens every day from 3-6pm, and they usually have a beer of the day which is always a good deal. Some have complained about the prices of beer here, but I haven't personally found a reason to complain.

I will certainly return to Boombozz Taphouse in the future for a decent slice of pie, a cold beer, though I am still looking for something that is on par with Norfolk's Cogan's. Unfortunately, Louisville still hasn't provided that though so my search will continue.

Louisville - Cumberland Brews

Unfortunately I ate at Cumberland a few weeks ago but never wrote on it. However, last night we went back for drinks and remembered I needed to comment on my experience there, so I'll push through the haziness of my memory created by their delicious beer...

Lucky for me Cumberland Brewery is about 100 yards from where I live. Not so lucky for my liver. Let's start with the beer since that's what they're all about. They have 5 brews always available including an pale ale, porter, red, meade, and cream ale. They also have a variety of seasonals and change these frequently. So far I have had the standard pale ale (4 stars), a delicious seasonal called Yerbeer (awesome at 5 stars) and the seasonal honey wheat (3 stars, very light). All were very good and I hope to try more:) Normally the beer is $4.50 a pint. However, they do great deals every day of the week (except Saturday I think). Tuesday happens to be the best day of the week with $2.75 pints all day long. Sunday they do $3.25 pints all day, and during the week pints are $3.25 from either 12-7pm or 4-7pm. Can't beat that!

The food at Cumberland is also very good. When we went for dinner we all ordered off the regular dinner menu. I decided to go with the KY Bison burger and it was delicious. My husband went for the BBQ sandwich, which he said was good but had a lot of sauce. (Note: we're used to NC style BBQ and they do more of a Memphis style here in Louisville, so it's been an adjustment!) Our friend ordered the fried bologna sandwich, which he was so happy to see on the menu, and said it was delicious. They also have a lot of dinner specials, including a lot of seasonal stuff; on my most recent and non-eating visit, specials included grilled chicken with fresh vegetables and a feta cheese sauce that looked awesome and squash soup (plus many others I can't recall).

Cumberland Brewery is great and I would definitely recommend it to anyone coming to eat a casual dinner on Bardstown Road. The food is good, the prices are reasonable, and the beer is delicious. I have a sneaking suspicion this will be our new go to place for dinner and beer!

Chicago - Publican

When going to Chicago, The Publican has to be on your list of places to eat. It's simply that good. On our recent trip around the Midwest, my one request in Chicago was this restaurant because I had seen it on Food Network for their homemade spicy pork rinds. We decided to go for brunch because it best fit our schedule.

First let's discuss the theme and atmosphere. A publican, according to dictionary.com, is "The keeper of a public house or tavern." Translated into a restaurant, The Publican has a large open room with long tables, creating a public house feel. In the center of the room near the bar are several high tables perfect for drinks or appetizers. The bathroom too keeps up this feel which a communal sink shared by each the his and her stalls.

The food centers around beer, as the dictionary definition lends, and proteins. There is an amazing beer selection, but for brunch they also had a few specials for recommended pairing. The brunch menu was a nice size and variety. I decided to go towards breakfast and my husband towards lunch. They greeted us with complimentary coffee, at least it appeared so on the bill. When out to brunch a really good cup of coffee is important to me, and this was just that. Back to the "communal" theme, the milk and sugar were shared on the table. My husband opted for a bloody mary ($7), served with a sidecar of beer; I'm not one for bloody mary, but this is the first I have ever actually enjoyed.

Knowing of the famed spicy pork rinds ($5) we had to get an order. I hate to admit this, but they were delicious. Yes, I said it. I liked the spicy fried pork skin. The entree options are seasonal and therefore always changing, but here's an idea of what they have to offer. For an entree I had an egg scramble with house bresaola (a cured pork product), baby squash, zucchini, and goat cheese, accompanied by sourdough toast. ($10) My husband enjoyed a pork shoulder sandwich topped with a fried egg and cole slaw and french fries on the side. ($14)

As I said when I started this post. This was an amazing meal. The restaurant is in Fulton Market which is kind of off the regular tourist path, but I recommend anyone make the effort to get there. The prices aren't overly high, which seems hard to come by in this city and the atmosphere is sure to bring out the jovial pub lover in everyone.

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