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Atenna

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About Atenna

  • Birthday 08/31/1961

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    Female
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    Asheville, NC

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  1. The Bavarian Inn has worked on becoming more friendly and casual than it's previous upscale persona. Also, since it reopened post pandemic shut-down, experienced and efficient staffing is very limited. Food wise, I feel dish execution has diminished over the past 3-4 yrs and for me, has missed the mark almost every time I am there. Why do I continue to dine there? Family insists that I do. From someone who grew up in Shepherdstown and now has the dollars to spend on great food, I always choose the Press Room over the Bavarian.
  2. The restaurants listed above are all good. I live here now and have more time to evaluate places from a local's perspective. For additional solid options, consider Jargon in West Asheville and my current favorite, Vivian in the River Arts District.
  3. I am not a food writer nor have the patience to try to be. Know this: I don't eat shit food, have little tolerance for "Cisco prepared foods" , don't ever, ever patronize chain restaurants. These are bottom line reviews. Orient Beach: KaKao restaurant, very French, very good, worth the visit. Not cheap. Even their "cheap wine" by the glass was excellent. $$$ Grand Case: Ocean 82, very French, delightful. They did the wine paring for me. Nice choice. $$$ Oyster Pond, French side: Dinghy Dock. They advertise craft beers, did not have any on a Friday night. The group decided to stay for meal anyway. Bad choice; bar food that one could get anywhere. I have dietary restrictions, they could not alter the food to accommodate me (because it is supplied in a frozen food bag). Thus, I did not really eat there. Everyone else had a "never coming here to eat again" meal. This place seemed less expensive, yet it it was almost as much as the $$$ restaurants. Phillipsburg: The Green House. Had nice reviews on Trip Advisor, so group decided to go there for lunch. Drinks are made with commercial mixers, commercial mixers make me sick so I do not consume. Others had the drinks and liked them. The server offered to get margarita made fresh for me in kitchen which he did not have to do; it was not balanced, but I got to partake with the others without getting sick. Nice move on server's part. Food wise, There were several options for all those with dietary restrictions. What I got was not memorable, my husband agrees. Others seemed somewhat happy. Will not go back there again. Oyster Pond/Dawn Beach: Dingy Dock, Bar food, commercial prepared drinks. it just is what it is. Oyster pond/Dawn Beach: Big Fish rest. Nicely prepared food; very accommodating for dietary needs. Food made to order. Nice portions.We will return there mostly because we are staying near this establishment plus they have been very nice to us. $$$ Oyster Pond, French Side: Le Pavillion. An occasional dinner location in the ruins of old Club med resort destroyed by hurricane. Literally an open dining area. French cooking, nicely prepared, upscale. $$$
  4. Liquid Assets <www.LA94.com> Big Food, great drinks, friendly staff. Great beer selection and drinks (it IS in the middle of a liquor store), Food was good, American fare. Captain's Table Restaurant: 2 15th street inside oceanside Marriott hotel. Steakhouse with some seafood offerings. We went with the seafood offerings. Not unique in ingredients or presentation; yet a nice experience, atypical boardwalk restaurant, good value for the dollar. We would consider going again but not on the top of the list. The Shark Restaurant: I have eaten there a few times, I think the menu and dishes are very well thought out, their dishes are more of a one pan pre-preparation so that the food and sauce preparations play off each other. I loved this place prior to food allergy discovery. They do not prepare a la cart without prior notice. My table mates were very happy with their dishes and wine flights. They do work hard to make most of their dishes gluten free. Note to self, call them and tell them that me and my multiple food restrictions are coming to dinner ahead of time and see if they can accommodate. Will go back if they let me in. Hooked. #1 favorite. Fresh, farm to table, very accommodating, not boring, creative drinks and nice wine and beer list. Ate lunch there while on long bicycle ride then came back again for dinner in same day. Seafood and other proteins, nicely prepared, unique combinations. Definitely will dine with them again. porcini encrusted tuna, sage roasted brussels, caramelized cauliflower puree, crisp prosciutto, Madeira broth $23 roasted salmon, port cherries, tender leeks, spinach, root vegetable puree, port reduction $20 drunken mussels, caramelized onion, celery,k garlic confit, mustard, lager broth $9 spiced kale chips $3 bacon braised collards $5 fall beet quinoa, brussel leaves, crispy parsnips, red and golden beets, scallion, citrus vinaigrette, whole grain onion soubise, spiced kale chips $19
  5. Cambridge Snappers Waterfront Cafe, 112 Commerce St. Established seafood restaurant with unremarkable food. Overall: Meh. Lucky for me they did work to ensure I had grain free options (grain free crabcake was wonderful). Likely will not go back. Suicide bridge seafood restaurant. Only thing there worth eating was the raw oysters. Poor wine selection, barely acceptable beer selection. Will not be returning. The High Spot, 305 High Street. Food nicely prepared, made to order, local ingredients, worked with me on my food restrictions. Creative menu. Would definitely go back. Realerevival Brewing, 504 Poplar Street. Very good fresh brewed beer, great for drinking. Go anywhere else for eating...their food is prepared in microwave.
  6. Husband and I found ourselves in Wilmington DE for 4 days looking for decent food and drink. My impression is that this is a commuter city, most people that work there leave for the 'burbs after work. Restaurants focus on happy hour specials to get the after work crowd. In the summer, we were told that many restaurants either close for weeks at a time or close on Sundays due to lack of interest. This led to finding a good Sunday brunch pretty challenging. Also, we stayed in the business area of town and decided to walk everywhere; so all these businesses were within walking range. *Washington Street Ale House http://www.wsalehouse.com/ , has good selection of beers and a couple of decent wine selections. Good destination for beer geeks. Wings were better than average also. *Piccolina Toscana, http://www.piccolinatoscana.com/, was referred to us by some locals in the Trolley Square area. Very much worth going to. Would definitely go again; particularly a fan of the gelato. Very nice wine selection. *Cafe Mezzanotte Martini Bar, http://cafemezzanotte.net/, ended one evening here, had a delightful glass of wine and a steak. Not a specifically creative menu, however we enjoyed our meal. Met some business folks that shared a unadvertised restaurant and music bar that we would have not known about had we not chatted with him: Pochi restaurant and Nomads. *Pochi restaurant, http://www.pochiwinebarde.com/, was the most fun food and drink place we found. Craft made cocktails, nice wine selection and wine flights. Food was excellent. I do a gluten free diet and 90% of their menu is flour free. Plus it was really, really good. *Nomads is a local bar that serves classic cocktails, beer and wine. I do not know if they serve food. The music there changes each night, jazzy blues one night, country blues the next. No cover. Staff really professional. *Deep Blue http://www.deepbluebarandgrill.com/, has an upscale feel. Definitely caters to business crowd. Good raw bar. An OK place to visit for happy hour. did not eat a meal there. Then there is the River Front area of Wilmington, http://www.riverfrontwilm.com/. Very commercialized restaurants and food. Spent some time at Iron Hill Brewery, not for the food mind you. Had some wings, not so good. Husband seemed very happy with the beer selection. Worth visiting if you are a beer geek. Had drinks at Timothy's Wilmington Bar. It was OK.' Dinner at Harry's seafood grill. Was good for a large volume restaurant, good marks for creativity. If forced to eat at River Front, it would be a good choice.
  7. Staying in the Luray area 3 days next week; does anyone know of ANY decent restaurant for lunch or dinner in or near Luray? We will likely on eat out one one or two meals. The rest of the time we plan to drink and eat in .
  8. We were in the area and decided on an early dinner at Thai Square. This was our first visit and were pleased. I do not have a favorite Thai restaurant or know who is the "best" but we were pleased with our entrees. The Tom Kha Kai soup was excellent in my opinion. The Pad Ped Moo Pa - pork sauteed with Thai eggplant, bamboo, beans and spicy chili paste was also good and Thai hot. Husband had the Sukiyaki, Thai Style with seafood & chicken with bean threads, napa, celery, and scallions served with a special sauce. We really thought this was a great dish. The sauce was not hot spicy; it was a rounded complex sauce that really made the dish. Would definitely order this one again. The pork dish, not likely to order again. We would go back to this place again.
  9. Doc Taylor's at 207 23rd St, VA Beach for lunch is a good option. Food was not to die for but is good enough to eat there again.
  10. Northern Neck area I did not know if there is a better place for this entry but perhaps someone will move it if there is a more appropriate place: Kilmarnook, VA Carried Away Cuisine: like a deli with some eat-in tables. Really, really good offerings. Probably the most fun I have had in a deli in a really long time. Food is not boring; they weigh everything and charge by the lb. Husband and I a tablespoon of 8 different things and loved them all. Baked goods to die for. If you are there and want good food, worth the stop. Topping, VA Not well advertised little known place down Locklies Creek Road, @ the water is a shack with some tables on the porch outside and some bar stools inside where they pair oysters with wine and beer. Rappahannock River Oysters Co farms 3 types of oysters and decided a good way to get people to try their product is to create like a tasting room so folks can give their product a try. The freshest oysters one can have and yes, the wine paring was very complimentary. Also have created their own sauces, 3 of them, to try with the 3 oyster types. Craft beers on tap. limited wine selection; I let them do the paring choices. they have cooked products also, but we did not care to try that. If you are in the area, you gotta go. 784 Locklies Creek Rd, Topping, VA. They have an actual name for the restaurant but i don't have that written down. just look for the Rappahannock Oyster sign. Will definitely seek this place out again in the future. <www.rroysters.com> Irvington, VA Nate's Trick Dog Cafe, 4357 Irvirngton Rd. Irvington is the home of the famous Tides Inn; a tourist area. We shared dinner here and was a bit underwhelmed with the finished product. Calamari was tender and flavorful. The yellow fin tuna entree was OK, the food experience here was a bit of a let down but the bar scene was rocking. We did not partake in the house made drinks so cannot comment on the beverage quality here. Will not likely eat here again. Tides Inn, 480 King Carter Dr, Irvington prides itself for its service and nicely kept premises. If you stay at Tide Inn or if you are in the area and want an upscale resort dining experience, then go here. If you think you may want to travel from DC only for dinner at the Inn, you may find yourself disappointed. The food was creative, well executed, fun to eat. The prices are resort prices, so I think one gets more for their buck at most of the better restaurants in the metro DC area. I was disappointed that the chef had a very limited wine selection for pairing with his food. although their bottled wine selection was decent, staff limited by the glass selection to the 5 or 6 offerings at the bar. The server tried to help us out with a choice to compliment the food, but it really did not do the food justice. We stayed 2 nights at the Inn and it was a wonderful place. check out the web site for more info. Will visit the Inn again, but likely not have dinner there again. www.tidesinn.com Urbanna, VA Something Different Country store and Deli. <www.pine3.info> This place is absolutely worth the trip. The owner is a retired farmer who loves food and loves to play with it. He does barbeque worth eating, both beef and pork. He makes his own ice cream (chocolate with chili peppers) and has adult versions (Brandy Alexander & Grasshopper) too. Everything is house made, does not appear to use anything preprocessed. NOT a fine dining establishment, the tables are large old butcher blocks with milk crates and cushions with chairs. We plan to very soon go back down to the northern neck just to go to this place. check out the link and download the menu. Seriously worth the trip. FYI a "hoecake" reminds me of a corn fritter.
  11. The Press Room We had dinner at The Press Room in April; wonderful meal and service. The Sea Bass was done to perfection and we had a Gorgonzola Custard that was smooth, round and wonderful. I think they have the best executed dishes in town; need a little work on their wine pairing recommendations. Chef should get someone knowledgeable to set up a wine pairing algorithem so there is less confusion when an order is placed. Prefer to eat here rather than Bavarian Inn.
  12. Website. The chefs here work on using locally sourced produce, meats, poultry, and other proteins. They are creative with their dishes as well as cocktails and do an excellent job with wine parings. I have been there 3 or 4 times now and will definitely go again mostly because they are trying to do the right thing by staying away from factory meats and produce. I think they are a bit pricey compared to other restaurants in the region doing the same thing, but they are one of a very few in Fredericksburg going this route. Because their finished product consistantly well balanced, flavorful, and worth the visit (we are 45+ min away & we meet friends there; this is the one place we can agree on) we will continue to patronize Bistro Bethem.
  13. We found ourselves going to Sterling, saw the above post on Mokomandy and decided to give it a try, mostly for its craft drinks. Husband was excited about its extended craft & imported beer list; but we went there for the cocktails (oh, and yes some food). Here are the FOUR we sampled: Hurricane: Kracken Black Spiced Rum, Brugal Anejo Rum, Tommy Bahama Rum, Lemon, Passion Fruit Citragave Sunset: Milagro Tequila Aperol, Lemon Agave Syrup, Orange-Scented Salt Blackberry Caipirinha: Leblon Cachaca, lime, Brandy Roasted Blackberry Syrup, Sugar-Smoke Rim Hibiscus 75: Catoctin Creek Watershed Gin, Hibiscus, Elderflower, Lucien Albrecht Cremant d'Alsace For Food: Side:Fried Kale Chips ($2), I like roasted kale chips better Small plate: KochuViche, poached scallop, wasabi arugula, yuzu, blac sesame seed, chili thread, shrimp chip ($11) This was good, not great. probably will not order it again. Small Plate:Boudin Balls ($7), pork, chicken, rice, cayenne, mustard, steen's canes syrup. My favorite of the evening, paired nicely with Sav Blanc, Capture, Sonoma Cal 2009. Small Plate: Jambalaya ($7) w/ cracklins, house made sausage & tasso, chicken, tomato, trinityh, rice. This was OK too, smoke was the primary flavor. Personally I think smoke should be more of an essence; flavors could be more rounded too. I agree with eyedubya, they are really trying hard, the owner also asked how we liked the food. And if I lived in the area I would definitely go there again.
  14. The Doctor: Thanks much for the input. We could not determine about the drinks from The Majestic website either. But we will take a look at Vermillion and Firehouse. Thanks again!!
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