It's About Thyme Cafe and Restaurant

[JPW]

We went again tonight for our first visit since March of last year: it was exemplery, every bit as good as I remember from our earlier visit. At 8:00 the dining room was full with perhaps sixty or so diners. At least seven or eight staff shared service with everyone near us seemingly quite happy with the pacing of their courses. We both wondered why we had waited so long to return. Foti's is, indeed, a special restaurant. http://www.fotisrestaurant.com/

We were also told that Gourmet is going to have a feature on them in an upcoming issue and was there recently for a photo shoot.

As an aside "It's About Thyme" which is a more casual restaurant a block down the street had a line out the door when we drove by. Perhaps another reason to return to Culpeper.

It's About Thyme is a decent neighborhood place. Nothing more, nothing less. It is what it is and does it pretty well. A good option for us to stop with Peanut on our treks to Lynchburg.

There was probably a line because there isn't much else out there.

[Escoffier]

It's About Thyme is a decent neighborhood place. Nothing more, nothing less. It is what it is and does it pretty well. A good option for us to stop with Peanut on our treks to Lynchburg.

There was probably a line because there isn't much else out there.

I took Grover and her mother there one weekend because Foti's isn't open for lunch on Saturday. The lunch menu was good, the service was prompt and the bill wasn't outrageous. The room was comfortable, the iced tea had the right amount of ice (why do so many places skimp on the ice?), and the desserts we had were great. A bit better than the blue plate special at the Warrenton Diner. I won't make a special trip, but if I'm down that way and it's Saturday, it's a good place to stop.

[lekkerwijn]

We were in Culpeper over the weekend for a wedding. Foti's was booked Friday night and we had dinner at It's About Thyme instead. Our reservation was at eight and the place was packed with a steady flow of people coming in after we were seated. The next day there was a line out the door for lunch starting at about noon. The menu itself wasn't nearly as inventive or interesting as the specials (which was all we ordered). The portions were HUGE, everything was served piping hot and the service was about the friendliest we have experienced in a long time. The wine list wasn't particularly exciting, but was resonably priced. They make their desserts in house. We were impressed and not disappointed that we didn't eat at Foti's. Two appetizers, two entrees, dessert and bottle of wine was under $150.

We ate:

Appetizers-

Squab Streudel served over a current reduction--> roasted squab, topped with chutney and then wrapped in puff pastry. The meat was a little dry but the mix of chutney and the red currents was really interesting.

Roasted Jumbo Shrimp served over a salad--> this was good, but nothing spectacular

Entrees-

Lamb Shank--> massive lamb shank served over really smooth polenta with a ton of vegetables. Very tender and moist

Veal Cheeks--> braised veal cheeks in a slightly spicey asian inspired sauce. They were served over a mound of risotto, with bok choy and shitake mushrooms

Dessert-

Peanut butter, chocolate chunk cheesecake. Peanut butter taste wasn't overwhelming. Cheesecake was light and tasty. Again, generous portion