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Anyone familiar with Virginia Beach area?

T

twcowdery

Member
My wife and I are vacationing in that area at the end of the month and I'm looking for some suggestions of places to dine that aren't aimed at the tourists. In other words - where are the little hideaways that may not be fancy, but serve good food that keep the locals coming back.

In the northshore of Lake Ponchartrain, it was a little cafe in Abita Springs across from a lumberyard that had Jambalaya and Gumbo as good as anything in the French Quarter. In Quebec City, it was a roadside stand on Isle De Orleans that served Poutine that made your arteries harden just looking at it, but was delicious.

We gotta eat out anyway, might as well find some of the better places to go. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA
Tom
 
twcowdery said:
My wife and I are vacationing in that area at the end of the month and I'm looking for some suggestions of places to dine that aren't aimed at the tourists. In other words - where are the little hideaways that may not be fancy, but serve good food that keep the locals coming back.

In the northshore of Lake Ponchartrain, it was a little cafe in Abita Springs across from a lumberyard that had Jambalaya and Gumbo as good as anything in the French Quarter. In Quebec City, it was a roadside stand on Isle De Orleans that served Poutine that made your arteries harden just looking at it, but was delicious.

We gotta eat out anyway, might as well find some of the better places to go. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA
Tom
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i don't get out to the beach much. i don't even think about going out there during tourist season. :)

my staples for when i'm out there: Nick's Hospitality on Laskin, especially for breakfast. Croaker's on Shore Drive, great seafood. Big Sam's on Winston Salem Ave, also good seafood. Chicho's Pizza on Atlantic, best "2:30am i've been drinking" pizza i've ever had. Tautog's on 23rd St, if you can't tell, seafood is a common theme for decent food around VB.

are you staying at the beach? much of the dining in VB is rather generic since the majority of their business is the tourists.

if you like bbq and want to see how we do it here in the Hampton Roads area, i suggest Wood Chicks on Battlefield Blvd in Chespapeake.

if you want real Southern cooking, I would likely have to escort you to some of the places around here with AWESOME artery clogging down home butter not margarine lard not oil Soul food joints. :)
 
Dark Jedi said:
Well I know its kinda far from Va beach but there is a little Italian restaurant called Joe & Mimmas Italian Restaurant Joe & Mimma's Italian Restaraunt - Home

They have real good food and not touristy. Real nice place. I eat there every chance I am in the newport news area.
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Thanks. No - Newport News is not too far. We plan on checking out NN, Chesapeake, Chincoteague, Williamsburg, and maybe even northern North Carolina. So any suggestion in the general area is welcome.
 
batgeek said:
i don't get out to the beach much. i don't even think about going out there during tourist season. :)

my staples for when i'm out there: Nick's Hospitality on Laskin, especially for breakfast. Croaker's on Shore Drive, great seafood. Big Sam's on Winston Salem Ave, also good seafood. Chicho's Pizza on Atlantic, best "2:30am i've been drinking" pizza i've ever had. Tautog's on 23rd St, if you can't tell, seafood is a common theme for decent food around VB.

are you staying at the beach? much of the dining in VB is rather generic since the majority of their business is the tourists.

if you like bbq and want to see how we do it here in the Hampton Roads area, i suggest Wood Chicks on Battlefield Blvd in Chespapeake.

if you want real Southern cooking, I would likely have to escort you to some of the places around here with AWESOME artery clogging down home butter not margarine lard not oil Soul food joints. :)
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The wife handles the hotel through her timeshare, so I'm not sure exactly where we are staying except it is in the city of Virginia Beach. But our hotel is basically just a place to sleep. We'll be traveling all over the region.

What I am looking for is anything I can NOT get at home - so that would include any local favorite including BBQ or "artery clogging" Southern cooking. In that area, I'd imagine that there are some seafood specialties that aren't going to show up on a menu here in the middle of the corn belt. Any artery clogging Southern dishes or restaurants you'd particularly recommend?
 
pork chitterlings, collard greens, cornbread, black eyed peas, and sweet potato pie for dessert. :)

you might be able to find bluefish at some restaraunts here. that's not a fish that really gets out to the rest of the seafood world. of course, being on the Chesapeake Bay, sitting down and eating a bushel of jimmies is something that must be done.

you're going to have to leave VB to get some soul food though. Country Favorites on George Washington Hwy in Portsmouth is wonderful. quite a few awesome one's in Hampton/Newport News, but these are in pretty ghetto neighborhoods near the shipyard.

interestingly, i found a most awesome Moroccan hole in the wall tonight in Norfolk(i'm at work). their lamb shank tajine was freakin' good!
 
if you are going up the easern shore to Chincoteague save your oyster and clam eating for when you drive up 13. you can stop at almost any dive that says they have oysters/clams, and you will not be dissappointed.
 
Must say this is helping me out to try new places when I head down to that area again.
 
batgeek said:
you might be able to find bluefish at some restaraunts here. that's not a fish that really gets out to the rest of the seafood world. of course, being on the Chesapeake Bay, sitting down and eating a bushel of jimmies is something that must be done.
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Are "jimmies" another name for bluefish or something different? Definitely don't get that much salt-water fish here in corn country so if that is something popular in that area, I definitely want to check it out.

Sig Sauer - nice. Looked real seriously at one in .40 a couple of years back but the one I was looking at looked nice on the side facing up in the display case, but was beat to heck on the other side. Ended up with a Smith in a lot better shape, for $100 less.
 
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