I know of a great place to eat breakfast, maybe the best breakfast you’ve ever eaten. Trouble is, you have to go to Waikiki Beach to eat there. But there are worse things, right? When Nancy and I went on our Hawaiian Cruise last March, our daughter Laura insisted that we eat breakfast at a place called Eggs ‘n Things. They had a breakfast bar set up in our hotel, but on the strength of Laura’s … [Read more...]

In my opinion, there are only a handful of restaurants in all of Virginia that makes barbeque worth stopping by for. I guess I’m a little spoiled, though, raised on North Carolina barbeque. Once you eat that – basically slow cooked pork with vinegar and pepper – the stuff they call BBQ in Virginia is just not up to par. It’s edible, but that’s it. One of the select few restaurants in the … [Read more...]

For my recent birthday, my wife Nancy gave me a gift certificate to the Clifton Inn Restaurant. It was more like a “down payment” to what I now consider the finest restaurant in Charlottesville. Clifton is a little pricey, but you only turn 39 once, right? Nancy had been there once before, but this was my first experience. We sat at the Chef’s Table, basically in the kitchen, observing every … [Read more...]

Charlottesville, Virginia, home of CvilleBuzz, had around 225 restaurants at last count. That’s a lot of choices, but if I had special guests coming to town, price was no object and I wanted to make sure they dined at one of Charlottesville’s very finest restaurants, I would take them to the Ivy Inn. Over the years, my wife Nancy and I have had many enjoyable meals at The Inn (mostly … [Read more...]

Great Italian food in Covington? Absolutely. Coming into town on East Madison Street is a restaurant with a large parking lot called Cucci’s Pizzeria. The place serves generous portions of authentic Italian cuisine at reasonable prices. It’s a top-notch place to stop for a bite, whether for lunch or dinner. Nancy and I found ourselves heading home from a stay at Cliff View Inn one evening and … [Read more...]

Anytime you see a line at a restaurant, you figure there’s something worthwhile inside. And when there is always a line, you know this is a great place to eat. A little over halfway to Lynchburg on Rt. 29 heading south is a town called Colleen. I suppose it’s a town since they have a sign on the highway, but as best I can tell, Colleen consists of a big Exxon Station and a smaller establishment, … [Read more...]

  Talk about a diamond in the rough. One of the great restaurants in Virginia has a very strange name and is located in an even stranger place. It is the Cat and Owl Steak and Seafood Restaurant in Covington. Well, not really Covington, but close enough. It’s actually in Low Moor, between Covington and Clifton Forge, but this place serves serious food. I stumbled on this … [Read more...]

  Sometimes you find great food in strange places. A few years back, Nancy and I stumbled upon such a place – Nick’s Family Style Spaghetti and Steak House in West Point. We had a couple days to get away and we wanted to be somewhere on or near salt water without the long drive to the Eastern Shore or Virginia Beach. The closest place to Charlottesville appeared to be West Point, about … [Read more...]

My wife, Nancy, found herself out and about at lunchtime last week with nothing to eat. She rode past Arby’s and thought, “Why not?” That night she said she had a really good lunch at Arby’s and couldn’t remember the last time we ate there. I couldn’t either and I don’t know why. For fast food and quick, easy meals, we often go to a deli, a pizza place or the old faithful MacDonald’s. That … [Read more...]

  It is 190 miles from Charlottesville to Greensboro via Rt. 29. I know the stretch well, as my daughter Angelin and her family live in North Carolina and there are grandchildren there that require regular visits. There is also one place to eat along the way that has the best fried chicken you have ever put in your mouth. And that is the Chicken Coop at the Nelson Food Market. The … [Read more...]