The World of Virginia Drive-By Cuisine

Anyone who has been assigned to Richmond 7 times in the course of one BER year gets to know the Virginia landscape pretty well. It's a beautiful state, full of green farm fields and great historical places, along with tasty eats. In this post, I want to discuss the options for the horrible 3 hour Roanoke to Richmond drive, since I've done it twice this year.

You have two options for driving:

Option 1 is what your Garmin will suggest automatically--driving the diagonal, more direct route through Lynchburg (worst named city in the country imho) and Appomattox. On a three hour drive, you will most likely want to stop and eat somewhere. DO NOT assume that Appomattox, with the reconstructed courthouse where the civil war ended and it's sign advertising "Restaurants and Antique Shops" is a good place to stop. Unless you want Dairy Queen, the only currently open restaurant is Grannie Bee's. This is a place where the over 60 set gather to share "Sahl-oh-mahn" cakes and "the extra vegetable of the evening... mac'n'cheese" while waiting for karaoke night to start. I am not joking. This place is a living, breathing southern Twilight Zone episode. You can get sweet tea, but from the look of it, you can also get food poisoning, or at least a loss of appetite. Beware, and get dinner in Farmville or Lynchburg instead.

Option 2, in which you pass through Charlottesburg, is the longer route, but has WAY better options as far as dinner is concerned. Charlottesburg has in fact completely won me over--thank your lucky stars if you get a seminar in this adorable college town near Jefferson and Madison's homes. The first time, I passed through as a drive by dinner stop, where I had fabulous chicken catchatorie at the South Street Brewery in the historic downtown area (South street and 2nd). They also had an amazing-sounding porter that had "chocolate" in it's name, if you're not a lightweight, don't pass out after a beer, or if you can get your sober presenter to drive the rest of the way... There's also a great pedestrian walking area not far from the brewery, where you can find a ton of good options. If your presenter has hinted at taking you out for a nice dinner, or has expressed a craving for crab, look no further than Hamilton's on the Pedestrian walk way near 2nd street. Their crab cakes (pictured at left) were their specialty for good reason. It's not quite as good as dungeness, but full of huge lumps of crab. I shared them with my presenter, along with a salmon dish which was very nicely done as well, and then the "chocolate many ways" dessert, which was to die for. We caught a glimpse of the key lime and coconut cake as we were walking out, completely stuffed, and wished we had just another inch of space in our stomachs. There are non-seafood dishes on the menu, all looked very well done.

The Drive: Richmond to Roanoke, or visa versa, via Charlottesburg. (or Appomattox if you're brave)

The Place: Charlottesburg Historic Downtown district, with the South Street Brewery and Hamilton's

The Food: The brewery has decent pub food, including some lighter options like chicken catchatorie. Hamilton's has good seafood as well as other gourmet dishes. They also have a decent appetizer menu that could serve as a multiple-items shared meal, lowering the cost a bit.

The Price: South Street Brewery is under $20. Hamiltons is mostly under $30.