The New Year in Williamsburg/Virginia Beach

The Significant Other (SO) and I took a road trip to celebrate the beginning of the new year and the birthday of his niece in Williamsburg, Virginia where his brother and sister-in-law (SiL) live. I'll spare you the details of the occasional trip to Subway and Taco Bell and hit only the highlights of the trip.

New Year's Eve was spent dining at Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro in Virginia Beach. It had an excellent and thoughtful wine list (many wines from Oregon, which are generally very good in my opinion) and a menu with plenty of (what I thought were) vegetarian options. I started with the spinach salad (substituting goat cheese for the bleu cheese) and for dinner had a plate of side dishes including vegetable Israeli couscous, whipped garlic mashed potatoes and pumpkin risotto. Despite asking the server earlier about the vegetarian status of a soup, I was not informed that the pumpkin risotto included ham. The SO enjoyed the pumpkin risotto quite a bit while my focus moved to the Jigsaw Pinot Noir.

Because I'm a native Tennessean, it's imperative that I eat my blackeyed peas and greens on New Year's Day. My mother thinks it's bad enough that I don't eat ham any more, but she'd likely feel the need to pray for me every day if I didn't have the peas and greens on the first day of the year. The SiL, sensitive to my southern and vegetarian needs, prepared a vegetarian version of her family's tradition of blackeyed pea jambalaya just for me. It was quite tasty. A nice fresh salad of romaine lettuce as an accompaniment should ensure that I make some money this year.

On the evening of New Year's Day, the SO wanted some fresh seafood since we were so close to the coast. Side note: a friend visiting Nashville recently from Baltimore noted our lack of seafood restaurants, prompting me to tell her that the local seafood consists of catfish and other river junk that most city folk don't eat regularly. I certainly wouldn't eat anything out of the Cumberland River. It's bad enough that I have to drink from it.

Anyhoo, Williamsburg is a bit of a sleepy, touristy town so most of the seafood restaurants were closed. Instead, we dined at Food for Thought, which turned out to be a great choice. To start us off, the server brought us a bread basket with rolls and sweet potato cornbread. Holy cow, that cornbread was good. There is rarely ever an orphaned sweet potato in my house, so I might just have to hijack one to make this cornbread at home. It was so good. We also got an appetizer of toasted ravioli which was quite good, but had I known that I'd love the cornbread so much, I probably would have skipped the ravioli and saved the space and calories for more bread.

For an entree, I got the vegetarian special, which was whole wheat penne pasta (yay--whole wheat pasta!) with wild mushrooms and artichokes in a chunky tomato cream sauce. It was excellent, but about two-to-three times the amount of food I could eat. Were I a local, I would have gladly boxed up the leftovers for one or two lunches, but sadly, I had to leave it behind.

The SO was sated with some dish of multiple things that once swam (I didn't pay much attention) that he said was also very good. Neither of us had any room for dessert, though I was tempted by the hot apple nachos. I think if I lived in the area, Food for Thought would be a frequent dining spot for me because the food was not only quite tasty, but (as the name implies) thoughtfully selected and prepared. It's not total junk food like a lot of restaurant food tends to be. It's healthy and good. The only downside to the restaurant is the little cards on the table with mind teasers written on them. The SO quickly discovered I'm not as smart as I seem.

The next day, the SO's family headed out for a 1st birthday celebration lunch for the niece by going to the first restaurant she ever ate at (when she was just over a week old), The Trellis in Colonial Williamsburg. I was pleased to see that there was a vegan "garden selection" which consisted (that day) of salad greens with pine nuts and other accoutrements over roasted potatoes. It was quite good and would allow me to have room for their famous (original) Death By Chocolate for dessert. Due to some logistical issues (which are sure to arise during lunch with six and a half diners), I had to get the dessert to go. I ate a few bites that afternoon and can confirm it's as delicious as it sounds. I can't eat very much chocolate and/or sugar at one time, so the remainder of the dessert (after I split it with the SO's mother) is in my refrigerator waiting for me to finish it off. I doubt it will be there much longer.

In sum, if you visit Williamsburg, be sure to visit Food for Thought (conveniently located near Olde Towne and the majority of the chain hotels on Richmond Road) and, if you're a dessert lover, The Trellis (or if you're a vegan travelling with a dessert lover). And if you're in Virginia Beach, check out the new town center area and Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro (just be sure to ask about the vegetarian status of every choice).