New Beer Garden at Coffee on the Corner

When the Starbucks first came to Staunton, it almost didn't make it. I found out from a friend who worked there that it wasn't until Starbucks logo was put on the exit signs on 81 that the Starbucks become viable. Granted, the Starbucks is on the outskirts of Staunton and not in the downtown area, which is Staunton's main attraction. So, Starbucks struggle isn't quite a testament to the loyalty of Stauntonites to their downtown coffee houses, but I like to think it is.

Like most towns and cities, what coffee house you go to in Staunton says a lot about who you are. Families, thirty-somethings, and middle-age adults tend to go to Blue Mountain Coffee. Tweens, teens, twenty-somethings, hipsters, college students, and thirty-somethings, tend to go to Coffee on the Corner. I can't talk with authority about who goes to Mug Shots. I like to go to Blue Mountain when I want to get work done and have a nice bagel sandwich; I go to Coffee on the Corner when I want to run into people and be distracted.

Coffee on the Corner is named so because it is on the corner of Market Street and Beverley Street. Its location makes it a great docking point to people watch as well as to enjoy great coffee. They have the usual caffeinated concoctions, but also have Italian sodas, steamed milk or soy milk, tempting desserts, and tasty sandwiches. My favorite sandwich is their chicken salad that is slightly sweet from a touch of honey but is savory on only with a little mayo. They also make a great grilled cheese and a mean pastrami sandwich.

Last week, Coffee on the Corner branched out to being more than just a great coffee house and now have become a great coffee house with an awesome Beer Garden. With an a select couple of wines and an extended beer list offering all sorts of beers and microwbrews, you can sit outside, enjoy the landscaping, and take in the evening air. While most of Staunton's outdoor seating areas on streets or off parking lots, Coffee on the Corner is a below street level cove that allows a slight feeling of seclusion so that you can enjoy friendly conversation and a cold beer. They also have subtle background music that gives ambiance, but still allows you to hear the person you are talking to.

At the opening last Monday, you could tell by the happy, content looks on people's faces that this is what they had been waiting for in Staunton. Sitting felt so natural and it made it seem like it should have been there all along. I've already been back sense and I'm looking forward to more warm summer evenings of meeting up with friends, enjoying a cold beer, and checking out the night sky.

Head Heart Gut Groin

When my boyfriend found out that he was going to be moving to Nebraska to get his MFA, his mom said that she would lure me to live with her in Cleveland to ensure that Dennis would visit often.  Her plan?  Using grilled cheese and cupcakes as bait. 

This story reminds me how with every year, I am becoming more of a belly driven person.  Lately, when Dennis and I go on trips it is his job to plan hotels and sightseeing while I take care of finding places to eat.  When I travel by myself, most of my trips are planned around places to eat and are less about things to see.  I had to go to Philadelphia for a conference three years ago.  While there, I passed up the Liberty Bell for a tour of Reading Market, Independence Hall for Morimoto Restaurant, and several conference panels for a dim sum quest in Chinatown.  I did see the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but I paired the Antique District with a Cuban restaurant.  

In acting, one tool that some actors use is something called “Head Heart Gut Groin.”  These are objectives that you can assign to a character by looking at their language and using that part of your body to determine acting choices.  Hamlet is a “head” character; Romeo a “heart;” Othello a “gut; and, Antony a “groin.”  Someone like Falstaff gets to be several and move from “head” to “groin” to “gut” depending on the moment and his goal. 

As a teacher, I should be a “head” and in certain times and circumstances, I am.  When problems arise, I take them apart from lots of different sides.  However, it is my “gut” side, or my intuitiveness and instinctive reaction, that often comes in conflict with my “head.”   In picking colleges, I went with the school that felt right, or with my “gut” told me.  What is funny is that recently, I also started picking restaurants on not only how the menus look, but also on what my gut says―a gastronomical sixth sense.  And, my “gut” has a much better track record then my head. 

I think adults need to embrace the value of being a “gut,” thinking about basic needs, natural feeling, and core desire.  What I like most about little kids is that they have no fear of their bellies.  They walk in a way that pushes bellies out and allows themselves to lead with their tummies.  As adults, we are trained to hide bellies.  My yoga teacher always has to reassure the class that it is okay in yoga breathing to inflate your stomach and to not be ashamed of watching it swell. 

I've decided to embrace being a belly driven person.  Dr. Michael Gershon talks about in his book, The Second Brain, that “the brain is not the only place in the body that's full of neurotransmitters . . . .A hundred million neurotransmitters line the length of the gut, approximately the same number that is found in the brain.”  In other words, your “gut” is capable of relaying information in the same way your brain does.  I think my belly does a lot of good thinking for me.  So, next time you are in doubt, go with your gut.     

Blue Collar Joe’s Donuts

I went over to a friend’s house for Wrestle Mania over a month ago and a friend coming up from Christiansburg, VA, had stopped and picked up donuts from a place in Daleville. I am someone who gets really excited about donuts, and so when I heard there were donuts I was already doing a happy donut wiggle. But, when I went into the kitchen, I was not prepared for the awesome sight in front of me.

Donuts with vanilla icing and pretzels.

Donuts with Oreos and cream.

Donuts with bacon.

My donut wiggle turned into a donut dance.

I immediately inquired how such an utopia existed without my donut senses tingling. So on Easter weekend, when I went home to visit my parents, I made the pilgrimage to Blue Collar Joe’s Donuts.

Blue Collar Joe’s is off Highway 81, exit 150B, and is a converted gas station. The menu features lots of coffee options, wraps, and around fifteen different donuts. The flavors include things like strawberry cheesecake, red velvet, coconut crème, cow tail, Reeses pieces, crèamsicle, and many, many others. My parents and I each got something different and I also got one to take home for my boyfriend. Here is what we got . . .

1. Nutty Buddy Donut – vanilla cake donut with chocolate frosting, caramel drizzle, ice cream nuts, and pieces of crumbled up sugar cone.
2. Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Donut—typical blueberry style cake donut made extraordinary with a maple glaze and bacon crumbs. It is breakfast with a whole in middle.
3. Chocolate Mousse Soufflé -- sweet chocolate cake donut with a light, frothy chocolate mousse on top.
4. Turtle Donut – chocolate cake donut with a caramel frosting, chocolate drizzle, and ice
   

   

   cream nuts.

They were all awesome, moist, sweet, and definitely more a dessert than a breakfast. With a cup of coffee, you feel like you are communing with a center-less ecstasy. If I had to choose the best, it would have to be the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Donut. I like pancakes. I like blueberries. I like maple glaze. I like bacon. So, it only stands to reason, that I would love such a union of all these things.

As the band Devil’s Makes Three sings, “If you're gonna do wrong, buddy, do wrong right.” Blue Collar knows how to do wrong right.

Blue Mountain Brewery

Picture yourself sitting at a table, relaxing in the cool evening air, looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains, and sipping a great beer.   No, you aren’t in a hops scented dream; you are having an evening at Blue Mountain Brewery.

Blue Mountain Brewery is one of several microbreweries in the Shenandoah Valley, and the strands of cascade hops they grow on premises are a testament to how seriously they take their product.  With both indoor and outdoor seating, it is a place where twenty and thirty-somethings converse over pints, where families with young children can feel welcome, and all relax with good food and great beer.  

To start, you should orient yourself with the beer sampler (only $5 to try all six beers) and the meat and cheese plate ($13).  The beer sampler is a great way of taking a flavor journey through the fruitier wheat beers to the fuller, hoppier IPAs, and then end with the bold, rich stout.   While the beers stimulate your thirst, the meat and cheese plate acquaints your belly with the finest meats, cheeses, and fruits from Goodwin Creek, a local farm.  Our cheese plate featured smoky pepperoni and salami, coupled with jalapeno cheddar, mustard seed cheese, and gruyere, brightened with fresh oranges, pears, apples, blueberries, and blackberries.  You won’t be sorry for having ordered it. 

For the main course, I got the Nitro Chili Dog ($9) and Dennis got the Beer-Boiled Local Bratwurst ($9.50).  The beer bratwurst is from Double H Farm, a Nelson County Farm, and is boiled in Blue Mountain’s Lager.  It was plump, juicy, and heaping with sauerkraut that gave it a pungent and vinegary balance.  It also had a drizzle of their homemade beer mustard that has a great grainy texture without being too spicy.  The Nitro Chili dog combines a juicy all-beef hot dog with a bold and zesty chili that is spiked with their Nitro Ale.  I loved the chili dog and got a big kick out of revisiting a grandstand favorite, but I do have to admit that the beer bratwurst stole the show.  But, I don’t think you can go wrong either way. 

Although the sausage and hot dog were satisfying, the star dish of Blue Mountain is their Bratwurst Pizza.  A homemade thin crust dough cooked crisp pairs with toppings that are an unexpected combination for a pizza.  It has the standard pizza components of marinara and mozzarella, but the addition of brauts, apples, caramelized onions, and finished with a balsamic reduction, make this a one of kind flavor experience.   It is complex, smoky, sweet, and savory.

As well as the unforgettable food, there was also the beer.  For the beer, I’m not going to say more, I’m just going to let your curiosity make you try for yourself.  The only thing I’ll say is IPA lovers, get the Full Nelson.  If you want to experiment, try their Dark IPA which was a beer that four local breweries, Wild Wolf, Devil’s Backbone, Star Hill, and Blue Mountain, came together to create.  It is not a traditional IPA, but almost brown ale meets IPA--a combination I whole-heartedly support.   

If you live in the Staunton, Waynesboro, Charlottesville, and Nelson County area and have not been to Blue Mountain, drop what you are doing and put it on the schedule.  But, for everyone who  loves beer, good food, and a restaurant committed to local farms, all combined with a great mountain escape, than get to Blue Mountain Brewery.         

A Cinco de Mayo Toast to Tequila

I love tequila. Although in the hard liquor category, I most often drink bourbon, tequila has a special place in my heart. While I associate calm, relaxing, and contemplating with bourbon, I associate happiness, camaraderie, spontaneity, and joy with tequila.

I know not everyone has those same associations with tequila. It is most often used in connection with drunken mistakes, intoxicated blunders, and liquor lapses in judgment. As someone once said, “Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila and hand guns.” Although I once felt that way about tequila, I now know how much more complicated tequila is. The citron and floral notes seduce you, presenting one mood and one side, only to have the more elusive, dangerous undertones catch you unaware.

Sometimes, I like it brown and dirty. Sometimes, I like it clear and clean. Sometimes, I like it to provide a precarious undertone to a green, tangy lime soaked concoction. But, if I’m feeling sassy, just tequila, a slice of lime, soda water, over ice will always leave me content.

When I’ve done tequila infusions, my two favorites were watermelon tequila and pepper tequila. For the watermelon, you just take half a watermelon, cut it up, and leave it to soak in the tequila for a couple of days. Even after you strain out the watermelon, it will have doubled in bulk because of all the water in the watermelon, making the tequila lose a little edge. It makes a great punch with a liter of Sprite or soda water, some orange and lime slices, and some muddled mint. While watermelon tequila is for everyone, pepper tequila is not for the faint of heart. To make this, I let about a tablespoon of peppercorns and a sliced up jalapeno sit in a bottle of tequila for 24 hours. You strain the peppers and just serve on the rocks or with ginger ale. The tequila will take on a fiery bite, so make sure to play nice.

Tequila has battered me, embarrassed me, calmed me, and pleased me, but on this Cincdo de Mayo, I still raise my glass to say, "Here's to Tequila."  

Thai Cafe

For a long time, the two main Thai restaurants in Harrisonburg, VA, were Thai Café and Taste of Thai. I was introduced to Thai Café and it was love at first bite. When I eventually got over to try Taste of Thai, I was impressed by the interior décor, the comfy booths, and the soft romantic lighting. At the end of the meal, though, I couldn’t see why Taste of Thai got so much buzz when it was more expensive and not nearly as tasty. Taste of Thai is the place you might take your date to impress them, but Thai Café is the place were you are going to have a happier belly and leave with more money left in your pocket.

My favorite food from Thai Café is the pho. I tried the other pho joint in Harrisonburg, but I always end up back at Thai Café. Even by looking at the tables, you know they are serious about pho because each table has a small lazy susan stocked with hoisin, sriracha, red pepper flakes in oil, fish sauce, chopsticks, and soup spoons. However, as you can see from the picture, I did take-out and Thai Cafe does a great job of setting you up with all the fixings.

The pho itself is fantastic. It has hints of anise and cinnamon and you have the option of chicken or beef broth. I tried the chicken broth once and have been a dedicated meat broth person since. Although you can get the usual meat, steak, and pho balls (as my best friend calls them), I always ask for fried tofu because it greedily soaks up the broth. The portions are huge with a regular size bowl costing around $6.95 and a large, $7.25.

Besides pho, Thai Cafe also has a good pad thai, ginger chicken, and rich curries. Nine chances out of 10 at any Thai restaurant, I will get the green curry (because green curry is my favorite). Thai Cafe's has sharp hints of ginger and spicy jalapenos, lightened with fresh cilantro, and offset by sweet coconut and basil.

Thai Cafe is tucked away behind the Target in Harrisonburg and it is part of a strand of three of the greatest ethnic restaurants that are all in one little strip mall. Thai Cafe is sandwhiched between Inca's Secrets, that has awesome fried yuko and Peruvian chicken, and Cafe Jacko, that serves up sushi, bento boxes, and udon soup. All three are a deal and will make it hard for you pick.   But, who says you can't get a pho starter, peruvian chicken for a main, and then an eel roll chaser.  I wouldn't judge. 

Pho Magic

In my “Blog Manifesto,” I wrote about what people on death row choose as their last meal.  I know what mine would be.  It would be a bowl of Pho. 

Pho is my ultimate comfort food.  I had my first bowl when I was 21 and I have had many, many bowls since.  I’m very lucky because my best friend is Vietnamese, and her mom is an excellent Pho maker.  Her mom jokes about the fact that I am an “Asian Baby” because I find such joy and happiness in Asian cooking.  And, of all Asian dishes, nothing makes me happier than a bowl of pho. 

At one point I had thought about having Kathy’s mom teach me her secrets, but I never was able to find a good time.  When I first started eating Pho, I did look into recipes.  It usually entails a rich broth made of ox tails, vegetables, and spices like anise and cinnamon.  The soup itself is made by adding in rice noodles, meat (or fried tofu, which is my favorite), and onions.  In addition, most restaurants then provide Hoisin sauce and sriracha and a plate of cilantro, basil, lime wedges, and bean sprouts for you to add according to your desires.   

Even though I know the components, the exact chemical equation and construction is a mystery.  The odd thing is that as much as I love Pho, I have come to have no interest in learning how to make it for myself.   The closest I came was buying a ramen style pho packet that came with rice noodles and two secretive packets.  I guess the main reason I have no interest in learning how to make Pho is that I think of Pho as a magic healing spell and knowledge of the enchantment seems blasphemous. 

To me, it seems strange that someone like me who spends so much time thinking about food, dissecting recipes, and identifying nuances, compositions, flavor profiles, textures,  variations, and subtleties (basically just over-analyzing food) could be happy not knowing about the mystery of her favorite food.  But, I think for all of us there is one food that you accept whole-heartedly as is.  Either it is a food your mom makes like no one else or your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant.  For those foods, something is taken away by finding out it is just food, an equation, a permutation of ingredients. 

So for me, Pho is off limits.  It is magic.  I have no need to conjure it up or find out how the trick is performed.  I am content just to sit in awe of it.