Late Dinner at Chow

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Sonja, Shelby, and Marion at the University Theater

We were invited to watch a move our friend directed at the University Theater at ODU. It was great experience and we bumped into a bunch friends. After the movie we ended up heading over to Chow with our buddy Carmen. We met Carmen a while back at Whole Foods, she's at Tinto's Wine & Cheese now - which you should check out if you haven't been yet!

Chow was open a hour later than most places about the area which meant we could relax and grab a bite to eat, a drink (or two) and not worry about rushing out or keeping the shop open on our account.

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After grabbing a spot to eat we tried to figure out what to drink. Since we had Carmen with us we decided we'd have her peruse the wine list and pick a bottle we could share. She suggested a Zin from the Frank Family Vineyards. The 2013 Napa Valley Zinfandel was super smooth, fruity, and dark, just the way we like them. Good call Carmen!

The next line of business was figuring out what to eat. Chow's menu is centered around "southern comfort" food and it's truly represented! We've had dinner here a few times before and it's always been good. Speaking of good, I decided wasn't going to be with my entree because all I had to eat that day was two apples and a Caesar salad (seriously!)

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I went for the Chicken Fried Steak (below), Shelby got the Steak Frites (photo at the top of the page), and Carmen got the Vegetarian "Meatloaf". I didn't try Carmen's, though I should have, but Shelby's dish was basically a delicious steak on top of some Parm-Truffle Fries. The compound butter on top was melting making the whole sexy. Yeah I said sexy. You can look at a Insta story I made here, sorry for the vertical and low-res clip. The Chicken Fried Steak was great and I loved the Collards I picked as a side. The mac and cheese looked good but I would have liked for it be more cheesy!

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All-in-all a great meal with great company, I need to get back and try some of the burgers there, they looked great. Head to Chow, try it for yourself!

Monday Night - You Guessed it, Ramen Night!

Another Monday night, another run to The Stockpot for Ramen Night! Shelby made some oatmeal at home that she fancied up by adding shrimp, bacon, and some other good stuff! She tried the new Speedy's #47 Barbados Ghost Sauce Jimmy gave us at the Old Beach Farmer's Market this past Saturday too!

I'm in Coastal Virginia Magazine!

Grab a copy of the latest Coastal Virginia Magazine to read about yours truly! You could also read it online but having it in hand is much better!

Link to the write-up.

- George

Virginia Craft Spirits Roadshow 2017

I was approached recently about an event coming up this Saturday called the Virginia Craft Spirits Roadshow "Virginia Spirits are for Lovin'." The event is new to me so I checked it out online and it looks pretty nice. Here's a blurb from their Evenbrite page:

"Calling all lovers of local spirits! Come join us for the next The Virginia Craft Spirits Roadshow: Virginia Spirits are for Lovin’ at The Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia, on February 10th from 4-8pm. Tickets will include all samples of artisan spirits, craft cocktails, local beers, and delicious southern foods pairings - inside the beautiful backdrop of the Mariners' Museum."

I need to get out to Newport News more often and I do love the Mariner's Museum, not to mention all the booze that's going to be there... Seriously though we love trying out what the great state of Virginia has to offer and the event will feature 8 distilleries from around the state in addition to beer from our buddies at Smartmouth Brewing! There will be food too! All in all, my kinda event! If you really like something there you can buy a bottle to take home too. Take a look at what you get to enjoy:

Participating Virginia distilleries:

Belle Isle Craft Spirits / Richmond
Chesapeake Bay Distillery / Virginia Beach
Copper Fox Distillery / Williamsburg & Sperryville
Ironclad Distillery / Newport News
James River Distillery / Richmond
KO Distilling / Manassas
Virginia Distillery Co / Lovingston
Vitae Spirits / Charlottesville

Participating Virginia brewery:

Smartmouth Brewing Co. / Norfolk & Virginia Beach

Participating area restaurants:

Southern Supper Morsels / Norfolk
Gosport Tavern / Portsmouth
Public House / Norfolk
Still / Portsmouth

I've already linked the event page so you buy tickets, but they asked me if I wanted to give away a pair of tickets ($45 value) to my readers! Lucky you, it's contest time!

All you have to do is leave a comment below stating your favorite cocktail and I'll pick a winner from the group. The winner will be picked by a random drawing and announced Friday around noon.

Good luck and I'll see you there, cheers!

Beefteki!

Shelby and I left Virginia when we were young. I was 18, she was 19, and we had a baby. It's hard to remember but I'm pretty sure I thought I knew everything at that age. It was when we were on our own I started to play around with recipes from a Betty Crocker cook book my grandparents sent us. My grandfather was an employee of General Mills a long time ago and the plant he worked at closed down. The cool thing though, is that he received gift boxes from the company for years and years afterwards because of the closure. The cook book being of those things he received and my grandmother sent us when we were young and making our way into the world. It's something I cherish.

What's that have to do with beefteki? I guess not a whole lot but when I think about this recipe, I think about our young family starting out and learning we didn't know everything. We ended up in Germany while I was in the army, we say it was the best three years of our lives. We loved the culture, being centrally located in "The Continent", and Greek food! Yeah, we ended up eating a lot of Greek food and stuff similar to it. There were a lot of Greeks and Turks living in Germany and our time there allowed to enjoy things like beefteki, donner kebabs, etc... Ah, the memories of drinking downtown and grabbing a "gyros" (that's what we called the donner kebab over there for some reason) and having garlic, death breath makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

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Shelby picking poppies. Bavaria, Germany, 1994.

The Beefteki though, that was something Shelby fell in love with! We would always go to a gasthaus next to the Bahnhof in a small town called Parsberg. I'm pretty sure it is this place called Taverne Korfu, it's where Shelby discovered the Beefteki! The owner at the gasthaus was very kind, I always remember him smoking a cigarette near the bar. It was cozy, a place where you could nurse a beer all day and no one say a word about it. Our kids were still babies and he would give them treats. Sometimes he would take one of them into the kitchen for a piece of candy. I wish I knew his name...his daughter (I assume) worked as the runner and behind the bar. Sometimes other families would see the kids and then invite them to sit with them and buy them ice cream. It was our first experience with communal seating too. Here in the U.S. we're used to getting our own table, keeping separated from the other diners. We liked being part of the "economy" as it was called. One thing I learned is no matter where you go in the world, if you're cool, they'll be cool. Oh, one thing the taverna owner would do is correct my German. I remember once time having to say "81" (the menu item number I ordered a lot) in German what seemed like a million times before he would take my order.

Me: "Einundachtzig!
Him: "Nochmal"
Me: "Einundachtzig!
Him: "Nochmal"
Me: "Einundachtzig!
Him: (Laughing)

I still wonder if they're still there, I'd love to find out one day...

After coming back to the States in the 1990s we couldn't find a restaurant that served anything like the Beefteki we had in Germany. Searching online back then didn't net any hits, the huge boom in food sites hadn't arrived yet. I did manage to find enough Greek recipes that I was able to put together a basic recipe to build on. So over the years I tweaked my original recipe to what it is here. I originally started using a mixture of veal and lamb, then eventually phasing the veal and using just lamb. I mention that because beefteki is normally made from beef (I guess the name makes that obvious.) I think you can find a bunch of them now but there's no need for that. You have my once secret recipe to make and enjoy at home!

You need to serve this with my Tzatziki recipe linked here. Yes I said "need"! Let's start cooking, this is what you'll need.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground Lamb
• 1 Small Onion, finely minced
• 4-8 oz. of Goat or Feta Cheese
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp Mint
• 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
• 1 Tsp Dried Parsley
• 1 Tsp Minced Garlic 
• 1/2 Tsp Dried Thyme
• 1/4 Tsp Cumin
• 1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Dress Beefteki with:

• 1 Lemon sliced in wedges
• Olive Oil

Before You Start:

• I always grill these. I guess you can try these in a skillet to get a nice crust on them, but the smoke and grill marks are part of the deal here.
  
  I don't need to tell you to heat the grill up first before using it right?
   
• I listed 4-8 ounces of goat or feta cheese, add as much as you like! I prefer soft goat cheese but feta is just as good.
• This recipe doubles-up well too, make a ton of it. I get about four beefteki per pound of lamb. You'll be happy you did.
• Some times the heat makes the cheese ooze out a bit, this is OK! It's kinda sexy actually...

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients - except for the cheese - into a large bowl and mix it well to incorporate all the spices and herbs.
2. Once mixed make a football shaped portion in your hand and then push your thumb int the center to create a space for the cheese.
3. Add a tablespoon or two of cheese to the center of the beefteki then fold or pinch it closed. Ensure it sealed so the cheese doesn't cook out.
4. Brush with olive oil before placing on the grill.
5. Cook for several minutes on each side till desired doneness.

I hope you enjoy my famous (famous in these parts at least) Beefteki recipe! It's something I never thought I'd share but it's something the world needs.

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We usually have a Greek salad when grill Beeteki