Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993 TAG: 9305100336
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 20 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SU CLAUSON-WICKER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
No, Blacksburg is unique in Southwest Virginia because it's the one place where it's easier to dine out on Szechuan bean curd or tostavdas than on chicken-fried steak.
How many other towns of 34,000 can claim five Chinese restaurants, four Mexican restaurants, two Greek restaurants, a Brazilian restaurant and a night spot that serves Indian and Caribbean specialties?
And if you'd prefer to dine at home, you can buy exotic ingredivents for Indian or Asian food from Lee's Oriental Market on South Main or the Oriental Market on North Main.
Or you can linger over tea and scones from the British Isles Origvinals shop on Harding Avenue.
You say coffee's your drink? Then there's imported blends from Kenya, Indonesia, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Guatemala at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea coffee house on Main Street.
If it's another type of brew you're after, you're still in the right place.
The Ton-80 Club in downtown Blacksburg is promoted as having the largest selection of imported beer in the state. Its selection of more than 200 brands includes a raspberry variety from Belgium, Antarctica-brand beer from Brazil, and brews from New Zealand, India and Taiwan, as well as those of England and Germany.
But Blacksburg's international flavor is not merely for the tongue and palate.
Virginia Tech's campus radio station, WUVT, features Celtic and Greek music on Saturday mornings, Turkish on Sunday afternoons, and reggae on Friday and Saturday nights.
International music director Andrea Noye also hosts an eclectic international music show offering music from such diverse locations as Peru, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and China.
"If it's at least a little bit ethnic, I'll play it," she says.
You also can hear a mariachi band at El Puerto Mexican restaurant at Gables Shopping Center on Saturday nights and Brazilian music at the Ipanema Restaurant on Ellett Road on Wednesdays.
Blacksburg plays host to an International Street Fair in April. Imported clothes, jewelry and gifts are not hard to find, especially when downtown street merchant Sue Dille brings out her Ecuadoran sweaters, necklaces and earrings in the warm weather.
Native Imports on College Avenue sells clothes from India, Guatemala, Ecuador, Nepal, Mexico, Thailand and Indonesia. It also sells Mexican blankets, Indonesian batik prints and bags from Nepal.
British Isles Originals is an English cottage just off Progress Street filled with Beatrix Potter books, Regency bone china, trivets, Hebrides tweeds, Waterford crystal, furniture and gifts from across the sea.
The whole house is redolent of Norfolk lavender, which is sold in the dining room, along with framed tied flies, pretty enough to wear on your sweater. Marmalades, chutneys, English teas and little pots of gooseberry jam line the counters in the kitchen. The herb-filled garden in back is a perfect spot to take your afternoon tea.
Deciding where to dine in Blacksburg can be a dizzying consideration, given the number of choices.
Mexican eateries vary from the Taco Bell franchise on North Main to Pedros in downtown Blacksburg to the El Rodeo on North Main and El Puerto, both owned by fairly recent immigrants from Mexico.
Spanish is the language of preference in these places, although Corona, margarita and enchilada are understood by everyone, and the chile rellenos are just as spicy no matter what your accent.
Blacksburg's five Chinese restaurants - Peking Palace and Sunrise House on Main, China Inn on Draper Road, Hunan King at University Mall and China First at Hethwood - differ in their provincial specialties.
The two Greek establishments serve similar lunch fare but occupy different niches.
Souvlaki Ltd. on College Avenue does a quick turn-around on phyllo sandwiches, such as spanakopita (cheese and spinach), teropitaki (three cheeses) and bourekia (beef). There's also baklava (dessert phyllo), Greek custard pie and almond kourabiedes cookies.
Greeks on Progress Street serves lunches and dinners in a relaxed and spacious atmosphere. You might start off with avgolemono soup, a tasty lemon/chicken concoction, with a horiatiki Greek salad and a main dish of tomato-less Greek spaghetti, marinated Greek chicken, an eggplant moussaka and baklava for dessert.
The Ipanema Restaurant offers what owner Reinaldo Fonseca calls "modified lower middle class" Brazilian fare - zesty dishes that use artful blends of spices to make up in flavor what they missed in expensive meats.
In Blacksburg, however, Fonseca and his partner, Walner Pires, have full benefit of all the meats, spices and other ingredients they need for their flavorful black bean soup, Portuguese collard sausage soup and moqueca seafood stew.
Unusual vegetables like yucca, hearts of palm and plantain play a prominent role in many tasty dishes. The bar serves rum ciipirinha, Brazil's most traditional cocktail, and smooth Antarctica beer.
For Indian specialties, you must hold out until Monday nights, when the South Main Cafe features an Indian feast by native cooks from Calcutta and Bombay.
The meal includes several spicy entrees, a dal or bean dish, some curry, delicious Indian bread and dessert.
Indian spices, such as coriander, cumin and cardamon are very fragrant, so you will be able to tell within half a block whether the feast is ready or not.
South Main also features Caribbean food on Tuesdays.
by CNB