ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605210004
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 36 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CAMBRIA
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Searching out interesting restaurants in the New River Valley can require a bit of daring and a sense of adventure.
We nearly get lost every time we go to Mountain View Italian Kitchen, located in Ironto past the hills and dales of the Ellett Valley. One time we got so lost we ended up in Cambria, so we decided to go to Morning Glory Cafe for dinner instead.
No matter. Both eateries share the qualities sought in all of the restaurants reviewed here: Diners can choose from interesting menus, and two can easily eat for $25 or less, sometimes with a glass of beer or wine included. They fill a moderate niche apparently sought by many New River diners: No chance of spilled collegiate draft beer.
Boudreaux's in Blacksburg has built its entire business on this notion; co-owner Greg Ames says only 10 percent of his business is student-based.
The Vietnamese Tea House in University Mall trades on the idea that there's plenty of demand out there for cuisine other than takeout pizza.
Not that I'm opposed to takeout pizza. I've eaten more of it since moving to Blacksburg than I had during all of the previous years of my life.
The valley hosts several eminently enjoyable eateries where your hosts aren't tempted to mimic their big-city peers and add an additional $5 per dish just for the privilege of dining in the presence of arugula or roasted garlic.
Here are a few modestly priced local favorites as reviewed by a sometime food critic and her mate:
MOUNTAIN VIEW ITALIAN KITCHEN (3199 North Fork Rd.; Ironto, 268-2512) They include a map with the takeout menu at Mountain View Italian Kitchen, sometimes known as "Ironto Pizza," and that's very kind of them. The restaurant gets oodles of calls for directions, including many from the Food Time/Citgo station at the corner of Lusters Gate Road from folks wondering if they're headed in the right direction, according to our cheerful and affable server.
Gingham tablecloths topped with glass fill the no-muss, no-fuss cinderblock dining room painted white, and those who've called ahead on weekends get to sit next to the spectacular picture windows that line the equally spectacular mountain-view side of the room.
Retired New Yorker Dick Hamilton converted the former general store about five years ago and called up family friend Matt Dennihy to come help cook after a Roanoke Times article brought the crowds pouring in. "People are starving for Italian," Dennihy said. "Fifty percent of our customers are from somewhere else and want Italian."
You can taste the butter in the pizza, which features all the usual toppings as well as treats such as the sauteed spinach.
Consider the eggplant rollatini, $8.95 for a dish that includes a side of spaghetti and red sauce that will easily feed you tomorrow, and maybe the next day, too. Breaded eggplant sliced and filled with ricotta, smothered in lightly spiced red sauce and mozzarella. Yum. The only disappointment was an appetizer of roasted peppers parmigiana that we assumed would be the Italian staple of roasted red peppers - but it mostly was less flavorful green peppers (a few red ones thrown in) and lots of chewy cheese.
Top the meal off with tiramisu, and be happy that this is the piece of New York life that has come to you.
MORNING GLORY CAFE: (990 Cambria St. N.E., Christiansburg; 381-2233).
It's been about a year since Tom and Kimberlee Knoeble moved across the street from their tiny lunch spot to an old storefront. Now there's a banquet room, too - and Tom's family recipe for meatballs.
"They're from Molinara, Italy, the southern part," said Kimberlee, whose Tazewell-bred mother contributed the equally notable recipe for killer chocolate pie that an enamored friend has rather indelicately - but very complimentarily - dubbed "saliva pie."
Tom Knoeble's meatballs use raisins and Italian pork sausage to add zing to this menu favorite. "They used fruit in almost everything because it was plentiful there," said Kimberlee Knoeble.
Morning Glory offers a $4.75 luncheon deal, with a terrific sandwich of always-fresh ingredients, a cup of French onion or tomato basil soup - or small salad - and "treat" [see reference to chocolate pie, above]. This deal is as good as you'll find anywhere. Sandwiches are served on one of seven types of bread. You won't find yourself wandering past the office snack machine at midafternoon.
There's an equally nifty package for the dinner crowd. For two people, choose two pasta entrees from a list of 9 pastas and 7 sauces, a salad and "treat," all for $16.95.
When the new storefront opened last year, it seemed kind of big and aimlessly bland. White covered everything, from the tabletops to the walls. But the Knoebels soon added colorful Impressionist-looking tablecloths, lending a gallery-style aura to a big, open room lined with prints of sheet music featuring your grandfather's favorites. Nice wine and beer list and takeout menu. Closed Sunday. Open Monday and Tuesday, 11-3, Wednesday through-Saturday,11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5:30-10 p.m.
VIETNAMESE TEA HOUSE: (University Mall, Blacksburg; 951-2768) Here's another restaurant that's grown cozier with time. Those of us who prefer corner tables are accommodated, although a big party always seems to be having a good time in center dining room on weekend nights. The walls, nooks and crannies of this small space have filled with flower arrangements, Oriental prints, and straw mats.
Myloc Truong and husband Nhon Ngo opened their third college-town restaurant about two years ago. Son Steve works there, too.
"We cater to an older crowd," said Ngo. "The food is different from any kind of food around here. We cook real Vietnamese, not Chinese, not Americanized. People come here because they love our food. It's real healthy; no MSG."
To the American palate, Vietnamese cuisine is notable for adding French touches to Asian dishes, a sort of spicy vs. subtle yin and yang. The former coastal dwellers of my household almost always order what apparently is a constant "special," the Captain's Delight, a beautifully grilled fish, usually flounder. We also like to order the mango salmon, featuring the dissonant but delectable flavors typical of this sort of cuisine - delicious, although guilty at least once recently of being overcooked.
Start with the imperial rolls and shrimp dipped in peanut sauce, and be sure to end with a glass of iced Vietnamese-style coffee touched with condensed milk. Don't be shy about asking if you can't figure out how to work the little metal coffee carafe. Sophisticated wine list; nice selection of imported and microbrewery beers, including Vietnamese. Takeout.
BOUDREAUX'S RESTAURANT : (205 N. Main St., Blacksburg; 961-2330). In the interest of full disclosure, I've already admitted that I'm a Boudreaux's regular. This is a terrific little spot in the middle of Blacksburg that serves a surprisingly good inland version of Cajun and New Orleans-style etouffee and gumbo.
Brothers Greg and Jeff Ames are Tech graduates whose father once played music on the bayou and were bright enough to spot the business possibilities among the nonstudent populace of our region. A one-week search for local recipes turned up a worthwhile menu; Greg said another's on the way when summer ends. Although the shrimp etouffee isn't quite what you'd find at, say, a French Quarter fixture, its spicy peppers and shrimp over rice is more interesting than your usual franchised Friday-night-out offering. Cornbread comes with almost everything, and the nightly specials feature dishes such as quail or a shellfish varietal. They also do a nightly appetizer, such as clams or mussels.
The olive-drab dining room is reminiscent of a converted warehouse, with walls lined with New Orleans-style posters and a four-piece painting by Tech student-artist Ryan Sykes.
Despite my resident fandom, I will say Boudreaux's ain't perfect. But the night I was served chicken pecan rare, the thoroughly professional waiter quickly returned it to the kitchen, apologized profusely, and knocked the bill down appreciably.
That's the mark of a restaurant that wants to do right by the customer, and, since this was my only bad experience in several visits, I forgive them. Even the best restaurants goof up from time to time (and usually at a much higher annoyance cost).
LENGTH: Long : 148 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Co-owner Jeff Ames offers a dish ofby CNBcrayfish from Boudreaux's
in downtown Blacksburg. color.