ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997 TAG: 9703050048
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: DU JOUR
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
With hardly any fin fair, a new seafood eatery opened Feb. 3 in the space formerly occupied by Chi-Chi's restaurant at Valley View Mall.
"It's not our way to do a lot of advertising," said a spokesman for Hatteras Seafood Company. Yet, two unannounced forays to the restaurant by a curious food editor found business booming both on a weekday and a Sunday afternoon, with waits for a table of up to about 30 minutes.
"It must be word-of-mouth," the spokesman said, adding that he had no idea the restaurant would catch on so quickly. There had been waits of more than an hour, he said, but the restaurant was working to remedy those.
Hatteras' parent company, Line Management, Salem, is familiar with restaurant operations, also owning 15 Texas Steak House & Saloon restaurants, two Dairy Queens and a Ground Round. Hatteras' menu carries a few steak and burger items that are also available at its sister sites.
Something not on any other local menus that we know of is Hatteras' Shrimp and Grits with Andouille Sausage. Associate chef Irene Saul said the idea for the item came from a manager who had tasted something similar while in Charleston, S.C. Hatteras' version is "rich and creamy southern grits filled with baby Gulf shrimp and topped with Cajun tasso gravy, sliced Andouille sausage and large sauteed shrimp." It costs $4.95 as a hot appetizer, or $9.95 as an entree, served with a house salad.
"Tasso" gravy is like a sausage or chipped-beef gravy, except with little pieces of Cajun-seasoned ham, Saul said. She said that most diners are testing the appetizer-size serving, because they don't know quite what to expect. But sales of the grits entrees seem to be increasing, she noted.
The best sellers seem to be the $14.95 seafood combo platters, which, fried or broiled, include fish filets, shrimp and scallops. The fried platter, with french fries and cole slaw, also includes clams, crab balls and oysters. The broiled platter, with a broccoli, cauliflower, squash medley and rice, includes stuffed shrimp, Oysters Rockefeller and Clams Casino.
Saul's personal favorite is Irene's Pan Fried Crab Cakes, whose recipe development she had a hand in. "There is a lot of crab meat in there," she said of the $13.95 entree that comes with a vegetable medley and choice of potato.
Overall, the restaurant's menu offers lots of dishes - appetizers, soups and gumbos, salads, sandwiches, wraps and entrees - using a limited number of products.
"We try to use the products as many ways as possible to get a good variety and make sure things stay fresh," Saul said.
The food was fresh but rather pedestrian seasonings-wise. Portions were huge, prompting many diners to request take-out cartons. My party's server, Mary Anderson, like most of the staff, was polite, attentive, knowledgeable about the menu items and a real delight.
Hatteras is open Monday -Thursday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. - midnight; and Sunday, noon - 10 p.m. Call 362-3474.
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If you're fishing for something flavorful but different, Virginia's Buffalo Meats is offering a special on Virginia-raised Fallow deer. Buffalo Meats owner Paul Grice said Fallow deer, which is native to Europe, is smaller and sweeter-tasting than Whitetail. Also, dried juniper berries are incorporated into the feed grain to enhance the Fallow venison's subtle flavor, without a gamey taste.
Grice said that the light red meat is lower in fat and cholesterol than beef and makes an excellent beef substitute in recipes for stews, burgers, meat loaf, chili, tacos, pizza and the like.
"You just generally need to cook it slower and at a lower temperature than beef," Grice said.
The stew meat sells for $3 per pound, the ground meat or 1/4-pound burgers sell for $1 per pound and can be purchased at Earth & Sky, 5105 Williamson Road, Roanoke, or by calling 362-1387.
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Among those learning what to do with fish or Fallow are the aspiring culinarians from Salem High School, who shined brightly in recent Virginia FHA-Hero proficiency competitions in Rockbridge. Josh Rawson, Travis Pierce, Selena Yopp and Sarah Smart all garnered gold medals for their respective pastry, dessert cart, art decoration/centerpiece and hors d'oeuvre presentations. Smart also won the state trophy for the South Central region and the option to attend a statewide competition in April in Richmond.
Renee Tickle, Dana Dudley and Jessica Monroe received silver medals for their romantic meal, decorated wedding cake and interpersonal-communications offerings, respectively.
Even with a few minor snafus, "It was a wonderful learning experience," instructor Dianne Wallace said.
Now it's back to business as usual as the advanced catering class, which tries to do at least one project per month in the school's Spartan Cafe, prepares to feed about 24 students at an Ides of March luncheon.
Du Jour runs occasionally in the Extra section. If you have an interesting food item or event, tell us about it. Write to DuJour, c/o Features Dept., The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010.
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA STAFF. 1. Hatteras Seafood's main chef,by CNBBrian Canfield, adds wine to sauteeing shrimp. 2. Michelle Hanes
serves first-time Hatteras Seafood Company diners Anita Blankenship
(left) and Shelby Bedwell their lunches. color.