THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406070159
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: SAM MARTINETTE
DATELINE: 940609 LENGTH: Medium
During the recent Ocean View Beach Festival I was pleased to discover a new vendor doing a very nice smoked roast beef sandwich. I was doubly pleased to find a couple of generations of locals manning the Smokey's booth, namely the Shea family, father Alan (48) and sons Doug (25) and Brian (19), along with assorted relatives and girlfriends.
{REST} The sandwich stood out because of its clean, straightforward presentation: 6 ounces of smoked roast beef on a 2-ounce bun. Add a dollop of barbecue sauce or horseradish and you had the runner-up for the Festival's ``Best of the Beach'' award.
``We cook a 10-pound, top-inside round for four to five hours,'' said Doug Shea, president of Smokey's Inc. Open Pit Roast Beef (431-1641). The secret's in the smoke. ``And we cook with hardwood as opposed to gas or charcoal,'' Brian added.
Although new to the festival scene (Smokey's was incorporated in November of 1993), both brothers and their father have worked festivals before with Beach Bully, an outfit that has done hundreds of festivals and catering jobs.
``But it's a lot more fun doing it for yourself,'' Doug said. ``And a lot more work. We're concentrating on the festivals first, and then we'll look for a location for a restaurant.''
Next up locally for the Smokey's clan is the Boardwalk Art Festival later this month. Their first visit to Norfolk's Town Point Park will be Aug. 9, for a Coast Radio music concert.
During a recent visit to Virginia Beach we stopped for a light meal at the Coyote Cafe (206 22nd St., 425-8705), former home of such renowned chefs as Rick Maggard, Todd Jurich, Chuck Sass and Willie Moats. The little Southwestern-style cafe and cantina seats 58 in two rooms, with but nine tables in the dining room area, which is all pastels and terra cotta.
Chef Pat Galiardi, a Norfolk Johnson & Wales graduate and veteran of the Coastal Grill and the Lucky Star, is doing a fine job for owners Gary Black and Richie Boner.
Four of us shared a trio of appetizers and an entree - the Duck Breast Santa Fe - a half-pound boneless duck breast, pan-seared, sliced and spread in a fan, then topped with a Parmesan cream sauce flavored with spinach, bacon, garlic, onion, jalapeno and Cajun spice ($10.50).
The appetizers included Oysters Santa Fe ($4.95), a half-dozen select oysters sauteed in the sauce mentioned above; a grilled vegetable quesadilla (fresh vegetable with Cheddar and jack cheeses between flour tortillas, pan-seared and served with an enchilada sauce - $3.95); and the roasted garlic (a mild elephant garlic, oven-roasted in olive oil and served with toast rounds, goat cheese, roasted red bell peppers, black olives and sun-dried tomatoes - $4.25).
A new summer menu has gone into effect since our visit, owner Gary Black tells me, and the boneless duck breast has been replaced by a crisp roasted duck (a sauteed breast, leg and thigh oven-roasted in olive oil and fresh herbs and served with an apple serrano/rosemary demi glaze, rice and fresh vegetables ($11.95).
The oyster dish and the roasted garlic appear on the new appetizer menu, joined by Mussels Diablo (steamed in a bowl with garlic, white wine, tomato, serrano peppers and fresh sage - $4.25), and the Coyote Shrimp Salad (with roasted corn, black beans, fresh ginger, shallots and cilantro, and tossed with a lime vinaigrette - $4.95).
Black expects one of the most popular entrees on the new menu will be the chile relleno and pepper-seared steak combo (a mild chile stuffed with goat and creme cheeses, coated with corn meal and pan-fried and served with a peppered, seared flank steak with a roasted garlic butter sauce - $10.25).
Also available are burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, a grilled leg of lamb and a New York strip.
Coyote Cafe is open 5 to 10:30 p.m. daily, and will open for lunch with a limited menu on Saturday and Sunday, from noon till 3 p.m. Reservations are suggested. by CNB