THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508220134
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Sam Martinette
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Chef Bobby Huber has been in the spotlight since he took over the kitchen of the Blue Crab in Ocean View, following the departure of his mentor, Monroe Duncan. One would expect the opening of his new restaurant at Wards Corner - Bobbywood, with its gentle parody of Hollywood, right down to a Bobbywood sign along an interior wall and a drawing of King Kong perched atop a corner of the shopping center - to be held under the glare of klieg lights, with tuxedoed local stars being interviewed by pesky entertainment press.
Huber reinforced skills learned in Florida restaurants, and as a cook aboard a Navy sub, at Johnson & Wales University. His resume includes Crusoe's Cellar, Fire & Ice and the Ship's Cabin, where he was executive chef for two years, and a joint venture with Chef Michael Toepper in Williamsburg, called Victoria's Fire. He had his own place, Sweet Bird of Youth, in Norfolk, a few years back.
Now Huber, 28, is converting Jerry's, a tavern dating back to 1946, into an upscale dining establishment, offering wood-oven baked pizza, skillet-seared sashimi, and creamy risotto tossed with rock shrimp, scallops and Prince Edward Island mussels. Huber's wife, Anita, will be the restaurant supervisor.
``We like to call it upscale dining with a kick-off-your shoes attitude,'' Huber said, as workmen installed equipment in the open kitchen, located in the former Naas Bakery, adjoining Jerry's.
A wall was removed, creating a dining room area, while the dark, wood-paneled horseshoe bar will remain essentially the same, with the addition of tables to accommodate smokers, and a sophisticated cocktail crowd, Huber hopes. Mixologist Mark Montgomery will tend bar.
A 50-foot banquet has been built under the Bobbywood sign, where Adam Fell created a mural with Kong at one end and Huber riding to the rescue atop a killer whale, a la ``Free Willy,'' cooking whisks waving in the wind. Between the Hollywood icons are caricatures of area chefs, including Duncan (stirring the pot) and Sydney Meers of the Dumbwaiter.
Balancing the whimsy is a brick and stone wood-burning oven for pizza and panini, a 50-bottle wine list (``Our goal is to have a 150-bottle list eventually,'' said Huber.), and a menu featuring Huber's celebrated style.
``I like to call it creative American fusion,'' Huber explained, admitting he's not above injecting his sense of humor into the adjectives used to describe menu items. But when you get right down to it, there's nothing to laugh about when Huber sets a plate of food on your table. I got a look at the menu designed for the opening week of the restaurant. Plans call for changing lunch and dinner menus weekly.
Among the soups, salads and first courses offered: a pan roast of smoked Surrey sausage, arugula, pastini, fresh herbs and chicken jus, topped with a tomato concasse ($4.25); chilled cream of avocado soup with Casey's lump crab meat ($4.50); and pepper-seared tuna with grilled onions, peppers and summer sqash on baby greens with roasted shallot vinaigrette ($5.95).
Pizzas include a fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella pie ($6.25) for purists, and a tuna, spinach, jalapeno and feta cheese pie ($6.25) for adventurers. Sandwiches are Italian-style, including a bruschetta (garlic toast topped with goat cheese, smoked beef tenderloin, caramelized onions and capers and served on an ancho chili demi-glace ($5.50); and panini ( a pocket-like bread, stuffed with olive relish, spinach, arugula, roasted peppers, dried tomatoes and ricotta cheese ($4.95).
Lunch also includes a sauteed breast of chicken limone on angel-hair pasta ($6.50); paneed beef tenderloin with frazzled onions and a merlot wine sauce ($7.50); and tuna, scallops and mussels in a sherry cream with bowtie pasta and fresh spinach ($6.50).
Dinner entrees on the opening menu include grilled lump crabcakes with garlic grits, grilled summer squash and a papaya cocktail sauce ($15.95); grilled bacon-wrapped tuna on minted couscous, with fresh herb shortbread, a tapenade (a thick paste normally made from capers, anchovies, ripe olives, olive oil and seasonings), and a merlot reduction ($14.95); an onion-crusted salmon fillet with spinach potato cakes and sage cream ($15.95); and a braised Summerfield Farm veal shank with a creamy mushroom risotto, stewed vegetables and a tomato demi-glace ($15.95).
Bobbywood will open Monday. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by SAM MARTINETTE
Bobby Huber stands in front of his caricature at Bobbywood
restaurant.
Graphic
AT A GLANCE
Bobbywood: 7515 Granby St., 440-7515
Food: new-American fusion: beer at present, full ABC pending.
Prices: most dinner entrees $9-$16 range.
Hours: Bobbywood opens on Monday. Lunch is 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
Monday through Friday. Dinner is 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through
Thursday. Friday and Saturday dinner hours start at 5 p.m. with no
end time set yet.
by CNB