THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702070243
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 115 lines
WAITING IN LINE for a taste of conch soup and grilled mahi-mahi, specialties of Vic Zodda's Harborside restaurant, Tina Flood nibbles on a bagel-like treat from Brutti's Cafe and Espresso Bar.
``Taste this, it's really good,'' Flood says as she offers her friend a bite of a BagelNUTZ, a soft puff of bagel dough with cream cheese baked inside.
Several feet away, Agnes Hutsenpiller leaves China Garden with a small Styrofoam tray of chicken teriyaki, general chicken and an egg roll.
``We've got to find a place to park ourselves,'' Hutsenpiller tells her friend.
A man in a dark suit points over the heads of his companions and exclaims, ``Look, there must be something good over in that corner. Everybody's heading that way.''
And off he goes to join the line that has formed in front of the Scale O'de Whale, where lobster bisque and tira misu - an Italian dessert made of cream cheese, sponge cake, espresso, sugar and whipping cream - is being spooned into miniature paper cups.
Thirteen Portsmouth restaurants, cafes, delis and bakeries set up makeshift kitchens Tuesday night in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn for the seventh annual ``A Taste of Portsmouth.''
The event, which debuted in 1991, allows hundreds of hungry folks - some coming from as far away as Newport News - to maneuver from one ``eating station'' to the next, sampling treats along the way. The $15 ticket permits a single visit to each participating restaurant and an extra trip back to a favorite.
Restaurant owners may choose to serve items straight from their everyday menus or come up with something special. Baron's Pub co-owner Alton McGhee decided to do both.
``This year, we're serving teriyaki chicken, which is on our menu,'' McGhee said, ``but we're also serving roasted vegetables stuffed inside a pastry shell with cheese.''
Weiner World surprised folks with a tasty marinated, char-grilled chicken sandwich, stuffed into a baked Italian roll and topped with sauteed onions.
``Everybody knows us for hot dogs, so we decided to show what we have that's not a hot dog,'' manager Mike Goodwin said.
The New York Deli served 550 miniature corn beef and pastrami sandwiches.
``We made them before the lunch crowd came in,'' said Libby Gregoire, a cashier and sandwich maker at the deli. ``I'd say they were probably all done by 11:30 today.''
The Max served its famous cookies: chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter. A coupon for $2 off a dinner entree was attached to each bag.
The ``Taste of Portsmouth'' typically sells out each year. Nate Mewhinney, who has chaired the tasting for three years, thinks he knows why.
``You really do get your money's worth,'' said Mewhinney, owner of Olde Towne Gallery. ``When you sample 13 or 14 restaurants - even though they're samples - that still adds up to a lot of food . . .
``And what else is there to do in the middle of February?,'' he added with a laugh.
Though the event is limited to 500 guests, David Amory of Amory's Wharf decided to prepare enough she-crab soup and fried oysters for 700.
Why so much?
``Because everybody will want to come back,'' a confident Amory said before the throngs arrived at 5 p.m.
If long lines were any indication, Amory's prediction came true. In fact, the chef's fried oysters - served on a half shell with horseradish hollandaise - proved so popular with the crowd that they voted his restaurant the ``People's Choice.''
Amory's Wharf also was a favorite of the food critics, who named it ``Judges' Favorite.''
The same judges gave O'Bailey's Cafe, a new restaurant that specializes in cuisine with an Irish theme, an honorable mention for its ``Shrimp Downpatrick'' and ``Cock Island Leek Soup.''
Long before the judges' choice awards were announced, however, a city councilman had picked the same two restaurants as his own favorites.
``It's probably a toss-up between O'Bailey's Cafe and Amory's Wharf,'' Cameron Pitts said early in the evening.
With a straw hut as its backdrop, the Holiday Inn's Vic Zodda restaurant won the ``Best Presentation Award'' for its South Pacific theme.
As plastic fish bounced around in a fish bowl to the musical score from ``South Pacific,'' ticket-holders dipped pineapple chunks and strawberries into chocolate fondue. A papier-mache waterfall covered in moss and flowers had real running water.
Anderson-Wright Rooms and Gardens, an antiques store that serves desserts, coffee and tea in the 600 block of High Street, was given an honorable mention in the ``Best Presentation'' category.
Two cast aluminum garden urns filled with ivy and a large, decorative Chinese fish bowl were placed behind the table from which Bill Schlaht and his partner, Philip Weber, served lemon squares, chocolate tarts and piping hot coffee.
``I just pulled things and put them in a box to decorate here,'' said Schlaht, the shop's co-owner. ``Some still have the price tags on, so maybe someone will inquire about them.''
About two hours into the tasting, Virginia Beach resident Betty Brett Harcourt had met her quota for the night, she said. It was the caramel apple brandy dessert, served by The Commodore Theatre, that put her over the edge.
``I'm done,'' said Harcourt, a Portsmouth native who graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1943.
Harcourt's favorite sampling was a baked shrimp dish served by Thumpers, a new downtown restaurant at Court and County streets.
Despite having to balance her food in one hand and a drink in the other, Harcourt said she enjoyed her first visit to ``A Taste'' and plans to return to future events. She left the tasting with eight of the 14 spaces marked off the back of her ticket.
``I really had nine samples,'' she confided, ``but one restaurant forgot to mark my ticket.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by IAN MARTIN
Becky Lambert, 27, of Chesapeake samples some cuisine from the China
Garden Restaurant.
Margaret Turner, right, of Portsmouth and Leslie Palacios of Norfolk
hand out samples of conch soup and mahi mahi with pineapple salsa.