Joe Kennedy

Joe Kennedy is routinely named the region's best writer by readers of The Roanoker magazine.

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Marty Montano stopped by my lunch table at Montano's Restaurant on Franklin Road in Southwest Roanoke and jokingly lobbied for a story about locally owned spots such as his and their superiority to the chain restaurants they compete with.

It's not every day that I get to write an opening phrase like "So and so stopped by my table the other day" and make myself sound like some Star City sophisticate, so I figured I could at least give Marty's suggestion some thought.

Sure enough, it produced a story peg, of sorts.

The peg is this: How do you feel about home-owned versus chain restaurants and which home-grown restaurants are your favorites and why?

As a lifelong rebel, I've always preferred underdogs, whether they are people, places or sports teams.

Montano's and spots like it may or may not qualify as true underdogs.

After all, they have name recognition and in many cases a slew of loyal customers that is the envy of some of the chain eateries clustered around town.

Personal connections

Montano's is a landmark. It's in a prime location, it doubles as a popular nightspot, and it has existed at least since I came here in the early 1970s, when it was at Towers Shopping Center.

Phil Montano, Marty's father, was a great ambassador for the place, and Marty carries on the tradition.

I need your help with this idea because I don't eat out much, and when I do, it's at a handful of spots.

When my son was in school, he worked at Mac and Bob's in Salem, so naturally I've eaten there a lot.

My daughter has worked at Wildwood Smokehouse in the Oak Grove area of Virginia 419. My son and I dined there just the other night.

The New Yorker deli on Williamson Road remains home to great sandwiches at reasonable prices.

I eat there rarely, but always enjoy it.

Without pretense

You see the kind of places I'm talking about -- neighborhood-style, with an informal atmosphere and a diversity of food. They are not high-end, though they could be low-end.

The Surf 'n' Turf Grill in Roanoke's Grandin Village qualifies because, while it's not low-end, it serves good food and plenty of it at what I consider a reasonable price.

I can't speak for the Surf 'n' Turf in Salem. Never been there.

Farther afield, I liked Three Li'l Pigs barbecue in Daleville the time I ate there, mere minutes after former President George Bush had finished his meal and rolled off in a mini-motorcade, and earlier, when it occupied a stall in the food court of the Roanoke Market Building.

But there must be other spots my meager wanderings have left uncovered.

This is not a contest: It is a request for recommendations and the reasons for those recommendations.

Prediction: Many people will mention Famous Anthony's, the chain that has proliferated in every direction over the past couple of decades and seems to be healthy wherever it stands.

When my kids' soccer teams played in local tournaments, the players and parents inevitably went to a Famous Anthony's between games.

There seemed to be one within an easy drive of every field in the valley.

Please do not limit your suggestions to the Roanoke Valley. If you have a favorite place in New River, Lexington or some other place in the region, bring it on.

The hope is that this list will provide new places for us ordinary folk to try.

Some of us have a tendency to isolate ourselves in our own parts of the valley.

We're the ones who never go to Sam's Club because it's all the way over at Valley View Mall, a ride of perhaps 20 minutes from our homes.

We're the ones who never leave North Roanoke because, well, you know what those Southwest County people are like.

We're the ones who think the known world ends at the Salem border, and limit ourselves to two or three restaurants in that doughty little city.

Let's break down a few walls, learn something new and put a little excitement in our lives.

This area has much to offer -- more than many of us know.