Tuesday, August 08, 2006
A touch of Greece and Ireland
Larry Bly
Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.
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The big Roanoke Greek Festival is coming up soon, so mark your calendars. The Greeks certainly have a way with food and they love to introduce new people to their cuisine; heavy on lamb, flaky pastries, shish-kabobs, gyros and such. This year's Greek-A-Thon will be held at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Sept. 15-17. Hours are from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from Noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. It's been so successful in the past that this year they've expanded it by one day so more of you can get a taste of Greece.
There will be lots of authentic foods, live bands, traditional dancers, Greek Orthodox Church tours and imported wines, plus those yummy pastries and baklavas. You may think you've tasted real baklava -- but until you've had the homemade stuff -- well it just assaults the tastebuds and nose with honey and spices.
And get this: win a raffle for a trip for two to Athens, Grece. For more information, you may wish to visit their website: roanokegreekfestival.com By the way, portions of the proceeds will benefit The Rescue Mission and Center in the Square.
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
30 Huntington Blvd.
Roanoke, VA
(540) 362-3601
I've been traveling a bit again this summer, and once again found myself at a northern beach instead of my old favorite southern ones. If you're heading north this summer, consider lunch in historic Annapolis, then cross the Bay Bridge and drive the length of the beautiful Delmarva Peninsula to Rehoboth Beach, Del. Every mile of this trip is an eyeful -- featuring luscious farms, quaint fresh vegetable stands along the road every few miles and a lot of nice little towns with lovely Victorian homes. Once you're at the beach you'll find some mighty fine dining, most of it is year-round these days due to the large number of people living in Rehoboth and next-door Lewes. Note: It's about seven hours of driving from Roanoke -- and there are NO short cuts; you can't even fly there.
A relative newcomer to the restaurant scene since my last visit is the Finbar Spirits & Sustenance, right on the main drag in Rehoboth. It's a fine Irish Pub and dining room, done up in dark paneling, plush seats and featuring an authentic antique bar brought in from some historic old hotel somewhere. We found the service to be attentive, if not a bit overly fast (some entrees arrived well before we finished our appetizers and soup, so order accordingly). The steaks were done perfectly and had a bold, grilled taste, the crab chowder was some of the best that experienced in whole week of eating Maryland crab, and the steamed little neck mussels in white wine with garlic and butter were worth the price and the extra bread they brought around with which to sop up the sauce.
Lunch is mighty fine, featuring fish and chips, cottage pie (sort of like shepherd's pie), Irish Guinness & Beef stew (my Rehoboth friends swear by this dish), burgers, fries, fried oysters, crab cakes, and deli sandwiches made with their own fresh breads.
We enjoyed a dinner of steaks and seafoods, mixing up pretty good between appetizers, soups, salads, and entrees. There's braised lamb, Caribbean pork chops (spiced with coconut soy dark rum glaze, tropical chutney), crab cakes, Prime rib, Irish Guinness & beef stew, something called a "saloon of knowledge" featuring river boyne salmon steak, flame grilled on the bone with hazelnut and herb butter. A fellow diner had the grilled tuna, red chili dusted ahi tuna served with seasonal vegetables and coconut lemongreas sticky rice. The tuna was beautifully grille on the outside and blood red on the inside when sliced. He declared it "perfect". I'm not much of a tuna fan, so I had to take his word for it. In fact, I think he orders tuna often, knowing that my prying fork will not wander to his plate for a taste.
The kitchen at Finbar just plays with sauces, tying together all sorts of flavors: Scotch-broth, soy-ginger immersions, remoulade sauces, jasmine and others. The sauces actually add to the dining experience, rather than take away from the fresh meats and seafood themselves.
Finbar is a classic turn of the century pub, with excellent food prepared with a European flair, featuring twelve craft and European beers on draught, and mixed beverages as well.
One of the house specialties is oysters; and your wait-person will try to interest you in the raw bar first thing. I love oysters fried, but my friends like 'em slimy, choosing from an extensive list of fresh, raw oyster varieties: Beau Soleil (New Brunswick), Georges River, Main, Island Creek (Massachusetts), Ninigret (R.I.), Tatamagouche (Nova Scotia), and Wiley Point (Main) just for starters. Yes, they take their oysters quite seriously here and you'd do well to do the same. To find out more, you may wish to visit their website: finsrawbar.com
The Finbar is open daily, year-round. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Boxing Day (which in case you didn't know is called New Years here in the New Country).
Rehoboth is different than a lot of beach towns, featuring a host of year-round fine-dining places that cater as much to the locals as the beach bunch in the summer. Restaurants like Che Lamere and Adrionica have forged great culinary reputations over the years; or at least a local following.
I'm sure that Finbar will be among them.
Finbar Spirits & Sustenance
316-318 Rehoboth Ave.
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19961
(302) BAR-1873
