Larry Bly

Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.

Recent columns

• Lynchburg's Shoemakers American Grille: The menu that fits like a shoe
• Beijing Chinese Restaurant: East meets Old Southwest
• SoRo is a go
• Hobos in Rehoboth
• Collins House Inn: Eating is half the fun of staying
• Column archive

• Recipe of the day

If you remember the old George Joe's Italian restaurant in Vinton, then you'll know the location of the new Blake's, whose slogan is "Nothing Matches.....The Only Theme is Great Food."

If someone will explain that to me, I'd appreciate it. Anyway, they are a pretty good restaurant, even though the lunch menu and then the dinner menu appears to show a split personality thing going on here.

Lunches are basically burgers, sandwiches and salads, while dinners are much more upscale; and the typeface on the menu is much fancier. For instance a dinner menu that boasts something called "Savannah Cream Biscuit with pork, shiitake and venison stock reduction" will the next day at lunch boast verbiage such as "If you're hankerin' for something you don't see, just as...". Well I'm hankerin' for a little consistency, maybe.

Also missing on my dinner menu were the prices, but maybe it was a temporary menu. They've just begun doing dinners. I have the same problem with this place as I had last year with Trio on Campbell: Very interesting food offerings, but the facility lends itself more to a casual lunch crowd. Then again maybe with the lights down real low.

I've eaten here several times and I hasten to add that the food is truly fresh and prepared to order. As mentioned, lunch tends toward soups, salad, sandwiches and sides. But they're homemade and delicious always. The French fries really are "fresh cut fries," tending to have the consistency, smell and freshness of those made at home. Does anyone actually make them at home anymore?

I tried the Blake's chili, supposedly legendary. If you've just opened, how can it be legendary? It was good, hearty, meaty, saucy and a bit hot for my taste, but my dining
partner was impressed. They were out of potato chowder one day, a disappointment considering that the menu runs only a dozen items, not counting sides.

The Real Burger was truly real, with a great grill taste and done up with a ton of fresh fixin's. At $6.25 it's alunch value alright. The grilled chicken breast sandwich was fine, but the Italian style marinade clashed a little with one of the toppings I ordered. My fault, not theirs, but be warned: not everything goes with the marinade.

I'm "just a hankerin'" to try the grilled cheese, which is far more than it sounds: featuring Swiss, cheddar, tomato, bacon and onion accented with herbed mayo on white or wheat bread. Jazzing up the normally pedestrian lunch items, they've thrown in a truly exceptional sandwich called "The Virg," which is grilled eggplant with marinara, cheddar and Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and grilled onions on a Kaiser. I'm telling you that at $5.95, it's the bomb, buddy.

Dinner's a whole 'nother ball of wax. There's much more sophisticated fare, with appetizers recently featuring seared yellow fin tuna wasabi, classic shrimp remoulade and the aforementioned pork biscuit with reduction.

The soups run the same two a lunch: chili and potato chowder.

Entrees recently offered (which include tossed salad, veggie, and dinner breads) Filet of Chicago Angus with béarnaise, Chicken cattiatora with linguini, marinara and Asagio, Seared pork medallions with creamed herb and mushroom sauce, Blackened west coast Albacore tuna with citrus beurre-blanc, and finally, Grilled Gulf coast yellow fin with roasted red pepper sauce.

The locals raved about the dinner selections, urging me to attend nightly. Look at the above offerings from just one single Valley restaurant and tell me why, again this year, voters of a local magazine chose Red Lobster as their favorite seafood restaurant. Chefs and cooks all over the valley are daily offering fresher fare than you'll ever find at the Lobster. And yet..... Two years ago a crabby reader of my column accused me of causing the Valley to think that the best seafood was Red Lobster. Sorry, you can blame me for a lot of things: the seven year locusts, Victory Stadium, Darlene Burcham's hair-----but I've never recommending anything other than local restaurants for great seafood offerings. So there.

Here's something else unexpectedly unusual about Blake's: They have their own pastry chef, Tom, who I am told does extraordinary things to all things sweet. There were no samples of this at lunch, so I'll just have to take the patrons' word for it. And you should take to Vinton and give the new Blake's a try.

Blake's Restaurant
515 Second St.
Vinton, Va.
(540) 342-0033