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You may have heard the buzz going around about The Bank Food and Drink in Pearisburg. Let me tell you, it's true.

If I were a fortune teller, I'd foresee most of you making your way there soon, and I'd predict your great pleasure in the entire experience.

Photos by Gene Dalton | The Roanoke Times It really used to be a bank

Not only do the sophisticated meals have appeal, but getting there is a gorgeous drive from Roanoke down through the New River Valley into Giles County, where the edge of the commonwealth meets West Virginia. Easy to find, The Bank greets you on entering the town of Pearisburg on Va. 100.

THE STORY

Linda and Lynn Hayes own the old bank building housing the restaurant. They're also the proprietors of the Inn at Riverbend, a beautiful bed and breakfast overlooking the New River. Their need for a place where inn guests could go to enjoy fine dining without having to drive for miles resulted in the restaurant.

The couple hired chef team Linda and Cunninghame West to operate The Bank. The offer presented Cunninghame with an opportunity to return to Giles County, where he grew up. Linda, too, has relatives nearby, and she wanted to come to this bucolic region to raise a family.

Both of them bring a wealth of culinary talent. They were working in Las Vegas -- he as a sous chef at Valentino's restaurant at the Venetian Hotel and she as the opening pastry chef for Sea Blue at the MGM Grand Hotel -- when The Bank's offer entered their lives. In quick order, the Wests moved to Pearisburg, and the restaurant opened in June.

THE VIBE

From the outside, the building still looks the way a bank built in 1906 should, with its gray rock face and Romanesque style. But the interior is where you see the most dramatic transformation into a classy restaurant. The minimalist black-and-white decor sparkles and gives way to smaller rooms done in red and blue, each one decorated with exciting paintings and posters. Upstairs the decor is more formal, while the red and blue rooms downstairs offer more of a casual atmosphere.

THE MENU

Starters

Complexly flavored, cool-seared, rare sesame-crusted Ahi tuna with honey soy dipping sauce sparked with a pungent Japanese wasabi aioli makes a rollicking starter. Less overbearing is the delightful sauteed shrimp with garlic and lemon. Oven roasted portobello mushrooms with sharp blue cheese and slightly sweet balsamic-dressed greens have all the right discordant notes to be harmonious together. Griddled crab cake surrounded by a generous ring of brightly flavored curry sauce makes a magnificent beginning -- the sauce is a perfect contrast in color and spiciness to the mellow crab meat.

Linguine with clams in a garlic and butter sauce, the only pasta dish I sampled, has a wealth of clams swathed in a large quantity of garlic-touched broth that is flavorful and wholesome on its own.

Entrees

The range of main courses, or suppers as they are described on the menu, takes inspiration from American ideas mingled with understated global influences. We especially enjoyed tender pork loin with apples and port wine sauce, sauteed fresh sole fillets brightened with a lemon caper sauce and sauteed fresh sole fillets with a roasted tomato sauce. Shrimp, scallops and clams in a charred lime and cherry tomato broth comes perfectly cooked and is thoroughly eloquent in its combination of flavors.

Desserts

Every exquisite component is homemade and so divine all I can say is save room for these treats. Apple tarte tatin in all its single-serving glory never has been so attractive or delectable with its furls of buttery pastry embracing sweetened sliced apples adorned with Scotch caramel sauce and garnished with green apple sorbet. A chocolate tasting trio, with its warm chocolate molten cake, crispy peanut butter wafers and the disarming milk chocolate malted milkshake, becomes a chocoholic's paradise on a plate.

THE WINE

The wine list includes a Penfolds Shiraz ($36) and New Zealand Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($19), as well as several excellent American wines ($19-$34). Wines by the glass are decent and reasonably priced.

THE SERVICE

Well-informed, enthusiastic and efficient personnel staff the dining rooms, and they do whatever they can to please -- to the point of not discouraging changes to basic dishes.

NOT TO BE PICKY, BUT ...

I was perplexed with the texture of my entree, a pan roasted filet mignon with blue cheese demi-glace. This well-shaped, hefty piece of meat looked attractive on the plate, cut easily and had a robust beefy flavor despite a pervasive softness. It also lacked all manner of crustiness on the outside, which is typical of meat cooked in this manner.

From time to time, the kitchen displays a heavy-handedness with sauces that, although balanced with vibrant flavor and color, conceal the delicious food. Both of these conditions are easily remedied.

THE BOTTOM LINE

It's a real pleasure to write about The Bank Food and Drink for a number of reasons. Everyone who works here takes pride in their positions and knows how important they are to the success of the restaurant. Superb is the only word worthy of describing the freshly prepared, cooked-to-order food, and the service is exceptional. The portions are generous, the prices are moderate and the food is presented in a stunning contemporary style. The Bank Food and Drink has established the main highway to exciting dining in Pearisburg.

THE BANK FOOD & DRINK

Rating: **** ½

Menu: American

Price range: $8 to $20.95

Where: 101 North Main St., Pearisburg

Hours: Dinner only: 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Mondays.

Brunch: Noon-3:30 p.m. Sunday

Soda products: Coca-Cola

Adult beverages? Full service bar

Homemade desserts? Yes

Plastic? All major credit cards accepted. No personal checks.

Smoking? No

Delivery? No

Reservations? Recommended

Live music? No

Net: thebankfoodanddrink.com

Call: (540) 921-2981