Blue Nile

Well, I'm out of town for a two-month gig, and I do miss my dear Harrisonburg. I miss my friends and my husband, I hear that the weather is INCREDIBLE, and, of course, I miss the FOOD. I'm in west Michigan, on the third coast, and while it's quite lovely, well, it's no Harrisonburg. There are a few good restaurants, but nothing like the diversity we enjoy in the valley.

With that in mind, I'd like to feature a restaurant that I've particularly missed, maybe because I didn't manage to include it in my mad smorgasbord of pre-departure 'burg dining. That would be Blue Nile, Harrisonburg's own Ethiopian pub.

When Blue Nile was in its old location, over by EMU, I really loathed it. When my coworkers ordered it for lunch meetings, I'd nibble some injera, and feel mildly nauseous. I thought I just didn't like Ethiopian food, which I hadn't had anywhere else, and I didn't want to seem like a rube by admitting it to my cultured officemates. I was relieved when they closed for a long time during their move. When they reopened, it took months--maybe a year--before I finally found myself standing at their buffet table, dragged there for a lunch meeting.

I don't know what happened during my break from Blue Nile. Maybe they replaced all their spices or their chef got way better. Maybe my tastes matured. Whatever it was, I'm sure glad it happened, because now I just love that place.

• Location: 181 N. Main Street
• Website: www.bluenileva.com
• Food profile: Ethiopian, plus alcohol
• Local sourcing: Not that I'm aware of.
• Take-out: Yes.
• Warnings: Upstairs is closed on Mondays (downstairs is open every day from 7 pm- 2 am)
• Tips: In case you aren't aware, look for parking in the back. From Main Street, turn left on Wolfe, and look for parking immediately on the left.
• Specialties: I've heard that the special Ethiopian coffee ceremony that they offer is pretty neat, but I've never experienced it.

About Blue Nile:
This is legitimate Ethiopian food...with an awesome bar and concert venue in the basement. It's definitely worth checking out, any night of the week. Although I can't find verification on their website, I've heard that it's run by a family of first-generation Americans.


Food:
I'm not going to lie, every time I go to Blue Nile, I end up looking blankly at the menu trying to remember what it was that I got that one time, the thing that I liked. Then I point blindly and this time becomes the time I'm trying to remember next time. Usually I can talk the people at my table into ordering a combination platter (enough for three people, easily, at around $30), and then we get the result of several blind pointings! :) For this reason, I actually recommend going to the lunch buffet and writing down the things you liked the best.

Atmosphere:
This is a classy place. It's not fancy-dress-up-you-slob, but business casual wouldn't be out of place. The decor is a combination of African art and the best of Pier One. Unlike some ethnic restaurants where the ethnic decorations feel kitchy or thrown together, every piece in Blue Nile feels curated. It's a gorgeous space, too--the architect who designed their renovation deserves an award. The bar and restaurant blend together seamlessly upstairs, without intruding on each other. At lunch time, it manages to feel like a lunchtime restaurant, not a half-shut-down bar, and in the evening, it just sparkles. The staff is very attentive without being at all annoying, and they make great recommendations.


But what if I hate Ethiopian food?
Wait. Pray that your taste buds mature. Also, they now offer some more western flavors, including a cheese steak.

Joshua Wilton House

Today, I'd like to begin with a story (skip to the not-italic section for the normal entry): Several days ago, I was pulling into the parking lot at Ragtime Fabrics, and the man parked next to me rolled down his window. He gestured across the street to Union Station. "Have you ever eaten there? Is it good?" I told him it was okay, but not extraordinary. "I want to take my wife somewhere nice tonight. What would you recommend?"
I told him that I had heard that the Local Chop & Grill was pretty good, but I hadn't been there. "Of course, if it's a super special occasion, you should go to Joshua Wilton House."

When I got home, I told this story to my husband. Only then did it strike me as odd. "It's kind of random that he asked me about that," I said. "Do I exude this air of 'Harrisonburg Dining Blogger'?"

Fabric-store-parking-lot-dude, if you are reading this, I hope you and your wife had an awesome dinner together. It's a great town for food, and I recommend that you explore every inch of it.

One point that put me at a serious disadvantage when trying to answer this gentleman's question is that my husband and I are not really "fine dining" people. We're hopelessly casual and slouchy. We're cheapskates. We're shy and uncomfortable with the kind of waiter attention that one gets at really Nice Restaurants. The hush and clink of crystal unnerves us. My husband only wears ties to funerals and hasn't bought a suit since high school. Oh, and we have a one-year-old.

Last week, though, our son's daycare offered a "date night" and we jumped at the chance to go out without the baby (much as we love him). We decided to go to the Local Chop & Grill, because we hadn't been there. We got there, and the place was packed. The maitre d' (or hostess? I don't really know what the difference is) told us that it was JMU Parents' Weekend, so there weren't any tables available--and that, even if it weren't, we really should make a reservation on the weekend. We went to Thai Flavor instead (one benefit of knowing the hole-in-the-wall restaurants is being able to get a table, without a reservation, even during JMU Parents' Weekend!) and had a wonderful meal there. Incidentally, Thai Flavor got a new sign--good job, folks! It's much easier to find now. I'm hoping to visit the Local Chop & Grill some other time and give a full report. Incidentally, *last* year, we also had a dining issue related to JMU Parents' Weekend. Next year, I'm marking my calendar!

All of this is a really lengthy preamble to the actual entry. Joshua Wilton House is, without question, the best Nice Restaurant in Harrisonburg. It really is completely incredible. I've eaten dinner there exactly twice, and both times were transcendental experiences. Mark Newsome is a real chef, and you can taste the quality of his care and attention in every bite. He was recently featured in the documentary American Meat. WMRA's Virginia Insight did an interview with Newsome and some other people involved with the documentary, which you can listen to at their archive.

• Location: 412 South Main Street. It's in a beautiful old Victorian house (pictured above), and has practically no sign.
• Website: joshuawilton.com
• Food Profile: Locavore fine dining
• Price: An entree will run you around $25, but if you're going to get all gussied up and go out to a nice place like this, you'll want a "first course" (aka appetizer) ($10), a salad ($10), a nice beverage, and one of their beautiful desserts. So, plan on $50 or more per person, plus a nice tip. You won't regret it.
• Warnings: They have a dress code! This might be the only restaurant in Harrisonburg that does. Don't show up in a t-shirt. Their website describes appropriate dress as "smart-casual," which I think of as what you might want to wear to an afternoon wedding. 
• Specialties: I don't know who their dessert chef is, but I worship the ground he or she walks on. The Crème brûlée is totally amazing. Bon Appetit called it "so ethereal it could steal a Frenchman's allegiance." That really doesn't go far enough. 
• Local sourcing? Yes. They've been doing local since before it was a thing.
• Tips: 
• Sound expensive? Here's my favorite way to enjoy Joshua Wilton: They have an awesome lounge/bar. It feels like the smoking room in one of those English country houses, with leather upholstery and dark wood paneling. The bartender is friendly and the drinks are incredible. Go in there, get a drink, an appetizer, and a dessert. Enjoy the atmosphere without doing the full dinner.
• There is an online reservation form on their website. Useful, especially if it's JMU Parents' Weekend!

About Joshua Wilton House:
The house itself was built in 1888 by Joshua Wilton, a Canadian transplant who came to the Valley after the Civil War. Interestingly, Joshua Wilton was instrumental in bringing electricity to the Shenandoah region. In its long history, it has been home to several families as well as a fraternity. In the late 1980s, the Moore family purchased it, began restoring it to its original (pre-frat-house) beauty, and converted it to its present restaurant and inn configuration. Mark Newsome, Sean Pugh, and Ann Marie Coe bought it from the Moores in 2004. They have maintained the restaurant's tradition of excellence ever since.

Food:
I really cannot stress enough how incredible the food is. It is fresh and local--some of the fruit even comes from Chef Newsome's backyard. The restaurant prides itself on sourcing the highest quality ingredients. When the raw material is that good, the best chef knows to get out of its way and let the natural tastes come through. Every time I've been there, I've been impressed with the inventive, yet not over-done, combinations of flavors. Unlike the stereotypical high-end restaurants (where the joke is that the higher the price, the smaller the entree), the portions are perfectly sized. Every detail matters, and it's clear that the staff works together to assure that they all are addressed. From creating relationships with local farmers to fashioning a beautiful garnish, the Joshua Wilton House staff prides itself on perfection.

Atmosphere:
This is definitely formal dining. And yet, one of my JWH experiences included one of the zaniest people I've ever known. He was telling crazy stories and getting all of us laughing until we cried--and that didn't feel out of place. JWH is formal and yet friendly. It is a very authentic place. There isn't any pretension in the waiter's flair as he pours your wine--he is genuinely doing it in the most perfect way he knows, out of a love of excellence. The food is unadorned because it has nothing to hide. The formal atmosphere arises from a mutual agreement between the patrons and staff that there is a way one should behave in the presence of art.

Taste of Thai

• Location: 917 S. High Street (aka rt. 42). If you're heading south on 42, it will be on your right. If you get to the Rocking R Hardware Store, you've gone too far. Check out the Asian grocery store behind Taste of Thai while you're there. 
• Website: http://www.taste-of-thai.com/
• Food profile: Thai (duh).
• Local meats: not sure, but I don't think so. If someone from ToT reads this, please comment to let us know. If you have local or organic meats, you should advertise it! People love that sort of thing.
• Price: Entrees range from $11 upwards to $25. 
• Take-out: Yes! In fact, it's probably a better place for take-out than dine-in. The place is usually so crowded that it's hard to hear your dining partners. Also, many diners insist that take-out portions are larger.
• Warnings: 
  • If you pull into the parking lot and it looks insanely full, don't panic! The restaurant is much larger than it looks from the outside. At least go in and see if there's a wait.
  • As noted above, it gets really loud in there, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.
  • They don't take reservations for parties smaller than 5.
• Specialties: The broccoli sesame chicken is delicious, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing, though it sometimes borders on being overly sweet. The pad talay is a smorgasbord of sea food--a variety you'd be hard pressed to find on any other plate in the 'burg. If you want to really blow your own mind, check out the Thai coffee--but not if you plan on sleeping any time this week. It's enough caffeine and sugar to power you through whatever life throws at you.
  

∫About Taste of Thai: 

This was the first wonderful Harrisonburg restaurant I ever visited, back in the fall of 2004, when I had just moved to Staunton. At that time, our fair city didn't boast the numerous downtown dining options that it now has to offer. After walking around the Court Square area, I asked someone at A Touch of the Earth where I should go for lunch. She directed me to ToT, and I was shocked that such high-quality ethnic food was available in the Shenandoah Valley. Taste of Thai was serving up yum back when Thai Flavor was just a shadow of a twinkle of a dream. They proved that an Asian restaurant could thrive in this town.

Food:

Practically everything is fantastic. The "Thai spicy" food can be pretty intense, but nothing you can't handle. The tofu curry runs on the bland side--I recommend asking for it a bit spicier. Don't miss out on the tom yum goong, a soup with lemongrass and mushrooms. I wouldn't have ordered it, but a friend told me to try it, and it's a surprising blend of spicy and tangy flavors, complex on the palate, but refreshing as well. 

Atmosphere:

This is a classy place--plush decor, a courteous staff, and beautiful serving dishes. Dress decently or you'll mess it all up. It's a perfect restaurant for a business lunch with the client you're trying to land, a family celebration, or a date that is a step above Cally's, but not quite Joshua Wilton House. 

But what if I hate Thai food?

Skip this place. Or get the pad thai; it's just rice noodles and veggies--pretty innocuous.

The Little Grill Collective

• Location: 621 N. Main St. If you're heading north on Main, look for the brightly-colored Our Community Place building on the right. The Little Grill is just after that, on the left. If the tire shop isn't open, you can park there, but otherwise, stick to the street. Hippies, use side door.
• Website: http://littlegrillcollective.com/
• Food profile: Hippie.
• Local meats: Yes
• Price range: Entrees generally are around $8. LGC just redid their pricing so that, after taxes, you're always paying in whole- or half-dollar increments. Just less fiddly, yes?
• Take-out: Yes! But they don't seem to advertise it--I just happened to ask once, and they do it, in eco-friendly containers, of course.
• Warnings: 
• No plastic! Bring cash, check, or a friend you can dupe into buying your meal. 
• Sunday Brunch is pretty awesome, but when JMU is in session, be prepared to wait. Possibly for a long time. Outside.
• Specialties: For breakfast, be sure to check out the blue monkey, a banana and blueberry pancake. For lunch or dinner, Go Ask Alyce is a classic, as is Ron's Mexi Plate.
• The one thing I would improve about LGC is: Put sweet potato fries on your menu!

About the Little Grill:

Well, I should just air my bias here and now. LGC is my favorite restaurant in Harrisonburg, bar none. Why? Well, the food is great--you can't beat it for the price. The staff is friendly. The business model, where the restaurant is owned by the workers, means that every staff member cares a lot about making it great. It's a good place to see and be seen--I run into people I know every time I go. The main reason, though, is that they serve the food of my people. I grew up in a hippie community out in the booniehollers of wild and wonderful West-by-the-grace-of-God Virginia. When I went to college, I was a member of a vegetarian co-operative kitchen. The decor in the LGC, ranging from a Gonzo stuffed animal to a photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr., is so similar to that in my uncle Stump's house that I did a doubletake the first time I walked in. The music, whether new grass or Bob Marley, is always something that I heard at parties when I was a kid. When I opened the menu for the first time, I saw that LGC has a tempeh reuben, and when I bit into it, it tasted just like the ones Julie used to make in our college co-op. 

When I need a taste of home, I hit the Little Grill. If you didn't list "hippie" for your ethnicity in the 2010 census, YMMV.

Food:

So, I love the food. I do. There are a few things that aren't great--the soysage is a bit bland and crumbly, and the biscuits they use for their biscuits-n-gravy wouldn't pass muster at most self-respecting southern kitchens. A couple of minor flaws don't change the fact that LGC is an awesome restaurant. The ingredients are fresh, high-quality, and (where possible) organic and locally sourced. The last time I was there for lunch, I saw staff accept a delivery from Radical Roots Farm, of Keezletown. Although LGC's fare is mostly vegetarian, they also feature organic, free-range, and local meats. If you haven't tried free-range meat before, you're missing out. In my family, we're all beativores--we eat the happy animals. Happiness is delicious. LGC is one of the few places in Harrisonburg where you can count on some deliciously happy chicken. 

Breakfast:

Breakfast is a great meal at LGC. The coffee is fair trade organic stuff, and $2 gets you a bottomless cup. There's a featured pancake every month, and it's always creative. My favorite so far this year was the chai pancake--an intriguing concept, well-executed. My husband nearly always gets the bricker's son, which is an egg, fried in the middle of a piece of bread, and covered with bean chili. Although I'm a big fan of the huevos rancheros and the breakfast burrito, no discussion of LGC would be complete without mentioning the Blue Monkey. It's a blueberry/banana pancake, and it's incredible. Go on, order a tall stack of blue monkeys. I dares ya. (there's even a Blue Monkey t-shirt now!). 

Not a morning person? Go by on Thursday for dinner--it's Breakfast for Dinner night.

Lunch/Dinner:
Practically everything on the lunch/dinner menu is wonderful. Personally, I'm a big fan of the tempeh reuben. It's a grilled sandwich, but not too greasy, and the sauerkraut is just the right level of sauer. It's a bit messy, though--definitely a two-hand sandwich. If you're not in the mood for a sandwich, check out the Mexi-esque fare. It's more hippican than Mexican, not too spicy, but filling and yummy.

For dinner, be sure to check out the specialty nights. Besides Breakfast for Dinner, they also have Mexi night (Tues) and Down Home night (Fri). I have to admit to being skeptical about Down Home night--a menu from the collard greens, corn bread, and catfish chapter of the Great American Cookbook. Can hippies really pull off classic southern cooking? It turns out...yes, they can! It's definitely got a hippie twist--the gravy is "groovy" (vegetarian) and the chicken is free-range, but those adjustments are definitely improvements.

Other events:
Concerts, Bingo, open mic, World Cup--there's always something interesting going on.


Atmosphere:
To give you some idea, here's what happened the last time I was at LGC. I had my three-week-old son with me, and while my sister and I were debating whether to get the Go Ask Alyce or the Breezer, he started to fuss. After a moment's hesitation, I decided to nurse him, covering up with a receiving blanket. This was the first time I had ever nursed in public, and I was pretty nervous about it. I don't think I would have attempted it at any other restaurant in town. A waitress came up to take our order. She took one look at me, the receiving blanket, the little baby legs sticking out from under it, and said, "If you're comfortable nursing with a cover, that's cool, but I just want you to know that you don't have to cover up here." If you're the sort of person who wants to give that waitress a high-five, LGC is the place for you. If, on the other hand, you can't believe I was nursing in public, even covered up--well, think twice about going, and be prepared to avert your eyes. LGC is the kind of laid-back place where you frequently see families with tiny kids, people swapping tables to chat with a friend they hadn't expected to see, and everyone from newspaper reporters in their shirts and ties to JMU kids in their jeggings.

But what if I'm not a hippie?
Have the local organic burger. It's incredibly delicious...but it's a burger. Seriously. No hippification, except for the sourcing on the meat. No weird spices, no patchouli aftertaste, no tie-dyed bun. I promise. It even comes with fries.