Chick-Fil-A

I'm a little ashamed to not have heard about this until the 2nd day of the promotion, but if you are free any morning from September 6-10, you better get your booty on down to your local Chick-Fil-A for free nomz!  Just click the link and make your reservation...but choose carefully!  You can't change it once you've picked it. 

Thanks to Sam and indirectly, Sam's friend for spreading the fried chicken-y love.

p.s. if the website is down, probably they're temporarily experiencing super heavy traffic from me making reservations for my extended family, so just give it a few minutes and try again. 

Fossett's at Keswick Hall

If I could do restaurant week over again (and you better believe I'm going to in about 6 months...), I would have skipped over C&O altogether and eaten at Fossett's 7 nights in a row.  What can I say? I never knew that food could taste like this.  Creamy, rich, deeply satisfying.....yummmmm.  

Keswick Hall is a beautiful hotel, spa, and golf course a few minutes outside of Charlottesville.  Fossett's is one of its restaurants, and offers a gorgeous view of the golf courses and mountains.  The last time T and I came was in January, and by the time our dinner reservation rolled around, it was unfortunately already too dark to really see well outside.  Luckily we got a great view of the sunset during our dinner.  This is the front courtyard...

And here is our view of the grounds from our dinner table - sorry for the funny glass reflection.  Most of what you see here is the golf course. Aren't these little chairs cute?

Check out Sam's Blue Light Grill Restaurant Week experience here!

Keep reading about Fossett's!

C&O

For restaurant week this time around, we decided on going to C&O and Fossett's at Keswick Hall.  Keswick is still to come (tomorrow, yay!) but we started at C&O.  I've been to this restaurant only once in the past, also for restaurant week, but the menu was pretty different from the last time. 

By the way, I apologize in advance for the image quality of the coming photos - I forgot my camera at home and so had to make do with my cell phone.

Open for business since 1976, C&O boasts a really beautiful interior and ambience - portions of the restaurant are constructed from wood from an old Albemarle barn that was torn down in the '70s.  The lighting is low and romantic, but not so dark that you can't see your food.  There are 6 separate areas for dining:  the Mezzanine is what lies in front of you when you first walk in, the covered Patio is just past that, the Bistro is downstairs by the bar, the Upstairs which is more formal and geared towards events, the Terrace, and the Gallery which is usually used for private events.  Unfortunately, there was a private party out on the covered patio, so we ended up sitting in the mezzanine, which was still private and comfortable.  The staff was attentive, pleasant, and well-informed.

The bread basket that we started with was nothing special. I usually eat the bread because I'm so hungry during the wait, but I didn't finish mine.  They were just soft and texture-less, with no flavor.

I started with PEI mussels with roasted garlic, leeks steamed in pilsner-preserved lemon broth.  It came with two small crispy crostinis that were rubbed with oil and some herbs.  This appetizer was great, they gave me a spoon, so of course I drank all the broth.  Mm!!

T had the gazpacho with basil granita and cucumber.  It was definitely smoother in texture than what I typically think of gazpacho as being but in a good way, with just a few chunks of cucumber.  Light, refreshing, summery.  Also good!

Keep reading for the rest of the nomz!

Zynodoa

As part of my birthday celebration (from March) and to commemorate T's transformation from a lowly intern to a wise-and-experienced PGY-2, we made a special trip down to Staunton, VA to have dinner at a little place called Zynodoa.  I still have no idea how he found this place to begin with, but it has been receiving some ridiculously rave reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, etc.  It describes itself as contemporary Southern cuisine with an emphasis on local and seasonally fresh items. 

Good thing I called ahead, because they literally ran out of reservations by the time I arrived.  On a Sunday night!  Apparently their last seating is at 8 pm, which is pretty early, but maybe just because it was Sunday.

I couldn't bring myself to take pictures of the outside of the restaurant (can't stand looking THAT touristy....) but it only occupied a tiny space in the middle of "downtown" Staunton - I probably would have walked right by it if I weren't looking for it.  The decor inside was interesting and eye-catching.  A big bright yellow wall behind the bar, wooden overhangs and modern lighting fixtures.  The bathroom (which was the only part I didn't like) was weirdly dark red with black toilets and a faucet shaped like a half cut open bamboo. 

I started off with the "115 East" cocktail, which was a blend of Virginia vodka, cointreau, cava, and cranberry juice with a lemon twist.  It was pretty as a picture, but also reminded me why I never order cocktails.  Probably someone else would have considered it delicious, but I personally just have a hard time drinking vodka disguised as fruit juice.  Should have just stuck with the beer.

Keep reading to join us as we stuff our faces!