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!

In my great haste to eat delicious things, I forgot to set some ground rules for us and we ended up ordering two appetizers, an extra side of potato wedges, and two entrees in addition to the complimentary biscuits = too much food! We also enjoyed complimentary buttermilk biscuits, which were buttery and great.  Ate them before I thought of taking a picture.  T of course asked for more and was nothing short of crestfallen when we were told that they were running short for the dinner service and all we could have was 1.  Reading some other reviews, it sounds like no one gets seconds on the biscuits :( 

We then had Wades Mill Grit Croquettes with Surryano Berkshire ham, Gruyere, and bacon mayonnaise.  They were very good, but I kept expecting more cheese since they looked like fried mozzarella sticks from the outside.  I could have used a little more ham, but compensated with extra bacon mayonnaise.  Mm....bacon.

Next up was a potato roesti (a cake made of coarsely grated potatoes) served with shredded Casta Line trout (smoked in house), Sullivan Farm boiled egg, Planet Earth arugula, and Vinegar Works mustard vinaigrette.  This was pretty outstanding, although at this point we were starting to reach our saturation point of fried buttery things.  The acid and sweetness of the mustard vinaigrette was a nice contrast to the peppery arugula, starchy roesti, and tender smoky trout.

 

We were so excited for our entrees - I ordered the pan roasted grouper with a chilled vegetable salad and tomato broth.  The grouper was moist and tender, but I think that the vegetables were the real stars in this dish.  Coming from me, who eats vegetables once a week, that's really saying something.  The vegetables were grilled, and had at least squash and leeks in the mixture.  Probably also some others but they landed in my belly too fast to be sure.  The tomato broth was almost a pink-red color, I guess maybe they have a special variety of tomato that lends it that hue?  I can't describe it as anything but tomato-y in the best sense possible.  It tasted like someone found the most delicious tomato in the world, threw it in a blender and then stuck it in the fridge before it landed on my plate.

T ordered the shrimp skillet with Polyface farm swiss chard, twice fried potatoes, and a chile pepper pan sauce.  It looks kind of weird and green in the picture, but it didn't taste weird!  5 or 6 big old shrimp with this zesty but not spicy green chile sauce.  The chard was amazing in this also, but we decided that it was only because it was just soaked in butter.  Not that that's a bad thing.

There were fried potato dishes all over the place, and while I enjoyed the side order of crispy potato wedges (which were so thin and crispy they were practically glorified potato chips), T did not enjoy them as much.

We ate too much.

All in all, a wonderful restaurant with a great concept.  Was it worth the 40 minute drive to Staunton and hefty bill?  Probably, for a special occasion, or somewhere nice to take out-of-towners or your family.  It's definitely a splurge, but I'd still give it an 8.5/10.  We both agreed that it's probably the best food we've had in and around Charlottesville, with only one or two exceptions.