From quaint little cafes in quiet suburban villages, to road side farm stands in the country, tiny alleyway shops, and even shady looking strip mall restaurants, if it looks like a hole in the wall, I will try it.
There are two main reasons to seek out and try places like this. First is to support local businesses, and the other is for a level of quality and uniqueness that most commercial food chains just don't have. It has been one of the biggest draws for us to travel, and is probably the biggest motivator to start this blog. With that said, I'd like to kick things off by sharing a few of the hidden gems we've recently found.
Shoofly Dairy Bar 37°15'51.0"N 76°40'28.1"W
In a less than stellar part of Williamsburg, VA, on Merrimac Trail just past Busch Gardens, VA, a tiny, unsuspecting, blue and white shack is tucked in among the semi run down commercial and industrial buildings that line the road. Shoofly Dairy Bar is a place we honestly would have never found had it not been for Raven holding me to a promise to get ice cream on our way from from visiting friends in Suffolk, VA, and it being the closest one to us when she decided to bring up that said promise needed to still be fullfiled. As far as people treats go, there wasn't a whole lot to make them stand out. Soft-serve, milkshakes, malts, etc. Your typical menu for an ice cream shack. They also have an assortment of home baked goods and Hawaiian style shaved ice, which were a it more than expected. What really made them stand out though? That would have to be their Pup Cups.
Some of you may be familiar with Starbucks' pup cup, a free sample cup full of whip cream for your dogs that you can order at pretty much every location. Many coffee shops, as well as ice cream places, also do some form of this treat, and in our experience, it's pretty much always free. Shoofly on the other hand, shocked us when they told us their pup cup was $2. I was initially hesitant to pay that much for a tiny cup of whip cream, but some pressure from Raven and Reba's puppy dog look was enough to make me cave. Boy was I glad I did though. Shoofly's Pup Cup is a small sized cup of shaved ice, flavored with your choice of chicken broth, beef broth, or peanut butter, and topped with a small or large dog biscuit, fit for the size of your dog. If you ask me, Shoofly goes beyond dog friendly by going the extra mile on a creative treat just for their four-legged customers.
Hellbender Burritos 39°07'42.7"N 79°27'56.9"W
Tucked away in the small West Virginia town of Davis, hidden among the Wind Turbine topped mountains of the Monongahela National Forest, is one of the best Burrito places I've ever been. Weeks ago on our adventure to Huntington, WV, zig-zagging our way through the mountains, we, hungry from 3 hours of driving and breakfast being the only meal either of us had eaten that day, pulled into the small, single road town. Walking the main street, every restaurant looked amazingly delicious to us. The night was cold, and with only light coats on, struggled to choose from the variety of food options. That is until a tiny restaurant, a fraction of the size of any we had seen, with a cartoon drawing of a hellbender salamander, caught our attention. Ready to get out of the cold we walked over and came to face with one of the smallest restaurant/bar combos I have ever been in. The dinning room had no more that 10 tables, and only 4 of them sat more that 2 people. The bar had maybe 8 bar stools.
After perusing the menu with all of its unique combinations, we settled on our order. I chose a burrito called "The Hellbender", a shrimp filled burrito with a house buffalo sauce, and blue cheese. Raven helped herself to "The Shovelhead", a burrito jam packed with pulled pork in BBQ sauce, rice, cheddar jack cheese, and house made horseradish coleslaw. I let the server surprise me with a local brew on tap, for which I have kicked myself since for not remembering its name. We then settled in and checked out the array of articles and trinkets on the walls as we waited for our meals. Most entertaining of them? The light up X-Files bathroom shadow box complete with Agent Scully and Mulder action figures in the men's bathroom.
Now I am a fan of Chipotle like everyone else, but nothing will ever touch the burritos from Machismo's, a small local burrito shop in Norfolk, VA. One of the best burrito places I've ever been, and home of the largest burritos I've ever had. That is, until we experienced the divinity that is Hellbender Burritos. These burritos were easily the size of a small child's head, and packed to the brim with flavor combinations I have yet to find anywhere else. Rarely do I find a burrito delicious and filling enough to last me more than one meal, yet Hellbender Burritos' managed to leave me with enough left overs to feed me that night and both lunch and dinner the following day. I should have known that a restaurant named after one of the world's biggest salamanders, would have one of the biggest burritos.
So if you are ever hiking in the Monongahela National Forrest, make sure you end your trip in Davis so you can replenish all those lost calories with a massive sized and massively flavored burrito.
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