Old Home Weekend

Back in Winchester, VA, on the north side of the high school, we had a pretty cool neighborhood in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s, a bunch of young couples busy raising families, getting together when we could, drinking wine and beer, listening to music, and just hanging out. And then life happened. I got divorced and moved across town to live with Ann. Chris and Perrin decided to head out west, first to Whitefish MT and then (after Ann and I had decided to retire to the Portland area) to Beaverton OR. Only Billy and Shawn stayed in the old neighborhood.

Now fast forward to 2017 when all our kids are grown and in college or beyond. Ann and I, we packed up and headed for Oregon ourselves, arriving on September 25 and staying temporarily in Yamhill for a couple of months before ultimately settling down in McMinnville. I hadn't seen Chris and Perrin in some years and Ann, though having spoken to Perrin on the phone, had never met her in the flesh. I was looking forward to the whirling vortex of craziness as the two of them got together for the first time. Many of our mutual friends consider the two of them virtual doppelgangers in exuberance and out-there-ness!

Just before we moved, as we were saying our goodbyes, Billy told me that he and Shawn were flying out to Portland the weekend after we arrived. Party time!

Before that, first a little about Chris and Perrin. Chris and I are from the same part of the world: Albemarle County, VA, near Charlottesville. He and I went to junior high school together and played on the same soccer team. Then I moved to Alabama for three years to finish high school before coming back to the University of Virginia, where who should I find living in my very same freshman dorm but Chris?

We lost touch after freshman year as we went our own ways, but fast forward another twenty or so years, after I had moved to Texas, Maryland, the DC metro area, and finally to Winchester, VA some 60 miles west of DC. At this point, I owned the restaurant and a friend told me that she had a friend who made chicken pot pies for her small business who was in need of a commercial kitchen in which to make her pies. So, long story short, I agreed that Perrin could rent my kitchen on Sundays, the one day that it was closed. At this point, I had no idea that she lived just yards away from me, my life being confined totally to the four walls of the restaurant.

Come the first Sunday morning and I am at the restaurant to show her the ropes and give her the key and alarm codes, putzing in my office when I hear the door chime sound. I walk out of the office and looking in the direction of front door, I do a double take in disbelief as I see Chris for the first time in maybe 25 years. At this point, I hadn't put together that he and Perrin had the same last name. And after that "Holy crap!" moment, we reconnected and now we find ourselves both living outside of Portland, Oregon.

So the six of us got together at the end of September at Chris and Perrin's house in Beaverton and pre-gamed it a bit before heading in to Portland to have lunch at Tasty n Alder. It was a circus there as we stuffed ourselves into the tiny bar area with 20 other people and kicked off the day with some decent Bloody Marys. Feeling no pain, we finally got seated after nearly an hour wait and then we proceeded to have an even better time at the table while eating lunch. Servers love tables like ours who come to have a good time and who want to try the entire menu. Our server was a good sport!

Billy, Ann, Shawn, Perrin, and Bloodies

Chris

Shawn, Perrin, and Ann

The Whole Crew with our Server

Lunch concluded mid-afternoon and we made our way back to Beaverton. We had to get back to Yamhill fairly quickly as we had the dogs in the house with no dog sitter. It turns out that Chris and Perrin's daughter Elizabeth, who is a runner in college up in Washington, had a cross-country meet down in Salem south of us the next morning, so we made plans for everyone to meet us at our house in Yamhill on their way back north to Beaverton. Ann and I wanted to take them to one of our favorite wineries in the Willamette Valley, Patton Valley.

Low-Budget Tasting Room,

Excellent Wine

Patton Valley's wines I carried on my restaurant wine list for about 15 years, so I knew them well and was happy to take our friends to see this unpretentious winery up on a hill north and slightly west of Gaston, OR in the very northern reaches of the Willamette Valley. While some wineries in the Valley are now Napa-style multi-million dollars show palaces, Patton Valley's tasting room is a wonderfully utilitarian space devoted to showcasing their excellent wines.

After doing a tasting, we headed outside the tasting room to sit in some Adirondack chairs and look out over the vineyards. It was the middle of harvest, so it was pretty busy in the winery behind us, with trailer loads of grapes arriving for processing.

Sitting out Back, Drinking 10-Acre

Monte and Shotgun, Scaring Starlings

Me and My Harem

It turned out that our visit to Patton Valley coincided with Ann's and my anniversary and these jokers picked up the bill behind my back as an anniversary present. Thank you very much! You are all great friends! But I will pay you back!

Glen Manor Vineyards

We finally made our first visit of the year to Glen Manor Vineyards; our last visit was in late November. Seriously? Has it been that long? Our calendar is so full that we just cannot get to do the things we want to nearly as often as we like. Through much persistence, Ann finally put together a group of us (more than six: Shh! Don't tell Jeff!) for a picnic there this weekend: Matthew and Michael, Bill and Drew, Mike (Dennis is overseas), Amanda and Dimitri, and Michele and Christophe.

When we walked in around 1pm, Kelly, Jorge, and Jane were all busy pouring for a counter full of tasters. Amanda and Dimitri were already there and tasting and the rest of the crew arrived over the next hour or so. Kelly brought over a glass of 2012 rosé for us to sip on while waiting to taste: it was really great to see them busy! The 2012 is a beautiful wine, but there isn't enough of it for us to pour it at the restaurant. When the counter crowd finally thinned out, Jane finally tasted us on the 2011 Cabernet Franc, which is one of the very best wines I have tasted from 2011, and the much more structured and predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 Vin Rouge. We're still waiting on Jeff to release the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, which I needled him about when he showed up late in the day, after having been out spraying in the vineyards since 2am, poor bastard.

Kelly, Jorge, and Jane Busy, Busy!

On a very overcast day that was threatening rain, Kelly was kind enough to save us seats under the shade canopy outside and that was fortunate because at one point, a squall blew through from the southeast. It was so loud in approaching that we all turned and watched it blow right up to us. Rarely do you see a line of rain approaching like this. In any case, it was over about as quickly as it blew up and we didn't miss a beat.

Mike "I don't like rosé" Hoffmaster

Matthew and an Especially Nice Photo of Michael's Chin

Dimitri and Amanda

What is She Thinking About?

Excellent Eats

The eats were fantastic. Ann baked a loaf of sage and roasted garlic bread, I baked a pepperoni-spiced terrine (paprika, garlic, pistachios, Mangalitsa pork belly, a ton of ground fennel seed, red wine, basil, and oregano), Michele made a great pasta salad, and M&M kicked in tuna tartare. I also brought along an amazing Valençay clone cheese from Shepherd's Whey Creamery, and two salame from Olympic Provisions: chorizo navarre and salchichón.

Variable Weather: Rainy to Bright Overcast with Late Sun

A Jigsaw Puzzle Photo: Compare Here

Ann Holding Court with Drew and Bill

Just as Mike and I were leaving to go get Carter, Jeff finally arrived after a quick nap and a shower. I am sorry I didn't get more time to talk with him but it was good to see him nonetheless. I did however get a few minutes to chat with his brother Steve and a couple minutes chatting with Kelly. It's been too long since we were there and that just wasn't enough time to catch up.

Amanda, Dimitri, Bill, Drew, and Mike all joined us back at the house, but Mike left before I threw together some pasta. We continued the festivities out on the patio.

The "We Finally Got it Scheduled!" Wine Dinner

We got out to dinner at somebody else's house this weekend! How often does that happen? It just doesn't.

Way back before Christmas, Mark and Maggie Malick, owners of Maggie Malick Wine Caves, and Jim and Betsy Dolphin, owners of Delaplane Cellars, came to dinner at the restaurant and at least for a few minutes, we got to catch up. If you're not in either the winery or the restaurant business, you might not know how little free time either business affords you. There just isn't much spare time to catch up and our usual catching up means that at least one of us is working. While we were catching up, we kicked around getting together for a group dinner in the near future.

The idea of having a dinner is one thing; actually pulling one off is quite another. Just trying to find the intersection of free time among a group of constantly busy entrepreneurs is tough, hence the name of the wine dinner that Mark and Maggie hosted at their house just south of Harper's Ferry in Loudoun County: "We Finally Got it Scheduled!" The earliest date we could all find was about six weeks in the future, the 27th of January, that happy convergence of slow times in the wine and restaurant businesses with a non-football weekend (Maggie, in her infinite spare time, plays in the Loudoun Symphony and the Redskins band).

Some weeks ago, Mark sent out food assignments and there have been dozens of emails back and forth talking about dishes and wine pairings. I was getting excited just reading some of the ideas going back and forth.

Maggie's Cave (note Abby on the roof!)

The big day arrived and after the awful weather we have been having, it turned out to be a sunny if chilly day and a nice day for a trip to northern Loudoun County via Harper's Ferry, WV. Yeah, that's right. With WV on three sides of us, it is easier to get to parts of our own state by going through WV. With a river and a mountain range between us in the Shenandoah Valley and them in Northern Virginia, there are only limited options for crossing both. How nice to see the sunshine again, especially glinting off the Shenandoah River on our right and the Potomac River on our left as we crossed the Shenandoah in Harper's Ferry. The sun highlighted the rocks in the rapids, rocks still covered in snow from the weekend snows.

We took advantage of the relatively mild weather to get a tour of the new cave from Maggie. Out behind the house, the cave is a quonset hut dug into the ground so that it has a turf roof. This is a precursor to a full winery that will be built up on the hill several hundred yards to the north, overlooking the vineyards. Maggie plans to open to the public this spring. I don't know where she plans to put people, the cave is jammed with barrels!

Full to the Gills Already!

We got there about three in the afternoon and Mark, in his short-sleeved chef coat, was already hard at work making seafood crêpes. We hung out in the kitchen and yacked with everyone else over a bottle of Albariño. I took a few casual photos, some of which are below.

Chef Mark Making Crêpes

Myret, Beautiful as Ever!

Jim and Karen, Hamming it up

Mark Showing off the Volnay and Beaucastel '88

Sorry to everyone whose photo didn't make the cut. I took dozens, but a lot were just too crappy to publish. Blame the photographer. The photographer blames his too slow lens and camera set up to take food shots.

Fourteen People with Ease at This Table

You Will See These Grape Cluster Napkin Rings Again

Our Menu

Brillat-Savarin, the King of Maggie's Cheese Board

Over the course of the late afternoon, everyone arrived and at some point, Maggie started putting out cheeses while Terry started decanting and tasting the wines for dinner proper. The big platter of cheeses included the excellent Brillat-Savarin that you see above. The traditional pairing for bloomed rind cheeses is Champagne and no complaints about Terry's choice of Clicquot, though I actually liked my cheese better with a sip of a fruity Paso Robles Rhône blend (One Time Spaceman Moon Duck) that Mark had us open.

Now This is a Glass of Champagne!

While we were kibitzing in the kitchen, Terry started pouring around the Veuve Clicquot that he brought along. He was responsible for the wines for the first two courses, Preston for the next two, and Jim Dolphin for the last two.

I would have loved to have had more than a taste of Champagne, but with a long night ahead of us and a 45-minute drive home after dark, a taste was it. Clicquot is always delicious. Terry said he would have rather poured Bruno Paillard, but that he happened to have a case of Clicquot on hand. Poor him. So we "suffered" through the Clicquot, though it has been 20 years since I tasted Bruno Paillard and it was good stuff back then. I would love to revisit Paillard soon.

Mark's Seafood Crêpes with Sauce Mornay

After Mark's crêpes came out of the oven, we all adjourned to the dining room and Terry poured around a couple bottles of Château Montelena Chardonnay Napa 2009. Although it is fairly reserved for a Napa Chard, it is bigger, more buttery, and oakier than I like in a Chardonnay, but it is the style of Chardonnay that I would have chosen to pair with these crêpes filled with crab, shrimp, and bay scallops bathed in sauce Mornay with more browned Mornay and cheese on top. Seafood and cheese is a tough, tough wine pairing.

Porchetta with Bagnat Verd in the Background

After the crêpe course, came my dish and I was the lucky bastard to whom Mark assigned the pork! Lucky because I love cooking pork, any time, any place. I decided to do a porchetta so that I could cook it in advance and not have to worry about finishing any food to order. I was not about to cook on my day off!

A Slice of My Porchetta with Bagnat Verd

To make this porchetta, I cured a Berkshire pork belly with a lot of dried fennel, fresh rosemary, a lot of garlic, black pepper, and Kosher salt for 48 hours. The goal was to impart some flavor without stiffening the belly so much that I couldn't roll it. Contrast this with the pancetta tesa that I cure for at least a week and often two. Inside I put a sausage that I made from all our pork trimmings from last week. It is traditional to put a pork loin in the middle, but I find that it can get dry, so I often put a forcemeat inside my porchetta. After the roll firmed up in the cooler overnight, I cooked it low and slow for about four hours and then blasted it in the convection oven until it got crispy all over.

To go with the porchetta, I made a traditional salsa verde called bagnat verd (green bath) in Piemontese. To make it, I soaked crustless white bread in red wine vinegar, boiled a couple of eggs to get hardboiled yolks, and then pounded the bread, egg yolks, garlic, anchovy, capers with a lot of fresh parsley in the mortar. To this, I added red pepper flakes, salt, and olive oil to taste. I had no idea that we were doing a formal plated dinner (being a wine dinner "virgin" with this crew), or I might have given some thought to plate presentation rather than just a stripe of salsa. Who knew?

Pres brought a 2007 Louis Boillot Volnay 1er Cru "Carelle sous la Chapelle," carelle referring to the square parcel of vineyard downslope from the famous old chapel. Just for grins, I brought a wine that I wanted to pair with the porchetta, a 2007 Thomas Mayr Lagrein Riserva Alto Adige, a sturdy high acid wine that I thought would fight through the fat of the pork belly. I love Burgundy and I loved every sip of the Volnay, but I liked it better on its own than with the belly. The porchetta was a bit too assertive for the delicate wine. I thank Pres for bringing it because he knows that I love Burgundy above all else and on my chef's budget, cannot afford to drink it very often.

Maggie's Citrus and Ginger Sorbet with Limoncello Drizzle

You know that you are at a fancy dinner when an intermezzo is served, in this case, a four-citrus and ginger sorbet that Maggie made! Maybe I shouldn't have worn blue jeans? To gild the lily, the sorbet was topped with a splash of homemade limoncello. I loved it.

During the intermezzo while Austin was outside grilling his lamb racks over charcoal, Ann had the distinction of getting to decorate the busty statue named Arenalla Bella, after the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica whence came this curvaceous sculpture. This is apparently a distinction of dubious nature, born of long tradition, and afforded to wine dinner virgins at the Malick household. Using only a scarf and a feather boa, the hapless victim must decorate the sculpture to amusement of the table. I would say that with the strategic placement of the grape cluster napkin rings appropriated from the dinner table that Ann carried off the mission with nothing short of aplomb, much to the amusement of all!

Decorating the Sculpture

Austin's Lamb Chop with Cannellini and Watercress

While we were carousing at the table, Austin was outside in the freezing cold grilling his racks of Marsala-marinated lamb on charcoal. He served each of us a chop on a purée of cannellini beans on top of a purée of watercress. The lamb was delicious and paired quite well with the cherry fruit of the 2001 La Rioja Alta "Viña Ardanza" Reserva Especial that Pres brought. I really enjoyed this terrific Tempranillo-Garnacha blend and thought the lamb was a great foil for it. This is as good a Rioja as I have ever had.

Between courses, Mark pulled out a bottle of 1988 Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape and sommelier Terry obligingly poured it around. I thought it had aged quite well and the Brett that I thought might have overtaken the fruit had not. It reminded me that I should probably get to opening the remaining 1988 CdPs in my cellar. I better find out if Brett has got the better of them.

Chucks' Beef Tenderloin

Chuck Cardamon took on the biggest plate of food art of the evening, a beef tenderloin for the final savory course of the night. In his own words "Beef Tenderloin Relleno (stuffed with caramelized onions, carrots and peas) topped with mushrooms. Beet Risotto topped with Gorgonzola on creamed peas. Roasted tomatoes (garlic EVOO and Maldon salt) on sweet pea greens and carrot purée (cayenne added)...and a painted strip of homemade demiglace. Paired with a fabulous Delaplane Cellars Syrah 2010." It was quite the reminder of being at work to see Chuck, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, and his wife Ana plating this intricately garnished dish!

My palate was really tired by the time we got to this course, so Jim's Syrah was kind of lost on me. Fortunately, I had tasted it first thing in the afternoon when Terry was decanting it so I got a good handle on it. It has big tannins for a Syrah along with abundant dark fruit. While I wouldn't usually think of pairing Syrah with beef, this is a big meat wine and the pairing was great. Jim should be proud of his new Syrah!

Betsy's Meringues with Crème Anglaise

We finished the night with some delightful baked meringues from Betsy paired with her 2011 Delaplane Cellars Late Harvest Petit Manseng. I just loved the lightness of the meringues and the idea of floating them on creme anglaise à la îles flottantes. As I wrote in a post earlier this year, the Petit Manseng is excellent now as an infant and I think it has potential to be spectacular in five to ten years.

Thanks to Mark and Maggie Malick for hosting us and inviting us to one of their infamous wine dinners. Thanks to Terry and Karen Sewell, Jim and Betsy Dolphin, and Preston and Myret Tyson for bringing fabulous wines. And kudos for Mark and Maggie as well as Austin and Faythe Rippeon and Chuck and Ana Cardamon for great eats. We had a spectacular evening!

Garage Wine

[Summer 2025: Maggie closed her winery in 2023]

Our friend Maggie Malick is the best garagiste that I know. If truth be told, she's the only garagiste that I know! Nonetheless, Ann and I have had several vintages of her wines that she has made literally in her garage and they are among the best wines coming out of Virginia. And she has won tons of medals for her wines over the years, not that I believe too much in medals, but her wine is seriously good.

She and her husband Mark came by the restaurant on Saturday night with Jim and Betsy Dolphin of Delaplane Cellars. Maggie was bearing a 4-pack of wine which she gave to me to take home to Ann as a wedding gift. Wow, what awesome friends we have!


2007 Petit Verdot, 2006 Merlot, and Barefoot Bordeaux '06 and '07

Sunday afternoon while lazing around the house (the first Sunday at home in a long time), we drank the unfiltered Fortissimo! Petit Verdot from 2007! Delicious!

Maggie is set to open her own show (Maggie Malick Wine Caves) in the spring at her farm/vineyard in Loudoun County and we cannot wait! We will be among the very first visitors!

Boxwood Estate Winery

After a miserably slow week at work, I was ready to get away and do something, anything that didn't involve standing around and wondering if customers were going to show up. And so I was really looking forward to our planned trip to visit Boxwood Winery with Donald and Terry. It was a fantastic day weatherwise: puffy white clouds against a beautiful blue sky and a temperature well below 90F with a refreshing breeze; quite the delightful day for the end of July!

We met Donald and Terry in the parking lot just off the crush pad and walked around front to the courtyard where manager Amanda Galanis came bounding out to greet us. Her husband Dimitri was right behind her. It was awesome of Amanda to come in on her day off to meet us, give Don and Terry the grand tour, and sit with us and share wine.

Amanda and Dimitri on the Crush Pad

Mr. Cooke's House is over Donald's Left Shoulder

Ann and I Missed the Memo about Wearing Blue

How Gorgeous is the Sky Framing the Windvane?

I Love the Petunias Draping over the Boxwood Planters

After tasting the 2011 rosé and the 2010 reds, all of which are delicious, we had a bottle of the rosé and then switched to the Topiary. All the wines are delicious, but the softer Cabernet Franc blend of the Topiary seems to be our favorite for the summer. No doubt we'll be drinking the more muscular Cabernet Sauvignon-based Boxwood blend when cooler weather arrives. The Trellis blend that was terribly angular right after it was bottled has really come around and is delicious as well.

Topiary, our Favorite Boxwood for the Summer

Amanda, thanks once again for your warm hospitality!

A Lazy Sideways Sunday

As we were driving along back country roads on Sunday afternoon, it struck me what a wonderful day we were having. We had just left Chrysalis Vineyards and made our way back into Middleburg and had turned off on a side road looking for the Boxwood Winery. The GPS wasn't working and we found ourselves meandering about some beautiful farm country when it struck me: Ann had put the soundtrack of the movie Sideways in the CD player. How appropriate for a cruise through Virginia wine country on a spectacular day!

The day started early. Trying to beat the heat, I hit the back yard around 8am (thank you dogs for letting me sleep until then!) and put in 2-1/2 hours of gardening. Ann joined in a little while later. It's quite the chore trying to grow things in solid shale that was scraped bare by the contractor who then just threw sod on top of the shale. After getting a lot of work done, I sat in the shade and started putting together a plan for the remainder of that gorgeous day.

Ever since Boxwood Winery announced a month ago that they would be opening to the public, we had wanted to get over there and see their state-of-the-art winery. So, that had me thinking in the direction of Middleburg. I thought we might go to the east side of Middleburg and visit Chrysalis, then start heading back towards Winchester and perhaps stop at Swedenburg Winery and say hi to Marc before touring Boxwood. By then, we'd be good and hungry and could stop at Hunter's Head pub for a late lunch before heading to Berryville to pick Carter up from his father.

Breakfast of Champions: Pluots and Porchetta

The plan having come together, we hit the shower and then the restaurant to grab the camera and a quick bite to eat. No wine tasting on an empty stomach! We each grabbed a pluot and a slice of my porchetta, cured Berkshire pork loin stuffed with black garlic and fennel sausage that I made from the loin trimmings. Ann couldn't resist the temptation to snap a photo of me tasting tasty salted pig parts while wearing my shirt that says "tasty salted pig parts."

Tasty Salted Pig Parts Indeed!

Camera in hand and stomachs sated, we started off on the leisurely drive out route 50 through horse country to Middleburg and Chrysalis. I was surprised to see that there is a new vineyard going in just west of Chrysalis on the north side of the highway, a vineyard called Cana. Wineries seem to be popping up everywhere these days, a good sign for the industry even if it will be 5-7 years before this new winery comes on line with its own grapes.

Entry Portico at Chrysalis Vineyards

Outdoor Tasting; Norton Vines in Background

Tastings at Chrysalis are held outdoors in nice weather under canopies like the one above. We did the reserve tasting of 12 wines. We weren't wild about any of the reds, but of the reds, the Norton and the Norton reserve were the best of the bunch. I'm not crazy about the flavor or the abundant acidity of Norton; it's just not a grape that appeals to me.

The other reds, such as Petit Verdot and Tannat, seem like they were abused during pressing: the tannins are way out of balance. Perhaps new winemaker Alan Kinne is turning things around: his whites seem much better than those of his predecessor (who is now at Swedenburg). Of the whites, the 2011 Albariño and 2011 Viognier are both pretty good. The Viognier in particular is much, much better than the overoaked and overwrought Viogniers that Chrysalis had been making previously.

From Chrysalis, we headed back to Middleburg and as you read already, starting poking about back roads looking for Boxwood. I decided not to stop at Swedenburg in part because three wineries is one too many in a day and I really wanted to see Boxwood. The first thing I noticed at Boxwood is how immaculate everything is, from the boxwoods outside the tasting room to the grounds and the gleaming stainless steel in the winery.

The Chai, from the Outside

Tastings are Outside at Boxwood in the Courtyard

We sat out in the courtyard where we were quickly joined by manager Amanda Galanis whom we haven't seen since the Linden barrel tasting back in April. We tasted the current roster of wines: rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant Boxwood, Cabernet Franc-dominant Topiary, and their blend of leftovers and declassified wines, Trellis. I had tasted all these wines about 6 weeks ago and they have all come around very nicely. I'd happily drink any of them.

Feeling No Pain!

Detritus from our Debauchery

We like the Cab Franc-Based Topiary

After we drank a bottle of Topiary and ate some cheese and salame, Amanda gave a quick tour of the facility. It is hard not to be impressed at this Rolls Royce of wineries and the hundreds of thousands of dollars of stainless steel.

From the Catwalk above the Fermenters

The Barrel Cave

Ann, Reflected on the Side of the Bottling Line

In the very dim light, I really couldn't shoot the barrel cave without a tripod. All the barrels are in a single layer in concentric circles around the center of the round room. Reluctantly leaving the delightfully cold winery and heading back out into the muggy June weather, we had to take our leave of Boxwood to keep on schedule to get Carter. Boxwood is definitely on our very short list of wineries whose wines are worthy of return visits.

I had worked up a pretty good hunger by the time we reached the Hunter's Head Tavern in Upperville. A pluot, a slice of porchetta, and a few nibbles of cheese and sausage do not fortify an Ed. I was ready for a burger and so was Ann. I have bought Ayrshire beef for the restaurant for a good while in the past and was always having to fight the Hunter's Head for the prime cuts, so I know how good their beef is.

Hunter's Head Tavern, Upperville

We Ate Inside; Too Muggy Outside

We ordered our burgers with Stilton at the bar along with a plate of delicious calamari that was delivered almost instantly. We were going to order wine, but the selection wasn't great and when in a pub, beer is the order of the day. I had a Bass Ale and Ann had a Lindeman's Pêche Lambic which I've never seen on tap before. There were a couple of let downs with our lunch. The lettuce (radichetta?) garnishing the calamari should have been thrown out days before. As for the burgers, Ann's first was ordered medium rare and was delivered well done. The server cheerfully and quickly replaced it though. My rare burger was great. But the Stilton on the burgers wasn't really Stilton; it was some very dry, crumbly white paste inexpensive blue. Real Stilton is soft and moist and noticeably golden with an inimitable flavor. If you say you are going to put Stilton on your burger, by God, you ought to put Stilton on it. Still, the burgers were really good and we're happy we stopped.

Leaning Against the Phone Booth

We wrapped up our little tour by driving back through Millwood and Boyce on our way to Berryville to get Carter. What a great day for a drive, a little Virginia wine, and a burger!