Mahi Mah’s Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Saloon
615 Atlantic Ave.
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
(757) 437-8030
http://www.mahimahs.com/

Seafood | $$$

Each year we meet friends at a timeshare in Virginia Beach for a week over 4^th of July. We have counted Mahi Mah’s as one of our dinner staples for over 10 years. After the dreadful experience we had this year it may be hard to convince everyone to go back.

Seating a party of 6 around 5:30pm at a busy ocean front restaurant is a challenge and we accepted the 45 minute wait. We were seated at a round table in the second dining room which was great. I understand that people coming off a long day on the beach crave air conditioning, but they had the AC cranked. I’m not sure if it was because we were sitting under a vent but I was cold to the point of it being distracting. The waiter came promptly and took our drink order.

For an appetizer we settled on Crispy Fried Calamari. It was crispy and very good. Two people in our party ordered dishes that came with French fries. The fries were a deep brown color suggesting they may have been made in oil that needed to be changed and were not edible. The waiter brought more fries that looked and tasted more traditional. Another friend decided on chicken and ordered the Wing Bucket. Admittedly the menu says you get 20 wings and we know wings can be small but when the bucket arrived it was a lot of chicken. Oddly it was not all wings, other pieces including a drum stick were thrown in. A little heads up from the waiter would have been nice when he sees this ordered for one person. Like the fries the chicken was a dark brown color. I declined to taste and noticed most of it went back to the room with us.

My wife ordered the Shrimp and Grits and liked it. The kitchen must have been short staffed and busy because the plate looked as if the food had been sloshed into it on a chow line at a penitentiary. Her dish had Sautéed Shrimp with Peppers, Country Sausage, slow cooked Collard Greens and a Stone Ground Cheddar Grit Cake. This is a good example of why it is important to read the description of items on the menu. Someone glancing at the menu thinking they would get shrimp on top of a bowl of grits may be disappointed.

I’m a big fan of Jambalaya so I gave the Jambalaya Penne Pasta a try. Their rendition of Jambalaya was good. I say rendition because it really wasn’t Jambalaya. Authentic Creole Jambalaya comes with smoked or Andouille sausage. The menu describes the dish as having Sautéed Red Peppers, Onions, Smoked Sausage, Chicken, Shrimp and Penne Pasta tossed in a Cajun cream sauce. Despite what the menu says after a few minutes of poking around it was obvious my dish had no sausage. I know they have sausage, I saw it in my wife’s dish. The pasta with the cream sauce, chicken, and shrimp tasted good but I couldn’t help wondering how much better it would taste if someone in the kitchen had cared enough to make it properly. With only 4 shrimp and no sausage $23.99 made it an overpriced pasta dish.

We passed on dessert and rounded up the 4 year old in our group. The noise level was high at 82 decibels but it is a large room and there were 2 tables of 8 or 10 shouting a lot. I always try to give a restaurant several chances if I have a bad experience but with 4 out of the 5 adults disappointed or having an issue with their meal it may be hard to convince everyone to go back. Given the fries had been sent back, I complained about being cold, and my dish was missing a primary ingredient, I thought a manager might visit the table. Either the waiter didn’t alert management to the problems or they didn’t care enough to follow up. Surprising since you never know who has a food blog these days.

L’Auberge Provençale
13630 Lord Fairfax Hwy
White Post, VA 22620
540-837-1375
http://www.laubergeprovencale.com/

French | $$$$

Dinner at this lovely French bed and breakfast is a real treat. Chef Joseph Watters has created a wonderful dining experience by taking a farm-to-table approach and sourcing as much food locally as possible. The inn is a 90 minute drive from Washington, DC. in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

We started with a tiny radish in a clay pot, gazpacho, and a small deviled quail’s egg. The quail’s egg tasted similar to a deviled chicken egg.

My first course was the Carpaccio Reinvented. Tenderloin heated with a blow torch, freeze dried strawberries, and something called mighty blue from Spain. I do not understand what this is but it was good. A small tube sticking out the side allowed for last minute drizzling of vinaigrette.

The Chilled Minted Pea Soup with Buttermilk snow had green leaf Nasturium perched atop a Tzatziki sphere. The soup was light with the perfect mint flavor.

For my second course I chose A Hogs Trotter and a Sweetbread Story described on the menu as a custard thick farm fresh egg yolk and a smoked belly with fondant textured potato with an edible crispy potato film and concentrated stock of pork jus. I was seeing the chef liked to create items to visually fool you. I thought for sure I was getting a breakfast sausage but it turned out to be a crispy pig trotter with a soft inside.

My wife had A Walk Through the Hudson Valley with Foie gras, pickled Shirtless grapes, hazelnuts, and macerated apricots. This stunning dish is some of the best plating I have seen.

For my main course I chose the Strip Loin of Lamb with tabbouleh of couscous and quinoa, baba ganoush, tempura fried zucchini flowers with ricotta, and Rosemary Jus. The Rosemary Jus over the lamb was perfect, giving it a wonderful earthy taste. I loved the couscous and creamy ricotta together but it was hard to push the couscous around to mix it.

My wife had the Barramundi with steamed mussels, spring vegetables, and garden sorrel emulsion. I am not a fan of mussels so I take my wife’s word they were excellent. Also pictured is the small jar of super fine mashed potatoes created by pushing them through a tight mesh screen.

Our friends had the Duck Magret and the Wild Alaskan Halibut. I have no usable photo of the duck. The Halibut was cooked perfectly and came with an assortment of small fresh vegetables, almonds, and delicious caper-raisin.

In place of a typical sorbet to cleanse the palette before dessert the chef sent out a small chilled dish with a picked grape and champagne gelato on a thinly sliced strawberry. The waiter poured a rhubarb puree on top. It was all too much for me, I would have preferred sorbet.

My chocolate dessert with a dab of vanilla ice cream was just what I needed at the end of my meal.

The other desserts looked amazing. This vanilla ice cream ball was filled with strawberries.

Service was first class and the limited number of tables in the dining room kept the noise level low. Seating is available outside on a delightful patio but be sure you can stand the heat or humidity before reserving an outside table. Because of the plating and small delicate nature of some dishes dinner can easily take an hour and a half or more.

It was wonderful having authentic French cuisine in the nearby Virginia countryside. If you love French food or are a foodie looking for a magnificent meal consider a trip to L’Auberge Provencale.

Merrifield Garden Center Café
6895 Wellington Rd.
Gainesville, VA 20156
703-368-1919
http://www.merrifieldgardencenter.com/

Tucked away in a back corner of the Gainesville Merrifield Garden Center is the delightful Merrifield Café. Manager Chance Warhurst, grandson of Merrifield co-founder Bob Warhurst, has done a superb job of creating a small dining oasis in the midst of a bustling nursery. Open year round with about 25 seats, it is a great place to grab breakfast or lunch 7 days a week. We often visit on Sundays after church to avoid the crowds at chain restaurants. They offer an array of fresh salads, made-to- order sandwiches, and breakfast items all reasonably priced. Coffee is always free and the most expensive item on the breakfast menu is $6.00.

Four of my favorites for brunch.  Large fluffy pancakes, great French toast with bacon, omelets with an assortment of fresh ingredients, and a killer sausage breakfast sandwich.

My favorite sandwich for lunch is the hot roast beef and cheese with a tasty sweet mayo. My wife raves about the lamb gyros. Honestly we have had nothing that wasn’t great­­, which can make ordering a dilemma at times. If you can go a little early getting there before noon is best. Lunch can be busy with locals and tradesmen from the area who know they can get an inexpensive fresh high quality lunch quickly. Summer means patio seating is available so there is plenty of room. Merrifield has always been known for their wide selection of high quality plants, it’s great they have taken the same approach to the Café.