821 Cafe

Style: Cafe/ Diner
My Rating: 4/5 stars

Website: http://www.821caferva.com/ 

Likes: Eclectic and artsy atmosphere, classic menu items and ones with a twist, Sriracha on every table, parking downtown near VCU was not difficult due to roadside space, baskets on the table had creamer so I didn’t have to keep asking for me

Dislikes: Although neat, the one large table in the middle of the room provides for awkward situations

A fire engine screams by the restaurant on my quiet weekday visit, and my friend Greg walks in just as it goes by. As the siren echoes through the restaurant, he shakes his head as I say, “Way to make an entrance.”

Café 821 is a perfect place for us to catch up on our summer adventures. Greg had just spent time at a saxophone “camp” at the Eastman School of Music and I had spent the holiday with my in-laws plus my own grandmother. We had a lot to talk about.

We feel comfortable to talk in the atmosphere with its artistic touches, calm color palette, and retro tables adorned with fiesta ware.  The staff is friendly and patient as we stay there for a while. I even took a portrait picture of Greg for my photography class. Poor guy. 

With just a quick glance of the menu, I see at least five dishes that I am excited to try. Neither Greg nor I can decide on something sweet or savory, so we each get a different item and split it between the both of us.

I order the savory Bacon and Brie Omelet with grilled onions and spinach. It comes loaded with a side of crispy rosemary home fries, fruit salad, and four triangles of rye toast. The elastic cheese holds the onions and spinach together. The bacon is present, but does not seem like a feature of the dish as it is overpowered by the rest of the filling. The name is misleading. 

Greg’s choice of the Nutella French Toast is the best dish.  It comes beautifully arranged in a pinwheel, with slices of bananas on top with sprinkles with powdered sugar. The slices of toast have been sliced in half and spread with Nutella and something crunchy, quite possible hazel nuts! Therefore, each bite has a sweet complexity of Nutella, maple syrup, and bananas. It is out of this world!

Honey Butter's Kitchen

Style: American Diner (leaning towards Southern)
My Rating: 4.5/ 5 stars

Website: http://www.honeybutterskitchen.com/

Likes: Large portion sizes and cheaper prices (you get more than what you pay for), retro music (everything from the Beatles to Patsy Cline), cute country décor, easily accessible, great food; everything is basically what you would expect from a fabulous diner

Dislikes: Really odd hours (check the website for times), omelettes aren't fantastic

When I walk into Honey Butter’s restaurant, the theme song from the 80’s sitcom Cheers immediately comes to my head. Even though no one in there actually knows my name, certain waitresses have clearly known others. It is not unusual for waitresses to stop by certain tables that they are not responsible for, and say hi to “Joe” or “Peter.” Last time I was here, the waitresses put a few tables together around 7:30 am for a group of about eight people. Ten minutes later, a regular group of elderly men walk in and the waitresses exclaim, “We’re glad you made it.” Some of the men even receive hugs.

Sitting down, I do not actually hear Where Everyone Knows Your Name, but the Under the Boardwalk song instead. We are there for breakfast and are given the breakfast / lunch menus. One time we were given dinner menus, picked out what we wanted, and then were told we had to have a different choice because they gave us the wrong menu. It was 4:45 pm and dinner was not served until 5:00 pm. That was annoying at the time, but since then we have learned to plan ahead.

The menu is a cross between traditional diner food and southern fare. They have pancakes and eggs, but also greens and fried chicken livers. One of the dishes we have tried and is not pictured on this post is their corned beef. They season it in house and it is soft... melts in your mouth soft. I do not order it all of the time because it is a huge portion, but it is fabulous.      Plus you get to pick sides with it!

When we go for breakfast, my husband almost always gets the same thing: corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, and rye toast. In my opinion, the rye toast is the best part of his choice. It is thick, and has been toasted on the grill. It has also already been buttered, so it's nice and melted when it gets to your table.

I love their pancakes. They are thick and flavorful. They are the type that when you pour syrup over the entire piece, that by the time you get to the second half, it has already been absorbed. Time to pour more! They are also huge, so you can order them a la carte, or however many you think you might be able to eat.

One menu item that is not my favorite is their omlettes. I ordered a three cheese one once, and it had parmesean cheese was not melted in the middle. Another time I ordered the  Salute to Pork omelette, with ham, bacon, and sausage. Although it was tasty, it was frustrating to eat because they did not put enough cheese on it to hold it together. All those little pieces scattered the second I cut into it, and I had to poke diced meat with my fork or use my toast to scoop it onto the fork. 

For lunch, one time I had the patty melt. I ordered it cooked to medium and it came medium! So often they come over done. The juices from the burger soaked into my beloved rye toast and it tasted delectable. The potatoes that I chose as my side should also be noted. These are their garlic hash brown potatoes. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Each piece is a perfect size, and the garlic taste is phenomenal. Perhaps not the best first date food, but I would take someone here just for the rye toast and the garlic potatoes.

Honey Butter's also has excellent fried catfish. We ordered a lunch portion once, and it could have served as a dinner portion. My husband ordered it with hush puppies that were thickly crusted and soft on the inside. We also had onion rings that were fresh and crunchy with a soft inside. In general, they do deep fried food very well.

If you have a love of diner food with southern favorites, you need to go here. Period. End of story. Go. Now.

Five Forks Cafe

It doesn't have to be fancy in order to be awesome.

Five Forks Cafe
Style: American Diner
Website: http://www.fiveforkscafe.com/

My Rating: 5/5

Likes: Friendly servers, awesome diner food, fancier than normal diner specials, lots of creamer on the table, they have the old men "usuals" who come every morning

Dislikes: Parking is not so hot, it's so popular that if you don't get there early for breakfast on the weekends, you will wait (and you need resistance so you don't hop over the counter and stuff your face with pancakes right off the grill... seriously)

When you have an officer who comes home at 6:00 am from the night shift, he often wants to eat. He just doesn't want to eat a bowl of cereal all the time either. He wants greasy diner man food. When this officer has a foodie for a wife and will pretty much ride any excuse in order to get a good stack of pancakes and some hash browns, then they end up at Five Forks Cafe... a lot. 

I love walking into Five Forks Cafe because there are always the same two servers there who greet you. Everyone is friendly. It is hard not to be friendly in this atmosphere of laid back diner lovers. Every time we go here, there are two or three old men there. This time we went, we saw them sitting in booths next to each other and they were carrying on a conversation as they read the newspaper. The funny part about this is that they were both sitting in the same direction so one was looking at the wall and the other at his back. Brad secretly wants to be like the old men... but we need to get him a newspaper instead of reading the news off of his razr maxx.

Brad reading his "newspaper" while subconsciously wanting to be like an old man.

The first thing that I love about Five Forks is that they have an excellent coffee service. As you sit down, the two wonderful servers ask what you want to drink. They are used to people saying coffee. They bring two good sized mugs full of joe and there is already a huge bowl of creamer on the table so that we can use as much creamer as we want. At 7:00 am, this is a wonderful thing.

Although when I first started coming here, I used to try a few different things. They have excellent omlettes and waffles. They also have really neat specials, too. Sometimes they have things like Sweet Potato Pancakes or Sirloin Tips with mushrooms and onions. 

But my favorite is always the same. I have gotten this every single time I come: Banana Pecan Pancakes. You can ask for them in a combo. You can order them a la carte. You can dowse them in maple syrup and admire that they are larger than the size of your face. They are amazing. They have lots of pecan pieces and large sliced bananas in them. Sometimes I order them with a side of hash browns. Their hash browns always taste a little bit like onions... and sometimes peppers... or whatever it was that they just cooked on the grill. I love this because it is the total diner experience. Today I ordered them just plain, but you can also get them LOADED.... soooo good.

Two Banana Pecan Pancakes (falling off the plate on the other side) with a side of hash browns

Brad usually orders the same thing, too. He likes corned beef hash served with fried eggs and toast. They prep their own corned beef in house so it is always fresh. They also serve THE BEST rye toast. Although you can choose from a variety of different types of toast, why would you when rye is there? The toast is thick cut and already buttered. They give you two full slices of toast cut in half. This makes it perfect for Brad to give me one of them (before he ruins it by putting jam on it) when I share my hash browns with him.

This is always the best breakfast in town. If you're in Williamsburg, go here, but go early. It will be very difficult to sit outside and wait for a table when you know of the culinary goodness that awaits you inside!

Fatso's Diner

Fatso's Diner

Category: Diner 

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Website: http://www.fatsosdinerloveland.com/

Likes: Cheesy 50's Decor (complete with records on the wall AND THE CEILING), awesome waiter whose family was from Upstate NY, LARGE coffee cups (so you don't need refills every three minutes), and creamer bowls already on the table

Dislikes: ummm... only that their food wasn't magically healthy to ingest

Cars lined the half wall!

On our trip to Colorado, we went to Fatso's Diner in Loveland, CO. Normally I don't write about restaurants outside of my fifty mile Virginia radius, but this was so worth it.

Their menu wasn't huge, but the portions were! It was a cheap place to eat with a heaping of awesome goodness on a plate. They had fairly large coffee cups so they didn't have to be refilled every few seconds.  And, there was a drive-in in the back!

 I ordered the Chicken and Waffles. They were the best chicken and waffles that I have had so far. It was a huge Belgian Waffle topped with powdered sugar and served on a separate plate from the greasy, crispy, tender fried chicken. 

They originally came with white gravy. Being from up north... I don't really do that kind of thing. The waiter teased me and said that I was desecrating the waffle when I asked for honey mustard and syrup instead. It was nice to have someone with character balanced with polite demeanor. 

Best Chicken and Waffles I've Ever Had

 Brad ordered the corned beef hash with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and rye toast. There were larger pieces of tender corned beef that were sliced very thin and large pieces of bell pepper. The whole dish blended very well... until Brad buttered rye toast with butter AND jelly. Butter on rye is awesome. Jelly on rye... I am going to take a cue from the friendly waiter and say that that is desecration of rye toast.

Brad's Corned Beef Hash

 Billy had an omelet with the white gravy. He said he liked it... but there was no way I was going to go near it with the white mush.

Billy's Omlette

Overall, when going to a restaurant that has good food, service, prices, and ambiance, I am always willing to return.. except with they are a few states away. Perhaps on the next Colorado visit.