Okay, it is still January, which means some of us are in the first few weeks of healthier eating resolutions.  As hard as it is to keep to the pledge during the week, it is 100 times harder to stick to it on a weekend.  When meeting up with friends to boot, it's almost downright impossible. My personal belief is chains are best for wearing, not eating. But travelling and eating healthy sometimes means knowing what you can order outside of your neck-of-the-woods and the ‘eating local’ mantra. Having had extensive experience as a restaurateur as well as a big chain employee, I can tell you that…

The unquestionable waif of spices that have just been awakened by being ground, crushed or muddled from their natural state is always an indication that there’s a whole lotta’ flavor going on in the kitchen. Walking into the newly opened Taj Indian Cuisine was like a little gift from Bollywood, with love. Absolutely nothing ignites the taste buds quicker than the air thick with aroma so intoxicating you want to wrap it around you like a blanket. The dishes that those aromas were coming from only elevated the euphoria. The culinary specialties of India are prepared by a passionate and talented…

Awesome Eats in Tuscany, Italy.  Well, it felt like that anyway.  The Old Mudd Tavern was the home to Angela’s Italian Restaurant for the past nine-and-a-half years.  But recently owner Girolamo Amato, nicknamed ‘Mimmo’, moved into the strip shopping center around the corner.  He reconstructed the interior to mimic a quaint Tuscan village. He did a fabulous job pulling it off; welcome to Italy. Hungry village folk are welcomed with the smell of garlic and simmering marinara in an atmosphere of alfresco dining that’s in a make believe Tuscan village. Built-in roof tops tiled with old (1920’s) …

Last week Awesome Eats stopped in Jay’s Restaurant and Lounge, feasted on Chef Will’s creations and was invited back to partake in the four-course Sunday Brunch.  This week, Awesome Eats is reviewing their special prix fixe Sunday affair. Although prix fixe, commonly pronounced ‘prefix’, menus are common in Europe, they’re still somewhat of a novelty to most Americans.  A prix fixe menu is simply a limited menu that has a fixed price and a set list of dishes.  Jay’s Sunday Brunch is $25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.  It's accompanied by live jazz music The place is set very much like the hip evening…

I received a tip from a friend telling me that I had to visit newly opened Jay’s Restaurant and Lounge.  She gave two reasons why an Awesome Eats feature must be done.  The offerings are unique, and the quality and presentation are on par with a four-star restaurant. The atmosphere is modern, hip, swanky, chic, up-scale-uber-sophisticated but not stuffy.  I was intrigued, albeit skeptical. The moment I walked into Jay’s, I felt like I had walked into a lounge-night club, with a long bar and low-level neon back lights. Skepticism kicked in.   Then I saw dining tables fully dressed with white …

El Asador promotes itself as Salvadorian and Mexican restaurant but their food is far more Salvadorian fare than Mexican, and this is a good thing. They make so many dishes that qualify to be an Awesome Eats and this review only scratches the surface. There is nothing like being able to eat authentic, made from scratch foods from other cultures in your own backyard. They even have wooden picnic tables outside under cover to consume to-go orders on the fly. Who needs to hop on a plane for the foodie experience when it’s right here? Ordering a shrimp cocktail anywhere else would normally …

Upon entering La Rosetta I smell simmering tomatoes with basil, hear Luciano Pavarotti hit a high note and see diners sipping red wine and twirling pasta on forks. Now this is how an Italian restaurant should welcome guests, Mama Mia! A few minutes after being seated a welcoming cocktail appeared out of nowhere.  A beautifully colored Bellini was the start of what was soon to be one enchanted evening. A Bellini is made up of sparkling wine and peach puree, originated in Venice and is one of Italy’s most popular drinks. At La Rosetta, they also use triple distilled vodka and use just the right…

I have eaten dim sum at the No. 1 rated and very famous restaurant in New York City's Chinatown, as well as several hole in the wall restaurants and stalls in China.   I believe chef and owner Mr. Jin, of Jin’s Garden, makes a dim sum that is could hold a candle to them both. Originally a Cantonese custom served in roadside tea houses, dim sum consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed and fried. The outer casing is usually made with rice flour or a wheat starch that gives it its stretchiness and translucency.  Chef Jin executes a perfect steamed dumpling encasing tender morsels of succulent…

Some of the old-timers in the area may recall walking into what was then “The Mall” on Route 3 and the aroma of dough baking and melted mozzarella greeted your nostrils upon entering.  Those smells were synonymous with “welcome back” and it was a hard task to walk past the Italian eatery without stopping for a slice of pizza. La Pizzeria—owned by Jose Vasquez who worked for the restaurant for 10 years before buying it in 1991—was forced out of the mall in 2007 because he was not a franchise or big chain. In 2010 Vasquez opened La Pizzeria next to the mall, across from Costco in the little …

Passion is a key ingredient in my search for awesome eats from cooks and chefs in the Fredericksburg area. Passion is the main reason Mohamed Morsi, called "Morsi" by friends and family, decided to open and operate his own restaurant after working as head chef for many years. His passion for preparing true Mediterranean cuisine starts with grinding his own lamb patties, which he was doing when I dropped by unannounced.  The wonderful aromas of peeled garlic cloves, cilantro, peppers, parsley, and spices coming from the meat hopper holding the fresh lamb filled every air molecule inside the …

The roving plates of freshly prepared sushi moving past diners seated directly in front of the conveyor belt at Kappa Garden does look like something you would have seen on the futuristic cartoon The Jetsons. Diners can pull off the dishes that they want, pay and walk away all within three minutes, or they can sit and eat off of the conveyor belt and order off of the menu. I wanted every plate I saw. If they had sped up the pace I would have felt like Lucy in the chocolate factory episode. The beautifully arranged foods swirling past me were  taunting and teasing my taste buds. I am going to …

From the moment you open the door and step inside the small eatery that is the DeLiz restaurant you are greeted with the wonderful charcoal grill smell that makes it almost impossible not to order the stuff. Charcoal chicken lovers unite! This is not your ordinary grilled chicken found at fast food establishments around town, this is the highly aromatic and tender Peruvian charcoal chicken cooked on a spit over the hot coals. The oven was shipped to Fredericksburg from, where else, Lima, Peru by the Panana family. Rosario and her husband Cesar opened the restaurant along with their children …

China King is one of these places where the food is fresh and made to your "like-King," where the amount of spices and sweetness can be altered to your tastes and where you can leave out or add vegetables to your main ingredient. Owner Cindy Ou, her husband Chen and brother Sam came to America from Fujian, China, 14 years ago armed with the knowledge and experience of Chinese cookery. This family is totally focused on, and committed to, preparing great food. The garlic sauce is a secret sauce that Chen Ou makes daily in the small in-line restaurant locatednext to Lowe’s in Massaponax Shopping…

For 29 years Emmanuel and Sophia Psaras have been making and serving their Greek goodies out of Parthenon Restaurant at the end of a small shopping strip in Fredericksburg. The moment you walk through the door you are welcomed by the aroma of rich marinara and baked cheese. Their menu is pretty extensive and includes American, Greek, and Italian cuisine.  Greek specialties include Souvlaki ( the pork is marinated with spices and the chicken with lemon and oregano and are served on Pita bread with Feta cheese and tomatoes) and Dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice, onions, tomatoes and …

Last week Awesome Eats took you to the tropics and helped you get your drink on at Mexico Restaurant. I think I returned home with some sand in my shoes and the smell of Hawaiian Tropic on my skin, not to mention a few tiny paper umbrellas stuck in my teeth. This week we asked owner James Macias to bring on his Awesome Eats entrees, and boy did he. The first entree was a feast for the eyes and the taste buds: a fresh pineapple half that holds succulent grilled seafood and chicken, with scallops, shrimp, yellow and green peppers, grilled red tomatoes and slightly caramelized onions.  The fresh…

The soup and tacos are awesome but there is a lot more to try at this small restaurant in downtown Fredericksburg. So many surprises await you when you step inside Soup & Taco, a tiny and narrow restaurant on Caroline Street in Fredericksburg. For a tiny place, it packs a flavorful punch to the taste buds and a mental trip to South America. In search of their Awesome Eats, it was presumed the offerings were going to be limited to a long list of soup and taco choices—an image of a parked taco truck came to mind (not that this is a bad thing, mind you). That image was dispelled within the first…

In a little shopping center off Southpoint Parkway wedged between an insurance agency and a mattress company sits a fabulous little gem of a restaurant called Asian Diner, where owner Wendie Wang prepares some of the best fusion cuisine. Entering past the vestibule is a warm and swanky atmosphere with modern lighting and artistic tables. The mood is set for a culinary trip outside of Fredericksburg to Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Japan and the Mediterranean, fused with American cuisine, which makes selections a task for the taste buds to battle it out. Offerings go well beyond the typical Chinese…

Stepping inside Choi’s Korean Kitchen is like entering into a kitchen in Korea. The food is about as authentic as it gets when you are in search of real Korean cuisine, and in Fredericksburg, that’s like finding a needle in a haystack.  I am told that customers trek from Northern Virginia just to eat here. Finding the awesome eats that Choi’s prepares was tough to narrow down because the offerings are extensive and all made fresh. Choi’s makes its several varities of its own Kimchi, which is a fermented vegetable. Kimchi can come in different degrees of hot depending on the amount of red …

“WELCOME TO MOE’S!” is what the hostesses and servers say to you as you step foot in Moe's Southwest Grill on Jefferson Davis Highway. The menu is on the wall and at first glance it looks limited. The offerings appear to be of Mexican cuisine: burritos, tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, nachos, salsa and chips. But then I turned the corner to order and found a whole new world awaiting me. This is no ordinary Mexican restaurant. Moe’s is fresh, wholesome and delicious with great flavors.  Some facts I learned: Moe’s does not have a freezer; everything is delivered fresh and prepared on the spot. …

  What do you call four pints of Guinness in Ireland? A square meal. The black gold of the Irish beverage industry has been brewed in Dublin since 1759 and the hearty, dark liquid is used in Irish cooking from stews to cakes. The Colonial Tavern along the railroad tracks in downtown Fredericksburg is about as traditional and authentic in their pub grub offerings touting eight dishes made with the stout. One of those dishes that Owner’s Terri Hubbell and Dave Wilson like to tout is their Stout Burger, a half pound of ground sirloin that has been marinated in Guinness Stout, grilled and served …