I’m back from Virginia Beach! As always, I like to explore, so I decided to visit Norfolk and Portsmouth during my trip as well. I later found out that this region is known as South Hamptons Road, so it’s now much easier organizing and naming this post :)
The food down here was such a pleasant surprise. I didn’t make any plans ahead of time, nor had any sort of expectations. What we found, was amazing eats, one after another. It was through the food, that I’d realize that we were in The South.
NORFOLK
Let’s start here since we stayed in Downtown Norfolk at a hotel by The Waterside. Here are two local haunts:
HANDSOME BISCUIT – I couldn’t have had a better first meal in a new town than this. I think the photo speaks for itself, but it was just so so delicious. The boyfriend and I both ordered the Hella Fitzgerald. It is a sweet potato biscuit sandwich with fried chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese and red eye sausage gravy all over it. What?! I wish I could fly up some right now.
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CHOW RESTAURANT & BAR – We got another fix of comfort food here. The portions are large, the flavors just melts into your tastebuds, and it opens late! There’s a chalkboard menu with amazing offerings. We settled for the fried chicken entree and pork belly with manila clams in beer batter broth. Oh, they had great clam soup as well. Did not disappoint!
VIRGINIA BEACH
Norfolk has been 2/2 for great eats. The places we went in VB were just as great. What can I say? I have a radar for mindblowing food. Though these spots are a little more popular (lines!), made famous by the media, than the Norfolk ones, the food and atmosphere were still great.
CITRUS – Recommended by a local friend and appeared on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, this is a very POPULAR diner. It is totally worth the hour and fifteen minute wait. The variety of Mimosas at the bar helped the wait go by nicely. Definitely, a thumbs up for that. I had to order the Soft Shell Crab Egg Benedict (with a side of a sweet potato biscuit), as recommended by my friend and seen on the show! Wow, so delicious!! The crab was super meaty, and I loved it. Too bad, I didn’t get to try the famous Citrus pancakes. Maybe I’ll find myself down in VB, again. It was good vibes all around.
CAPTAIN GEORGE’S – OMG. I cannot believe I ate so much. This is what happens when you enter a buffet starved. All you get is a photo of a cocktail, with some crab legs in the background. It’s a seafood buffet, a GOOD buffet where piping hot, delicious trays of food comes out right before a tray empties. There were two kings of crab legs – snow and Alaskan, plenty of seafood cooked in a variety of ways, and charming service.
JUDY’S SICHUAN CUISINE – Well, after eating so much greasy and Southern goodness, we stopped by here before leaving back to NYC. Not pictured here was the soup dumplings, which were fantastic. Also, highly recommended is the beef noodle soup. I’m all about more comfort food. The flavors were on point here. Also pictured is his pork chop noodle soup and fried lamb with cumin.
PORTSMOUTH
Just a ferry ride away from Norfolk’s Waterside, I found a great eatery with Pacific influences!
757 CRAVE ON THE HARBOR – Well, first the view of the whole marina was one of the top reasons why I came. Then, I saw that they had Loco Moco on the menu. OMG! I haven’t had that since Hawaii, so I had to order it. It was good, except white gravy was used instead of brown. I guess when you’re in the South, you do as they do. Next to it, is The Mariner omelette, with crab and shrimp in the mix. P.S. A Loco Moco is a beef patty over rice with eggs and gravy on top. YUM!
I just love good food. It really made this trip!
