Loose Leaf Notes

The following is a slightly edited version of what recently appeared in a special section of The Floyd Press, Who’s Who in Floyd County 2011.

When Lee Hooks and his wife Gail took ownership of the Blue Ridge Restaurant in the spring of 1987, there were only a handful of places to eat in the county. Today, there are more than a dozen to choose from, including everything from fine dining establishments to locally owned franchises, from Mexican to Italian and farm-to-table fare.

Throughout the growth of Floyd’s dining options, The Blue Ridge Restaurant has remained popular. The downtown mainstay across from the county courthouse was converted from a bank in 1924. It features home-style country cooking seven days a week in what Lee Hooks describes as a “laid back atmosphere.”

The special of the day on a recent weekday lunch hour was chicken pan pie, prepared by Hooks, who started working in restaurants when he was 15 and was managing one in his native North Carolina before purchasing the Blue Ridge. “We use dry soaked beans, real mashed potatoes and serve green beans everyday,” he said, adding that the restaurant takes orders for its homemade pies.

Hooks pointed out an old bank safe that currently serves as a refrigerator, and the check-out counter that was a bar during the restaurant’s previous incarnation. Greeting customers as they filed in for lunch, he said, “The locals are our meat and potatoes. They’re the reason we’re here. The tourists are the gravy and dessert.”

Within view of the Blue Ridge Restaurant, on the west side of the courthouse, is another restaurant housed in a building that dates back to the early 1900’s. Oddfella’s Cantina opened in 2000 and was named after the fraternal order of Oddfellows Society, said to have met in the upstairs of the building and/or next door in what was known at one time as Oddfellows Hall.

Owned by Kerry Underwood and Julie Arrington since 2007, Oddfella’s is open for lunch and dinner (closed Mondays) and specializes in “Appalachian Latino” cuisine, vegetarian dishes and entrees made with locally raised beef. The restaurant’s chimichanga burrito is a satisfying customer favorite that comes with all natural chicken, local beef or organic tofu. Daily gourmet specials – such as grilled pork chop with plum wine sauce or squid ink homemade pasta stuffed with crabmeat and served with clams and mussels in a fresh smoked tomato broth – are prepared artfully by Chef Paulina Giorgio.

Oddfella’s art-filled décor is a mix of old-time charm and hip coffeehouse style. It features a dramatically draped stage where live music is regularly performed, including a monthly Irish night, an old time jam night and an open mic every Sunday at dinner. A new tapas bar serving light fare, beer and wine opened in October in the upper level of the cantina. It will be quieter than the restaurant, conducive to conversation, where customers “can eat and get a beer for under 10 dollars,” Underwood said.

El Charro Mexican Grill is a downtown family-owned restaurant that serves traditional Mexican fare in the lower level of the Winter Sun building, a one time textile factory that was renovated in the last decade. The atmosphere at El Charro, which opened in 2007, is festive and stylish. The booth seating and overhead TV gives the restaurant a casual sports bar feeling. Fajitas, enchiladas, quesadillas and tacos are all on the menu. If it’s your birthday you can wear the oversized house sombrero and eat a complimentary ice cream dessert while servers and friends sing ‘happy birthday to you.’

The two year old Dogtown Roadhouse, located on the top level of the Winter Sun building, grew out of the traveling pizza truck that owners Jon Roberts and Scott Smith dished up their Dogtown pizzas from. Roberts’ hand-built woodfire pizza oven, like the one he and Smith hauled to festivals and private parties, is prominently placed in the Roadhouse, casting a warm hearth-like glow. Bar seating surrounds the oven on two sides, giving customers an opportunity to watch pizzas being made and topped with locally sourced ingredients while enjoying a craft beer on tap. The Roadhouse deck overlooks the Warren Lineberry Park and the restaurant opens up to the Sun Music Hall, where the owners regularly host community events and feature performances by acclaimed musicians and bands from near and far.

At the historic Floyd Country Store, which recently celebrated its 100th year, you can play checkers, buy penny candy and get “simple classics” for lunch, such as grilled cheese, pulled pork barbeque and homemade stew. The downtown Country Store, renovated in 2005 by Woody and Jackie Crenshaw, also serves old-fashioned ice cream sundaes and has a bakery case full of locally-made desserts.

Delicious locally-made baked goods are also served across the street from the Floyd County Store at the Black Water Loft coffee house.Owned by the McCutchan family, the loft is a cozy place to sip fruit smoothies or fresh organic fair trade coffees and teas, including lattes and espresso.

Just north of town on Route 221, DJ’s Drive-in serves up what owner Mike Schumann describes as “classic American food.” The manner in which the restaurant’s burgers, hotdogs, fries and salads are served is also classic. Food is delivered curbside, Happy Days style. “It’s been a restaurant for at least 60 years,” said Schumann, a 1998 Floyd High School graduate who has worked in the restaurant since his parents purchased it in 2001 and became the sole owner in 2010. Fall specials at DJ’s, originally called “The Dairy Barn,” are sweet potato fries and pumpkin pie shakes.

Further north on Route 221, 1.5 miles from Floyd’s one traffic light, is the Pine Tavern, which, according to the restaurant’s webpage, began in 1927 when food was served in the lobby of what was then known as The Pine Lodge. Currently owned by Reed and Jane Embrey, the tavern’s home style menu includes the tried and true recipes of Reed Embrey’s grandmother. Fried chicken, country ham, grilled catfish, fresh biscuits, fruit cobblers and more are served family style or individually in a parlor-like setting that includes a fireplace and a framed display of old-time portraits. The Embreys host live music and dancing at the adjacent Pine Tavern Pavilion, which is also available to rent for weddings and other events.

Before Ray’s was a restaurant it was a service station that sold sandwiches. Ray Hatcher took over his family’s business, also on Route 221 north, and named it Ray’s Restaurant “some 40 years ago,” said longtime employee and manager Joyce Howery. The Restaurant and Lounge has a full bar, pool tables and weekend pool tournaments. A lunch buffet is served Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 to 2:00. Friday night’s all-you-can-eat buffet draws a crowd and includes fish, roast beef and gravy and other meat choices, along with a variety of vegetables, a salad bar and dessert bar, and all the fixings.

Read Part II HERE.

Photos: 1&2 Blue Ridge Restaurant. 3&4 Oddfellas and the tapas bar. 4 El Charros. 5 Dogtown Roadhouse. 6.The Floyd Country Store. 7. Black Water Loft. 8. DJ’s. 9. Pine Tavern.