stay in the shallow end

Why am I so bad at this?

• Sunday: Lunch at Amigos (on 5th): Typical Amigos experience. I have found that the Pollo Loco is actually pretty good. I just need to remember to order it more frequently.

• Sunday: Dinner at Continental Divide: Mexican for lunch was a poor choice when we found out that we were going to Continental Divide for dinner. I heart Continental Divide. It is by far my favorite restaurant in Charlottesville. We started out with the Red Hot Blues appetizer, which is Garden of Eatin’ Red Hot Blues smothered in white cheddar and goat cheese. For those of you not familiar with Red Hot Blues, they are blue corn chips dusted with chili powder. They are absolutely incredible. I deviated from my standard order of the Santa Fe enchilada to order the nightly special, Red Snapper Fish Tacos. This is easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life, because the tacos were incredible. The tortillas were filled with huge chunks of grilled fish, shredded cabbage, jack cheese, and a tangy vinaigrette dressing. Absolutely delicious! Continental Divide, will you marry me?

• Tuesday: Lunch at College Inn: I’ve only been the College Inn a couple of times in all my time in Charlottesville. The menu is a really odd selection of American, Greek, and Italian foods. I took a risk and ordered the Gyro. It’s a risk, because I’m picky about my Gyro. Nine out of ten restaurants that serve Gyro get it from Kronos. You’ve all seen the poster in a greasy diner’s window with the obviously Greek lady about to bite into a huge Gyro wrap. That’s Kronos’ promotional material. The most ironic part of the poster is at the bottom it says something like, “When you’re ready for something different,” or something like that. In any case, the Gyro wasn’t that bad at College Inn, and after drowning it in Texas Pete’s, I ended up enjoying the meal quite a bit. The price is definitely right, so I’ll go back soon.

• Tuesday: Dinner at Lime Leaf: As I’ve said many times before, Lime Leaf is by far my favorite Thai restaurant in Charlottesville. I wasn’t quite feeling a full curry and rice dinner, so I had the Beef Salad. It was superb. Very limey, tender beef, fresh vegetables, and when I asked for as hot as they could make it, it was enough to make me sweat. If you haven’t been to Lime Leaf yet, go now.

• Wednesday: Lunch at Lee’s Grill: Lee’s Grill is another little restaurant on the Corner with one of the most random menus you’ll ever see. Philly steaks, mongolian beef, and their trademarked JUMPBO BURGERS. I had the mongolian beef, and it was really tasty, but dear god was it oily. I nearly slipped into a coma after that meal. Overall, though, it’s another bargain on the corner, and it’s really hard to mess up tossing a bunch of meat and vegetables onto a hot griddle.

• Thursday: Lunch at Take It Away: As always, fresh and tasty. I had the usual, Corned Beef on Onion Rye with Mustard and House Dressing on the side.

• Friday: Lunch at Lee’s Grill: We came back to Lee’s Grill on Friday, and this time I had the pepper steak. It tasted just like the mongolian beef, except this time with green peppers tossed into the mix. Very tasty, but too damn oily.

• Friday: Dinner at Three Notch’d Grill: lpk and I were bored and restless. We decided we would go eat in either Scottsville and Crozet as a little adventure. After flipping a coin Crozet one, so we headed out there. I’d read about Three Notch’d Grill, so we decided to give it a shot. I ordered the sausage, beef, and mushroom lasagna and lpk ordered the mahi mahi. The lasagna was pretty good, but the mahi mahi was boring. It was pretty pricey, so overall the dining experience was disappointing. The service was sloooooow, and that just made it even worse. Luckily Dairy Queen was only a hop, skip, and jump away to save the night with a Snickers Blizzard.

• Saturday: Lunch at Christian’s Pizza: We attended a birthday party for our three year old friend, and they had 11 pizzas of all varieties from Christian’s brought in. It was like a Christian’s Pizza Buffet, which is one of my fantasies. I had three slices and promptly exploded, traumatizing several young toddlers.

Almost caught up! I’m looking for a few restaurant recommendations: in particular, tasty places with outside seating that aren’t on the corner or the downtown mall. Let me know!