THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610170037
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Restaurant Review
SOURCE: BY M.F. ONDERDONK, RESTAURANT CRITIC
LENGTH: 115 lines
AT THE CELLARS, South Hampton Roads newest gourmet restaurant, seasonally inspired food, matched to wines of good character and value, await the diner. But patrons longing for fried crabcakes or stuffed flounder should motor on down Shore Drive.
The Cellars is located within a bed and breakfast - Church Point Manor, a refurbished historic house among new homes in the exclusive Church Point section of Virginia Beach.
Open to the public only on weekends, the Cellars serves a ``prix fixe'' menu. Translation? The menu is set. So's the price. In other words, it's the chef's fix. The customers eat what you say. At the Cellars, dinner will cost you $58 with wines, $38 without.
Think of it as the ultimate in fine dining, where a chef presents guests the house choice of seasonal foods and select vintages. In this case, the executive chef is Michael Dulong. In 1995, Dulong guided the kitchen at the Smithfield Inn, also a bed and breakfast, from dowdy architectural relic to sumptuous destination.
On a cool evening in early October, a visit to the Cellars coincides with the arrival of an expensive German sedan, which roars into the parking lot. Two couples spill out, hooting and openly drinking wine. All night their loudness rebounds off the pretty ocher stuccoed walls of the Cellars (in fact, located in the basement of this handsomely restored property.) Tapestries might make for decoratively correct noise absorption here, for even normal conversation has a way of zinging off the walls and stone floors. It's a major distraction to an otherwise peaceful dinner.
Piped-in, proto-Celtic music by Enya helps soothe frazzled sensibilities, harmonizing well with the romantic ambience.
The 24-seat dining room has a late-medieval aura, enhanced by brass plaques, antique prints and heraldic knickknacks. China coffee cups and tapestried chair seats share a hunting motif, evocative of good dinners and long, cold nights.
Blue gas flames lick the hearth of a big stone fireplace. The drop-leaf tables and tall-backed chairs are dark and a little stern, inspiring fantasies. This could be the refectory at a French abbey, with monks back in the kitchen heaping trenchers with good things to eat.
Instead of Brother Juniper, though, a pretty blonde shows up, pouring the big water goblets full and dispensing warm rosemary rolls and a domed glass dish of chive butter.
On the five-course menu, the single food choice comes at entree time. Here, one may opt for filet mignon, fish du jour or Cornish game hen in lieu of the nightly offering. (On this particular evening, the Cornish game hen is out.) With each course comes a choice of two suggested wines, and there is a separate list of selections by the bottle and glass.
Alongside tonight's starter of smooth, full-flavored pumpkin, pear and lump crab bisque, those who've taken the wine option may sip a Toques et Clochers chardonnay or a Kiona ice wine. Sweet and honeyed, the latter matches well with the soup. Lump crab comes portioned in a generous pile, though the bisque itself is searingly spicy, overdosed on star anise.
The second course is a chunky veal and pork pate, studded with hazelnuts and pistachios. A wrapping of applewood-smoked bacon lends the dish a delightful woody flavor. The evening's best course, it cleaves especially well to a glass of 1991 Murrieta's Well, an excellent Bordeaux-style blend from a small California winery.
Courses move on too leisurely. There is time and more to explore the little pub that adjoins the dining room (though not to order from its appealing chalkboard menu of soups and light fare).
Twenty minutes just seems too long to wait for the sage and tomato sorbet, a frozen palate cleaner of intense, somewhat idiosyncratic, tomato flavor.
Entrees arrive, also after a considerable wait. Lamb shanks are braised, tender and flavorful. Gorgonzola polenta alongside is hearty in taste, wan in texture.
Salmon, the alternative fish of the night, is well cooked but over-peppered and fishy. It also comes with the same polenta and crunchy roasted fall vegetables (a.k.a., celery and carrots) in an undistinguished broth. With it is poured a 1992 Mount Veeder reserve, another red Bordeaux-style blend from California. It's good, though not as good as the Murrieta's Well. (The alternative wine choice is the well regarded Arrowood Grand Archer cabernet, 1993.)
Another interlude of Enya's angel voices, and rowdier echoes. The little dining room is quite full.
Dessert is post-modern in design, traditional in concept. A round brownie sits in an espresso-flavored cream of unthinkable calorie count. The white dessert plates have been squiggled and dusted with an edible pattern of red jellies, white creams, brown spices. The final choice of libation is Godiva liqueur (untested) or an '89 Dow's port (very good, especially with chocolate). Fresh and aromatic coffee is good, too.
Then the bill. For one dinner accompanied by wine and another with two glasses a la carte, and tip: about $140.
Next, perhaps, one might opt for a billiards and cigar course in the pleasant lounge, with its big glass jars of stogies and pipe tobacco. MEMO: Reviews are based on a single, unannounced visit by a party of two
or three, unless otherwise noted. The Virginian-Pilot pays for the
reviewer's meal and those of the guests. Previous restaurant reviews are
available on the Fun page of Pilot Online at http://www.pilotonline.com/ ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
ROY A. BAHLS
A choice of wines is offered with each of the five courses served at
The Cellars in Virginia Beach.
THE CELLARS AT CHURCH POINT MANOR
Address: 4001 Church Point Road, Virginia Beach 23455
Phone: 460-1012
Getting there: Traveling east from Independence Boulevard on
Pleasure House Road, turn right onto First Court Road. Drive 1 mile
and turn right into the Church Point development. Take a left onto
Church Point Road and drive about a mile. Manor house will be on the
right, just past the tennis courts.
Hours: Dining room is open Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. Pub
and tap room is open Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m.
Reservations: Requested.
Handicapped access: Yes.
Smoking: In billiards room only.
Credit Cards: All accepted except Discover. by CNB