DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711050606

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F8   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: Morsels 

SOURCE: Ruth Fantasia 

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

EATERIES TURN OVER A NEW LEAF

THE CHANGING of the seasons seems to affect restaurants as well as grocery stores and our biological clocks. While the rest of us are muddling through Eastern Standard Time and trying to give up fresh tomatoes for butternut squash, area restaurants have leaped headlong into fall with new locations and menus.

The Surf Rider restaurant, once a mainstay on Virginia Beach Boulevard near the Oceanfront, has another offspring, this time on Bonney Road at Lynn Shores Drive beside Grand Junction.

The Oceanfront location, which closed several years back, was known for seafood specialties in a casual atmosphere. Steamed shrimp and broccoli with hollandaise was a favorite that would've seduced even George Bush's tastebuds.

The new Bonney Road Surf Rider offers steamed shrimp and broccoli too, along with an assortment of starters, sandwiches, entrees and raw bar selections finished off with a chalkboard full of desserts.

We dropped in for lunch recently, and though the place still has a faint scent of new paint and carpet, the smell of steamed and fried seafood is taking over. As always, the portions were generous (a house salad that accompanied the shrimp dinner easily fed both of us) and the bill was reasonable.

Surf Rider Bonney Road is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday. Call 486-7559.

Other Surf Rider restaurants are on Newtown Road and at Cypress Point.

If you like to eat out for the show as much as the food, try the new Sumo Japanese Steak House on Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach beside Circuit City. We haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but the word from readers is that it's worth a stop.

The Japanese chefs cook with fire and flair as you sit at a hibachi/ table. Hours are from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 497-6420.

The new menu at 501 City Grill in Virginia Beach makes use of the new wood oven installed when owners Mike Atkinson and Cory Beisel remodeled in September. Check out new entrees such as Wood Roasted Salmon With Lemon-Chive Sauce and Mongolian Double Cut Pork Chop With Braised Sweet and Sour Cabbage. The restaurant is at 501 N. Birdneck Road. Call 425-7195.

Other restaurants sporting new fall menus include Mahi Mah's on Atlantic Avenue at 5th Street, Timbuktu at 32nd and Oceanfront in Virginia Beach and Sidney Meers' Dumbwaiter on Tazewell Street in Norfolk.

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