Recently, a friend and I intended to go to a restaurant in Evansdale, only to find they couldn’t accommodate us. Not to be deterred, we visited a second eatery, only to find that it was take-out only.
We (and our hunger pangs) conferred in the parking lot. After kicking around a few ideas, we decided to make Von Blaze our last-ditch effort.
Neither of us had been to Von Blaze before but we had both heard uniformly good things. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to try — unfortunately, we both forgot that there was no street parking downtown that evening due to a parade. The hassle of finding parking and walking to Von Blaze’s Wall Street location ended up being worth it.
It was bustling inside the newly renovated space. Though the restaurant opened only 10 months ago, I understand that they are frequently busy, to the point of closing early due to running out of food. But, by some stroke of luck, we were able to be seated almost immediately.
Though my friend and I hadn’t seen each other in weeks, we spent an inordinate time considering all of the equally delicious sounding items on the menu instead of catching up. Fancy-sounding ingredients like aioli and lobster sidled right up next to simpler fare such as baloney and grilled cheese. It was our third restaurant of the evening and we had yet to eat dinner, so we were hungry. Still, we had a hard time making our selections from the riches of the menu. After the waiter checked on us several times, my friend and I made a quick pact to just choose something already, and then come back another time to try more of the dishes that piqued our interest.
The Von Blaze website describes its menu as “classic sandwiches with a modern touch and sophisticated drunk food.” I chose the “Snowshoe,” a sandwich loaded with seared house-made country bologna, shredded lettuce and American cheese dressed in honey mustard and garlic mayo. That, plus the blue cheese, bacon and buffalo sauce fry plate left me too full to sample any desserts. I kicked myself for my poor planning the next day, when I saw their S’mores Creme Brulée on Facebook: “S’mores Bailey’s cremé with a Graham cracker base, chocolate ganache center, and toasted marshmallows.”
I was already planning on going back for the Pot Liquor Pork Sandwich, but that put me over the edge. I think my next visit will be sooner, rather than later.
EVA MAYS is a freelance business writer for The Dominion Post. She writes a column on businesses, churches and other entities in the city. To suggest a topic, email her at Newsroom@DominionPost.com.
