1 of 4
Photo by Steven Johnson.
Bratwurst Pizza
The German-style bratwurst pizza at Blue Mountain Brewery gets a kiss of Italian flavors with caramelized sweet onions, mozzarella and house-made marinara sauce.
2 of 4
Photo by Steven Johnson.
Gertie's
A favorite breakfast at Gertie’s is salted herring, soaked overnight and then fried, served with two eggs and toast.
3 of 4
Photo by David Hungate.
Briar Patch
The filet mignon at Amherst, Va.’s Briar Patch is served with a Cabernet mushroom sauce.
4 of 4
Photo by Steven Johnson.
Bratwurst Pizza
The German-style bratwurst pizza at Blue Mountain Brewery gets a kiss of Italian flavors with caramelized sweet onions, mozzarella and house-made marinara sauce.
It’s a food lover’s dream come true: Don’t just start south on the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. Instead, begin at the scenic roadway’s milepost 0 in Afton, Va. equipped with a list of great places to stop for things like a unique bratwurst pizza, some killer pork tenderloin, a burger that rises seven inches off the plate and a magnificent filet mignon. And that’s in just the first six Virginia parkway-host counties.
Nelson County, Va.: The magic of Bratwurst Pizza (and A COLD FULL NELSON) at Blue Mountain Brewery
Not far from where the southern end of the Skyline Drive meets the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Italy meets Germany in the pasture fields of Virginia on the welcoming tables at Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton. Atop a crust of “half wheat flour and half white flour” seasoned with honey and flavored with herbs is a scattering of bratwurst. The German-style sausage is produced nearby, right in Nelson County, by Double H Farms. A topping of local apples ties the pizza even closer to the central Virginia region. Bringing the pizza full circle to its Italian past are caramelized sweet onions, mozzarella cheese, and house-made marinara sauce, all finished with a reduction of balsamic vinegar.
“Bratwurst pizza is by far the most ordered and talked about item on our menu,” says Mandi Smack, chief financial officer and marketing manager of Blue Mountain.
To accompany bratwurst pizza, many customers order a Full Nelson, Blue Mountain’s copper-colored flagship Virginia pale ale. Virginia was once known as “the hop capital of the New World.” For its ales and lagers, Blue Mountain cultivates its own hops and has established the state’s first “hop cooperative” with Stan Driver of Hoot ’n’ Holler Hops in Nellysford, also in Nelson County. Local hops are dried, vacuum-sealed, refrigerated and used yearlong in each batch of Full Nelson.
A member of the Virginia Green Program, Blue Mountain engages in such conservation-minded practices as connecting rain barrels directly to its irrigation system at the hop farm.
Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, Va. 540-456-8020. bluemountainbrewery.com. From the parkway: U.S. 250 east from Afton Mountain to Va. 151 south; about 5 miles total.
Augusta County, Va.: Tenderloin & gravy makes Fridays special at Waynesboro’s Basic City Luncheonette
In Waynesboro, Va., Evelyn Dean, a hairdresser, and her husband Butch, a welder, decided to apply their manual dexterity to the kitchen and opened the Basic City Luncheonette in 1997. It gets its name from a section of Waynesboro. The Deans’ welding business was located on the town’s east side, and they say finding a place to eat nearby used to be tough. So Evelyn and Butch took matters into their own able hands and exchanged curlers and torches for skillets and sinks at this restaurant near two busy railroad tracks and the post office.
Their daily specials quickly attracted diners from all over Augusta County and beyond. On Fridays, the lure is pork tenderloin and gravy, with a side of brown beans.
“We brown the pork and then take the leavings and make pan gravy,” says Evelyn. “When we started out, we were frying 35 pieces of pork on Fridays. Now it’s 400.”
At lunchtime, that gravy is puddled into mashed potatoes. For breakfast, which is served all day, the seasoned, medium-brown gravy blankets biscuits or white bread.
After a dessert of what the Deans call The Cake – a mandarin orange creation with a pineapple-flavored icing – Evelyn says, “People stand out on the curb and watch the trains.”
The Deans take special pride in their hefty portions. Enough, Evelyn says, “so that our older customers will have enough food for a second meal.”
Basic City Luncheonette, 408 North Commerce Ave., Waynesboro, Va. 540-932-1790. Directions from the parkway: West on U.S. 250 into Waynesboro; right (north) on Commerce Street for three blocks.
Rockbridge County, Va.: Infused pulled pork is the specialty at Gertie’s Country Store in Vesuvius
“We’ve been around the world and didn’t have to leave Virginia,” notes Tammy Collins as she surveys the Sharpie-inked walls at Gertie’s Country Store, where Good Gulf gasoline once was sold, about five miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. That “vertical guest book” features names from Israel, China and Vesuvius – as in Vesuvius, Va., where Gertie’s serves up pulled pork barbecue sandwiches with slaw.
“I’m told that Italian immigrants who helped build the Blue Ridge Parkway said the smoke from the foundries in the area reminded them of home, and that’s how this place came to be called Vesuvius, after the volcanic mountain in Italy,” says Collins, herself a native of nearby Staunton.
Collins named the store and restaurant after her mother, Gertrude Virginia McPherson, who now works in the kitchen. Tammy says her grandmother, Granny Lou (Lucille Katherine Redifer), taught her to cook.
Collins and her staff slow-cook Boston butt, always bone-in, and pull the meat. House-made red barbecue sauce is then added so that, as Collins says, the meat is “infused.” The pork is quickly seared on the grill to create a “bark,” the browned pieces on the ends of the meat.
For breakfast at Gertie’s, it’s oftentimes “salt fish,” described by Collins as “salted herring, soaked overnight and then fried.” It’s served with toast and two eggs cooked to order.
Located on Va. 56, Gertie’s Country Store is a convenient stopover for travelers on the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, who can camp out back for free.
Gertie’s Country Store, 563 Tye River Turnpike, Vesuvius. 540-377-9313. From the parkway: East on Va. 56 for about 5 miles.
Amherst County, Va.: The best steak you ever had is at The Briar Patch in Amherst
Having opened in 1948 as Tommy’s Place, The Briar Patch in Amherst, Va., gets its current name from the student yearbook at nearby Sweet Briar College. The college, located about two miles away, was also the attraction for one of the restaurant’s most famous guests, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who came to Sweet Briar in June of 1986 to attend a riding clinic. At The Briar Patch, the former First Lady reportedly dined on a shrimp salad pita. Current owner Joanie Lingerfelt bought The Briar Patch just a few weeks after Onassis’ visit.
“Our filet mignon has been bringing people back for 26 years now,” says Joanie, who developed the garlicky, Worcestershire sauce-flavored marinade for the char-grilled meat. “People tell us all the time it’s the best steak they’ve ever had.” The filet is served with a Cabernet mushroom sauce.
While traditional potato accompaniments are available – fries, baked and mashed – three vegetable side dishes stand out. Frizzy Fried Spinach is deep-fried and then sprinkled with kosher salt. It’s always on the menu. A seasonal selection is Zucchini Casserole, which Joanie describes as “creamy, cheesy and delicious.”
And then there’s steamed broccoli, mundane at many places, but with Joanie’s house seasoning, even those who claim an aversion to the vegetable are won over.
“People who say they can’t stand broccoli tell me this is the only place they’ll eat it.”
The Briar Patch is such a social hub in the community that many people call it “the Cheers of Amherst.”
The Briar Patch. 833 S. Main, Amherst, Va. bunnypatch.biz. 434-946-2249. How to get there from the parkway: U.S. 60 east about 22 miles into Amherst; right (south) on S. Main Street.
Bedford County, Va.: Harry’s Famous Cheesecake Comes in Butterfinger!
Inside the Bedford, Va., train station is a cheesecake wonderland. While operating the full-service Liberty Station restaurant there, Harry Leist and his family also run Harry’s Famous Cheesecakes and send their creations all over the country.
“I use the best ingredients in my cheesecakes: heavy cream, real eggs, luscious cream cheese and tangy lemon juice,” Harry says. “I wouldn’t do it any other way.”
Obtaining the cheesecake recipe in the 1980s cost Harry two steak dinners “at a small, white tablecloth Italian restaurant in Virginia Beach.”
That recipe, with some refinements along the way, is Liberty Station’s Just Cheesecake. From that basic beginning, the cheesecake palette is almost limitless: Top Shelf Margarita Cheesecake, made with Jose Cuervo tequila, triple sec and Grand Marnier; Nuts and Berries, patterned after the cocktail, with Frangelico and Chambord; and the After Dinner Cheesecake, laced with Bailey’s Irish Cream, Kahlua and Frangelico. Nutella Cheesecake is a recent addition.
For the Christmas and Valentine seasons, Liberty Station and Harry’s offer cheesecake colored and flavored to resemble the classic Southern dessert, red velvet cake.
The stone walls of the Bedford train station have stood for almost 125 years and survived a September 2009 fire that destroyed most of the contents of the building. The restaurant and cheesecake operation overcame the disaster, reopening in February of 2010. Customers appreciate the owners’ resilience. As one of them wrote, “I’ve never tasted anything as good as the Butterfinger cheesecake in my life.”
Liberty Station and Harry’s Cheesecakes. 515 Bedford Avenue, Bedford. 540-587-9377. oldelibertystation.com. From the parkway: Va. 43 east from near Peaks of Otter into Bedford.
Botetourt County, Va.: Seven-Inch-tall Burger and a ‘55 AMI Jukebox
“Once you get ahold of it, you don’t turn loose unless you want to eat it with a fork.” That’s Eric Pelton’s advice on how to consume a Big E Burger at the Buchanan Grill in Buchanan, Va.
This flame-grilled wonder rises some seven inches above the plate. Consider the elements: six ounces of freshly ground beef, double cheese, grilled onions, bacon, horseradish, mushrooms, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, raw onions, pickles, lettuce and tomato.
Pelton, a former truck driver who took over this Buchanan landmark in March of 2010, says most diners cut the Big E Burger in half or attack it with a fork. “And it’s surprising to me that more women order it than men,” he adds.
The restaurant also plates up what Pelton calls “good old Southern home cooking,” and the booths, counters and floors are original, from The Fountain Grill of the late 1930s. The 1955 AMI jukebox still plays 45-rpm records from the Elvis era, all free of charge to customers. Citizens of Buchanan once bowled in the basement of the building.
In this town on the James River, on the first weekend in April, the 1864 raid by Union General David Hunter is re-enacted, with shots ringing out right in front of the restaurant. The Buchanan Grill, in fact, is the only restaurant I’ve found that features video of a Civil War reenactment on its web page.
For customers visiting in the spring to experience the drama of the Civil War, kayakers floating on the James River, and the many locals whose orders Pelton can predict as they walk in the door, the Big E Burger at the Buchanan Grill on Main Street ranks as one of the Blue Ridge’s most memorable attractions.
The Buchanan Grill. 19771 Main Street, Buchanan. 540-254-1600. home.buchanangrill.com. From the parkway: Va. 43 west from near Peaks of Otter into Buchanan.
From locally hopped beers to the glory of pork gravy, restaurant owners in these six counties touched by the Blue Ridge Parkway serve up an equally satisfying helping of pride in their flavorful products.
East Tennessee State University graduate student Aaron Owens assisted with the research for this article.