Oceans and Ale Review

Oceans and Ale

5601 Richmond Road,
Williamsburg, VA 23188
(757) 253-2253
Oceans & Ale is a classic seafood and steakhouse that prides itself on the highest food quality and guest service.

 

Mindy’s Review…

Oceans & Ale is a classy, yet comfortable restaurant that has a laid back, intimate feeling. You’ll see a great bar separating the two cozy dining areas and a nice little seating area outside as well. They’ve got excellent specials for each night of the week (including $20 all you can eat crab legs) as well as some great live bands. As people file in for the nightly specials, you’re reminded that this is a hot spot for locals, yet is so close to the Outlets that visitors can’t help but visit, too.

Just as their name implies, this restaurant’s specialties are seafood and drinks. You’ll see traditional seafood items here like their Catch of the Day and Crab Cakes, but mixed in there are unique items such as Seafood Nachos, Seafood Mac N’ Cheese, and Seafood Pot Pie. This is not your run of the mill seafood place.
We started off the meal with their O&A Beer Flight, which included 4 samplings of any beers they have on tap. For appetizers we tried both the Seafood Nachos and the Island Fire Shrimp. The seafood nachos were huge, and I mean huge! You’d probably need a whole table full of people to finish it off! There were multiple layers of chips, cheese, seafood, lettuce, and tomatoes in a mixture of hot sauce and she crab soup. You wouldn’t think those items would go together, but they do in a pleasantly unexpected way. I really enjoyed the Island Fire Shrimp, too. I thought they were perfectly fried and their house made sauce reminded me of a sweet and sour sauce typically found in Asian food. I wanted to eat the entire plate of them, but I resisted the urge so I could leave room for our entrées. We tried the Seafood Mac N’ Cheese and the Tri Tip Chimichurri Sirloin. The Sirloin was rubbed in their own flavorful herb rub and was tender and very juicy. I loved how the Seafood Mac N’ Cheese was covered in crispy bread crumbs and how it oozed with lots of real cheese. It goes without saying that this was WAY better than the boxed mixes! The seafood was present throughout, but didn’t overpower the dish . We were stuffed, but after looking at the dessert menu, we had to give it a try. You’ll see a variety of dessert skillets to choose from. I’m a sweet tooth all the way so every one sounded amazing. We ended on the Turtle Skillet, which was a steaming hot macadamia nut cookie in a skillet covered with delicious walnuts, caramel and vanilla ice cream. This was awesome and I can’t wait to go back and try their other dessert skillets. What a great way to end a delicious meal!

My Favorite Thing: This was a hard decision, but I think I’ll have to settle on the Seafood Nachos because I could not stop eating it. It was addictively good and different from any other nachos I’ve ever had. The Turtle Skillet almost dethroned the nachos, but I’m going with the one that I just could not stop eating.

What I would like to try next time: Oceans Sea Stack- “Pan seared sea bass stacked over a garlic cheddar biscuit, mashed potatoes, and a shrimp and crab ragout.”

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Eddie’s Review…

Check the Chalkboards!
“Rotating Taps”, “Fresh Catch” and “Live Music”. The Oceans & Ale Chalkboards. These three beacons of colored chalk pretty much sum up what this restaurant is all about – Great Beer, Great Food and Great Music. That’s what the owners wanted to create when they started Oceans & Ale. A place where you can experience amazing flavors in the freshest of seafood right from the Peninsula’s backyard while listening to some good music and enjoying the perfect beer to complement your meal. The atmosphere fits perfectly here. It’s clean and modern, but not “stuffy”. Dark wood furniture and local vintage beach photographs hanging on the walls give the restaurant a classic yet comfortable feel that instantly relaxes you and puts you in vacation mode.
For me though, what separates Oceans & Ale from most restaurants in the area is the beer selection. Hence the “Ale” in their title. The owners really wanted to offer a nice array of unique and seasonal brews that most visitors have never tried before. And they offer a great way to sample a few without straining your wallet or surpassing your alcohol limit – The O&A Beer Flight. This is where our meal began. The O&A Beer Flight offers you the ability to try four different beers, each in a 4 ounce beer glass. You can choose from any of the beers on tap. I loved this. Especially because there were a good number of beers there that I haven’t tried before and was eager to experience. It was also great to taste them side by side and notice the difference in flavors from beer to beer more distinctly than when trying one alone. It’s like doing a tasting at a brewery.

Next came our appetizers. The first was the Seafood Nachos – “She crab soup, crab, shrimp, melted mozzarella cheese, lettuce, diced tomatoes & scallions with sour cream & hot sauce.” These were SOOOO good. Definitely unique. I’ve never had Seafood Nachos before and wasn’t too sure how they’d turn out, but I couldn’t stop eating them. That sauce mixed in there was very tasty. The second appetizer was the Island Fire Shrimp – “Hand breaded fried shrimp tossed in a spicy island Thai sauce.” I really enjoyed the creamy coating on the fried shrimp. It was sweet and slightly spicy. For our first entrée we had the Tri Tip Chimichurri Sirloin – “11 oz. hand cut marinated sirloin covered in a spiced rub grilled to your specification & finished with fresh Chimichurri.” This was delicious. Chimichurri is an Argentinean sauce made with a variety of herbs, and these guys do it right. They pour it over a perfectly cooked steak and the Garlic Mashed Potatoes we had as a side with it was awesome. Man, I’m craving this dish right now. Our next entrée was the Seafood Mac N Cheese – “Macaroni tossed with lobster, crab and shrimp in a creamy three cheese sauce.” Another interesting dish! Read those ingredients again. It’s not your normal Mac and Cheese. I really liked the crumbles on top and the nice warm filling. We finished off our meal with one of their dessert skillets, The Turtle Skillet. This was really good. A warm cookie in a hot skillet topped with a scoop of ice cream, sweet sauces and sprinkled with a ton of walnuts. Mmmm.

My Favorite Thing: I liked the uniqueness of each of the dishes, and the O&A Beer Flight probably sticks out to me more than anything, but I’m going with the Tri Tip Chimichurri Sirloin. The flavors here were just magnificent.


What I would like to try next time: Asian Beef Ribs – “Korean marinated beef short ribs served with choice of two sides.” I love ribs. And I love good Asian Ribs. So I really want to see how these guys make theirs.

For more Williamsburg restaurant reviews, visit www.EatPlayWilliamsburg.com

Cookie Nation

I’m going to go out on a limb here by making a pretty bold statement: people love their cookies. Okay, maybe not such a bold statement, but I’ve been thinking lately about how much something as simple as a cookie has come to be revered in our society. This year alone (and it’s only March!), cookies have thrust their way into news headlines all over the globe. What is it about these sweet little treats that has us hooked?  

On My Honor, I Will Eat These Thin Mints

2012 marks the 100^th anniversary of our beloved Girl Scouts, our mini, green or brown-clad survivalists who are better known for slinging their delicious little cookie treats each year. Though cookie sales didn’t actually begin until 1917, this year’s troops began offering a special cookie to commemorate their 100^th birthday. These particular cookies, Savannah Smiles, are small, crescent-shaped, lemon-flavored mouthfuls of tangy sweetness, and they go remarkably well with Earl Grey tea (trust me…I’ve tried them with everything). But let’s not forget their other, more popular flavors, including Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, etc. My favorite thing to do with Thin Mints? Stick them in the freezer for a little while, then crumble them over some quality chocolate ice cream. You can thank me later.

Though Girl Scout cookies are now offered in a variety of flavors to satisfy any palette, their original cookie recipe was something far simpler. In 1922, Chicago Girl Scouts local director Florence Neil provided this recipe to 2,000 girl scouts, encouraging them to sell them for 25 to 30 cents a dozen. That recipe is:

An Early Girl Scout Cookie^® Recipe

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to seven-dozen cookies.

Happy Birthday, Oreo!

Early in March, the Oreo cookie celebrated its 100^th birthday. Rumor has it that the Oreo rakes in $2 billion in global sales for Nabisco each year, earning the title of “World’s Best-Selling Cookie”. The celebration was so big that Lady Antebellum flash-mobbed Los Angeles with a “Happy Birthday” song dedicated to the famous cookie, it made a cameo in the “Send Out the Clowns” episode of Modern Family, and apparently, the Oreo Facebook page ranks among the top five “brand pages” in the world.

From whence did this delicious, chocolatey treat arise? Legend has it that Oreos originated in 1912 in Chelsea, New York and were available in two flavors: cream and lemon meringue. Lemon meringue would be discontinued only a decade later because, let's face it, lemon meringue < cream filling. Since its inception, the Oreo cookie has been accompanied by other (less desirable, in my opinion) flavors and variations, including:

Double Stuf Golden Oreos (2009): No chocolate = no bueno
Oreo Fudge Sundae Creme Chocolate Rings (2000), limited edition
Oreo Fudge Rings
Oreo Waferstix
Golden Oreo
Golden Chocolate Creme Oreo, a.k.a the "Uh-Oh Oreo" (2007) (Uh-oh, it didn’t sell too well!)
Mini Oreo (2000): Released in conjunction with the 2001 Dodge Caravan as a promo
Oreo Vend Pack: For nom-noms on the go
Double Stuf Oreo (1975): Offered in peanut butter, original, cool mint, or chocolate cream
Big Stuf Oreo (1984-1991): Larger, fattier, and more calorie-laden than the original
Double Delight Oreo (1987): Chocolate wafers with 2 fillings (peanut butter/chocolate, mint/cream, coffee/cream)
Cool Mint Creme Oreo: The Double Stuf with a mint creme filling
Fudge Covered Oreo: Dunked in fudge, white fudge, or milk chocolate (Om nom nom nom!)
Pure Milk Chocolate Covered Mint Oreo
100 Calorie Pack Oreo: No creme filling?! That's no Oreo!
Triple Stuf Oreo (2006): Promo lasted only 1 month
Sugar Free Oreo: The fun-free Oreo
Reduced Fat Oreo: The reduced-fun Oreo
Oreo Cakesters (2007)
Banana Split Creme Oreo (2008), limited edition
Oreo-Handi-Snacks: Cookies with a kiddie pool of sugary icing
Oreo Sippers: The original Oreo straw (for use with Diet sodas, of course)
Holiday-Themed Oreos: With dyed filling

Who knew that goodness could be reinvented in so many ways? I'm still waiting on the Baconoreo. Come on, Nabisco, let's make it happen.

Now that you’re craving Oreos, here are a couple of videos you can watch while indulging in your own “Giant Oreo”, a la Luke Dunphy:

“Happy 100^th Birthday, OREO!!!” – This little boy is adorable!

“Oreo Commercial 2012: Commute” – If we all took some time to remember being a kid, the world would be a better place.

Oreo Commercial, UK Edition

Oreo Commercial, France Edition

Oreo Commercial, Australia Edition

Oreo Commercial, Thailand Edition

Moon Asian Bistro Review (Courtesy of EatPlayWilliamsburg)

4640 Monticello Avenue,
Williamsburg, VA 23188
(757) 258-8899
Moon Asian Bistro is proud to serve authentic Asian dishes prepared with only the freshest of ingredients.

 

 

Mindy's Review...

The artful interior of Moon Asian Bistro makes you feel like you just stepped into a hip New York sushi bar with all the cool neon lighting under the bar, in the ceiling and inside the alcohol shelving unit. Every interior design component works so well together. I haven't seen any other restaurant like it in Williamsburg. You would definitely not expect this hidden treasure at the very end of a strip mall!

Now is where I usually start talking about the food. Let me just start by saying that sushi is my favorite food and I think of myself as an amateur sushi connoisseur. Moon Asian Bistro actually blew me away with their sushi. Usually as I look through a sushi menu, one or two items stick out to me, but that didn't happen here – I wanted to try every single one. Fortunately the manager was there to help us decide because it would have been too hard for me. Before we even left the restaurant, I knew that I wanted to go here for my birthday this year. Usually I head up to Northern VA for my birthday sushi dinner, but I think we might be saving some gas money from now on.

We started the meal with their Lime Coconut Soup. This had a very nice balance of coconut and lime flavor and was a good start to our meal. We moved on to the appetizer, which was the Tuna Wasabi Dumplings. These were amazing. The smooth and creamy texture from the filling and surrounding tuna meat melted in my mouth. Again, amazing. The first sushi roll we tried was the Crazy Tuna Roll. I honestly was a little scared of this one because the description mentioned two ingredients being spicy, but it only had a slight ting to it, and I actually liked it. Though it's a tough call, I think this one was my favorite out of the three sushi rolls we tried. Moon was the next roll we tried. I didn't even have to dip this one in soy sauce because the flavors held up so nicely on their own. The last roll we tried was the Busch Garden Roll. The presentation on this one draws you in before you even take a bite. And that bite did not disappoint. The combination of everything was just perfect: creamy, crunchy and spicy. Our last savory dish was the Blackberry Salmon. I don't think I've seen this on any menu, so I was intrigued to try it. The salmon had a nice crunchy skin on the outside and the blackberry sauce added a nice touch of sweetness.

My Favorite Thing: Definitely the Tuna Wasabi Dumplings. The dumpling "wrapper" is the tuna and the inside was guacamole with crab sitting atop a wasabi honey sauce. We were only on our second plate and I pretty much knew nothing else would top it. I was right, and it was delicious!

What I would like to try next time: Paradise (sushi roll)- Spicy lobster/Shrimp tempura/Banana tempura/Soy paper/Citrus mango sauce

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Eddie's Review...

A Hidden Gem

In every town there are a handful of restaurants that offer amazing food, but because of their location, they're just not that well known. These restaurants are known as "hidden gems". Williamsburg has their own handful of hidden gems, and Moon Asian Bistro is definitely one of them.

Located toward the end of Monticello Marketplace at the inside corner near Target, lies Moon Asian Bistro. An unassuming exterior that doesn't impress much, but as they say....don't judge a book by it's cover. Open the door and experience and appreciate the fantastic interior design job that rivals many big city restaurants. It's beautifully done with inspiring colors and textures throughout. I love the thought-out detail from the artwork on the wall, to the over sized booths and even to the texture of the floor. It's modern, creative and just plain cool. And so is the food.

I'd say the cuisine can be best described as an innovative and skillfully created taste of Asia. Dishes range from Japan, Thailand, China and Korea. We would have loved to have tried them all, but alas, our stomachs can only hold so much. Let's review what we did try though. We started off with the Lime Coconut Soup – "Chicken, Asparagus, Shitake Mushrooms." A nice citrusy and clean way to start off our meal. The broth was very tasty. As our first appetizer, we had the Tuna Wasabi Dumplings – "Thinly sliced blue fin tuna, guacamole, kani crab, honey wasabi sauce." This dish looked AND tasted awesome. It's two large scoopfuls of guacamole wrapped in slices of tuna that make it look like some sort of closed flower. It's a very clean and refreshing dish. Delicious. For our next appetizer we tried the Beef Negimaki – "Broiled Ribeye Steak, Green Scallions, Teriyaki sauce." This was a very interesting dish. The scallions were wrapped by thin slices of ribeye the same way rice and seaweed would wrap a sushi roll. Very different and very good. We continued with three of their signature sushi rolls. The first was the Crazy Tuna Roll – "Fresh pepper tuna & avocado topped with spicy tuna, tempura flakes and red chili sauce." This had a nice big piece of tuna in it, was slightly spicy and very good. Our next roll was the Moon Roll – "Salmon tempura and avocado topped with fresh salmon, tobiko, crunch, and spicy mayo." This roll was very good as well. Our third and final roll was the Busch Garden Roll – "Tempura roll with combination of Spicy King crab, Avocado, Asparagus, Shrimp inside, topped with Spicy Scallop with BBQ Eel sauce, Spicy Mayo and Honey Wasabi sauce on the side." I loved this roll. It had a very cool presentation with great texture and flavor. The sauce was delicious. One thing I appreciated with all these rolls, was that they were heavy on the inside ingredients and not on the rice. Most places pile on the rice to save money, but not Moon Asian Bistro. Our next dish was the Blackberry Salmon – "Grilled Salmon Fillet, Blackberry Glaze, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potato and Grilled Asparagus." Another great dish. The salmon had a nice crispy outside and that Blackberry sauce was fantastic. We ended our meal with the Copa Cafe´ – "Latte Gelato with a Rich Coffee and Pure Cocoa Swirl, presented in the cup" for dessert. A nice ice cream dessert to finish off our meal. And what a great meal it was. I really enjoyed every dish, and that usually doesn't happen. You have to come out and try this place. Support it and let others know about this hidden gem.

My Favorite Thing: Ahh, there are so many good dishes, but the one that sticks out in my mind as I'm writing this review is the Tuna Wasabi Dumplings. I just loved the feel and temperature of this dish. You need to come in and try it.


What I would like to try next time: Painted Lady – "Fresh Lobster, Mango Asparagus, Topped with Spicy Tuna, Avocado, Sweet Chili Sauce." Just one of the many sushi rolls of theirs that I can't wait to try.
 

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 For more Williamsburg restaurant reviews, visit www.EatPlayWilliamsburg.com

Wine Double Feature!

We ran across two interesting stories about wine last week. One, a report on the genetics and biology of wine tasting on NPR, and a second on swirling wine.

Listen to or read the story here

And why do you smell the wine before swirling it, and then smell it again after swirling? It isn't just because it looks cool...and does it matter which way you swirl it?  Check out the video below.

Here's Hoping You've Found Your "Belgian Croquette"!

I think it's become abundantly clear to me at this point in my life that I have a near-unhealthy obsession with food. Not unhealthy as in “I-eat-until-I-puke unhealthy” or “I-eat-with-blatant-disregard-for-my-physique unhealthy”, but I've found that food dominates a major part of my life. I read about it, I blog about it, I dedicated weekends in college to filming a cooking show, I trade recipes with my boss, and I've never tired of it. I spend a good part of my days chatting about - you guessed it – food, with anyone who will listen. It was in one of these food-centric conversations that I remembered what may have been my first "food-inspiration" memory: eating croquettes with my brother in Belgium where we grew up. In a nutshell: a tiny potato nugget spawned this obsession that has come to define a big part of who I am.

My family had this weekly Tuesday tradition while living in Mons, Belgium where we'd get together with my parents' friends and go out for a huge steak dinner. It was on one of these occasions where I tried croquettes for the first time – I was maybe 5 years old. Croquettes are, more or less, the French equivalent of what we know to be tater-tots, so you can imagine how many handfuls I would eat as a child. They were always crispy and golden brown on the outside with a smooth, mashed potato type filling on the inside. And man, were they good! So, at the ripe old age of 5, I found inspiration in food and would try to figure out how to make them at home whenever my mom had leftover mashed potatoes. I didn't perfect the Belgian croquette of my childhood until I was 19 years old. Think about that for a minute: I spent 14 years trying to perfect a tater-tot! This, sadly, is the story of my life!

Now that my initial foodie experience with croquettes in Belgium seems a lifetime ago, I have come to realize that my obsession isn’t tied to the actual act of eating. Food, for me, will always be tied to memory. What I was really looking for in the 14 years of wasting mashed potatoes wasn’t simply a fried nugget of divine tastiness, it was an homage to something I cherished and looked forward to as a child, a little bite of something that instantly brought me back to a much simpler, more innocent existence. Croquettes, Mom’s “road trip riblets”, fried chicken gizzards and hearts, pommes frites (eaten with a tiny, plastic, two-tined fork), swirled Belgian chocolate seashells, perfectly crusty bread, Kinder Surprise, even surprisingly good bowling alley fried chicken: these are all foods that have very distinct memories tied to them that will forever transport me back to my childhood. Would these foods be as enticing to me now, as a reluctant grown-up, had they not already reserved a special place in my heart? Would I still bristle with excitement at the sight of a basket full of chicken innards fresh from the fryer if they hadn’t already been engrained in my memory?

Now that I am “grown up”, the overwhelming messes I make in the kitchen have one specific purpose: to result in something truly memorable. Now that I am “grown up”, I appreciate the fact that cooking, eating, and drinking are not things that should be taken for granted, that trying a new restaurant is not something to be taken lightly. Anyone can slap a piece of ham on a slice of white bread or grab a soggy burger-like thing at a drive-through window, but if we must eat (and we all do), don’t we owe it to ourselves to at least try to make it memorable? My answer to this is: yes, we absolutely owe it to ourselves. Our days are packed with meetings, errands to run, traffic snarls, being always on the go, being busy busy busy. But, at the end of the day, you might come home to find that your husband has made you your own “childhood croquette”, and miraculously, with that first bite, all of the troubles that come with being a hard-working superhero will simply melt away in the intoxicating memory of the very first time you tried that silly little potato nugget, in the company of the ones you love, at a time when an Outlook calendar was the furthest thing from your mind.

Unfortunately, since my brother and parents are the only ones who can truly relate to my childhood croquette, I am left with only one choice: to share my experiences with those who care to listen. It is with this in mind that I will attempt to share, through this blog, what I've loved, hated, and found inspiring throughout my ongoing attempt to slow things down and enjoy life and all the tasty things it has to offer. It is my hope that others will be willing to share their experiences with me too, so I may glean inspiration from their stories and continually seek out ways to write my own stories. Food is memorable, even more so if you have others to share it with. So here’s to creating new memories with the ones you love!

Mangez bien,

KZH

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