Winter 2017
Wine Pairing 101
Sensational Sushi
Unique Global Cuisine
farm-to-table | casual fine-dining
Our goal is to create an exceptional dining experience while focusing on local artisan producers in our region. We offer seasonal, new American cuisine, with an ever-changing menu to reflect the best seasonal ingredients we can find from local providers. The high quality food and service comes without the formal or stuffy atmosphere -- no white linens or jackets required here, just top-notch service from friendly, knowledgeable servers.
217 S. Liberty St. #101 Harrisonburg, Va. (IN THE OLD ICE HOUSE) BOOK YOUR TABLE (540) 217-2425 RocktownKitchen.com TUE, WED, THUR 11 am-9 pm FRI & SAT 11 am-11 pm SUN 10:30 am-2 pm FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR CATERING, PRIVATE PARTIES OR SPECIAL EVENTS CONTACT US AT: (540) 217-2425 events@rocktownkitchen.com
Welcome to Sushi Village Experience dining in our beautiful, authentic Japanese restaurant located in Harrisonburg, VA. We serve the best Japanese food in town! Our passionate chefs craft every piece of sushi with love as a work of art. We also offer Hibachi and ramen. We make fresh, made to order unlimited dine-in menus as well as take out options. We use the freshest ingredients in order to give you the best dining experience. Special orders available upon request with 48 hours notice. We look forward to serving you!
WE CATER
Events & Holiday Parties!
1820 Evelyn Byrd Ave., Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Sunday–Thursday: 11:00 am–9:30 pm Friday & Saturday: 11:00 am–10:30 pm
540-568-9880
www.SushiVillageVA.com
Restaurant
Offering a full lunch and dinner menu.
Bar
Enjoy a drink at our beautiful bar. We proudly serve local wines.
Banquet Room
We can accommodate up to 400 guests for all occasions.
Proudly serving the Harrisonburg Community For 25 Years 3190 S Main St Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801
540-434-2367
http://www.pano-s.com/
The Galley Pizza, subs, burgers, salads & more! great food and great people
(540) 434-3518
Open Mon–Sat, 11am–10pm 2430 South Main Street Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801 www.thegalleyharrisonburg.com
2 Flavor | Winter 2017
A magazine created by
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Harrisonburg is overflowing with diversity. Try
as you might, but you won’t convince this staffNon vector otherwise. This diverse landscape brings about a melting pot, exposing people to new worlds and new experiences. Luckily for us, one of those is food. Our cover story is a great example of the blending of food cultures. Though the integration of sushi into American cuisine isn’t revolutionary, how it’s being served in Harrisonburg has piqued interest. We spoke with two all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants who manage to get customers more bang for their buck while still raking in a successful profit, both with a mission to open people’s minds (and mouths). We’ve also featured three international eateries who seem to be the only of their kind in the area. German, Venezuelan and Indonesian cuisine are all brought here by nomads who have lived and breathed their home country’s flavors.
Sensational Sushi Photographs: Nikki Fox
A handful of sushi restaurants have brought their craft to the Valley, but some give it an American experience: all-you-can-eat. With a menu that expands beyond raw fish, two restaurants are working to make Japanese food accessible and desirable.
With new worlds to try, we thought a wine pairing class might be in order. Valley wineries spoke to us about basic complementary flavors and how the scientific makeup of food determines a match.
The Perfect Pair
We hope you enjoy our latest edition, and remember, we all gotta eat. Corey Tierney, Editor
Photograph: Nikki Fox
Like No Other
Flavor is a publication of Rockingham Publishing Co., Inc. 231 South Liberty Street Harrisonburg, VA 22801 For advertising information, call 540-574-6220.
5
There are a few tricks for pairing wine with food that experts recommend to make the process easier. Try these tips and don’t be afraid to experiment on your own.
Flavor Staff Editor Corey Tierney Staff Writer Justin McIlwee Staff Writer Shelby Mertens Contributing Writer Robyn Smith Photography Nikki Fox Photography Daniel Lin Photography Stephen Swofford Design Jennifer Dehoff Sales Manager Rhonda McNeal
10
On the cover: Hokkaido Restaurant Shown above: Sushi Village
17
The Valley is ripe with international cuisine, but a few restaurants fly the flag on their own. Being the only of their kind in Harrisonburg, these business owners have brought their home country’s culture as well as their recipes. Photograph: Stephen Swofford
Winter 2017 | Flavor 3
4 Flavor | Winter 2017
The
P erfect P air
Photo: Daniel Lin
Winemakers Dish On Wine And Food Pairings By: Shelby Mertens A cheese plate is paired with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon at Bluestone Vineyard on the patio overlooking the corn maze.
F
or wine neophytes, pairing the perfect glass of wine with dinner can seem like a daunting task when facing the rows and rows of wine bottles on store shelves.
hue. “Sweet wines have lots of flavor, so you want something that has lots of flavor to match up with it,” Hartman said. “Those flavors often match well with spicy foods and flavorful dishes.”
Even within reds and whites, there are dozens of varieties, from a light pink rosé to a dark merlot. And the region the wine comes from also comes into play; wine from Napa Valley, Calif., will taste different from a Bordeaux French wine or a Tuscan wine from Italy.
Stephan Heyns, the head winemaker at CrossKeys Vineyards in Mount Crawford, likes to pair a sweet wine, like the vineyard’s Joy White, with Thai food. “It sort of numbs the spiciness,” Heyns said. “It actually makes it really nice. You actually enjoy the wine.” Heyns said if you want a dry wine, try one that has an oak or vanilla flavor in it. Fish or white meat, like chicken, usually pair well with white wines like Chardonnay. A Sauvignon Blanc would work, too.
But luckily, there are a few tricks of the trade for pairing wine with food that experts recommend to make the process easier. Try these tips and don’t be afraid to experiment on your own. After all, your own personal preferences are what matter most. Lee Hartman, the winemaker at Bluestone Vineyard in Bridgewater, said the key to wine pairings is finding a balance. For example, if the dish is packed with bold flavor, and it’s paired with a light wine, you won’t be able to taste the wine very well. “The first thing you should do is make sure your wine isn’t going to overpower your food, and your food isn’t going to overpower your wine,” he said. “You want something that’s going to match up fairly evenly.” Understanding the differences between white and red wine is essential before putting that bottle of wine in your shopping cart. Red wines, the darker the color, tend to be drier, and that is because the sugar is converted to alcohol during the fermentation process. Tannin is the element that makes wine taste dry. The opposite of dry would be sweet, and those wines are less tannic. Sweet wines, sometimes called off-dry, can be white or a light red/pink
However, Hartman said it’s important to consider all aspects of the plate and not just the protein. “You couldn’t take a plate of fish, with everything you would put with it, and swap out for beef and suddenly it would go with Cabernet,” he said. Heyns echoed, explaining, “You’ve got to look at what’s on the plate, and from there you can say … [for example,] you want a darker red wine, something that’s bolder, a bit more tannic and structure in it, and that will allow you to enjoy the wine. It brings more of out of the food, and the food brings more out of the wine.” The rule of thumb for heavier dishes like steaks or burgers is to pair it with a dark red wine like merlot or Petit Verdot. “Cabernet is a pretty dark red wine. It’s pretty heavy and tannic, so some other examples of heavy, darker wines would be like Syrah and Grenache. Merlot is pretty heavy, so I would think any of those wines would go very well with steak,” Hartman said. Heyns likes to pair dark meat with Cabernet varieties. “If I’m going to
Winter 2017 | Flavor 5
Serving Asian Food including Authentic Chinese & Sushi
We welcome you to our small farm winery nestled on the western slope of the Blue Ridge mountains. Bring a picnic and sit on the deck or explore the farm and vineyard. Enjoy the wine, the surroundings, the romney sheep and our free-roaming chickens. Check our website for more details
Check our website for directions and Facebook page for details.
www.wisteriavineyard.com
Open Thursday-Monday 12 noon-6 p.m. 1126 Marksville Road, Stanley, VA 22851 540-742-1489
• Dine In • Carry Out • Delivery
KNOWLEDGABLE KNOWLEDGABLE KNOWLEDGABLE HOURS: Monday-Sunday 10:45am-10:15pm 563 University Blvd. • Suite 110 Harrisonburg, VA
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Photo: Daniel Lin
“I don’t mean you need a hundred bottles in your house or anything, but if you have four or six ... you’re able to say what you’re having for dinner and then you can actually pick a wine to go with it.” – Lee Hartman From left: Carol Pizarro of Pittsburgh, her daughter, Nikki Smarra of Staunton, along with Matt Giglio and Lindsey Wirsch-White of Richmond, taste wine at Bluestone Vineyard.
do steaks, or pork or lamb, usually I will go with a Cabernet Sauvignon,” he said. “I usually like the aromatic stuff that comes with Cabernet Sauvignon.” Heyns said wine aged in oak barrels will taste well with heavier foods, because it builds up the body of the wine, which enables it to hold its own against red meat. Spaghetti and pasta is easier to pair. Hartman recommends combining it with a lighter red wine like Pinot Noir or a Cabernet Franc. Salty foods go well with red wines with more tannic structure, he said, but some whites have a bit of a salty character to them as well. Light pinkish red wines are versatile in that they can be paired with a broader range of flavors. Most lighter reds will go with almost any dish, Heyns said.
Savor amazing food
from our Bistro paired with our award winning wines.
CrossKeys offers food at their restaurant, The Bistro, where they serve appetizers, salads, burgers, sandwiches, flatbreads, steak and seafood dishes. The Bistro’s menu, which rotates regularly, has a suggested wine to pair with each dish. “The chef tastes the wines to see what pairs well, and they’ll have recommendations that will pair well with a certain dish,” Heyns said. “That’s just our option to help people out.” For example, the chicken bruschetta is paired with CrossKeys’ Chardonnay, a burger is matched with Cabernet Franc and a sesamecrusted tuna is recommended to eat with a Fiore, which is a “crisp off-dry rosé.” The vineyard’s Joy White, a Vidal Blanc, is suggested to drink with either fried oysters or a grilled salmon sandwich. The marinated grilled steak is paired with Petit Verdot and the pan grilled reuben is suggested
We offer year round entertainment and events. See our website for a full calendar, and learn how you may rent our beautiful facilities for your special event.
CrossKeys Vineyards 6011 E. Timber Ridge Road, Mt. Crawford, VA 22841
540-234-0505 | CrossKeysVineyards.com Tasting Room: 11 am to 5 pm daily Bistro: 11 am to 4:30 pm daily Sunday Brunch: 10 am to 2 pm Tours: 12 pm, 2 pm, and 4 pm daily Winter hours subject to change. Always call ahead to guarantee reservations and hours.
Winter 2017 | Flavor 7
Photo: Nikki Fox
When in doubt, ask a server for help when deciding what wine to pair with your meal. Most restaurant staff will be knowledgeable of wine pairings and can offer suggestions. Heyns also said to make sure you are enjoying the wine. “The last thing you want is to be pushed into drinking or pairing a wine that you’re not going to enjoy anyway,” he said. “Let’s say you don’t like Chardonnay. I don’t want to tell you to do a Chardonnay with a dish because you might hate Chardonnay, and therefore you’re not going to enjoy your evening.” Hartman encourages those who are interested in learning more about wine pairings to “practice, practice, practice” because the more you tinker with various combinations, the more familiar you will become with wines.
Crosskeys Vineyards’ Pinot Noir is paired with a stuffed pork chop entree with mushrooms, sauteed spinach, sweet potato dauphinoise and blueberry mustard.
with the vineyard’s Meritage, which is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. CrossKeys’ Joy Red wine is an “easy drinking red,” according to the description on its website, and is suggested to be consumed with caprese pizza and pulled pork nachos.
8 Flavor | Winter 2017
And remember, the food can always be switched up, but the taste of the wine cannot be altered. “Think about what the wine tastes like and what you can do to the food, because the wine is already made. It’s not going to change. You’re not going to do anything to the wine, but think about what you can do to the dish you’re preparing to make it work together better,” Hartman said.
He suggests keeping your house stocked with several different kinds of wines. “I don’t mean you need a hundred bottles in your house or anything, but if you have four or six ... you’re able to say what you’re having for dinner and then you can actually pick a wine to go with it,” Hartman said. “You might be able to experiment better than trying to make that decision the day of at the store.” e
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Summer Winter2017 2017 | |Flavor Flavor 13 9
Sensational Sushi All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Food Makes An Emergence In Harrisonburg By: Justin McIlwee Photographs: Nikki Fox
A piece of Tiger Roll is picked up at Sushi Village.
T
he 1960s. It was a decade of exploration, with the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement in full swing, and also universal exploration when the U.S. sent a man to the moon in 1969.
offer traditional nigiri sushi to American patrons.” It became a hit for businessmen and celebrities alike, and eventually sushi bars were open in both New York and Chicago, spreading the trend nationwide.
The ‘60s also brought along the exploration of the average person’s palate. Lipton Onion Soup dip and different fruits ensconced in Jell-O molds defined the decade as people were looking for fast ways to make different dishes.
Fifty-five years later, the trend of sushi has exploded in the U.S. According to statistics from a June 1, 2017, report in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 4,000 sushi restaurants in the U.S., and the total annual American sushi industry revenue is over $2 billion.
While many of the dishes that were popular in the ’60s are a rarity to find on a menu today, one dish that was introduced late in the decade has grown in popularity in the last 55 years and can be found on almost every street corner restaurant or gas station in America: sushi. Sushi was not around in America prior to the ’60s in part because World War II had just ended and Americans were still wary of anything pertaining to the Japanese culture. But, according to Tori Ivey in her 2012 PBS Food article, “Discover the History of Sushi,” “In 1966, a man named Noritoshi Kanai and his Jewish business partner, Harry Wolff, opened Kawafuku Restaurant in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles. Kawafuku was the first to
10 Flavor | Winter 2017
On top of just serving sushi, many restaurants are taking part in another growing food trend: all-you-can-eat sushi. Patrons go to a restaurant, and rather than pay a la carte for each piece they consume, they pay a flat rate and are able to order as many types as they’re able to eat. As food experiences in Harrisonburg continue to increase, with many different regional cuisines offered such as Mediterranean, German, Middle Eastern and Caribbean, the all-you-can-eat sushi concept has also found its way to the Friendly City. Restaurants such as Sushi Village and Hokkaido give visitors a chance to take part in the sushi craze without going crazy on their wallets.
A Volcano Roll in the center is surrounded by pieces of a Mars Roll at Sushi Village.
Sushi Village
“This all-you-can-eat is mostly about the volume that’s given,” he said. “If you go to a Japanese restaurant, you can order sushi The newest entrant into the all-you-can-eat sushi foray in for $15 and it gets pricey, especially in a city like Harrisonburg. Harrisonburg is Sushi Village, the brainchild of owner Chris Zhang There’s not enough people who are going to spend that much and manager Zack Huang. money. If two people order multiple entrees, Sushi Village opened on Aug. 16, serving including appetizers, soup, two or three all-you-can-eat sushi and hibachi. Prior to sushis each, it will cost, on average, about $40 Sushi Village, Mr. Sato Bistro, which was also “We want to tell people or so per person. That $80 is not giving the owned by Zhang, was in the same location at customer that full amount of volume.” that we do have hibachi, 1820 Evelyn Byrd Ave. But Huang explained fried rice and teriyaki. There are three different menus at Sushi that while profit margins were higher as the Village that range in price. From 11 a.m. to 4 We also have ramens. bistro, the customer base would only return p.m., Monday through Thursday, diners can around once a month, and ultimately, their We do have sushi that’s not pay $11.99 for an all-you-can-eat lunch menu. restaurant volume wasn’t as high as they raw, but you have to give us The unlimited dinner menu, which includes wanted. So, in August, Zhang brought in a larger selection of food, costs $16.99 and a chance to show you that Huang to manage Sushi Village after seeing the weekend menu, which is larger still, Huang run successful all-you-can-eat sushi Japanese food is not just runs $18.99 per person. All prices include restaurants in North Carolina. focused on raw.” appetizers, soup, entrees and sushi choices. As Huang explained, it was a no-brainer for Sushi Village will also allow patrons to take – Zack Huang Zhang to continue serving Japanese food home their leftovers at a cost of 50 cents per due to its current popularity. sushi roll. “Japanese food has been quite popular for Huang also explained that what makes Sushi the past five years,” Huang said. “Based on research, there are Village different from other buffets is the freshness of the food more people eating sushi, mainly because it’s a lot healthier than they produce. Chinese or American food. It has rice, lots of different vegetables “Everything here is freshly made,” Huang said. “If people want and seafood, there’s not too much fat. A lot of other food is deep to go to regular buffets, all the food sits there for too long and fried, but the only thing that’s deep fried here is the appetizers.” it’s really hard to maintain that freshness in the buffet unless Huang furthered that the reason Sushi Village went to the allyou have massive volume that comes in and out. By providing you-can-eat concept is because they are able to produce a unlimited sushi and hibachi, it’s giving them better values.” higher volume of food for lower prices, which equates to a higher One of the biggest challenges Sushi Village has faced is getting number of return customers.
Winter 2017 | Flavor 11
2 1
3 (1) Sushi chef Taylor Li adds Sriracha sauce to a Volcano roll, with a side of Rainbow Roll as well, at Hokkaido Restaurant. (2) Changjian Xue, the head sushi chef at Sushi Village, makes lunch for a customer. (3) A bridge holding sushi rolls sits on display at Sushi Village.
Hokkaido
Hokkaido is the veteran on the block, having opened its doors two years ago. Much like Sushi Village, Hokkaido offers a menu where customers pay one flat rate and are able to order anything on the menu as many times as they want. people to see past their preconceived notions of sushi, and realize that it can be many different things. A lot of people, when they think of sushi, think of raw fish and seaweed. But, according to Huang, once people come to Sushi Village, they realize there are selections for everyone, including the reluctant eater. “We want to tell people that we do have hibachi, fried rice and teriyaki. We also have ramens. We do have sushi that’s not raw, but you have to give us a chance to show you that Japanese food is not just focused on raw. We will continue to develop entrees that are not raw for Harrisonburg. We’re adding vegetable rolls for vegetarians. We have fried chicken rolls called Kentucky Rolls. But also, don’t be afraid to try something new. If you’re scared to try something new, you’re never going to learn anything.”
12 Flavor | Winter 2017
“I just followed my cousin because he has a lot of the same type of sushi restaurants — all-you-can-eat — in Virginia,” said owner Johnny Dong. “I just came to Harrisonburg because there’s a lot of students here and this is a college town.” Dong explained that coming to Harrisonburg was an easy choice, as was choosing to do sushi. He researched and found that younger people are eating more sushi, and since Harrisonburg is a college town, with James Madison University, Bridgewater College and Eastern Mennonite University in a close radius, offering fresh Japanese sushi was the smart idea. “In here, we not only do sushi, but we do the hibachi,” Dong said. “We wanted to add the hibachi, too, because this town has a lot of young people. And I thought that [what we offer] was more popular for young people.”
ALL YOU CAN EAT For one flat price you can order from the menu as many times as you like and the food will be freshly prepared.
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M, W, Th, F, Sat: 11 am–3 pm Adult $11.99 Child (age 7-11) $7.99 Child (age 3-6) $4.99
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M, W, Th: 3-10 pm Fri & Sat: 3-11 pm Sun: Noon-10 pm Adult $16.99 Child (age 7-11) $8.99 Child (age 3-6) $5.99
Full Breakfast All Day Lunch Menu
Includes Chicken Salad, Steak Sandwiches and Much More!
Catering Available #1 Market Square East 540-564-0416 #2 Rockingham Square 540-432-1386 #3 Harmony Square 42 North 540-442-1997
Al a carte and take out is available.
HOKKAIDO
JAPANESE RESTAURANT
3140 S. Main St., Harrisonburg, Va.
540-432-2388
closed only on Tuesdays
iLoveHokkaidoVA.com
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Winter 2017 | Flavor 13
A piece from a Rainbow Roll is held over a plate of sushi (salmon, tuna, white tuna, red snapper and shrimp) from Hokkaido Restaurant.
A White Dragon Roll sits on display at Hokkaido Restaurant.
Breaking into the all-you-can-eat sushi business wasn’t easy for Hokkaido. Like Sushi Village, people in town were wary of the concept of unlimited sushi because of their experience with traditional buffets, so it took customers a while to come around. “It was hard because a lot of people didn’t really understand the all-you-can-eat sushi because there are different types of regular buffet restaurants,” Dong said. “Order off the menu, and then we send the order to the kitchen, and then we make it right away. Some traditional buffets, you just pick up whatever you want.” Hokkaido offers sushi for the less adventurous, such as tuna, salmon, shrimp or vegetables rolls. And for those feeling like
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14 Flavor | Winter 2017
“On the menu, we have marks,” he said. “Some is fresh fish, some is cooked, some is spicy, so the customer knows which one is cooked and which one is raw.” They have a lunch menu for $11.99, while their dinner menu is $16.99. Hokkaido is located at 3140 S. Main St. e
Mon–Thu: 11:00 a.m.– 9:30 p.m. Fri–Sat: 11:00 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Sun: 11:30 a.m.– 9:30 p.m.
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trying something new or exotic, Hokkaido also offers soft shell crab and eel rolls. But in an attempt not to waste food, there is a charge for uneaten sushi, and customers may not take food home after ordering. But whatever you order, Dong explains that the restaurant makes sure that the customer knows what he or she is ordering ahead of time.
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Winter 2017 | Flavor 15
1476 South Main St. Harrisonburg, VA (540) 746-7515 grilledcheesemania.com Monday–Saturday 11am – 7pm
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Photo: Nikki Fox Left: Randy Jorrin (center), a waiter at BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe, takes the order of Chris Rooker (left) and Brant Suter, who both work in downtown Harrisonburg. Above: Hotiman Ridwan, chef at BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe, a restaurant in the Ice House in downtown Harrisonburg, makes lunch. Below: Maria Chavez, owner of Las Chamas, makes a chabuarma for a customer. Photo: Nikki Fox
Photo: Stephen Swofford
Like No Other One Of A Kind, Local, International Restaurants Are In A League Of Their Own By: Robyn Smith
H
arrisonburg is a diverse city, and its restaurant scene reflects that. Food is a way to spread culture and make people happy, bringing them together in the process. For a few owners of international restaurants, they are the only ones of their kind in the area.
Las Chamas
Maria Chavez has two homes, one in Venezuela and one in Harrisonburg. She opened Las Chamas at 50 S. Mason St. #120 in 2008, serving a menu flourished with meals from Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Because she’s a dual citizen, Chavez returns to Venezuela every year in the summer after schools close. Though she’s lived in the U.S. for 26 years, she still has family in Venezuela. In the restaurant, she frequently goes back and forth from the customers to the kitchen. Since Mondays are slow, she is the chef. Her son, Edwin,
a student at Blue Ridge Community College, helps serve and bus tables. On a Monday evening in October, there was one customer — a regular who comes in at least once every two weeks — at the bar showing Edwin pictures of Puerto Rico on his phone and drinking a Mexican beer. Then, one couple occupied a table against the wall. The rest of the tables were empty. Most orders were taken to-go, meaning the phone rang frequently. CNN plays in Spanish on a plasma screen TV, and a stack of the local Hispanic newspaper, Nuevas Raices, rests on the counter. Posters of Venezuelan destinations are hung on the walls of Las Chamas, including Salto Angel Falls, a site known to some U.S. children as Carl’s dream home in Disney/Pixar’s “Up.” Edwin Chavez hasn’t been since he was 4. Because he’s not a Venezuelan citizen, it’s more of a challenge. “I go to a dominant white school. There are only 20 Hispanics out of 900 kids, so, you know, I know a lot about the American culture,” he said. “My
Winter 2017 | Flavor 17
friends are white, mainly. My girlfriend’s white and we’ve been dating for two years, my dad is Mexican and my mom is Venezuelan. So, I have all these cultures in me. It’s pretty cool.” Corn, beans, plantains and rice are staples at Las Chamas. Chavez compares the cachapas to pancakes from IHOP. The arepa, with its hot, doughy bread made from corn flour, mozzarella cheese melting on top and fried plantains, is like a miniature hot sandwich or stuffed biscuit.
Photo: Stephen Swofford
“Arepa is good in the moment,” Chavez said. “You make it, then eat it three hours later? No. You make it now, don’t wait, it’s fresh.”
“I think it doesn’t matter where we come from. I think the food brings people together.” – Hotiman Ridwan Daniel Gissel, owner of Black Forest German Restaurant, cooks an appetizer.
BoBoKo
Traditional Indonesian spices like galanga, ginger, tamarind and lemongrass radiate throughout BoBoKo, a restaurant popular for its vegan and gluten free options, as well as its beef rendang and fried rice. Sitting at the bar, the oil sizzle rings throughout as the chefs fry vegetables. Also visible is a cone that steamed white rice is pressed into to make BoBoKo’s signature rice cones. Head chef, co-owner and self-described “foodie” Hotiman Ridwan handles multiple pans at once; the other chef on call frequently asks for his help. Ridwan has lived in Harrisonburg for 16 years and opened the restaurant at the Ice House in the summer of 2016. He placed first in a food entrepreneurial competition called “What’s Cooking” that encouraged him to open the restaurant. He knew that it was a bit of a risk because the Indonesian population in Harrisonburg is small; overall, Asian-Americans comprise about 3 percent. But because Thai and Vietnamese food is relatively similar (mainly spices), he decided to “just go for it.” BoBoKo’s recipes are based on how Ridwan’s mother made meals when he was growing up in West Java, a province of Indonesia with a population of about 46 million people. Even the name of the restaurant has roots in West Java. BoBoKo is Sudanese for a rice basket made of bamboo that he used as a young man.
On an October weeknight, there are a few families at tables. One woman comes up to Ridwan and asks him if there was an Indonesian spice he doesn’t use. It seems this kind of one-on-one interaction is common between Ridwan and his customers. Though the Indonesian population in the area is relatively small, BoBoKo has a diverse customer base. Since the menu doesn’t have pork, it’s popular with locals who practice Islam. “I think it doesn’t matter where we come from. I think the food brings people together,” Ridwan said.
Black Forest
“Let us know where you’ve been” reads a sign next to a map of Germany, speckled with multi-colored pins. There are a few main areas with lots of pins: Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Berlin and a few other cities with huge military bases. The owner, Daniel Gissel, is from the Black Forest, and opened his restaurant at 787 E. Market St. in 2012. Gissel doesn’t get to speak German (his native language) very often. But there are the occasional customers who come in and either used to live in Germany or who immigrated to the U.S. and want to practice. “Sometimes, I have Mennonites here [and] they speak this very old German — it’s like a mix of Dutch Netherlands and German,” Gissel, who tries to go back at least twice a year, said.
“Steaks and seafood in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.”
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15 minutes north of Harrisonburg on Rt. 11
| 540-434-0535
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday 4:30–8:30, Friday 4:30–9, Saturday 4–9
18 Flavor | Winter 2017
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Since 1990 Gratitude to our patrons for your loyal support.
Winter 2017 | Flavor 19
“Most of the recipes are family recipes.” – Daniel Gissel The restaurant is decorated with small animal skulls mounted on the walls, large beer steins and a cuckoo clock. (The Black Forest is famous for them.) On an October afternoon, there is one couple dining in, but within an hour, a couple of customers place to-go orders. Gissel is in the kitchen preparing food. Though he studied acting in Germany (and was a lawyer’s assistant before that), making food has always been a passion of his. “I have typical German stuff on the menu. … Most of the recipes are family recipes,” Gissel said. His favorite dish on the menu, the bratwurst, has traditional German components like weiner schnitzel, jaeger schnitzel (which has mushroom gravy) and sauerkraut (his mother’s recipe). The man who sells him bratwurst lives in Staunton and moved to the area in the 1950s. According to Gissel, that recipe has been in the man’s family for 900 years. “They’re even better than everything that I have in Germany,” Gissel said with confidence. “Josef found me. … I was cleaning up because we had a private party in here, and I was super hungover, looking tired, and I thought he was a customer, so I came outside and said, ‘Sorry, we’re closed.’ And then, he just handed me a sample. … After the first bite, I called him back.’” e
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540-574-4563
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