Hunter's Head (Upperville, VA)

For Merry old England and found a place in in Upperville that got great recommendations. It is a small place and it is often impossible to get a table. They use as much local produce and organic meats as possible. The massive bar takes up much of the small entrance room which is also the casual area of the restaurant. The menu is written on a chalk board. You place your order at the window and they will bring it to you either in that room or outside if the weather is good. Most of the standards are there: bangers and mash, pasties, fish and chips, bubble and squeak, Shepard's pie, etc.

We were there for a late lunch and the place was still fairly crowded. There are quite a few beers on tap we had Smithwicks and a hard Cider. Both were good. The cider had very little alcohol which was fine with me but it reminded me of the time the boy scouts were selling apple cider and it got too hot and started to turn. John had an Arnold Palmer.

John got Welsh Rarebit; a delicious cheesy sauce over toast. This version had mashed potatoes in it as well. I don't know if that is traditional or not but it tasted good. There was a good cheese flavor to it.

My fish and chips were light and crispy. My only complaint is that you have to eat it fast or it gets soggy. This is my issue with any fish and chips; it is delicious right away but I can't eat it fast enough for it not to go soggy on me.

Julian got the Cornish Pasties which looked a lot like empanadas or the Bolivian saltenas we had. I guess it is the same idea. Meat wrapped in pastry to make it portable. He and John said they were tasty. I am not sure if he could tell that it was organic beef in the filling but he said it sure was delicious.

We couldn't resist desert. It was an individual bread pudding bundt cake with hard sauce. It is not my kind of dessert. The sauce was too sugary sweet.However, the cake was not as heavy as I expected. The boys liked it however.

Brasserie Beck

We are now in Europe so we are fairly familiar with the cuisine but it is fun anyway. For Belgium we chose Brasserie Beck which is also a pretty "hip" place in DC. It was crowded and noisy because there is really no ceiling and there are alot of hard concrete surfaces. The exposed pipes are simply painted a neutral color so they seam like a ceiling. They have a wall of all of the specialty beer glasses behind the bar. The waiter brought us the extensive beer list. We started off with a Classic Flemish Red Sour Ale that is available in this country only at Brasserie Beck. and a Pilsner Huyghe which is exclusive to BB. The Red Sour Ale had so little alchohol that it seemed like soda. Julian's pilsner was light perfect to start off.
We started the meal with house smoked salmon it was done two different ways. The first was salty and laced whith dill. The second preparation is plain and sweeter. The celery remoulade that goes along is delicious. They serve the most delicious crusty warm bread and the butter that tastes like it was made from fresh cream that morning. IT is not the kind of bread you want to send away.





We were happy to find the dishes we had researched on the menu. We knew moules frites was a must and they did not dissapoint. The moules were plump and succulent not chewy. I had them "saison Dupont" which is just the classic garlic, wine and parsley. John tried chorizo and fennel. I found his to be a bit salty for my taste but he loved it. We went through plenty of bread sopping up the sauce. The frites were thin and crispy: addicting. They were served with aioli, a red pepper mayo and a mustard. We all had to make ourselves save room for our meals.



Julian tried the beef Carbonnade made with Kasteel Donker beer. Of course he had one of the beers with it. The beer was thick and bitter. I didn't like it at all. The sauce was a bit sweet and the stew was served with a rutabaga puree which (surprisingly) was a hit with us all.






Waterzooi is a traditional dish of Belgium so Julia tried it. It is a pretty simple dish of chicken in a lemony cream sauce with peas, carrots and watercress. We also tried some belgian endive. It was slightly bitter which contrasted well with the cover of melted gruyere cheese.
Belgian waffles with blueberry sauce topped of a very fun and yummy evening.

What the heck is Around the World in 80 Meals?

Hey there world. We are the Tolbert's from Virginia. We are going around the world as best we can through the restaurants in the DC area. We think it is cool to try foods from different countries and learn about different cultures.
Here are our ground rules.

No national chain resturants.
Each diner orders something different.
To the maximum extent possible try something never tried before.
Everyone tastes each dish.
When friends and family come to visit they go with.

We decided to begin in the Carribean and Central America. From there we head to South America then we will go across the ocean to Africa and work our way up to Europe we will continue weaving North to South as we travel west around the world. We will throw in American cuisine from time to time when we need something familiar.

So far this has been fun.

We hope you enjoy sharing in our adventures through our post and pics