Tappahannock Eats & Drinks

Here we are at the "Gateway to the Rivah", known to most as Tappahannock.

And now for small review . . .

This Fourth of July my parents decided that cooking was a nuisance, and since I'm not one to argue with someone who says, "Let's let someone else do the work this time," I happily agreed, with my brood in tow, to try out the newest restaurant in town. We weren't sure what we would find, but I'm glad we took the chance.

Tappahannock boasts a few well-known, local, longtime (and long-ish-time) restaurants. There are Lowry's and Ferebee's, T n' L BBQ, and Java Jack's Coffee House to name a few. Others have come and gone with barely a whisper. When the opening of Buoy 17 was announced, my father was immediately skeptical that it would last, if only because of the string of ghosts the location has wandering about it's perimeter. No, not real ghosts, just the ghosts of restaurants past.

Sometimes it matters which side of the tracks you're on. Or in this case, which side of the road. I guess the same would be true of any road that cuts through the middle of a small American town: if you own a gas station, you want to be located on the right side as people are leaving; if you own a restaurant, you want to be on the right as they are coming in. Buoy 17 sort of bucks that notion, but, heck, someone has to do it.

So what genre of food do you get at Buoy 17? Seafood, Steaks and Burgers, just like it says on the front of the menu. Now, these sorts of establishments in a small riverside town can be the proverbial dime-a-dozen, so my expectations were not all that high, but it had been a while since I had indulged in the All-American version of fruits de la mer, so I scanned the menu with an open mind.

There are enough items on the menu that listing them here, untested and untried by our group, would be a complete waste of time—I'll leave it to the next reviewer to choose something else from the menu. We chose to order the Crab Dip with fried pita disks and the Fried Calamari with sweet chili lime sauce to start. Both, I must say, were excellent. Easy on the palate and enough to share.

My youngest, below kindergarten age, had the mini-burgers from the kids' menu. She's not very adventurous for someone who loves to cook.

The others of us ordered the Calamari Dinner (see sweet chili lime connection above), Fish and Chips, the Crab Cake Sandwich meal (the special), the Broiled Haddock Fillet entree, and my husband and I ordered our meal to split between us: one Tossed Garden Salad, the Seafood Platter Dinner, and two orders of the homemade Bread Pudding.

I can tell you that everyone was happy with what they ordered, with the possible exception of the youngest, who these days loves the idea of food more than the reality of it. Whether the seafood was breaded and fried or broiled with butter everyone noted the flavor, freshness, and texture. The cole slaw was flavorful, not overly saucy, and, as my husband put it, complex enough that you felt the person(s) making it actually cared about the food people would be eating. The portions were good, the prices were right, and from the sound of it, they will be adding to the menu as they go along.

If I had to make a suggestion, it would be to increase the number of broiled, light (easy on the butter) seafood plates offered and increase the number of colorful veggie side items as well. But as they've only been open since the Friday before July 4th, they're already doing pretty well, and tweaking the menu over time should be pretty easy.

Everything on the menu seemed to be genuinely homemade—nothing tasted like something I could pull out of the grocer's freezer and toss on a pan for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. They do all their own hand breading of fresh seafood items, I was told. Mary, our server, was pleasant, helpful, and seemed genuinely happy to be sharing time and space with everyone around her.

We had the opportunity to chat with Melissa Girouard who, along with her husband, Dan, owns Buoy 17. I'm still amazed that with no idea in January that they would become restaurateurs, they purchased the building in March and were ready for business by July 4th weekend. Melissa (I hope she doesn't mind my using her first name) said it's been a great deal of work, but with her family stepping up to the plate to help, it's all come together.

They do not have a liquor license as yet, but she is hopeful that it will come through any day, and by the look of it, the bar area is a lively sports den waiting to happen. I could see the wide screen TV from where I was sitting in the main dining room, and I could easily imagine hanging out in the bar area once they're up and running.

Melissa says they are planning to institute a kids' night and lunch specials with an eye toward a catering arm down the road.

They're still working on getting the web site up and running, but Mrs. Girouard says that even with no advertising whatsoever their opening day was fantastic. They seemed to get a steady stream of customers coming through the door simply through word of mouth (you can do that in a small town, you know).

www.buoy17.com  will be the web address once the site is up and running. Everything has happened so quickly that not every detail is in place, but as the saying goes, if you wait 'til all the lights are green before you leave the house, you'll never get to the grocery store.

One thing I can give you are the address and telephone number:

Buoy 17
1309 Tappahannock Blvd.
Tappahannock, VA 22560
804-443-8024

The other thing I can give is a recommendation that if you're passing through town or staying for a visit, you should give Buoy 17 a try. If the food stays true to opening weekend, you'll be glad you did.