FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK - Jada Villa

Jada Villa (***)

353 Independence Blvd Virginia Beach, VA 23462

 
 

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Lunar New Year-inspired Coastal Virginia (CoVA) Yelp Elite event at Jade Villa. From top to bottom, it was a grand event. While Hampton Roads, VA is not NYC, I will say that I have been impressed with the various culinary options that we have in our area. Maybe if these options were available, I might not have left the area in 1998 to pursue my educational dreams. I’m lying, Actually, leaving the area is one of the reasons why I’m now so experimental with my culinary delights.

 
 

Prior to attending this event, I had no idea that there were authentic Dim Sum places in the area. Actually, I think there are only one or two places. Most of our Chinese restaurants are more of the Chinese-American take-out spots where everything on the menu is $8.95 and comes with pork fried rice rather than authentic Chinese restaurants. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with the Chinese-American take-out spots . . . especially when you are hungover. Another reason why I enjoyed this event: there was SOOOOO much food, and it was all very yummy.

THE FOOD:

Unfortunately, I could not get a photo of all of the food because it was coming out so fast, but it’s the thought that counts. I think this is one of the few Yelp events (regarding NYC & CoVA), where I told myself that I’m coming back to this spot. As a matter of fact, I’m gonna ask the hubby if he would like to get Dim Sum from Jade Villa this weekend.

THE FOOD GENERAL YELP ELITE THOUGHTS:

This event was my third (or fourth) event with the CoVA Yelp Elite group, and I kind of prefer this group over the NYC Yelp Elite group. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the NYC Yelp Elite group, but the CoVA group is a more friendly group compared to the NYC group. Perhaps, it’s the Southern hospitality. Also, the CoVA group is a bit more diverse regarding age, race, and sex/gender. This observation is kind of interesting considering that NYC probably is more diverse than CoVA, and one would assume that this would trickle into social groups.

FOOD PICS OF THE WEEK - Tiki’s Bar & Grill

Tiki’s Bar & Grill (***)

4312 Holland Rd Ste 107, Virginia Beach, VA 23452

Man oh man, it has been a long time since my last FPOTW.

Word on the street says that Tiki’s Bar & Grill is the only AUTHENTIC Tiki bar in Virginia Beach. . . And by “word on the street”, I mean the restaurant’s website.

I will say that Tiki’s might be my new go-to place for exciting cocktails. Also, it helps that the restaurant is a 10 – 15 minute drive from my house. While one probably should have eaten S. Pacific food in a place with Tiki in its name, I decided to go with a burger. Hey, we visited the restaurant on a Wednesday, which is ‘build your burger’ night. Hey (part II), I did add grilled pineapples to my burger so that should count for something. Boy, did the folks take the tiki theme to the max because the entire bar was staged as if you were sitting in a tiki bar. The restaurant even had a ‘soundtrack’ of birds chirping and waterfalls & waves crashing as background noise.

Hands down, I will say that my burger was one of the best that I’ve eaten since returning to the area.

 
 

Of course, a FPOTW would not be complete without some cocktails.

 
 

LOL: the frowning mug on the right kind of looks like me when I have to wake up at 4/5 am for a morning run.

Since I have a feeling that I will return to the restaurant in the near future, I would like to make it a goal to try all of the restaurant’s cocktails at least once.

 
 

Looking at the cocktail menu, there are 22 cocktails. With about 2 cocktails per visit, that means I will have to visit the restaurant at least 10 more times. Cocktails aside, I definitely want to return to at least one more time to try its Loco Moco, which was one of my favorite dishes while traveling in Hawai’i.

FOOD PIC OF THE WEEK

Since it was too hard to pick one favorite food pic or restaurant while vacationing in Spain, I figure that I would put my top meals in one post. This way, the next five entries “Food Pics of the Week” will not be food entries from Spain.

MADRID, PART 1

Bang Cook

Bodega Maribel

Santander:

La Casa del Indiano

Restaurant: ???

Restaurant: ???

Barcelona:

Restaurant ???

La Mar Salida

Madrid, part II

El Brillante

Going forward, I probably should take pictures of the restaurants’ names and menus so I can 1) know the name of the restaurant and 2) know the actual names of the dishes. I did try to check in to these places on Yelp, so they would be in my recently checked in folder. However, many of the spots we visited did not have Yelp listings, and I was not trying to create new Yelp listings for these places

Food Pic of the Week

886 (***)

26 St. Marks Place, New York, NY 10003

Great Taiwanese food in the heart of the East Village.

Scallion Pancake Beef Wrap

 
Braised and Shredded Beef Shank, Szdaddy Mayo, Cucumber, Black Bean Sauce, Scallion Pancake

Braised and Shredded Beef Shank, Szdaddy Mayo, Cucumber, Black Bean Sauce, Scallion Pancake

 

Lo Ba Beng

 
Classic Taiwanese Rice Dish – Tender Braised Pork Belly Served Over Rice, Pickled Mustard Greens, Egg, Cilantro

Classic Taiwanese Rice Dish – Tender Braised Pork Belly Served Over Rice, Pickled Mustard Greens, Egg, Cilantro

 

Fly’s Head

 
Pork, Chives, Chili, Fermented Black Bean, and Garlic

Pork, Chives, Chili, Fermented Black Bean, and Garlic

 

Honey Glazed Popcorn Chicken

 
Marinated Chicken, Szedaddy hot honey, Thai Basil

Marinated Chicken, Szedaddy hot honey, Thai Basil

 

The Notorious T.F.C

 
AKA Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich. Deboned Chicken Thigh, Daikon Slaw, Martin’s Sesame Bun

AKA Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich. Deboned Chicken Thigh, Daikon Slaw, Martin’s Sesame Bun

 

Food Pic of the Week

Haru Sushi (***) 

 433 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10024

Yelp had a grand virtual event for its Yelp Elite Squad in which we received a $50 voucher redeemable at any Haru Sushi restaurant in the city. So today’s entry will be a picture of a simple sushi spread and a nice bottle of wine.

 
 

I was so anxious to eat that I did not even remove the top before taking the picture.