The story below is from our January/February 2020 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Get to know Roanoke’s food scene with an inside look at our food and culture history, thanks to Tour Roanoke.
One of the best ways to fall in love with any place is to immerse oneself in its food haunts and history. Fortunately for Roanokers, Tour Roanoke offers an excellent opportunity for falling in love.
In 2020, Tour Roanoke will enter its seventh year of operations. The tour company offers a variety of wonderful food and drink tours. The Historic Downtown Roanoke Food and Culture Tour, however, is the one to experience for discovering—or re-discovering—the full measure of what makes Roanoke the “Magic City.”
The tour begins at Hotel Roanoke. After check-in and formal introductions, guests head to the Regency Room where an elegantly set table awaits them. Once everyone is seated, individual portions of the Regency Room’s famous spoon bread and peanut soup are served. While guests eat, the tour guide tells the story of Roanoke’s beginnings, as well as Hotel Roanoke’s history and the food made famous there.
The guide also explains the origin of ingredients—in this case, peanuts and corn—and how they have become iconic Virginia foods. Guests learn about current executive chef, Stephen DeMarco, and the unique ways he’s added flair to the menu while still respecting the Grand Old Lady’s traditional Southern flavors.
Once everyone is finished, the tour guide directs the group to the main entryway and continues sharing notable features of the hotel, Roanoke and Virginia. Guests are shown several “hidden gems hung in plain sight.” All this pointing out and history sharing allows food to settle before moving on to the next stop: Cedars Lebanese Restaurant.
There are a total of seven tasting spots on the walking tour. Each restaurant has been selected for its ability to help tell Roanoke’s story. At Cedars Lebanese Restaurant, guests learn the enormous role Roanoke’s Lebanese families have played in adding vibrancy to our local culture. At Billy’s, the historic building and its décor help tell colorful tales of Roanoke’s rowdy early days. At Corned Beef and Company, guests celebrate Roanoke’s Scotch-Irish roots. They also learn of two college buddies and the class project now credited for spurring much of downtown Roanoke’s revival.
Of course, the tour stops at Roanoke’s most legendary restaurant, the Texas Tavern, a place of endless stories unto itself. After the Tavern, guests head back to Market Street to experience Virginia’s oldest operating street market, as well as two more tasting stops—On the Rise Bakery and Chocolate Paper—for dessert.
The tour operates as a “progressive dinner.” Portions are sized similar to small plates at a tapas bar. Dishes—and thus, restaurants—follow a multi-course meal: soup, bread and appetizer-type dishes, followed by main course selections, followed by desserts. Oftentimes, the owner or chef of the restaurant comes out to greet guests, engage in short conversation and answer questions.
The food itself is designed to help tell Roanoke’s story: our southern heritage found in spoonbread and peanut soup; our immigrant fingerprints discovered in Lebanese meat pie and tabula; our mid-Atlantic influences tasted through epicurean shrimp and grits; and our Scotch-Irish, blue collar roots running through the Reuben and cheesy western.
After the third tasting spot, the tour stops at the Taubman Museum of Art. Folks are given a short time to browse the galleries and use the restroom. Then the tour guide gathers everyone on the second level balcony. From this vantage point, guests hear more of Roanoke’s story through noticing the Taubman’s architectural features with Roanoke’s unique, neon-sign cityscape in perfect view.
As guests listen, they witness Roanoke’s story play out before them. They can see the tributaries responsible for Roanoke’s beginnings in the Taubman’s watery staircase. They notice the region’s red clay soil in the rust coloring of the wall. They recognize Roanoke’s railroading backbone in the museum’s industrial elements. They see the mountains mimicked in the Taubman’s roofline. It’s an ideal mid-way stop for both story-telling and digestion before continuing on to the second half of the tour.
After several hours and all seven stops, the tour ends at the top of Center in the Square. From here, guests can trace their food path start to finish. They also take in expansive views of the valley and reminisce on all they’ve just experienced. It’s the perfect way to end an immersive food and culture experience.
In every society around the world, food does more than act as sustenance for the body. Food tells the story of a people and their place. It captures our imaginations even as it nourishes our communities. Tour Roanoke understands this. Through their Historic Food and Culture Tour, they offer Roanokers a beautiful love story of our home town.
... for more from our January/February 2020 issue, Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!