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Chef Hans Schadler
Chef Hans Schadler owns Waypoint Seafood & Grill with his wife Liv and daughter Tina Schadler-Phillips.
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Photo courtesy of Waypoint Seafood & Grill
Waypoint Seafood & Grill
The Waypoint menu is a celebration of Chesapeake ingredients.
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Blue Talon Bistro
Blue Talon Bistro offers serious comfort food and a warm, inviting atmosphere.
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Photo courtesy of Williamsburg Winery
Gabriel Archer Tavern
Gabriel Archer Tavern is nestled among the vineyards at the Williamsburg Winery.
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Retro's Good Eats
Retro’s Good Eats! is a family friendly venue on Prince George Street In Williamsburg.
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Williamsburg Inn
The Williamsburg Inn, built in 1937 as one of the nation’s finest resort hotels, is often referred to as the symbol of John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s commitment to bring the message of Williamsburg to a larger audience.
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Charly's Airport Restaurant
Charly’s Airport Restaurant is located on the site of the Williamsburg Jamestown Airport.
Back in the 1980s, “you could count the number of dining options in Williamsburg on both hands,” said Chef Hans Schadler, who arrived in 1982 to lead the culinary team at Colonial Williamsburg in preparation for President Reagan’s 1983 Economic Summit there.
“There just wasn’t that much available at that time,” Schadler said. “The Trellis had opened up, and it was the most cutting edge and advanced dining option in town.”
Fast forward to 2015 and the food options throughout the city couldn’t be more eclectic and divine.
From fine French cuisine at Le Yaca to stick-to-your-ribs fare at the DoG Street Pub, Williamsburg had grown into its own as a culinary destination.
And even better yet, it’s become a destination that changes with the season, Schadler said, giving diners from Williamsburg itself and visitors something new to try as the weather changes and the nearby farms and watermen morph.
“We’re venturing into house-made pâtés and are transitioning to fall and winter menus,” Schadler said of his restaurant, Waypoint Seafood and Grill. “This time of year we’re bringing in the squashes and root vegetables from the farmers market, Rockfish and all the seasonal pieces to complement our staples, like the crab bisque and schnitzel.”
In honor of Williamsburg transforming into more of a culinary destination, join us as we crawl across the city and examine some of the gourmet and everyday eateries, as well as the wine options that pair so well with them.
WAYPOINT SEAFOOD & GRILL
When it comes to learning more about wines and how to pair fine foods with great varietals, you’ll want to fill your cellar from the monthly Wine Discovery Dinners at Waypoint Seafood and Grill not-to-be-missed events.
Take November 2015, when Chef Hans Schadler welcomed Peter Mondavi, Jr. of the Charles Krug-Peter Mondavi Family Napa Valley Winery to Williamsburg. Over the last few winters, Chef Schadler has also brought in a guest chef from the Piedmont region of Italy for a special truffle wine discovery dinner.
No time for a mid-week wine dinner? Head over to Waypoint any other night for dinner and ask your server for recommendations on best wines from the Waypoint wine room to pair with each course of your meal. Chef Schadler believes strongly in continuing education and works with his entire team—front and back of the house—to learn more about the wines they feature. If you can catch Restaurant Manager Howard Saunders, he might even do an impromptu wine tasting at your table.
1480 Quarterpath Road, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 waypointgrill.com 757-220-2228
BLUE TALON BISTRO
Forget anything you’ve ever heard about oatmeal, especially if it’s that “plain as a bowl of oatmeal” cliché.
When it comes to the perfect breakfast bowl of oats for a crisp fall day or chilly winter morning, crawl over to the Blue Talon Bistro on Prince George Street where it’s served piping hot, with dried fruit, brown sugar, and light cream. The best part? You can order a French Press Illy coffee to match.
No time to sit and eat? Blue Talon Bistro offers freshly baked croissants, coffee cake and morning pastries to eat at the bar or take with you on the way to work or class.
Of course, if it’s not breakfast that moves you for some serious comfort food like oatmeal, look to Blue Talon Bistro for other traditional favorites (such as meatloaf!) and original creations (Coq Au Vin Blanc) from Chef David Everett.
Wine side note: you may not be ordering wine to pair with your oatmeal, but do consider heading to Blue Talon Bistro for their half-price wine bottle nights. Stay tuned to social media and their website for updates.
420 Prince George Street, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 bluetalonbistro.com 757-476-BLUE (2583)
GABRIEL ARCHER TAVERN
Looking for a beautiful countryside view, a flight of locally made wine? Look no further than the Gabriel Archer Tavern nestled among the vineyards at the Williamsburg Winery.
Go for Sunday brunch and try the quiche of the day, crab benedict or shakshuka, a rustic Mediterranean stew of peppers, tomatoes and chorizo served with two poached eggs and a sliced baguette.
You might even get a taste of history, too, just learning about the tavern’s namesake.
Just take the story they tell, one set it 1607 when the Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed arrived in Virginia and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Fearing pirates and other maritime competition, the sailors moved inland to explore a safer place to anchor. It was Captain Gabriel Archer who proposed they settle on the very land now home to where the Williamsburg Winery now stands.
The tavern itself was built in 1987 by the Duffeler family on the footprints of an old farm shed.
5800 Wessex Hundred, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 williamsburgwinery.com or gabrielarchertavern.com 757-229-0999
RETRO’S GOOD EATS
Fast, delicious, affordable. That’s the tagline of Retro’s Good Eats! and it couldn’t be more spot on. The only word missing, perhaps, is simple. Retro’s Good Eats! has the basics down. It’s almost overwhelming trying to decide what to choose first—from the fresh cut French fries made daily to the real dairy custard also made on site, to the fried pickles and best hot dogs in town available with a choice of fourteen toppings such as blue cheese cole slaw and sweet potato mustard.
It might be the throwback nature of the entire joint that’s the real star. For most of the 20th Century Williamsburg has been home to at least one old fashioned soda fountain in one of the downtown (today known as Merchant’s Square) drug stores. That was until 2005 when the Williamsburg Drug Company closed.
What Retro’s owners Billy and Sharon Scruggs worked to create at Retro’s Good Eats! was that same feel of the old drug store counter concept.
Retro’s Good Eats! is a family friendly venue on Prince George Street, just one block away from the Williamsburg Drug Company’s former location.
435 Prince George Street Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 retrosgoodeats.com 757-253-8816
WILLIAMSBURG INN
Cucumber sandwiches, yummy scones and a Williamsburg Inn special holiday tea blend—oh, my!
That’s how you can celebrate the holiday season at the Williamsburg Inn, built in 1937 as one of the nation’s finest resort hotels, often referred to as the symbol of John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s commitment to bring the message of Williamsburg to a larger audience.
This annual holiday tradition brings together families, couples and friends to enjoy an elegant afternoon tea, and quite frankly, where you can imagine yourself as a prince or princess.
Guests sip Champagne or sparkling cider and savor custom tea blends, made exclusively for the Williamsburg Inn while dining on a delicious assortment of freshly baked scones, finger sandwiches, pastries and the chef’s exquisite Earl Grey truffle.
Why does tea at the Williamsburg Inn make you feel like a prince or princess? It is, after all, where Queen Elizabeth II stayed when she visited Williamsburg.
136 East Francis Street Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 colonialwilliamsburg.com 757-220-7754
CHARLY’S AIRPORT RESTAURANT
Charly’s Airport Restaurant, located on the site of the Williamsburg Jamestown Airport, overlooks the runway and famously serves up great food and aviation seven days a week.
Famous for fresh baked bread, daily specials (stay tuned to their Facebook page for the day’s special) and classically great sandwiches like Charly’s Famous Cheese Melt. Add bacon and fresh tomato and enjoy a scrumptious meal.
Around town, people joke that you can get a hundred-dollar burger at Charly’s. They don’t have burgers on the menu, but aviators who fly-in and then order a sandwich often pay upwards of $100 or more just for fuel to tool around. Not to worry. You can get there by car, too, and it makes for a great lunch date with young children and the young-at-heart who are interested in aviation.
100 Marclay Road, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 williamsburgairport.com 757-258-0034
This article appeared in The Holiday 2015/Winter 2016 Local Scoop Williamsburg Magazine, pgs. 20-25.
