NORFOLK, VA – Norfolk, Virginia continues to add to its eclectic mix of dining experiences and is now home to nearly 80 unique, chef-owned restaurants with more restaurants expected to join the scene in 2009.   In fact, the number of restaurants in this exceptional dining destination by the sea has jumped significantly over the past seven years, increasing ten-fold from 1997 to 2005.

Due to the city’s continued restaurant and culinary success, the first ever Downtown Norfolk Restaurant Week kicked off Jan. 22-28, 2006 to much fanfare, with 23 participating restaurants offering price fixed lunches and dinners.  The annual event was a huge success this year.  According to the Downtown Norfolk Council, nearly 60 percent of Restaurant Week diners who responded to the survey live outside of Norfolk and had not previously dined at that restaurant.

“Norfolk has really grown up, and a big part of the cultural scene here is happening in our restaurants,” said Todd Jurich, award-winning chef and owner of the popular downtown restaurant, Todd Jurich’s Bistro which also participated in Norfolk’s Restaurant Week, “I anticipate Norfolk’s Restaurant Week to be an ongoing successful tradition for our restaurants.”  Downtown Norfolk Restaurant Week will be held bi-annually.

Newcomers like Chef Philip Thomason who owns Vintage Kitchen at Mile Marker Zero, Norfolk’s fine-dining restaurant overlooking the Elizabeth River, share's Jurich's sentiment. "I grew up here, but learned my craft at Cordon Bleu in Paris and under Wolfgang Puck and Jeremiah Tower.  Of all the places in the world, it was Norfolk where I wanted create my own dining vision."  Vintage Kitchen opened in the fall of 2005 and is known for its use of Virginia-based products from staples and ingredients in Thomason's delectable dishes to textiles and designs employed in the restaurant's decor.

New restaurants and eateries added to the culinary mix along Norfolk's “Restaurant Row”, along Granby Street include:

•    Trilogy Bistro moved into the first floor of the private Virginia Club, a historic former bank building on Main and Granby streets in the heart of Downtown Norfolk.  Trilogy Bistro offers an a la carte menu of steak, seafood and side dishes to appeal to an after work business crowd.

•    Baxter's is a vast sports lounge offering a bank of television screens for various sporting events and seven pool tables.   Baxter Simmons is one of many innovative restaurateurs with more than one flourishing operation in the Norfolk area.

•    The second carnation from successful Thai restaurateur, Boonrit "Jack" Ngamsaard, who opened Tida Thai three years ago in Chesapeake, will open Rama Garden Thai Cuisine on Granby Street, and be a more formal experience than its sister restaurant.

Norfolk enjoys a temperate mid-Atlantic climate moderated by its proximity to the Gulf Stream with an average yearly high temperature is about 68 degrees, it's no wonder many restaurants in Norfolk offer al fresco dining available many months of the year.  Following are more Granby Street favorites:

•    456 Fish: Where Curley’s Billiard Parlor resided in the 1920s – is now best known for its fish and crustacean dishes, especially their award- winning crab cakes.   

•    Doumar’s, located at the north end of Granby Street, is a family-run shop that began as a circa-1907 ice cream stand; which oozes nostalgia and was the birthplace of the ice cream cone in 1934.  The same delectable waffle cones are still baked here daily and visitors can anticipate a throw-back Happy Days-like experience complete with drive-in service - save the roller skates. Visitors with a pre-ice cream fix can enjoy anything barbecued, especially their North Carolina-style barbeque pork on a bun.  

Colley Avenue is another popular dining strip in the charming neighborhood of the historic Ghent district, offering a vast selection of restaurants and ample al fresco dining.

•    No Frill Bar and Grill: Fresh, affordable and family-friendly, No Frill offers up tasty summer salads, barbecue ribs and generous grill choices as well as seafood specialties like tempura fried soft-shell crab.

•    Press 626 Wine Café & Wine Bar: Press 626 is dedicated to local foods and regional economies. THe menu reflects the farms and artisans who provide them with ingredients.

•    The Ten Top: The restaurant offers fresh original and healthy food in a very quaint and rustic environment. Ten Top is a locals favorite that serves up delicious vegetarian and seafood sandwiches, hearty meat wraps like the chicken, apple chutney and walnut wrap, the hot turkey Rueben or the Greek lamb hoagie.  Dinner favorites are the beef meatloaf, Mediterranean tortellini or the pan roasted salmon.

Visitors can find a list of restaurants in the 2009 Norfolk Visitors’ Guide, distributed at convenient locations throughout the destination and at the Ocean View Visitors Center or by logging onto www.visitnorfolktoday.com

Considered the dynamic heart of Virginia’s storied Hampton Roads region, Norfolk attracts thousands of travelers each year to enjoy its lively downtown waterfront and 144 miles of shimmering coastline.  Offering a vibrant blend of history and heritage with contemporary attractions, outdoor adventure and the Commonwealth’s most important cultural institutions, Norfolk is an exciting destination.  Here, where the Elizabeth River meets the Chesapeake Bay, visitors will find an easily walkable downtown that offers eclectic dining options, a rich arts scene, high-end shopping and year-round special events.  For more information about Norfolk, visit the city on the Web at www.visitnorfolktoday.com, or call 757-664-6620 or toll free at 800-368-3097.