OCCOQUAN INN Restaurant and Tavern - The Virginia Grill and The Down Under

Historic Occoquan is a delightful place to visit all year round and a stop at the Occoquan Inn Restaurant and Tavern is a must at any time. Located right in the heart of this quaint village, the Occoquan Inn also houses the popular Virginia Grill and the fun Down Under tavern. The menu at the main restaurant is first class with items such as Virginia peanut soup, French onion soup and baked mushrooms stuffed with cream cheese and bacon. Entrée selections include their very popular prime rib, Cornish hens, crab cakes, scallops, veal marsala, seafood fettucini, New York strip steak and on occasion, broiled lobster tail. A more casual menu is offered in the Virginia Grill such as nachos and cheese, popcorn shrimp and potato skins for starters. Then there’s a full menu of sandwiches, soups and salads which, if the weather is nice, can be served outside on the adjacent deck overlooking the river. The bar Down Under is a fun spot, particularly on Friday and Saturday evenings where there’s live music after 9:30 p.m. The main restaurant also features a really good Sunday morning buffet featuring omeletes and one of my favorites, sausage gravy with biscuits. Gary Savage is the genial proprietor and Kevin Oswalt, the creative partner-chef. For more information, call the Occoquan Inn at 703-491-1888 and check the website at www.OccoquanInn.com

SAPORE Italian Ristorante and Pizzeria (Alexandria, VA)

A discovery of discoveries! In the popular Del Ray section of Alexandria is a wonderful Southern Italian restaurant called Sapore Italian Ristorante and Pizzeria. This is Southern Italian cooking at its best. Sapore is owned by the Dominguez family with a kitchen staff from a popular Italian restaurant in D.C., Enzio’s, which closed last year. The entire staff is now at Sapore’s. What a coup! This allows John and George Dominguez to concentrate on service and producing a welcoming environment. I had pizza for an appetizer and it was the next best thing to my favorite Brooklyn pizza. Their calamari is lightly fried, delightfully tender and served with a homemade marinara sauce. Being a soup lover, I had to try both the vegetable and lentil, each with its own distinctive and savory flavor. Next came steamed mussels over spaghetti with a white wine sauce that was so good I embarrassed my wife by sipping the sauce from the plate. She had a rigatoni dish served with a red wine cream sauce that was sinfully delicious. We shared a small salad that had a homemade dressing which we suggested they bottle and sell. Fortunately we had a little room left for dessert. You must not leave Sapore’s without trying the ricotta cheesecake. It is to die for. All of the menu dishes are from Enzio’s brought to Sapore’s by Enzio’s daughter Antoinette and executed by she and Chef Oscar Bermudez. I can’t wait to return to try some of their other traditional Southern Italian dishes like veal parmigiana, eggplant rollatine, shrimp al limone, lasagna, manicotti and maybe even a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. And you can be sure I won’t leave without a piece of the ricotta cheesecake. Sapore’s is located at 1310 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. It’s open seven days a week and has free parking in the rear. For more information, call 703-683-9680.