Favorites of a West Ghent Newbie

Part of this new adventure - smaller house, more pedestrian lifestyle, urban neighborhood - is trying lots and lots of restaurants that we have never been to before. Some of them we can walk to!

I've made a list (it keeps growing) of restaurants in Ghent and some in downtown Norfolk. From our house we can drive a couple minutes to the western termination of The Tide at the Fort Norfolk station, park and then we can scoot downtown in a flash without the hassle of parking. Nice!

Back to the list ... it contains 52 restaurants and so far, we've been to 20 of them. Honestly, I hope the list keeps growing and we never get to the end. I love it! We have lived in our new/old West Ghent home for about 2 months and here are my five faves, so far,  in no particular order:

Y Not Pizza. Oh my gosh! Y Not is a place you can go everyday! Great pizza, Italian dishes and salads and more. Our favorites are the create your own salad and pasta. Their meat sauce is like really good homemade sauce. Soooo yummy! And, BONUS, they deliver! Y Not has a few locations in the area.

No Frill Bar and Grill. No Frill is across the street from Y Not and we will be able to walk to both of them when my knee is back to 100%. No Frill has a very large and innovative menu and every single meal sounds delicious. One of the specialties is the Funky Chicken and you can get it as a salad or a sandwich. Oh! And they have a Sunday brunch.

Press 626 Café and Wine Bar. Love this place! It is in an old house and it has a couple tables on the front porch. If you like wine you should try Press 626. They have all kinds of specials depending on the day of the week. The day we went there was a list of 8 or 10 wines for $15 for the bottle. The fare is light with several sandwiches hence the name of the restaurant "press" as in Panini press. Oh! They have ladies' night on Mondays and I hear you need reservations it's so popular.

Luna Maya. Luna Maya serves South American dishes that are crazy good but, I also love the atmosphere. It reminds me of restaurants that I've been to in San Francisco - it has tall industrial ceilings and it is noisy and bustling. Everybody seems to be having fun in Luna Maya! Their tamales are great, not your typical, they taste more like barbecue on corn bread, yum! And, anything with the cilantro lime chicken is delicious. They have happy hour Tuesday through Thursday when you can get discounted food entrees in addition to discounted drinks from 4:30 to 6:30.

Pasha Mezze. They describe their food as Mediterranean and Anatolian, I'd go with Turkish with lots of organic, vegetarian and vegan options. It's really delicious and it is very nice inside and there is a pretty patio for outdoor dining. I got the Turkish sampler platter but they have tons of things I would like to try like the kebabs and the Anatolian plate with quinoa cake and grilled eggplant steak. There is also a Pasha coffee house next door and when we went there was a sign posted saying they serve breakfast!

I'll have to do a similar post in about two more months and see if my favorites have changed????