Trail Recommendations

Dutch Haus B&B
Mile 808

Everyone says that the Homeplace restaurant in Catawba VA is the best restaurant on the trail. I'm sorry, but no. Homeplace gives you an infinite amount of fried chicken and other good country things, but nothing to write home about. Certainly not worth the hellish two mile walk along a busy road.

Three Lil Pigs BBQ in Troutville, however, is sublime. It's a decent southern BBQ joint that had a front-end collision with a bistro. The vinegar pork was pretty much perfect, as were the ribs, although the pitmaster at 3 Pigs prefers to smoke the meats a little lighter than what I am accustomed to. Gazpacho fresh and tasty, but needed a touch more sour and a touch more spicy (both of which were corrected with Tabasco). Onion straws . . . These little shreds of joy were perfectly batter-dipped onion fragments that somehow managed to not have a drop of greasiness or pasty onion texture- just a puffy onionness, and a cajun garlic aioli to dip them in. Chicken salad touched with fresh sage, the leaves blanched to a brilliant green. Sigh. Only a half mile from the trail, as well.

Dutch Haus in Montbello, VA is, well, fantastic, but pricey for a hostel, at $25. The food is well-prepared, simple stuff, but Earl and his family are so wonderful that it tastes much better. And being out of the elements is always nice for a night.