The Washington Post
July 12, 2006

Far From the Big City, 2 Former D.C. Residents Find Themselves in Very Different Culinary Circumstances

In the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Rappahannock County is "75 miles and 75 years away from Washington, D.C.," in the words of the late senator Eugene McCarthy, for more than two decades the most famous of the county's 7,000-some residents. So when my wife and I moved here in November after nearly 40 years in the D.C. area -- trading our Vienna townhouse on a lot the size of a postage stamp for nine acres with a view of Skyline Drive -- we knew we were in for some lifestyle changes.

One of the changes involved something we had always taken for granted -- food. For openers, there's no sushi out here. So our days of popping in to Sushi Yama on Vienna's Maple Avenue anytime we felt like it were over. Some folks out here call sushi "bait." And (alas) I have yet to turn up a bagel anywhere in Rappahannock.

No matter. You can't get a decent bagel in the District either (while opinions may differ, I once lived in New York City, and I'm sticking to my guns on this one). Happily, it turns out that this scenic little slice of Virginia is as easy on the palate as the eye. While the setting is definitely countryside, dining here can be as urbane as it comes.

Of course, Rappahannock County is home to one of the world's most acclaimed (and expensive) restaurants, the Inn at Little Washington. For more ordinary dining experiences, you can get a Reuben sandwich at the Country Cafe across the street from the famous inn that compares quite nicely with -- and, at $5.95, is three bucks less than -- the ones my wife and I fell in love with in the early 1970s at the Childe Harold in Dupont Circle. The Thornton River Grille in nearby Sperryville serves a wicked duck quesadilla and burgers worthy of Clyde's. The Blue Rock Inn offers grilled portobello mushroom appetizers and such entrees as Red Thai Curried Shrimp with basmati rice -- along with a mountain view. And while the county doesn't have a Domino's or any pizza delivery to enjoy on Redskin Sundays, you can watch the game at a British-style pub in Flint Hill called the Griffin Tavern -- where the pizza is better anyway.

And then there is "Ecow."

The Epicurious Cow, up Route 211, looks deceptively like a simple country store. It's much more. Ecow was launched five years ago by Terri Lehman and John Oravec, veterans of the sophisticated Sutton Place Gourmet (now Balducci's). This is Rappahannock County's version of the Whole Foods Market that my wife and I left behind. The whole world is here. Choices range from quality strip steaks from Marin County's celebrated Niman Ranch, Bell & Evans natural grain-fed chickens, fresh local brown eggs, mangoes from Guatemala, pears from Chile, salmon from Iceland, shrimp from everywhere, Swiss Muesli cereal, specialty coffees, baguettes, aromatic Epoisses cheese from France -- and too many other cheeses, apples, asparagus, onions, turnips, pastas, pestos, peppers, strawberries and leeks to mention in one line.

My wife is from Asia and was delighted to discover a corner that Ecow has reserved for Far Eastern specialties such as soba noodles and wasabi chips from Japan, Indian tandoori spices, and other sauces and noodles from China, Thailand and Vietnam.

But the biggest food surprise that greeted us the very day we moved out of the city was a neighborly one. Laura Grigsby showed up on our doorstep and welcomed us with a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread. In all our years of living in Washington, nobody had ever brought us pumpkin bread. That's when we knew we were . . . home.

Greg Rushford edits a newsletter on international trade