VINTON–Many people do not realize that if you don’t want to cook in Vinton, there are at least two dozen restaurants in the immediate area who will prepare a meal for you.
The Vinton Area Chamber of Commerce (VACC) has come up with a new service for its members and local citizens—”Eat InVinton—A Taste of the Town Guide” to local restaurants.
The idea came about when Magnets USA relocated to Vinton this spring from Roanoke. Many of their employees like to eat lunch out and asked Angie Chewning, executive director of the VACC, “what Vinton had to offer.”
At the Magnets ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests were treated to a “Taste of the Town” with samples of foods from the local restaurants. The idea blossomed further and resulted in the “Taste of the Town Guide.”
Chewning asked each restaurant in the area–whether they were Chamber members or not–to contribute a copy of its menu. She duplicated the menus and compiled them into a booklet which has been distributed to local businesses and organizations publicizing what is available for breakfast, lunch, or dinner from Vinton establishments—eat in or take out. Catering menus are also included.
Full menus are available for the downtown Pollard Street Angelo’s Mexican Restaurant, which prepares authentic Mexican dishes “right in front of you from fresh ingredients,” and the Red Jasmine Thai restaurant, which draws diners from across the valley.
Lee Avenue restaurants include the BBQ Grill which is under new ownership, the historic Dogwood Restaurant, and Giardino’s Pizza, as well as D.R. Music which has a sandwich and hot dog menu some are not aware of, although many proclaim their hot dogs as the best in town or comparable in quality even to those at the Roanoke Weiner Stand.
Menus from the two gourmet chefs serving lunch on the Vinton Farmers’ Market are in the Taste of Vinton booklet—Hamm’s Fine Foods from Chef Chris Hamm and Star City Succotash from Chef Drew Buzik.
From the end of Walnut Avenue comes the menu for Bob’s Restaurant which prepares what is described by many in Vinton and beyond, as the “best burgers in the valley.” Few know that they also have a breakfast menu.
Teaberry’s Restaurant and Catering on East Cleveland across from the new library features a wide variety of luncheon dishes along with their acclaimed banana pudding and Blackberry Wine Cake.
In the fall, there are plans to add the menu from the new library’s coffee shop.
In the Lake Drive area, there is Famous Anthony’s Restaurant, rumored to be the best of the family friendly chain in the region. Rancho Viejo Mexican Grill and Cantina has a seven-page menu of their dishes. The menu from the wildly popular New York Pizza is included along with the China Wall All-you-can-Eat Buffet and regular house menu.
Links to websites are also listed for the nine fast food restaurants in town including Bojangles, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Long John Silver’s, Taco Bell, and Domino’s.
Menus from the restaurants located on the Route 24 corridor feature the Vinton Franks’ Pizza and Jerry’s Family Restaurant, famous for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and packed on Saturday mornings.
Chewning welcomes menus from new restaurants which open in the area and will add them to the guide, and she is willing to substitute updated menus when they change.
She has distributed over 300 copies both locally and in Roanoke and the surrounding areas to publicize what is available here in Vinton as a boost for area businesses. The hope of the Chamber and the town is that those who eat “InVinton” will linger to shop in Vinton.
More information and copies of the “Eat InVinton Taste of the Town Guide” are available by calling the Chamber office at 343-1364 or by emailing them at info@vintonchamber.com.
