8 Restaurants Establishing The Shenandoah Valley As A Culinary Capital

Though the Shenandoah Valley may be known for its mountain vistas, hiking trails, and noteworthy drives, it’s not just about the outdoors. A crop of new and enduring restaurants and bars are redefining the region as a culinary capital. With menus that draw their inspiration, as well as meat and produce, from the area's bounty, chefs and bartenders are rewriting the narrative. From upmarket tasting menus in tiny towns to cocktails bars served with a side of mid-century national park nostalgia, these are the spots worth traveling for (with or without a hike thrown in).

The Restaurant at Blue Rock

Washington, Virginia

Set on 80-acres, a stay at Blue Rock makes for an indulgent rest after a long hike or day hopping between wineries. Luckily, you don’t have to vie for one of the coveted five rooms to experience the property's magic. In Blue Rock’s restaurant, diners can enjoy a four-course tasting menu ($119) served in the inn’s formal dining room overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. Helmed by Bin Lu, formerly of Washington D.C.’s much-lauded Pineapple & Pearls, dinner at the restaurants offers an ever-changing menu of seasonal fare from the Shenandoah Valley (think wine-poached quinces and chicken pot pie with chanterelles). Opting for the dinner’s wine pairing ($79) leads you on a journey from surrounding Virginia vineyards to the wines of Europe. For something more casual, Blue Rock’s Tasting Room serves hearty food à la carte.

www.bluerockva.com, 12567 Lee Highway, Washington, Virginia 22747

The Three Blacksmiths

Sperryville, Virginia

Since it first opened five years ago, this husband-and-wife run restaurant has been helping to establish the town of Sperryville, Virginia as the culinary capital of the Shenandoah Valley. An airy space, the farm-to-table restaurant puts on a new spin on intimate dining; it seats just twenty guests a night, and reservations for their prix-fixe seasonal dinners ($148) book out months in advance. Guest travel near and far arrive ready to settle in for the long haul—the tasting experience runs for four hours. Dinners are served beside an open kitchen in a cozy, candlelit space that satisfies long-after the last bite is taken.

www.threeblacksmiths.com, 20 Main Street, Sperryville, Virginia 22740

Vault & Cellar

Middletown, Virginia

Middletown’s Vault & Cellar offers the rare combination of approachability and high-quality fine dining. The brainchild of a local chef, who cut her teeth working in Michelin-starred Rose’s Luxury Washington, D.C. and alongside a James Beard award-winning chef at Cochon in New Orleans, Vault & Cellar feels distinctly personal and regionally focused. Their menu is deeply rooted in regional fare, like rabbit, duck, and quail. They source everything from eggs to vinegars from farms in the area, including Wardensville Garden Market, a nonprofit enterprise that supports young people in Appalachia. The restaurant has earned accolades for its impressive bourbon library (over 300 varieties strong), and special wine dinners which pair Appalachian cooking with the wines of local vineyards.

www.thevaultandcellar.com, 7843 Main Street, Middletown, Virginia 22645

The Shack

Staunton, Virginia

In The Shack’s dining room, chef Ian Boden serves a five-course tasting menu that highlights the links between local Appalachian cooking and the Eastern European Jewish culinary profiles of his ancestry. In Boden’s kitchen it’s about utilizing the region’s short growing season, cooking with rendered fats (lard or schmaltz, depending on how your look at it), and fermenting fresh produce to extend the season. The Shack sources from 40 regional farms and producers, creating menus around the height of the harvest.

theshackva.com, 105 S Coalter Street, Staunton, Virginia 24401

Related: The Best Things To Do In Staunton, Virginia

Bar Francis

Sperryville, Virginia

Outstanding cocktails served a stone’s throw from the Skyline Drive? It might sound unlikely, but that’s the goal of Bar Francis, a sleek cocktail bar on Sperryville’s Main Street where guests in hiking boots are as welcomed as those in heels. Attached to Sperryville’s Corner Store, which sells local produce, Virginia wines, and baked goods, the cocktail bar effortlessly blends a come-as-you-are atmosphere with drinks that hold their weight against the best of the best in any major city. Bar Francis’s cocktails use locally-sourced ingredients. Their takes on the classics, like the Thornton Manhattan (made with rosehip hibiscus syrup and mulberry spiced bitters crafted down the street at Wild Roots Apothecary) and the Good Copper Old Fashioned (made rye whiskey from local distiller, Copper Fox) make the bar a local favorite and celebrated post-hike discovery.

www.bar-francis.com, 3710 Sperryville Pike, Sperryville, Virginia 22740

The Red Hen

Lexington, Virginia

Since The Red Hen first opened its doors (in the midst of the 2008 economic recession, no less) it has aimed to provide a fine dining concept in a small Virginia town. Today, the twenty-six-seat dining room is thriving as a favorite for locals and visitors alike—it's booked weeks in advance for the coveted days around Washington & Lee graduation and parents’ weekends. The curated menu rotates regularly, sometimes multiple times a week, to reflect what’s growing and being harvested in the Valley’s farms. They also source local meat and Virginia wines.

www.redhenlex.com, 11 East Washington Street, Lexington, Virginia 24450

Rappahannock Pizza Kitchen

Sperryville, Virginia

Some of the best pizza you’ll find on this side of the Arno, Rappahannock Pizza Kitchen serves seriously good pies in a lively dining room off Sperryville’s Corner Store. On the other side of the Corner Store is Bar Francis, so you can count on some award-worthy cocktails being served alongside your slices. Rappahannock’s secret lies in their sourdough crusts, meat and vegetable toppings which come from farms in the Valley, and cooking process in their traditional wood-burning pizza oven. This is what pizza dreams are made of.

www.rappahannockpizzakitchen.com, 3710 Sperryville Pike, Sperryville, Virginia 22740

The Catamount Lounge

Front Royal, Virginia

The folks behind the Strasburg, Virginia, breakfast spot, The Pancake Underground, have hung up their aprons and traded early mornings for nightlife. Their new venture, a cocktail lounge called The Catamount Lounge, will begin shaking and stirring drinks for guests in fall 2023. The Catamount Lounge is already generating buzz as a welcomed post-dinner offering in Front Royal, the Virginia town at the entrance to Skyline Drive. The intimate bar—there will be room for about forty people—will evoke some of the mid-century nostalgia that runs through Front Royal, harkening back to the tourism boom of the late 1930s boom when Skyline Drive was extended to the mountain town. The Catamount Lodge’ classic cocktail list will be mixed with some of their own concoctions, paired with a small food menu featuring local dishes.

www.instagram.com/thecatamountlounge, 124 East Main Street, Front Royal, Virginia 22630

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