As I was staying at the plantation several weeks ago, I had the chance to visit two local restaurants in the area. If you visit the area, these are some wonderful places to stop and eat.

My first stop was with Brett at Fujiya House, a Japanese Steakhouse. It is located in Fredericksburg in the Central Park area. Just so you know, Central Park is a shopping and dining mecca.  With hundreds of places to shop and eat, you never run out of choices.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love Asian Food. So I love trying new places to see how good they are. This Japanese Steakhouse was really good.

The inside is open and inviting with what I have come to expect from a Hibachi style restaurant. Grills and a Sushi Bar with tons of fun watching the chef cook our food.

No sushi for me this night. Brett and I both had a steak entree with Brett adding scallops and I added shrimp. Our meal started with a clear chicken soup and was followed by a salad with a ginger house dressing.

Brett ate his scallops so fast, I couldn’t get a picture of it!

With a colorfully decorated room, this was a fun place to enjoy a dinner out.

You can visit Fujiya House’s website at http://fujiyahouse.com/ to see more of their wonderful restaurant.

Our next stop was in Colonial Beach, Virginia. Colonial Beach is located just 20 miles from Belle Grove and it’s beach is on the Potomac River. There are several restaurants there and some wonderful artists that have shops in the downtown area.

We decided to visit Seaside Thai and French Restaurant. This is a “fusion style” restaurant that combines Thai and French Cuisine. We have eaten here before and loved it so it wasn’t a hard choice to go back.

The restaurant is in an older Dutch style home, but is decorated wonderfully.

We started out with a Thai appetizer called “Satay”. This appetizer is skewered and grilled chicken served with a special Seaside House Peanut Sauce and Cucumber relish. This relish is to die for! I could have eaten it and been just as happy!

Brett and I both ordered the same entree, Bistro Filet Mignon. This wonderful steak was cooked to perfection and was served with Shallot and Red Wine Sauce with a side of Roasted Herb Potatoes and Vegetables.

But we didn’t stop there! We decided to order dessert!

Brett had a bowl of Coconut Ice Cream…

I had a Fried Banana drizzle with sweet honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds and served with Vanilla Ice Cream!

It was all very wonderful! Brett and I agree this is a great place for dinner and will be returning soon!

You can visit Seaside’s website at http://www.seaside-va.com/ to see more of their wonderful food!

To see more places we have visited

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Last Friday night, Brett and I tried a new restaurant in Historic Fredericksburg. Castiglias is a family owned Italian restaurant located on Williams Street. We had a chance to meet one of the owners who is from Naples, Italy. From the looks of the restaurant and the number of people waiting for a table, this place is very popular and very good.

They offer indoor sitting at tables or at the pizza or bar area. They also offer outdoor cafe style sitting. Brett and I wanted to get a sense of the restaurant so we chose to wait for a table. It wasn’t a bad wait, just twenty minutes.

They gave us these really cool buzzers too!

Once we got our table, we were quickly greeted by Myles, our waiter. Brett and I were both very impressed with Myles. His attention to detail was not that of a normal wait staff. We decided to start with an appetizer called “Bruschetta Castiglia”.

This bruschetta is made with chopped tomato and fresh made mozzarella cheese dressed with olive oil and garlic over toasted artisan bread. The mozzarella cheese was to die for!

As we were waiting for our salads, I noticed that Castiglias was known for their “World Famous Meatballs.” So since Brett and I love meatballs, we ordered one to share.

This meatball is made with 100% beef and was very well seasoned. You could tell that it was made in house with loving hands! The tomato sauce was delicious and didn’t over power the meatball or cover up the meatballs seasoning. They really did go well together.

After our salads, our main entrees arrived. Brett had decided that he wanted to give their spaghetti a try. Brett has traveled a good bit in Italy while he was in the Navy and with his current position. So he has grown to love the true Italian tomato sauce. One of the first things he noted about his dish was that they soaked the pasta in the tomato sauce before they covered it. He really likes it that way. He said that this was one of the best spaghetti dishes he has ever had.

I decided to order one of the specials that night. A New York Strip (cooked medium) topped with Scallions and Gorgonzola Cheese with a side of Gnoochi and saute Spinach. It was so good! The Gnoochi was light and the Gorgonzola really tasted great with the New York Strip. My steak came out a little under done, but not so much that I would have said anything. But our waiter, Myles came back to check on us and saw my steak. He noted that it looked a little under done and asked me if I wanted to have it cooked a little more. I declined, but I was so impressed. I can’t say I have ever had a waiter look that close at my food!

After we finished our meal, I told Brett that I needed just a little something sweet after such a wonderful meal. So Myles offered us a Chocolate Dipped Cannoli with a Creamy Center that just melted in your month! With the light sprinkle of powdered sugar and my taste buds were satisfied.

As we walked towards the door, the owner stopped us and asked us how our meal had been. We both told him how good it had been and how wonderful our waiter had been. He thanked us and told me to come back with a flyer for our business. He said that he would love to place it on the window by the door so everyone could see it.

So we now have a great place for Italian food for that special dinner or even just for a great night in Historic Fredericksburg while you are visiting Belle Grove Plantation!

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