Vidalia: A Multi-Layered Dining Experience New Restaurant Opens Across from Courthouse in Boone By Jeff Eason The High Country is full of restaurants that are either fancy and expensive or quick and cheap. Chef Michael Vetro Jr. decided that what our area really needed was something in between. Chef/restaurant owner Michael Vetro Jr. is emphasizing homemade food at his new eatery Vidalia in downtown Boone. Photo by Jeff Eason That need was one of the reasons that he opened the High Country’s newest eatery, Vidalia, on King Street in Boone, across the street from the Watauga County Courthouse. Vidalia features all of the amenities of a fancy sit-down restaurant such as white tablecloths, a beautiful copper-topped bar and an extensive wine list (20-25 varieties). It also has the hallmarks of more inexpensive restaurants such as fast service, affordable prices, and a menu that includes traditional southern favorites and comfort foods. The most important thing to Vetro, however, is the quality of the food. “The menu is ever-evolving at this point and we try to feature several specials and two fresh fish specials on weekend nights,” explained Vetro. “I want it to be affordable yet classy with some continental offerings and also some southern favorites like the meat with two side vegetables. The main thing about this restaurant is that everything is fresh and everything is homemade.” Vetro is still in his mid-twenties but made up his mind fairly early in life that running a restaurant was what he wanted to do. A graduate of Watauga High School, Vetro graduated from the New England Culinary Institute in Burlington, Vermont, before heading to France for an intensive internship at a fancy restaurant. Now a professional chef and restaurateur, Vetro is excited about the prospect of seeing his vision flourish in Boone. “Every morning I come into the restaurant at 6:30 a.m. to make the free appetizers that we set on the table when people are looking at the menu,” said Vetro. “The homemade pimento cheese is made with sharp cheddar and roasted red peppers and the crackers are made from a plain salt dough that we bake. It’s labor intensive but I like doing it. I like the idea that the customer is given something for free to establish a relationship when they first come in. It is the same when you go to a Mexican restaurant and they give you chips and salsa. It makes you feel at home.” Michael and his longtime girlfriend Camille Gattas went through the gamut of southern sounding names before they settled on “Vidalia.” “Onions are one of the most used items in any restaurant, as they are here,” explained Vetro. “The Vidalia is a sweet onion that is associated with southern food. So the connotation works out perfectly.” The eclectic yet down-home menu at Vidalia includes several southern favorites such as the pimento cheese sandwich, a shrimp po’ boy sandwich, and the chicken puff pie. Another southern touch to the lunch menu is the Blue Plate Special featuring entrée items such as meatloaf, roasted chicken, fried pork chops, fried catfish and—for the vegetarians and adventurous—southern fried tofu. Each entrée comes with a choice of two vegetable sides such as succotash, stewed cabbage, fresh green beans, smashed red potatoes, butter beans and other items. Many of Vidalia’s winter customers are coming back in droves for the restaurant’s wide selection of homemade soups. The restaurant features three soups a day with varieties such as spicy tortilla, cream of cauliflower, French onion, lentils and sausage, split pea and ham, cream of chicken with wild rice, potato leek and many others. You can even try a soup sampler that features all three of that day’s selections along with sliced French bread. Some of the soups and vegetables include locally grown produce such as cabbage from Watauga County. If southern comfort food is not your cup of tea that day, you can also pick from the restaurant’s wide selection of sandwiches, salads or signature items such as fish and chips, potato pierogies, or vegetable sautee. The original salad menu includes traditional favorites such as the Cobb salad and Caesar salad as well as unique items such as an apple cranberry salad with goat cheese and toasted almonds, and a poached pear with crumbled blue cheese and candied pecans. For the time being, Vidalia is open for lunch Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and for dinner on Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. The dinner menu consists of salads, soups, and Vidalia signature entrees such as herb encrusted Atlantic salmon filet, pan seared ribeye, chicken piccata and tofu stir fry. Desserts include Mississippi mud pie, cheese cake, seasonal fruit crisp, and chocolate fudge tort, all made on the premises. Lunch sandwiches range in price from $3.50 to $7.50 while lunch entrees range from $7.50 to $11.50. The Blue Plate Special is priced at $7.50. Dinner entrees range from $9.00 to $17.95. Vidalia is now taking reservations for a special New Year’s Eve dinner. For more information, or to make reservations, call (828) 263-9176.