Food events return to Hampton Roads with wine, oysters and song

For most of this year, the story of food events in Hampton Roads has been simple: canceled canceled canceled.

But this weekend will bring a wealth of oysters and wine, not to mention cocktails and food from fine dining to vegan comfort fare.

Even with a second surge bringing new coronavirus cases to record levels nationwide, the scourge has so far left Hampton Roads less affected. With months of the pandemic behind them, local restaurants and breweries have had time to retool for a new, smaller and more socially distanced take on food and drink events.

Here are five food events to look at this weekend, from kind of small to very small.

Wine and song: NoCo Holiday Wine Fest

1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Hank’s Filling Station, 4301 Colley Ave., Norfolk, 757-351-3941, ghenteats.com. Tasting tickets $25 at nocowinefest.com.

As the fall wine harvest comes to a close, get ready for something that’s become unfamiliar this year: a wine festival that hasn’t been canceled.

On Colley Avenue in Norfolk, Hank’s Filling Station is best known for its beer and its dog-friendly patio. But for locals in the know, the bar and bottle shop also offers wine at often bargain-basement prices, from wine distributor Winebow.

On Saturday, the Filling Station will host a socially distanced wine fest, limited to well below the state-mandated cap of 250 people, with bottle sales on site for people stocking up for the holidays. Discounts will be offered on half-and full cases of wine.

But if you just want to taste, the NoCo Holiday Wine Festival — that’s North Colley, for those who don’t follow trends in fashionable real-estate truncation — will offer tastes of 40 local and international wines from Winebow, from 30 countries, for a mere $25.

Designated drivers, folks!

The front parking lot of Hank’s will be dedicated to five wine tasting stations, handing out sampler trays grouped by style of wine instead of individual pours to limit the chance that people will huddle too close at the tasting stations. Wine samplers can then take their trays back to the tables out back, where organizers also ask that you warehouse your kids. Live music will be on hand.

Looking ahead to Thanksgiving? You can also sign up for smoked turkeys from Hank’s during the festival. The advance tickets for the event apply only to those who plan to taste.

Otherwise Hank’s is open for business as usual, so if you plan to just buy a case or sign up for a turkey, feel free to stop by — but note that if the spot has reached its tightly controlled capacity limits, you might not be let in, and you’ll have to drink a nice lager at Elation Brewing across the street instead. Poor you.

Drive-thru oysters for a cause: Oyster Roast To Go 2020

Virginia Living Museum's oyster roast in 2019, pictured here, raised $50,289 to benefit the museum's educational programs and animal care needs. Because of the 2020 pandemic, this year's roast on Saturday will be drive-thru only. (Courtesy photo)

Two time slots from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., at The Virginia Living Museum, 524 J Clyde Morris Blvd., Newport News, 757-595-1900. Two-person oyster roast packages $90 through Wednesday only, at thevlm.org/oyster-roast.

Zoos and museums have been hit hard during the pandemic. And so this year, the Virginia Living Museum’s annual oyster roast fundraiser takes on renewed importance, supporting programs for the museum’s educational programs and local bestiary.

Out of caution, the oyster roast will be drive-thru this year. But for $90, you get two free tickets to the museum (usually $15 apiece), plus a seafood feast. That includes a pint of raw of oysters, 12 to 15 more Virginia oysters in the shell, and a few prepared foods from Waypoint Seafood and Grill in Williamsburg. Those include a half-pint each of tomato soup, crab and corn chowder, and pimento cheese.

Two commemorative pint glasses, a shucking knife, and suggested oyster recipes will also be provided. But act fast: To get your oysters on Saturday, you must order by the end of the day Wednesday at thevlm.org/oyster-roast.

Beer, coffee and shells: COVA Oyster Roast

The cinnamon latte at COVA Brewing Company, served alongside roasted oysters, oyster shooters and plenty of beer at COVA's oyster roast on November 14. (Courtesy COVA Brewing Company)

Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at COVA Brewing Company, 9529 Shore Drive, Norfolk, 757-917-5499, covabrewco.com. Look for ticketing info at bit.ly/CovaOysters.

At the intersection of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the Bay, COVA Brewing Company hopes to inaugurate a new tradition: a good-old-fashioned oyster roast, coupled with music and beer and sweets and fall-themed coffee.

The brewery boasts a sizable parking lot as well as a vacant lot next door, which means there’ll be plenty of space to spread out. They’ll need it: This event is packed with options.

Food trucks Capt’n Crabby and Red River Smokehouse will offer crab cakes and Texas-style barbecue, respectively. With a $50 advance ticket ($60 at the door), you can also get all-you-can eat roasted oysters from noon to 6 p.m., roasted by Capt’n Crabby’s.

Also present in the yard are vegan desserts from Empowered Plant Cakes, houseplants from pop-up Plant D’Cor, and live music from Kaboombox and Fox and the Bear.

COVA will also have a few special offerings of its own, including a Cranberry Orange Gose beer release, and oyster shooters made with a pepper-infused version of the brewery’s Pretty Lake Lager. Also on hand will be a couple autumn coffee options from COVA’s in-house roastery, including a cinnamon latte and a pumpkin pie latte. Pumpkin spice fans, we presume, know who they are already.

After the oyster roast winds down at 6 p.m., the trucks will hang around serving their usual wares — entry is free throughout the day even without the all-you-can-eat oyster tickets.

Fine dining and cocktails: Blue Tape and Model Citizen

Crudo Nudo, a new restaurant helmed by chef Eric Nelson, most recently head chef at Chops in Virginia Beach, will serve crudo fish plates and "nudo" pasta plates, alongside playful cocktails and desserts. July 6, 2018. (Matthew Korfhage)

Crudo Nudo, 727 W 21st St., Norfolk, 757-351-6080, crudonudo.com. Blue Tape is 6:30 p.m. Saturday, with $65-$110 tickets available at bit.ly/BlueTapeModel. Model Citizen is 6 p.m. to midnight Sunday, first come, first serve. For limited Model Citizen tasting table tickets, call or send an e-mail to eric@crudonudo.com.

In Ghent, Crudo Nudo chef-owner Eric Nelson and bartender Josh Seaburg are collaborating on a pair of pop-ups Saturday and Sunday.

Blue Tape was the name of Nelson’s chef pop-up before he began his high-end Mediterranean restaurant, and for one night only he’ll be bringing it back, with a 20-person dinner featuring cocktails and rare wines.

The $65, multi-course meal will span options far broader than Crudo’s usual fare, including mussel escabeche, cider-glazed sea urchin, lemon-smoked brassica cabbages, scallops in Japanese-inspired citrus dashi, shrimp “ravioli” and quince-glazed shortrib.

Seaburg will be on hand for cocktail and wine pairing options, with wines that include super-high-altitude Bolivian wines like few others on the planet, and a Mexican wine made with heritage grapes that scientists have yet to identify. Three wine pairings add $35 to the bill, while a pairing of two wines and two cocktails will add $45. Otherwise, you can buy singly.

On Sunday, the Model Citizen pop-up will offer a high-wire rendition of Seaburg’s monthly drinks and snacks event, serving fancy centrifuge-spun or maybe even flaming cocktails to whoever walks in the door. Nelson will be on hand, making esoteric treats that may include uni tarts, duck pastrami and trout roe 'tater chips.

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A four-person tasting table can also be reserved in advance for Sunday, with a catered blend of drinks and food.

Animal-free food and booze: Vegan and Vodka

5 p.m. Saturday at the Gather 757 event space, 500 E Main St, Norfolk (on the 16th floor). Meals and drinks $40 a person at thepacktravelclub.com, 757-805-5759.

Six years ago, Navy contractor Andrae J. Marable founded his travel company, The Pack Roadtrip Travel Club, as a way for people to travel in a convivial group across the country or to Canada. Now travel is weird, so Marable has been putting on events closer to home. He’s already put on festivals locally, including a Sweet Tooth dessert bazaar. But that will expand with a Cocktails & Spice food pairing series, sponsored by liquor megalith Beam Suntory.

Marable finds often under-the-radar chefs through networks of contacts on social media, hosting whiskey and rum-fueled events earlier in November. On Saturday at the Gather coworking space atop downtown Norfolk’s ICON building, he’ll play host to a 20-person dinner called Vegan and Vodka.

The dinner will offer Effen vodka cocktails served by a liquor rep, plus four courses of vegan small plates from chef Alesia Blizzard of Lisa’s Plate. The menu will include Moroccan lentil soup, warm sweet potato casserole, fried artichoke hearts and a surprise fourth dish. With three cocktails, the multi-course meal tops out at $40 a person.

Marable hopes to add more boozy feasts in February. And if the coronavirus pandemic recedes, he hopes to put on his next travel group next year: A Harriet Tubman underground railroad bus tour, with stops for Maryland crab and Virginia barbecue.

Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com

Food events return to Hampton Roads with wine, oysters and song — though also a bit smaller