The Dish: Wade O'Neill, New Town Ave. Coffee and Tea

By WY Daily Staff Friday, July 10, 2009

The Dish asks a different restaurateur each week for their three favorite menu items at another restaurant. Two of them have to be local. All of them are bound to be good. This week's Disher: Wade O'Neill, chef at New Town Avenue Coffee and Tea. To visit their website, click here.

For those who have discovered it, the cafe at New Town Avenue Coffee and Tea is a dining secret that needs to be shared - immediately. Chef Wade O'Neill keeps the menu interesting, using his experience in the U.S. Air Force - a 22-year career that included a dozen years working in Europe. There, he developed an appreciation for the "tucked-away" restaurants and taverns and made a point to find the places off the beaten path and try their signature dishes. Chef Wade recalls finding one spot that was over 300 years old, where he sat at the table and looked at the worn floorboards that bore the impressions of the thousands upon thousands who'd sat there before. The signature dish is one Chef Wade seeks out wherever he goes, so count on these picks.

Number 1

Any dish at the Fat Canary is Chef Wade's enthusiastic recommendation. We know what you mean, Wade, and are so glad the weather is warm enough to sit outdoors to dine and people-watch all who somehow manage to walk past Fat Canary. "I truly appreciate the twists, creations and nuances that Chef

Tom Power and his staff put into their presentations," says Wade. "It's always fresh, appealing, and the flavors are dynamic!" The added benefit: the atmosphere, which Wade calls "one of a kind."

Fat Canary

410 Duke of Gloucester St.

Williamsburg

757-229-3333

Number 2

For a unique and French experience, Chef Wade has but one choice: the estimable Le Yaca in Williamsburg. "It's a neat French concept that Chef Daniel Abid brings to the dishes at Le Yaca," says Wade. "Pheasant is notoriously tough to cook - but the last time I was there dining, I had the most unbelievable pheasant dish. The colorful combo with a modern spin to the recipe was just fun and exciting to eat." Chef Wade really sums up the dining out experience, which Le Yaca epitomizes for so many: "I can get food anywhere. I really look for dishes that wake you up! This was definitely one of them."

Le Yaca

1915 Pocahontas Tr.

Williamsburg

757-220-3616

Number 3

For his third choice, Chef Wade heads across the Atlantic to Mehlingen, Germany. That's where you will find Concini½s, an Italian restaurant where Wade had the best food ever. For someone who has traveled - and dined out - the world over, we've got to think this is really saying something. What made it so good? A few things, starting with the experience, the Italian chef and his French wife (who, between them, spoke seven languages fluently). Wade could've eaten there seven days a week, as all was made from scratch and those basic ingredients the freshest from France, Germany and Italy. Wade's one-word summary? "Wow." We're renewing our passports now.

Have a favorite chef you think should give us The Dish? Don't just tell your friends or significant other - they suffer enough and can't do anything about it! Email kim@wydaily.com and tell us who, then we'll give 'em a call.