Fat Canary

Frommer's Review

This high-energy bistro is consistently Williamsburg's best restaurant. The sophisticated but relaxed dining room sports a long bar down one side -- a favorite local watering hole -- and an open kitchen that uses fresh local and other ingredients for its creative American fare. Both the full and more limited and less expensive menus are offered on the patio out front during warm weather. Reservations are not accepted at the outdoor tables, but it's worth the wait. Everything is excellent here. Served as a side dish, the house version of "hopping john" left me wishing for an entire plate of this tasty blend of black-eyed peas, shrimp, tasso ham, and rice. The restaurant's name comes from Colonial-era poet John Lyly's line, "Oh for a bowl of fat Canary, rich Palermo, sparkling sherry." By that he meant wines from the Canary Islands as well as Italy. Today's wine list is very good, with more than a dozen vintages available by the glass.

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