Waypoint Seafood & Grill...A Great Find in Williamsburg

Waypoint Seafood and Grill

1480 Quarterpath Rd.

Williamsburg, VA 23185

757-220-2228

www.waypointgrill.com

So here's how this one started: My son wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge with a few of his friends for his birthday. We decided it would be a fun over-nighter for them, but wanted to have an adult meal, in a quiet restaurant to celebrate our wedding anniversary (two years before my son's birthday for those who just snickered), without 1,000 screaming, sugared-up, soaking wet kids. I called one of my co-workers who handles that area and he suggested The Waypoint Grill.

I made my reservations and did a little research. The executive chef and owner is a man named Hans Schadler. He was formerly the executive chef of The Williamsburg Inn. He was in the dining room when we arrived and chatted with us for a while. I asked if he was interested in doing a tasting menu for us instead of having us order and he said he'd send his Chef de Cuisine out to talk to us about our dinner. Enter Kyle Woodruff.  Kyle, who was recently voted Chef of the Year by the Virginia Chef's Association, had his A-game with him that night.

 Kyle started us out with Waypoint Oysters which were local York River oysters baked with Virginia Ham, spinach, and Bearnaise. Nicely done. Served over a bed of large-crystal salt with some toasty herbs. This was paired with a brut cava if memory serves.

 After the oysters, out came a dish of Shellfish and Grits. The grits were ground locally and the dish was topped with lobster, a scallop, and a shrimp. It was served with lobster nage and was nicely layered with acid from the wine and some citrus. My wife said the grits were better than mine.

 Here's a better look.

This was my wife's favorite dish.  The K&J Asparagus Salad. It had marinated asparagus, house-made finnochionna, Green Hill cheese, fig compote, greens, and a gremolata vinaigrette. The finnochionna was excellent. lots of flavor. Cheryl went bonkers about the vinaigrette.  I'm going to have to make some of that...

Is that you, honey?

This is a Surryano wrapped snapper with cannelloni bean puree and a citrus herb vinaigrette. There was a lot of crunch and the ham brought a nice salty finish to the fish.

This was a house-made strawberry-orange sorbet sprinkled with a little champagne.  A nice intermezzo.

Here's where we got to the big finale. This dish is what I'll remember for years. The Tenderloin Oscar. The steak was perfectly done and seasoned. While I'm on that subject, I usually dislike it when there is no salt on the table, but it wasn't required here. EVERYTHING we had was seasoned just right.  Anyhow, back to the dish. There was Bearnaise on one side and Bordalaise on the other. The steak sat atop a blue crab/potato brendade, and there was a little pile of lump crab meat to the side. There were also some crispy-fried onions on top. Unfortunately, the light began to fail me here so I didn't get any pictures that would do this plate justice. I'd come back here for this dish and a glass of the wine they paired it with and leave happy.

Strawberries were in season, so we had a little trio of bites to try, each with strawberry.  The country-style shortcake in the forefront was my favorite.  The biscuit was perfect, house-made with butter and lard (Southern cooking at it's best.)

Here is a picture of me, food and wined-out, stopping in the kitchen to say thanks to the very talented Chef Kyle Woodruff. He's a young gun and I expect we'll see great things from him in the future.

Overall, a tremendous experience and a very good value. If you happen to be in Williamsburg it would be your loss not to stop in for a meal. 

Thanks for reading.  If you go, tell them you read about it on Pleasures of the Table.