Weekend Getaway: Bistro Roca

After two days of activities, Daniel and I were pretty tired. We decided to search for the best place to eat locally. It turned out that we had actually eaten at several of the tops picks for the area, but we finally settled on Bistro Roca in Blowing Rock.

I quickly jotted down the address and stuck it in our GPS. We had a 6:30 reservation and 30 minutes to drive. We should have had plenty of time.

Our first problem was that we took a back route from our cabin that included a jaunt on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was fine until the BRP closed 1.5 miles before we needed to get off of it. So we took the exit at hand and the GPS recalculated.

We made our way to Blowing Rock, but soon we were in a neighborhood with no restaurant in sight. Daniel had me call the restaurant to get specific directions to their location. I called and they told me that we should turn onto Laurel {which intersected with Main}. The only problem was I thought the guy said "Wallow" and I asked him twice to repeat the name {with me repeating back to him}.

Guy: "We are located off of Laurel."

Me: "Wallow?"

Guy: "Yes, Laurel."

Me: "Okay, Wallow."

Of course we couldn't find a street named Wallow.

So, we found ourselves wandering up and down Main Street in Blowing Rock {which is like 4 blocks long} and we couldn't find the correct street. We are both tired and hungry and cranky.

Daniel decided to stop and ask someone where "Wallow Street" was. Of course, that was a useless question. Then we ran into another problem. I had hurriedly written down the address, but not the name of the restaurant. Neither of us could remember the name. We thought it was something like Boca and when Daniel asked the person on the street if there was a restaurant named Boca, he got a blank stare {they must have thought we were complete idiots}.

At this point, I was ready to give up and go eat somewhere else. Daniel however, was determined to find this restaurant. So he called and was finally able to get specific directions {he had to ask multiple times to figure it out – including having them spell out street names so that we could find the place}.

After an hour of searching, we finally arrived at Bistro Roca {which was indeed located in more of a neighborhood-like area}. The place was packed, but they let us use our reservation anyway.

The food was great, though a little pricey. We like to split our dishes so that we can try new things. Daniel tried the North Carolina Trout with Grits and a Side Salad and I tried the BR Burger with Mashed Potatoes. We really liked the atmosphere, but we had a bit of trouble enjoying ourselves since we were both cranky.