Beach Painting by Carrie Wall
Beachside resorts, waves for surfing, vibrant beaches, boat tours to spot dolphins and whales and beach soccer—Virginia Beach is idyllic for a romantic getaway or the next trip with your friends. Its gorgeous seaside location means that you can find some of the most delectable seafood across its thousands of restaurants. We have picked out for you 7 must-try seafood dishes, paired with wines that will give you that perfect, Virginia Beach holiday.
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Lynnhaven Oysters with Almond Champagne
Lynnhaven oysters have a legendary reputation in Virginia Beach. These oysters go back to centuries, where English aristocrats relished these deep-sea, honeyed and briny oysters. You can taste them raw, freshly plucked from oyster farms, or have them roasted or “Rockefeller” from local steakhouses. To enjoy these oysters, pair them with a sparkling Wilson creek almond champagne that complements their salinity.
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Fish Tacos with Sauvignon Blanc
If you are looking for a fun lunch, surrounded by surfers on a break, head over to Pelon’s Baja Grill near Atlantic Avenue. Usually a surfer’s haunt, this place serves some of the most delectable fish tacos you will eat. For something packed in flavors, you can try the battered deep fried fish in Baja and salsa sauce taco. For a crunchy explosion of flavors in your mouth, try the shrimp taco, which comes with a savory and sweet fruit salsa and Baja sauce. These flavors and the crunchiness of the tacos taste best with a citrusy, fruity white wine. Pairing these fish tacos with a charming Sauvignon Blanc will add a delectable acidity to your fish tacos.
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Fried Shrimp with Vinho Verde
There is nothing quite like taking in a beautiful beach sunset on your deck chair, as you relish crunchy fried shrimp. At Virginia Beach, you have a host of options for ordering fried shrimp. You can have fresh coconut fried shrimp in family-friendly, oceanside restaurants like Jumpin’ Shrimp or take a bucket of Steinhilber’s iconic fantail fried shrimp. Made with a secret signature sauce that has been passed out for generations, the fried shrimp will leave you bedazzled. The best wine that truly brings out the briny, fresh flavor of the shrimp, complements its crunchiness and gives it a spritz of lemony flavor is a bottle of Vinho Verde. Pair your fried shrimp with this acidic white wine for a match made in heaven!
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Flounder with Albariño
Virginia is famous for its flounder. A number of fisheries across the beach are dedicated to this deep-sea fish, which is rarely found as abundantly as in Virginia Beach. Through the months of April to September, you can actually join fisheries in search for flounder! This fish is a gastronomic wonder: its light, flaky texture can leave a scintillating taste on your tongue. Its honey-sweet taste means that you can have it seasoned all the ways you like! Pair flounder, which is found across restaurants in Virginia, with a crisp Albariño, whose subtle dry and salty taste complements flounder well.
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Lobster Bisque with White Burgundy
For a fancy seafood dinner at Virginia Beach, you need to try the local preparation of lobster bisque. Lobster is a popular food in Virginia Beach, thanks to its seaside location, you can find the delectable beasts everywhere from exquisite restaurants to food trucks. You can find a spicy, tangy curried variant of the Lobster Bisque at Flip Flops Grill n’ Chill, which offers fine dining in a mellow, casual atmosphere. You can even find an excellent bisque from food trucks like A Bite of Maine, coupled with a lobster roll. The delicate taste of lobster goes well with a herby, spicy white wine, like a White Burgundy Wine. The creamy, saucy taste of lobster also washes down well with an aged cognac, like a Hennessy Cognac VSOP.
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She-Crab Soup with Chardonnay
If you love bisques, you cannot miss the regional specialty of Virginia Beach: she-crab soup. This soup is endemic to beachside Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina because it is made with the locally found Atlantic blue crab meat. What makes this delicacy especially interesting is that there is always a gravid female crab used in it, whose eggs (roe) are part of the soup. This soup is thickened in fish stock and cream, with a slight sherry topping. You can find this delicacy in most fine-dining restaurants in Virginia Beach—there is even a dedicated street festival for it! This delicacy is best paired with a rare, deep Chardonnay, which fully brings out its rich flavors with a buttery depth of its own.
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Tuna Steak with Rosé
If you love a big piece of fish, served fresh and decadent on your plate, you need to try the various tuna steaks in Virginia Beach. There are a number of grills spread throughout the region, serving freshly caught produce. But for one of the best tuna experiences, head over to Hot Tuna, which serves the famed Hawaiian ahi (yellowfin) tuna in every form you want: salad, poke bowls, sashimi and grilled to perfection. You can even try Croc’s 19th Street Bistro for an eclectic and elegant five pepper tuna steak. Depending on how spicy your tuna steak is, it is best paired with a rosé—dry and light for moderate spice and a fuller, fruity one for a spicy steak.
Virginia Beach is a heaven for seafood lovers, with festivals and happy hours with fish tacos and oysters galore. In Virginia Beach will you find some of the freshest, finest seafood experiences, with the perfect drink to complement your palate. Plan a holiday to the beach city, and you will have the culinary experience of a lifetime.
Author Bio
Harold Camaya
She is a blogger who loves to write especially in Beverages vertical. She co-authored Supercharge Organic Traffic: A popular course focusing on Organic Traffic for Ecommerce.. Her hobbies are traveling and reading novels.