Just saw on Twitter that Mike's Grill has closed. This is extremely sad to hear as I thought they had some of the best burgers and a great hometown feel.
We learned at today's council work session the sad news that Mike's Grill has permanently closed ... gonna miss those burgers! #Blacksburg
https://twitter.com/michaelsutphin/status/770685881300705280
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Ha! Too bad.Sorry. I have to own up to a mistake and a recovery in poor taste. I actually typed up a story about how Mike's was integral to my childhood and college years but after I posted it I realized I was still logged in as Butch Jones. To take down the mask, if you will, you all should know I'm a regular poster here and VT alumnus, and not a Vol troll. I'm actually really sad that Mike's had to close. I took a lot of first dates to Mike's and during my first fall in Blacksburg I would sometimes go eat a burger by myself just because it reminded me of family and home.
Sorry if I offended anyone. Mike's was truly a Blacksburg staple.
I don't even care that this is a satire account. I've been going to Mike's Grill with my family since I was a kid. That place meant a lot us, and I want to straight up punch the person who made this comment.
Update: I wouldn't say offended, more pissed off. I was hoping to commiserate with some fellow Hokies, but then saw the first comment was "Ha! Too bad." It was rather frustrating. Thanks for understanding where I'm coming from and I'll add that I like what is done with opponent coaches on this site outside of this one comment initially, so thanks for that.
As devastated as I am about Mike's closing, I laughed pretty hard at the original comment.
Honestly if it were like 10 comments down I don't I think I would have had a problem with it. When it's the first thing you see after hearing the news it like getting kicked while you're down. Timing is important for comedy.
Actually, I thought the fact that "Butch Jones" commented first was pretty good comedic timing.
I apologize for wanting 5 seconds to grieve over the loss of something that held valuable memories to me. I forgot that I was on the internet and should instead be a comedy bot 24/7.
That's bulletin board material, Buddy!
You're not the REAL Butch Jones! How dare you, sir!
Don't believe a word he says! We all know Butch is a liar!
I thought the burgers were good, but not amazing. I was much more disappointed when Backstreet's closed. Hopefully, another small business will hop in there, not a chain restaurant.
Backstreet's? The place that had the "best buffet in town" with reheated spaghetti-O's and two slices of burnt pizza? Maybe it had already gone downhill before I got to it.
It went downhill for years before they closed. Traded on memories for sometime long after it was worth going to
It was the first restaurant I ate at as a student in Blacksburg. Best BBQ Chicken Pizza I've ever had. I didn't frequent it much later in college, but I still remember it as a go to spot freshman year.
From 2003 - 2006, Backstreet Pizza made this killer white pizza that my then girlfriend, now wife, and I loved to order while we stayed in for the night. I still miss the place, but I'm willing to admit it might be for those nights when all I had to worry about was keeping her happy as opposed to all the responsibilities that I seem to have acquired.
.
.
/Nostalgia.
Probably one of the most underrated places in Blacksburg, at least during my time there. Their burgers were very good, but my go to was always a calzone. Those things were huge and delicious. Definitely will be missed.
that was what i knew Mike's Grill for. everyone raved about their burgers but when i tried their calzones, i was hooked.
what sucked was that they used to close shop during the summer until the students came back... it was weird walking by and seeing the store blacked-out and empty then.
R.I.P. Mike's Grill
With all due respect, I always thought The Cellar had the best Calzones in town.
No more monster calzones? Deep sadness as my memories die.
Burgers were good, but the calzones were tops!
Sadness.
Effffffffffffffffff. There are two places I eat at every time I visit Blacksburg: SSII and Mike's. Terrible news for an outstanding restaurant with delicious food.
Lack of job-seeking individuals? Don't they have a town full of poor college kids?
The students at Tech get richer every year. All those damn NOVA kids.
Rent isn't going up in Blacksburg by accident. That's for sure.
I assume this is a joke that just went over my head.
Uh no, I would guess like 80% of the people I have met since enrolling at Tech call NOVA home.
I think you should go meet some more people because there are a lot of students from all over the place. I would guess that no one seriously thinks students from Norther Virginia are to blame for anything.
For the record:
80% was probably an exaggeration, but here's VTs data on the subject. Close to 50% NOVA by their definition. Although I don't know how much it's changed recently
https://www.ir.vt.edu/data/student/demographics.html
It's worse than I thought...!
I'd be interested to see this overlay-ed with population density. My guess is that you would see a strong correlation. There's a reason it takes 30 mins to go 5 miles in Northern VA...and it's not just the Maryland drivers.
It would make sense that Northern VA kids dominate the enrollment. I would assume the same would hold true for any in-state VA schools.
It's not just that. The schools in Nova are absurdly well prepared relative to most schools in the state. Look at testing data and the students who have the scores in VT's range are falling mostly in the Nova region. The schools are better, the parents come from a college tradition, and the college advising/prep services are on another level. Nova sees VT as an affordable option that provides quality education. VT could replace nearly its entire incoming engineering class with Nova applicants and have no change statistically. All the engineering alums from two decades ago moved to Nova and want their kids to be Hokies as well.
I was an admissions guy at VT for a year and you really have no idea how stifling Nova is application wise.
Great insight and that all makes complete sense to me. You can throw a rock up here and hit about 5 tutoring places.
As someone from MiddleOfNowhere, VA who went through CS with a lot of classmates from NOVA, I can vouch for this. Not just education, but preparation for life in general.
Can't argue with that.
LOL
I cannot tell you how hard it is to get someone reliable to work there. It was one of few places in town that would train waiters and waitresses with no experience so our staff was constantly poached by every bar and restaurant in town.
That's troubling to hear. It was such a classic, almost magical place. Waxing nostalgic for sure. I'm glad to have eaten there with friends, family, loved ones. It was one place, even the last few years, that I would tell people, "you have to eat here!"
It's my fault. I only ate there 4 times last year. If I had known this was possible, I would have eaten there 400 times and donated my children for indentured servitude.
They also closed a few weeks over the summer each year. That couldn't be great for business or potential employees.
There's not enough support from the townies to make any money. Mike's lost money nearly every day it was open during the summer even running a skeleton staff.
F*k-dammit!
This has been a staple of Blacksburg for 40 years, which is why it is great. I know alumni that have had their burgers each year for the past 30 or so years, and to have something not change and always "taste like the old days" is something special, which is what Mike's served up everyday.
Best of luck to the Varelos family.
Well, shit.
The calzones were the tits. Now where will I get my calzones from? DPDough?
DP Dough is dank but nowhere near what Mike's was.
You guys take that back! DP Dough is legendary!
agree wholeheartedly.
the only time it tasted good was after all the bars let out and i needed my drunk munchies. had it sober once and thought it was horrible...
I hope a chain doesn't go in there.
That's pretty much the only option.
This is my thought. Pretty soon main st will be a suburban mall food court. Hopefully the town (and the building owners/developers) actually consider long term prospects for once and not further degrade what should be a truly special strip of Blacksburg.
The town looks at it as empty storefronts or occupied ones.
I think this is less true for Blacksburg than most places. This is the same town that requires a board review for any property owners in the historic district to make exterior changes to their property. And there is a reason there is no Wal-Mart, no billboards, and no car dealerships there. That's not to say a chain wont move in, but Blacksburg seems unusually committed to promoting local business and resisting big-chain commercialization, compared with any other place I've lived.
That's true for new development but for existing commercial spaces that are empty they will take a chain willing to open up. Isn't the space next door vacant also? That's not what the town will want.
It seems like the town really has a parking issue, especially as admissions keep raising. I've lived in or near Blacksburg since graduating in 2012 and have several times decided not to go to a place downtown based solely on the hassle of finding a place to park. It can't be helping those places down there, like Mike's. The new garage right up behind el Rods helps a bit in some situations.
It's more of a housing issue than a parking issue. The Town has pushed housing, especially off campus student housing, farther and farther out. Instead of trying to build density near Main Street, we have large lots at Fiddlers Green and new student housing at The Retreat across 460. Sprawled housing necessitates driving, requiring parking lots that take up valuable real estate. Driving centered planning destroys the walkability that downtowns like Blacksburg's thrive on (walkability is better for business). Sprawled housing and zoning separation of uses allows for strip malls like University City Boulevard, where they just put in a variety of chains, and places like First & Main, both of which are drive-to destinations that take away from Main St.
My response might be a little long, but this is something I'm passionate about. For a small town, too many people are forced to drive around Blacksburg. Students should be able to walk to class. Most can't because housing is too far away. Like I said above, sprawled housing=parking, and many businesses around downtown have private lots and will tow you if you park there and try to walk around. When students take up parking, townies won't even attempt to go certain places. When parking is private, it limits people walking and wandering into places like Mike's. When housing is so far away and you have to drive, it's easier to go to Cookout or just stay home.
Blacksburg, as currently constructed, will struggle to fill vacancies in its downtown core without putting in wealthy chains. There is not a critical density of housing to support all the local businesses.
So then how do you fix it? I am genuinely asking this as it is something I would really like to know.
I know that most people here probably wouldn't agree but I have always thought that the downtown life of Blacksburg could be improved. There's a handful of bars that people would patronize and then not much more. I always wanted downtown to be a more vibrant place that was thriving at all hours of the day with food or drink or shopping etc. It always seemed that you would go down do what you intended to do and go home. I lived in Tech Terrace for two years which might be one of the closest apartment communities to downtown and other than going to the bars and occasional restaurant visit I didn't see a need or a want to go downtown. I didn't do much shopping for multiple reasons (lack of money, no need, I'm a guy who would wear clothes with holes in them). But there wasn't even like a coffee shop close to the campus that you could go do and "study". I don't know lately I have been moving around a lot (5 states now since graduating high school) but each place I've lived seemed to have a downtown that was more than just one main drag.
bingo. This is precisely correct.
Additionally to all of this the university itself is the biggest competitor to dollars that Main Street seeks. There are so many offerings on campus to students that unless wanting something specific, or going drinking, the 8,902 population of students just next door has little need to regularly use Main Street businesses.
Add that to the decentralized land-use that Blacksburg follows and you have a recipe for bankrupting businesses at the core. They are seeing the short term development dollars and not the long term redevelopment costs of such a strategy.
VTInferno asks "what's the solution?". Blacksburg needs to do 2 things: 1) Grow some balls, and 2) make some townies rich and piss off a whole lot of others.
As benw92 suggests downtown is not planned to be a car centric community. It is meant to be a small town main street. Because of the reasons he and I listed Main Street simply cannot compete. It has little to offer other than food and beverage, and even those will struggle.
Here is my aggressive but necessary solution that I have titled: BLACKSBURG PROGRESS 2020
The point here is to create density, centralization and a strong commercial footprint that works for walking and driving. Classic TOD (transit oriented design).
1. A legit Shopping Mall destination in downtown Bburg with Hotel. This entire block should be built with it's own basement level or multi-story parking structure. Density here will increase dramatically but is important so that people are drawn north to south. Creating the prototypical dumbbell shape for commercial success. This shopping mall will have well known fashion brands, supermarket, movie theater, some big box store (like a target or something) included within, as well as nice plaza space and/or rooftop parks for leisure.
2. High Density Mixed-Use Development along Progress Street for 2 blocks. This will include street frontage commercial, with 10 - 15 floors of apartments above for rent. Always add to daily pop when trying to revitalize an area.
3. Centralized Parking Lots along Progress Street that will serve as feeders for Main Street as well as additional gameday parking. These can be built up into structures later if necessary.
4. Pedestrianized Main Street Commercial Core: This will be controversial but I believe that pedestrianizing the core of Main Street will help it tremendously. It will of course still be used for emergency access but this will allow f&b to breakout into it's middle for outdoor dining and night time drinking. On the weekends a farmers market/homemade crafts type of thing could fill the street, as well as mixing in various festivals and events throughout the year.
Which means that Progress Street needs to now live up to it's name and deliver on some tangible progress. Thru traffic will divert to Progress and it will feed back to Main Street after the Pedestrianized Core. I forgot to draw the line but I think there could easily be a North-South linear park walk in the center of the blocks between Main and Progress. Once this plan happens you will see the commercial frontage where Taco Bell and north along Main increase density because the value will be too high to waste that much space as they currently do.
This will make those that own land here quite wealthy and those private home owners that own land adjacent to likely be at odds with the plan. But it will save Main Street making it a destination for centralized and walkable living.
I believe something like this would be successful. I would have to really get into it, run the numbers as a development feasibility but I have used variations of this successfully in several countries.
I think it's time for you to make your architectural footprint on VT/Blacksburg!
one question though.....you fit the bar in right????
The Key Players Club
This is a GREAT idea!
Fernley, this plan resembles a lot of what I see in downtown state college, and it apparently works wonders for the businesses downtown.
I've long called state college 'Blacksburg in 30 years' because of the similarities between the two towns, but the one thing that Blacksburg totally lacks is any infrastructure development on downtown Main st. I always figured it was a matter of time before it happened, but if you're saying that Blacksburg isn't trying to build something like this then maybe State College is Blacksburg in 50 years.
Not familiar with their downtown scene but now you have my interest. will look it up later.
I'll snag it off google maps and draw in what is located where, as it is hard to see from the map. Much of it resembles what you're talking about. I'll post it at the bottom of this thread so I can make it a big image.
cool. looking forward to it. thanks horse
Posted. It's interesting to see that Blacksburg has a two lane road that is Main St, but State College actually took the next parallel road and make two one-way streets as their 'Main Streets', and everything in between the two is downtown. DT Blacksburg, I always felt while I was in school 00-05, was pretty much anything on Main St and Main St only (aside from the few crossing streets that extended towards campus with TOTS, Souvlaki, theater, etc)
Interesting ideas. Just a few notes, though, to spur discussion.
1. Blacksburg will never allow a big-box store. The plan for a Wal-Mart down past South Main Kroger get huge pushback and was never approved. To put one right in the heart of downtown is going to be a non-starter, economic benefits aside.
2. There is already a hotel on Main Street: http://www.hotelblacksburg.com/ I don't know if there is much reason to put another one just up the road. Most hotels in the area, as I understand, get most of their revenue during football season and things quiet down significantly the other 8 months of the year. More space for visitors is always good, but will it be profitable?
3. There is already a recently developed Farmer's Market area between Roanoke and Washington Streets. It was a recent development just before I left Blacksburg, but it turned out rather nicely. Probably no need to put in another one just up the road.
But Blacksburg definitely needs to be open to some revitalization efforts, otherwise downtown is going to continue to sink.
1. Hence Blacksburg having the problems it has, but I am not talking about a stand alone big box. I mean one that is inside the shopping mall itself.
2. Hotels I know are problematic because as you say outside of football season there is plenty of rooms already. I would need to see the overall hotel quants and occupancy rates to know what type I would prefer to develop. But the hotel portion could be substituted for additional daily pop gains with added apartments. Especially with Hotel Blacksburg there.
3. No need to compete. Move it or Expand it throughout the pedestrianized zone.
To your point for #1 - I think the big box store would have gone in at 1st & Main if the developer had been up front about it to begin with. The original plan called for a mix use with apartments/town homes in the area where the WalMart was situated, but that was never going to be economically feasible. It's a shame because the developer dug in, and the town dug in, and a solution better for the Town and for the businesses trying to succeed at First & Main could have come to fruition if both parties had just come to the table and gave some ground.
What is there now is a shell of what could have been for that property. Most of the fault is on the original development company, and some fault lies with the Town as well. It's a good lesson in urban planning though as a developer - you can't come from out of town and try to bully your way into the development you want. It'll never be a success for either entity. The bait and switch they tried to pull was pretty laughable. Those guys were clueless. I can say that with confidence, as I did some estimating for this project when it was originally proposed, and our company ultimately passed on the project because we told the developer what it would cost, they didn't believe us, went with someone else, and ended up costing what we told them it would in the end.
I haven't seen how the movie theater has impacted the development - that was the bid draw after the WalMart got struck down to increase pedestrian traffic. Not sure if it did the trick. I doubt did.
You'd be hard pressed to find someone more against the blight of big box stores than myself, but I think there's a world of difference between what this would be (an anchor store to attract customers designed to be integrated with the surrounding neighborhood) and what wal-mart wanted (an ocean of a parking lot surrounding a mega store permanently preventing an entire area from any development). There needs to be some kind of shopping available in Blacksburg so that Christiansburg isn't the only option and to attract people downtown outside of dinner rush and late night, but the town was right to fight off wal-mart who was actively trying to ruin a large portion of town.
I agree with you 100%, if the developer had been up front on their plans from the beginning with the Town, I don't think you would have gotten a store with a cavernous parking lot in front of it - from a storm water management ability of that site - it wouldn't have been able to take in all the storm water the flows through that property if they had a giant parking lot. You would have had to have huge underground storm water storage to achieve that.
However, I think you would have gotten a much better development with a solid anchor that is more successful for the businesses currently occupying it if both parties had compromised.
Aaand we're done. Blacksburg wants Blacksburg to stay Blacksburg. I mean, they raised the speed limit on 460, reduced the ability to drive through town by having crappily timed stoplights and taking out much needed traffic lanes, and are content to let Christiansburg develop to meet all the students' shopping needs. Downtown is doomed. Makes me sad because we used to walk down there with our kids every friday in the summer and hit up the mainstays and listen to music. Now there's one less mainstay
Except it isn't. Blacksburg has done nothing to remain Blacksburg, which has been about Main Street. In fact, it has done everything counter to this line of thinking. So if what they really want is Blacksburg to remain Blacksburg then returning Main Street as it's destination is paramount.
Problem is in "protecting" itself it's killing itself. Developers know this. Every local developer would love to do some variation of what i suggest, but why fight it. Let the city starve itself to death and then pay next to nothing to get it then.
That's where the balls come in. Done or not it needs to happen and likely will eventually, once econimcs get so bad they can't stop it.
yes that was my point
We're supposed to be inventing the future. Well, Charlottesville did this 40 years ago. How are we this far behind?
I agree that downtown should be a pedestrian mall, but I can't think of an efficient way to get from north Main to south Main without going through downtown. Though it has been a while since I've been down, so I may be forgetting something.
divert to progress and widen it is the only way that seems feasible. Campus blocks off any routes to the SW and other roads to the NW would need to be extended through neighborhoods.
The Town already has a comprehensive plan incorporating higher-density development in the areas you highlight on your map. Information is available here:
http://www.blacksburg.gov/departments/departments-l-z/planning-and-building/comprehensive-plan/2014-comprehensive-plan
awesome! thanks for the link. Will definitely look at it during some free time.
Wow thanks fernley. You hit the nail on the head with what I was asking. I ask it because I have moved a lot recently. 5 states in 8 years. From growing up in NJ, college at VT, to grad school in Philly, to medical school in AL, to clinical rotations in Tallahassee now I've seen a lot of American towns. Not including the various trips I've taken with friends to other schools: Austin, TX, Tuscaloosa, AL, Auburn, AL, State College, PA, New Brunswick, NJ just to name a few. Out of all of them Blacksburg felt by far the smallest when it really wasn't necessarily that small. Obviously it's not Philadelphia or Austin. Nor is it the same size as Tuscaloosa or Tallahassee. But Auburn and State College are not that far off from Blacksburg. But both those towns felt like there was 10x more to do in their respective downtowns.
I think we can all agree we enjoyed our time we spent in Blacksburg but you're absolutely right about the town feeling like it doesn't want to adapt to the changing times. I remember being frustrated with Mike's one night. It was like 2 am on the weekend and the restaurant was closed. All I could think to myself was why in the world are they closed. They could make a fortune just based on location alone. Drunk college kids pouring out of the bars at the end of the night looking for munchies? Not to mention they could make a signature burger/dish/what ever and become a local establishment for years and years to come. The kind of place that ESPN during commercial break does some fluff piece about the legendary Blacksburg establishment that you have to go to if you visit. I always felt that Blacksburg was lacking that sort of place to be for the very reasons you brought up. Downtown the way it is set up just is not a popular place for anything but the bar scene.
I think it was Blackledge that did his taste of the town in Blacksburg one weekend. I was ashamed of the result. He chose to go to some...vegetarian place? We are smack dab in the Appalachians and there is NO reputable bbq joint in Blacksburg. ESPN went to a vegetarian place.
I was embarrassed.
To be fair, Gillie's (I'm assuming that's where he went, can't think of any other vegetarian places) has really good food.
But the lack of BBQ in Blacksburg bothered me my whole college career. Bottom of the Stairs should be opening up soon, and I've heard rumors that Due South was looking into opening a location in Blacksburg.
Yeah.... But then again you have times like when the music store on the corner was replaced by Moe's....
Ah man, Crossroads. I had friends who worked there
This thread makes me feel really old (then again, I am really old).
When I was in school, the only music shop on Main was the The Record Exchange. I would go there at least 3-4 times a week. The spot you guys are talking about that was across the street from Sharkeys. That was a bar...can't remember the name of it, though. Arnold's maybe?
Man The Record Exchange was so awesome. I am old as well.
It was the best. I was into UK music at the time (Stone Roses, Charlatans, My Bloody Valentine) and they would get me Japanese imports of live shows by those bands and others. Of course, I'd pay for any new music with a stack of CD's I was finished with. Usually a trip to The Record Exchange was followed by going next door to Greeks to get a sandwich or going downstairs to the Cellar for a beer. I still have an old pint glass from the Cellar. Ahhh, the old college days were great.
when i lived in Arlington, i met a VT alum who managed that store during his time there.
he had opened a record store in Arlington, too, which had a good run in the late 90s-early 2000s but high rent forced him out of his coveted Clarendon spot into some bleak shopping center closer towards Falls Church. last i heard, he relocated to SF
Is that not CD Cellar? That place helped start a lifelong obsession with cds/vinyl/music in general for me.
no, there was a different store there whose name escapes me... let me think about this.
as for the CD Cellar, i used to be a regular at the original one in Falls Church and would scour those $2 CD bins and find gems that were ignored by a lot of folks.. i'd show up after payday, spend $20 and walk out with a handful of great music.
i just digitized my whole collection and seeing those $1.99 price tags (yeah, never took them off) still puts a smile on my face!
i'm back in the 757 but whenever i make the trip back up, i'm always amazed by the new construction and shifting of the retail environment.
Same, original CD Cellar price tags on everything I bought, and there's quite a few of them. Was digging through my boxes (new house, haven't figured out what to do with the collection yet) and was pretty excited that I could pinpoint where I bought almost every cd based on the tag. They actually just moved to a new location in Falls Church (don't think it's a cellar anymore), but I've heard it's pretty nice. Last time I went (year or two maybe?) they were transitioning to a lot more vinyl, I'd imagine it's a full blown record store by now.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this hits hard. I worked as a waiter there for three years as a student and whenever I could during my post grad year in Blacksburg. I cannot say enough great things about Mike's, from THE Mike Varelos who passed away a few years back, his son Nick who took over the place and spent way more time than anyone could image to make his dad proud, to all the employees who were legitimately like family to me.
I rarely say this about people, but that place did it the right way and you won't see another place care so damn much about doing it not for a customer review, but because it was right.
What it ultimately came down to, it's tough to be a restaurant in a college town that has the number 1 food in the nation and opens "Burger 37" and Five Guys all within 5 minutes and then the city of Blacksburg not allowing any parking downtown.
That's my rant. I'm getting some beer. Sad Nerd out.
Edit: The fact they closed right before football season is heartbreaking. That's where they made enough money to get into the black for the year. Either Nick's health just can't handle it or they cannot lock down a steady enough cook to manage.
This is so wrong. Not once did I ever leave that place hungry. Never!!! Sad day in Blacksburg.
This is such a shame. Mike's truly had the best burger in Blacksburg.
I suppose this is an unfortunate side effect of VT having awesome campus dining. There are now things like food trucks roving around campus, operating within sight of places like Mike's. What's a student going to do? Spend $2 off the meal plan that's already paid for and get something from the dining truck between classes or walk over and spend real cash at a downtown restaurant? The choice is pretty obvious, though sad.
One of the best meals of my collegiate life was at Mike's. Early in the summer, right after the semester ended, I went hiking with a bunch of friends. We spent the whole day up at the Cascades and we were all starving on the way back. Quickly, someone suggested we go to Mike's. I already knew it was the best burger in town, but man was that ever the best of the best. Cheap, delicious, and great service.
Now, everyone go eat at Souvlaki before we lose that one, too.
RIP, Mike's Grill... You will be missed by many
Wow. I hate this. Mikes grill is one of my favorite places ever. I had many a delicious burger there. I grew up in Blacksburg. I cannot count the number of times I have eaten there. If I ever die of a heart attack, I will blame the delicious red meat from Mikes. I really wish this was untrue. I never had a chance to take my wife there. Her life will never be complete now:)
I regret that Mike's is one place in town I found myself not going to as often as I wanted, though it's not alone in that respect.
Those of you looking for other great burgers in Blacksburg should definitely head on up to the Taphouse or Frank's bar at 622 North. As an added bonus, those two have the best beer selection in town, normally. Also the Faculty Street at PK's is probably my absolute tops.
Unfortunately, the best beer selection in town is likely Mellow Mushroom right now IMO. They have more taps than anyone else, and a decent bottle list. The owner there (per the bartender who has filled growlers for me there) wants it to be "the place" for beer in Blacksburg, since there really isn't one there right now. Plus, it's a bit cheaper to drink at than Taphouse or 622.
Fair point, I'd kinda forgotten about them a bit but I do agree they have an impressive list. I do think the two I listed have a tendency to bring out some truly unique selections more often though, just based on my visits to all those places.
I'll be honest I don't really hate Mellow Mushroom being in Blacksburg, I just wish they did a little better job with wait times (once seated) and getting orders correct. It seems to be a risk there, but they do normally try to make it up to you when they screw up.
Unless things have changed in the past year, I'm going to have to disagree about Mellow Mushroom being the best for beer. They may have more taps, but most of them are the standard craft rotations of stouts, IPAs, and wheat beers. The beer is solid there, but not quite the best. Occasionally something special would come through. Frank's bar at 622 always had really special beers rotating through and had insanely good tap takeovers with breweries that were almost every week. I miss that place.
Maybe Mellow Mushroom has stepped it up since then, but I don't remember it being as competitive.
I was going to say something similar to this. Mellow does what most chains do, which is get a bunch of taps then fill it with standard stuff you can get anywhere so they can claim they have X NUMBER OF TAPS! Frank's had great takeovers and some really interesting beers at all times. Same with the Underground where they have their own selection of standards that are a bit off the beaten path and some beers you really don't see anywhere else (love me some Sexual Chocolate). IMO, 12 taps is ideal if it's managed well. Good selection, beer stays fresh, lines stay clean, forces the manager to know his/her stuff instead of just one of everything.
I agree with you on all of this. However I will add that Mellow Mushroom does its fair share of takeovers and steal the pints.
Still though, Frank's is the best in town for beer. And in my opinion one of the best for live music as well.
Gonna pour one out for Mike's. While I never ate there a lot, but it was consistently great every time.
Sad to see Mike's go.
London Underground still is my favorite place to eat whenever I'm in town.
They do some amazing food there, and their burgers are no joke. Plus, scotch eggs.
Just looked up what a Scotch egg is.
They are pretty easy to make with a toaster oven I've found, so it helps ease the pain of distance. Health-tip: crush some bbq pork rinds and coat the whole thing, then cook at 400 for 15 or so.
I assume it'd be even better deep fried. Man I wish I had a deep fryer I could use right now, or even a kitchen. Really wish I weren't living out of a semi right now.
Yeah man, Underground is our go to if we barhop before a game.
I've been expecting this to happen for a few years now. I know it has some history and I hate seeing a local place close up, but there were probably 4 or 5 places I would've chosen over Mikes for a burger the past few years (Not even counting some burgers on campus that I'd go for first). Gotta keep the product up if you want to make money.
Definitely a fun place to hang out and get a burger.
What was the thing they did, like the lettuce and everything
was on the bottom part of the bun, etc?
The burger came upside down on the plate (I'm pretty sure.....it has been several years).
That's what I remember. Something like that.
The burger was served upside down for two reasons:
1) Kept the bottom bun dry whereas many places serve burgers and the bottom bun is soaked through.
2) When you grab the burger, it's easier to grab then flip the burger for a bit as opposed to trying to dig your thumbs under first.
Sad times man. So after my final spring break in 2014 I created a "Food Bucket List" for Blacksburg of places I wanted to eat one more time before graduating (including specific meals on campus). It had a decent amount of stuff on it, although not a ton. By the time I graduated and moved out of Blacksburg, the only place I hadn't hit was Mike's, because I tried to go after graduation and they were closed through Memorial Day. Thankfully, my girlfriend's cousin who lives in Bburg got married this past June and gave us an easy excuse to head down there without the hustle and bustle of a gameday, so we ate burger and fries right when we got into town. It was over 2 years late, but my Food Bucket List was finally complete. Little did I know that that was the last time I'd ever get a burger at Mike's Grill. Blacksburg will miss it.
Kind of related- can anyone recall what the name of Cabo Fish Taco was in 1998? The building changed names several times before Cabo Fish Taco was established, and I had some glorious nights there, but I don't have the synapses left to remember.
South Main Cafe. Never ate there, but drank a lot and saw a ton of bands. Perfect set-up for live music.
I use to go to South Main Cafe all the time when I was in school. I remember seeing Lisa Loeb play a set there in front of two dozen people. Literally the next day, her song Stay hit the top 10.
Blues Traveler used to roll through South Main Cafe back in my day. Definitely my favorite nightspot in Blacksburg during my time.
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds used to play South Main Cafe pretty frequently. Tim's band TR3 was a main stay. Occasionally you'd catch Vic Wooten in there too. This was in the early 90s if I remember my NRV music store anecdotes correctly.
90's Dave & Tm was the shit. I used to trade shows back in the late 90's/early '00.
Stuff likes this makes me sad that Blacksburg's music scene was dead the entire time I was in school (outside of some metal house shows and Appalachian folk music that I didn't have the good sense to understand yet). Sycamore Deli didn't move into the old Lantern spot until my final semester, which meant 3 1/2 years for me without a single true music venue in town. Seems like it's picking up now but music is still super scarce for a college town.
The Solar House accident was the nail in the coffin for the Blacksburg music scene. It was so good in the 90s and started to trail off after 2000 rolled around but the Solar House thing in 2003 pretty much ended good house shows and after 3 years of decline, good live shows were rare.
Wait. What? I was going to answer 117 S. Main. Damn, I'm old.
117 was the absolute best place to watch live music in the 70's. Saw some awesome bands there (Dixie Dregs, Randall Bramblett, etc.). When that place got rockin', the whole upstairs balcony would start swaying.
... and then the bricks would fall off the facade. I recall at one time they put on a "benefit" concert to raise money to repair the building. The title on the poster was, "Keep 117 Off the Streets" Genius, that.
Fuck. I loved that place, and I wish I could've taken some of my newbie college friends there.
Fuckin Matt Ryan.
I was either a second or third grader about to go to one of my first Tech basketball games. My dad was a Tech grad in the 80s, and he decided to take me to Mike's that night. I ate an entire pizza by myself. It's unfortunate that it has to close, as it was truly a Blacksburg landmark.
Mike's was the place my Dad and I went to the first time he visited me in undergrad. Going to miss that place.
It was one of the first places I ate when I started in 1983 (I lived above what is now a bike store next door). It was also the place I took my son in July of this year after his freshman orientation. The decor had not changed a bit.
My biggest problem with this is that while I may not have a personal attachment to Mikes, it was a Blacksburg establishment, and I love the small town feel.
I loathe the fact that Moe's occupies the storefront that it is currently in, wish Chipotle was somewhere else and would love it if Sharkey's didn't have other locations.
I want all of the downtown to be local mom & pop shops, despite how unreasonable that may be for Blacksburg's economy.
This sucks.
All of my favorites are practically gone. I swear if SSII ever closes, we riot.
My parents would take me and my sister to Mike's at least once per trip to Blacksburg when I was a kid. It was the only place in town other than Lane that I ever cared to go to back then. They'd always talk about how, back in the late 70s/early 80s, it was a great bar with pool tables in the back. I don't remember how long it's been since the last time I went though, and now I feel guilty about it
Holy heck imgur made this so much more difficult with their new UX
Ok, so here is your legend, fernley. Not all of this is 100% correct but I it's pretty close:
RED - the roads that delineate campus, the whole NW corner of this image
DARK BLUE - the roads that delineate residential areas, including local folks, rentals, and frats, the whole SE corner
LIGHT BLUE - multi-story hotels that have been converted to apartments, all near the NE end of the downtown district
PURPLE - local gov't and businesses that are not retail storefronts
YELLOW - empty circles are 4+ floor parking garages, solid circles are pay parking lots. There are also metered spaces all up and down both sides of the road (GREEN LINES)
Ok so now on to downtown:
Everything between the GREEN LINES is considered downtown State College between COLLEGE and BEAVER Avenues (both are one-way streets, COLLEGE heads from NE to SW, BEAVER heads from SW to NE. Almost every building between the two thick green lines consists of the following:
At street level: Retail shops, hair & tattoo, banks, restaurants, and bars
Below street level: Retail shops, restaurants, and bars
Above street level (floor 2): Retail shops and restaurants, some of which are the second floor of the same store, some are different entities altogether, and some apartments
Above street level (floors 3+, where applicable): Apartments
The THIN GREEN LINES are alleys that connect cross-streets. There are some bars and restaurants on these alleys as well as some back-door entries to stores with storefronts on College Ave, but it's mostly dumpsters and utility areas.
Side note, I thought about this very briefly and if we were to follow the pattern of what State College has done, downtown would probably look a bit like this:
Convert all of Progress St to being one-way, rid it of residential homes, and develop the space between Main and Progress and DT business district, as well as the opposite side of Progress St. Make both Main and Progress two-lane, one-way roads, that split at Clay St or Washington St on the SE, and rejoin each other at Progress at Main. Everything spray MSPainted would be retail shops/restaurants/bars/etc.
EDIT: Interesting. In this image we see both Kent St and Penn St.
Penn State plays Kent State this weekend. #illuminati
For the love of all things good and holy, use a program that supports some damned layers. /rant
Thought about that, don't have one. Any recs?
GIMP is free
Tragically I run a chromebook. I'll have to look around for things that run on Chrome OS or Android.
yep, it's a proven model all over the world. You are highlighting exactly what I am thinking. Everything between Main and Progress and most everything north of Progress. You could make them one way, but I wouldn't because I want to close down the core of Main Street. I would widen Progress an extra lane to accommodate through traffic and realign it a bit, in an ideal scenario.
thanks Horse!
Thanks for the insight. How challenging do you think it would be to get all that property on Progress St?
I can speak to what I see here in State College that the downtown area really (I think) should have done away with a number of older buildings. Instead of trying to convert home-like structures to shops, deconstruct them and replace with retail-specific buildings.
There are a TON of single family homes up here that have been converted into office spaces. Downtown SC not too much but throughout town it's very, very common.
well... it depends on how predatory you are as a developer. You would imagine that the city and residents of Blacksburg would be against a single developer doing this, but if I had the financing capacity that's what I would want. So on the face, very difficult because you would meet a lot of blow back, like wal-mart did, no matter how cool you make it.
BUT.... there are ways around this. Pretty easy in fact, even with severe anti-development sentiment from residents and the town. You would need 3 acquisition strategies.
1) Property management acquisition: One of the easiest ways to purchase a commercial property without being suspect is take over the property management contract and then offer to purchase privately with the owner. A management company is non-threatening to city planning offices and you could cover a lot of property in one fell swoop, especially if existing ownership have multiple lots.
2) The Hurricane: Create 50 entities in Delaware and use them to buy 1 or 2 properties each over a period of 1 - 3 years. It looks like disparate purchasing but it is all sold to the dev co for 1 dollar each. Distracted by what looks like an upturn in the market, everyone fails to see the calm eye of the storm that's about to come.
3) Mom & Pops and the New Family: "hire" private individuals to portray themselves as someone looking to open their dream restaurant or looking for their first home, or a starter property for real estate, etc. they buy with your money and then sell to the dev co.
Once I buy all or the vast majority I push for what I want. If the city or residents say "no", then I poison the apple, but not by raising the rents, rather by subverting properties to being code violations. therefore they must BY CODE shut down operations, which means businesses will leave. Private homes will sit vacant, which I will board up and put caution tape on, with large "Eviction" and "Foreclosed" signs in the front yard. The city won't be able to afford that kind of economic devastation and will give me whatever I want.
It may seem like a lot of effort but this stuff is pretty simple to pull off.
If you want to be REALLY aggressive, once you start the devastation you start buying adjacent property that has big hits on property value for pennies.
I am not saying I personally would do that, but if the numbers work out financially it's a pretty easy plan to pull off provided you have the financing.
So...fernley is the bad guy in so many lifetime movies about small town America...
Sometimes people need to be forced to do what's best for them
After seeing the news yesterday and reading everyone's comments I've decided that I'm going to start eating off campus for lunch at least once a week. I'm going to try and go to a different place each week. I am a sophomore and only made it to Mikes grill once last year but I can remember my parents talking about it from when they went to tech. Just in that one trip I could see why everyone liked it so much. The food was delicious and the price was dirt cheap. So as I type this I'm waiting on my food to come out at the cellar.
OT: As an old person with very few remaining ties to the student section, what are the vibes going around campus towards the season opener this weekend? Are people excited? Or should we be not be surprised to see half empty student sections again.
Also, tell everyone you see they can sit when they graduate, ala your user name.
I know I'm not the Cellar student, but I know that a lot of the 2020 class is excited. Most people I've talked to are going to the game on Saturday, and it seems like the new era is giving a bit of life to the students. That's how it feels to me at least.
I may not have the best perspective either because I tend to see things through about 8 layers of orange and maroon glasses but I think that everybody on campus is amped for the first game. If the liberty game was in week 2 or three everyone might not be quite as excited. Everyone is anxious to get back to tailgating and watching football. I expect a packed student section for this game and every game to follow as long as the wins continue. Now if we get destroyed by Tennessee (there's a zero percent chance of this) then I can see there being some gaps of aluminum in the student section the following week. A lot of the gaps that were visible last season in the bugger games were due to an over capacity north end zone which makes the top of the east student section look less full. I myself contributed to this for at least half of the games last season. Funny that you mention the sit when you graduate thing. Last season I almost got in a fight with some other students because I refused to sit down and I was apparently ruining the halftime show for them. Sidenote: I still can't understand why the student section for basketball is so empty. Last year it always amazed me that even when we were on that big win streak most people didn't even know we had a game that night. If you've got any other student related questions feel free to send them my way
so, like.... how hard is it to get into the North Endzone if my ticket says East Stands? Cause I'm reallllly not feeling my Section 27, Row 5K seats that I got assigned today.
It was a piece of cake as long as you do it right but I don't wanna say on here. Drop me an email and I'll explain or better yet if I end up with north end zone I'll help you out. Follow up question: has everyone you know gotten the ticket email because I haven't gotten mine yet today? Email is zach5176 at vt.edu
I don't want to see that lunch on the credit card statement, use some of that cash from that job you are working. Just kidding, explore and enjoy that great town, the time goes by too quickly. See you at the game, you gotta sit down eventually.
Pops
As a matter of fact I did use cash today
I'm just giving you a hard time, good to hear you are expanding your menu, we will check out the Texas tavern next time we meet up in Roanoke.
The Cellar's lunch special is the shit (assuming they still have that, it's been 6 years...) My husband and I would split one once a week or so. We pretty much alternated between two choices, so our regular waitress would ask which one it would be that week, ha.
You're probably too young at the moment, but come back for Hammer Time when you can. $7 pitchers of craft beer from 6-7, greatest time and place on Earth. I lived at The Cellar for my final two years of school and go back every time I'm in Blacksburg (often multiple times per trip/day).
This might get downvoted, but I wanted to give the perspective of someone who did not grow up going to Blacksburg. I started my graduate degree last fall and did not know Mike's was even a thing even though I've walked and driven past it a bunch. It's likely not going to be a popular opinion, but here goes.
I actually never ate at Mike's. I ate at Hokie House, The Cellar, Champs, Poor Billy's, etc downtown, but Mike's never enticed me. Their storefront was plain and honestly looked rundown. I know that it takes money to revitalize a storefront, but if you didn't KNOW it was there, your eyes slid over the storefront when looking at it, and there just isn't THAT much exciting in that little stretch to draw your eye anyway. As my wife put it, the entire place looked grungy when walking by, and we were just not enticed to eat there. Too add to issues, I never really saw any big crowds.
I went to Auburn for undergrad, and there they have Momma G's. The original Momma G's is a run down shack in a prime retail location. However, they had patios and outdoor seating and there were always people there (might have been the $2-5 Momma's Brew pitcher specials, but still). All that to say, I have no problem going into places that look rough around the edges.
I'm sure that Mike's did make an amazing burger and calzone. They showed up on lists of burger places when I Googled "best Blacksburg burger places". Their problem is with new students who didn't grow up Hokie fans, they don't provide a storefront that gives an incentive to go there over other places, IMO.
I'm sorry that it's getting shutdown since all of you seemed to really enjoy it.
Not to discount what you said, I probably would say the same thing about most places I see when I go to a new area, but in contrast, how many times do you read or hear about a place like this that looks like a complete dive and ends up making the "worlds best ....". It almost adds to the charm that you wouldn't notice it at first glance. I know I appreciated it for the classic, not-in-your-face decor. Like nerd and someone else said above, they were more focused on the food and treatment of customers and it just felt like being home whenever you ate there. Leg for your honesty and alternate perspective.
Oh, I agree. Some of the best places with the best food and people look dive-y from the outside. The same could be said about several places downtown, which I have eaten at and enjoyed.
I was just trying to offer another perspective on why a Blacksburg staple was shutting down. There are several great places to eat around downtown, but Mike's was never one my wife or I were interested in eating at. Just my 2 cents.
I think this post is on point. Sucks to see a local establishment go down, but nostalgia doesn't keep businesses running; customers do. As new places moved in on Main St, Mike's just slipped into the background. Hopefully a trendy (but locally owned) new bar/restaurant can take over and be successful.
Respect. Outside opinions are always needed to reel us back into reality a bit. Totally agree with the grundgy look being a turn off. Always happens when I visit other places that I've never been but typically good reviews are more than enough to sway me. I love eating at local places. I always say the best way to get to know a place/culture is to eat the local food.
I agree, most of the time the reviews are enough for me to go anyway. Been to hole in the wall dive bars serving bellinis in Dallas that was super sketchy that was an amazing experience, but looked like a hovel on the outside. Some places can thrive like that. When your customer base/target audience is largely 18-22 year olds (with a healthy portion of 23-28 year olds), most of whom don't really know any better and a large portion who are international students, it's a difficult model to follow.
All the best to the Vardelos though. They seem like nice people.
So, as a former employee, I 100% respect your opinion and, I agree with you. The waitstaff desperately tried to push the owners to social media, improvements, attempts at outdoor seating (which is expensive as hell in Blacksburg btw) but there was a snag. The owner was the son of the original owner. He wouldn't dishonor his dad's memory of the place. What was that memory? Admittedly, Mike's in its early days had a reputation as the Hooters of Blacksburg. It was a somewat "rundown" or "grimy" place. That was its charm. It worked wonderfully when VT was like that as well. In the 90's. When the Terror Dome reigned supreme. It's not about that nowadays. We're celebrating the fact that VT students are pampered with the best food and quality of life. That is also a GREAT thing. But it means we are losing some of our roots. We're losing the things that made us that hometown, everyone-knows-your-name kind of place. There is nothing wrong with that and it is healthy for a school to do.
I guess what I am saying is, Mike's was a bit of a throw back. I speak from a totally emotional point when I say that Nick (the owner) is the epitome of a Hokie despite never attending class at VT and worked through spinal injuries and muscle tears because he cared so much about the alumni who came back and wanted Nick to meet their kids. It really was a genuine family establishment.
They were not the best at marketing, they were stubborn and old school, and I am not surprised they closed down. I'm getting choked up writing this post because Mike's was a lot like a second family to me and I texted Nick last night. It's just sad to me, he has two little girls and I pray that one of his buddies gets him a job because when we talk about our grit and how tough we are and all the things that make us better than UVA, it's people like Nick that we're talking about.
Sorry for the rambling. I've just been in a bit of a bad place.
Related to my post above: Can we get a list (maybe a new topic) about all the places in Blacksburg that you MUST hit if you go to school there or visit often? I feel like I've hit most of it, but can't help but feel like I'm going to miss out on something like Mike's again.
I'm sure others will add on, but non-chains I would recommend include:
TOTS, Sharkey's, and Hokie House (Duh)
The Cellar
The River Mill
DP Doughs is the new calzone spot
Boudreaux brunch
There's an Indian place on Prices Fork that isn't too bad
Champ's is always popular
Lefty's and PK's
I'm sure people will add on
Done the first three. Probably in the first two weeks we were in Blacksburg.
The Cellar remains one of my personal favorites. Power Hour ftw.
River Mill has good food the couple times I've been. Decent beer selection for what it is.
Had DP Dough's calzone. Mellow is significantly better, IMO, but DP is good.
Have not done Bourdreaux's brunch, and I love brunch. Didn't know they did one. Will definitely try.
Indian place will be tried.
Champs has decent wings and excellent wing specials ($0.50/wing iirc). Nice hole in the wall bar.
Lefty's does good burgers, excellent brunch, and has a good beer selection in their new building.
PK's seems like the jack-of-all-trades restaurant. They do everything I've seen well, but no "specialty". Which is completely fine by me. Good food and consistency count for a lot.
Obviously also had Carol Lee's donuts. Excellent. Duh.
Overall, I feel like I've done pretty well. Missed Mike's which sucks, and Farmhouse is reopening this fall supposedly so I'll have to try that out.
Sycamore Deli is a must. Their old location was the epitome of run-down-shack-with-best-food-you-can-get. The new location still has the cheapest (and some of the best) sandwiches in town. Cheapest beer as well. And shows on the weekend.
Souvlaki is great as well, I'd consider them a Blacksburg staple.
And for what it's worth, DP Dough's is a chain.
Lived 200 feet from this place in Rutherford during my senior year. I also gained 10 pounds that year.
Had my first one before the Spring game this year, took the whole family.
that brings back memories. when i was in the Management Society, my job was to get donuts every other week for our meetings. i can assure you, attendance was practically 100% esp. with free Carol Lee donuts!
We had a thread about Blacksburg restaurants. Don't know know if we should get w new one or bump that one?
Might be out dated, you know, with a closure and everything.
Adding to NerdMagic's list...
Great additions.
I've done the whole pizza from Benny's. Ordered delivery. Was shocked at a $42 pizza. Had to tilt the box to get it in the apartment door. No regrets.
I've done McAfee's Knob, Cascade, and a couple other hikes and been the Home place 3-4 times. Good, down-home fare.
Have read about but not done the Tijuana Toss. Sounds fun.
Have been to Cabo multiple times and have tried most of their menu. The Tavarua (so?) tacos are the best, IMO. Tuna tacos with honey wasabi sauce.
Don't get too excited. You order a large pizza and when you're ready for the check, the manager comes around with a big coin and flips it in front of you. If you correctly call it, the pizza is free. Pay for your drinks, tip well and be happy!
I had a friend with a 9-flip winning streak at one point. I think the manager's heart sank every time he saw her. My best was 2 in a row.
Back in the day the waitress did the flip instead of the manager. It was always free if you tipped.
I noticed no one has said sycamore deli anywhere. Don't know what the reception is amongst other Hokies but I love that sandwich shop. Cool location too in a basement area in the building in front of rivermill.
Get the Tugboat. Also add Sub Station II. Legendary subs. Dirt cheap.
Oh, greens too. THEY HAVE REALLY GOOD DOUBLE FRIED FRRNCH FRIES. Best in the burg
Sycamore is great. Back when they were in the shack it was the only food you could get to from the academic side of campus and it was incredible. I had to force a lot of fellow students to go there who thought it was too run-down, and they all became regulars. Love that they finally took over the underground and made it a sometimes-venue again too, Blacksburg needed that so badly.
Does anyone remember The Gobbler when that was open? Worst diarrhea I've ever had.
I'm going to demand my TKP Club money back if nobody else agrees that Cabo Fish Taco must be on every list of the best places to eat in Blacksburg
Agreed
+1. I consider Cabo a Blacksburg staple, however, I notice that a lot of people who graduated before ~2005ish do not.
Yep, I grad'ed in '05 and it was a new school restaurant to me
Just remembered, go to Our Daily Bread in the little plaza where the cookout is. Fucking amazing brunch
I'll bet you Butch Jones is regretting talking shit about Mike's Grill right now. #Karma