Enjoy (Something other than the Feaster news, or lack thereof)!
This kid is all Hokie, and I love it! Definitely one of my favorite players in the last few years.
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Get a haircut, Ya' Hippie!
...oh, yeah. Dope video!
Surfer dude! Expected to hear "I Get Around"!
Wow, I bet Benny's is thrilled with the free ad....pizza that makes you throw up! /s
I don't remember Benny's being there when I was in school in the early 80's....was I just not aware of it, or is it a relatively recent addition?
This kid is fun, and boy does he rile up the hoos!
Used to be Gumby's.
Edit: I am wrong, disregard.
the delivery kitchen is the old gumby's, but benny's is at the intersection of Draper and Jackson, between Bollo's and the farmer's market... opened very close to start of fall 2011 semester
I thought Gumbys was over on the north side of town somewhere not in downtown (Prices Fork Road maybe?) and the location where Benny's is was the camera shop?
Or were you not talking location but rather who was the perveyor of shitty pizza prior to Benny's arriving?
I was thinking that: 1) it wasn't operating when I was in school, and 2) I don't remember what was there in fall of 1983 (my last quarter in school).
Thanks, but I was responding to tjbhokie.
Yeah benny's Was a camera shop when I started at tech
Gumby's was (when I was at Tech in the late 90's) on Prices Fork, just before it terminates on Main St. And Gumby's was good, dammit. VP Pie was the predominant purveyor of shitty pizza in those days. 4 bucks for an extra large, and swimming in so much grease, you had to blot it off with a roll of paper towels. Ah, college...
I considered Firehouse and Gumby's mid-level quality but Gumby's got noticeably worse around 2009.
It changed from when I was in high school to college. Somewhere after 2004 it got worse. If it got worse again after 2009, then it really went downhill.
It was drunk food, at best during my time there.
Couldn't beat some Pokey Sticks late at night after drinking heavily.
Is the pizza place next to the Food Lion on North Main (Valentino's I think is the name) still around?
Being from Jersey, that was the best pie in Blacksburg hands down!
Roma's is the pizza place beside Food Lion
I don't really care for their pizza but they have maybe the best wings in town IMO.
Then again I unironically think Firehouse (Beast of Blacksburg or whatever now) has one of the better pies in town so maybe I'm not trustworthy when it comes to pizza.
I like the Cheese Steak Hogies at Roma's. I actually prefer PK's pizza in town right now. Firehouse is good too.
Agreed, PKs and Firehouse are my tops. I like PKs for just about anything, the Faculty Street burger is the best burger in town for me too.
I loved Beast until they decided to start charging a GPS distance related delivery charge, disallowing tips, and paying delivery drivers $15/hr "living wage". Ordered a medium pizza for the kids. $19 total cost. $10 pizza and $9 delivery charge. Never again...
Roma's wasn't bad, i actually didn't mind the pita pizzas at the cellar so long as you realize going into it that it's not "pizza" like we'd get at home. Benny's scratches a different itch - not bad, but way too doughy for me in general. eat a slice, burp an hour later, and it tastes like you drank several beers instead of eating pizza
Pokey sticks with garlic sauce for the win!
Alphas > Gumbys
Especially an Alphas calzone at about 2 am
I don't even remember Alpha's, my vote is per almost 15 years ago. Pokey sticks were a life saver back then at about 2 in the morning. Good times.
When I was in school (03-07) firehouse was dirt cheap crap pizza. I remember many a Friday night video game session fueled by their two large cheese coupon deals for like $6. Only alpha was cheaper/crappier. We bought 40 alpha pizzas for a dorm super bowl watching party and everyone said they'd rather chip in and get better next time.
Around 2006, firehouse was bought by someone else and they did surveys and focus group testing to improve their quality. In the end they were one of the better non-chain delivery places in town.
Was Gumby's a thing in 1983?
Not that my TOTS-damaged memory can recall.
Did anyone here ever attend a party in the apartments above Gumby's, where the balconies open up inside the building? That was an excellent place to party in.
TVC
Yep. Many times.
I see we went to Tech in the same time period. The Halloween parties above Gumby's were the best!
Was that the old SuperX (then changed to Eckerd)? If so...I lived there senior year. Party palace.
No idea. Gumby's was downstairs along with a couple of different stores in this strip mall area. It was wild how they had 2 story apartments on top of the strip mall, and these balconies that opened up inside the building from the apartments 2nd floor.
I think it was across the street from Buffalo Wild Wings on Price Fork Road.
That sounds like the place. The entire first floor was a drug store. The top two stories were "townhouses" that opened to a covered atrium. My bedroom actually had that an atrium balcony over the front door. That place was awesome. Everyday was something going on in there.
Yes, on that corner. My daughter and her friends were in an apartment there her senior year.
Halloween 2003. Great party. Shitty beer (Natty Light)
Oh God...what a party...I'll never forget the parts of that night that I can remember...
I was there.
Wish I could remember more than that
I lived there for two years. The atrium in the mornings after those parties was the absolute peak of filth I have ever seen outside of a bathroom.
Got a couple of good college stories from living there.
One of my best friends went dressed as Oscar the Grouch. We bought a tin garbage can and attached some straps to it. Excellent costume.
I bring this up because getting some place to pee was a challenge in that place, and the garbage can was not very easy to get in and out of. So he went outside and peed on the inside of the can (there was no bottom to the can). It was funny at the time.
Relatively recent and Benny's is a chain... not a blacksburg only thing.
Benny's was started by two Tech grads in Blacksburg and they grew it into a chain.
There's a Benny's in the Charlotte Noda area and they still call their pizza "The Virginia Slice."
There's also a Cabo Fish Taco and Boudreaux's in Noda.
20 locations across 6 states and i wonder if it's "the virginia slice" at all of em. I think the charlotte cabo fish taco is the og
The one in Noda is the original. They just opened one in Ballantyne as well that is incredibly nice.....almost too nice to be called a Cabo Fish taco. Its really close to my house and the margaritas are incredible, so its all good
"and boy does he rile up the hoos!" And how. The boohoos hate him as much as Dookies hated (and still hate) Deron Washington. I've had three conversations with one of my hoo friends since football season and Dax came up every single time.
They may hate him now, but they're gonna REALLY hate him by the time he's done with them.
Dax may end up being more fun than James Gayle in this regard.
They need a video showing off the girls rolling into west end after chapter gets out.
#jeeplife
I feel old. Benny's wasn't around when I was there and the other restaurant wasn't either.
I would've thought Bull and Bones opened right around 2007 but maybe it was just after.
Nope. They were just in discussions to create that movie theater in that area. In 2007 there was barely anything in that part of town. I'll have to check it out next time I'm there.
It was harder to find the exact opening date than I expected it to be, but January 2009 is apparently the answer. I think Bull and Bones is the only place I've ever been in that shopping center though and the movie theater wasn't there during my time in Blacksburg.
Dax either lost a lot of weight or he just packs on muscle well because he doesn't look like a LB, he looks like a summer camp counselor. Mainly the shorts. Hope he gained some speed.
I'm too lazy to pull articles but the media narrative has been Dax cutting weight in order to maximize speed to play at OLB (with the assumption that he plays alongside Ashby).
Well, he certainly lost weight after he threw up on "that exact spot."
What is he some sort of medieval dungeon master with all those keys?
He moonlights as the janitor down at Blacksburg Middle School.
What's a key?
All this talk about Benny's makes me miss Backstreets. RIP Backstreets. Your spagadi will never be forgotten.
The buffet was fire... loved backstreets
Mellow Mushroom there now. It pretty much sucks compared to Backstreets.
edit.. I like some of mellows stuff... not bad
so now some poster is downvoting every single one of my posts. No matter what they say. Nice. Such the "right way to message board".
I evened it out with a leg for you!
I don't hate Mellow Mushroom. I think it's just too trendy and expensive I guess.
Mellow mushroom is exponentially better than Backstreets.
this is like comparing Five Guys with Mike's. one is an overpriced but predictable chain, the other is an inexpensive but high-variance family run joint.
When Mellow Mushroom first opened up there (meaning the first maybe 6 months or so) I went like 3-4 times and they ALWAYS screwed something up. This sounds like a complaint, but actually it was awesome if you weren't in a rush, because I got a lot of free food as retribution. And usually the screwups were not the worst, like an over-browned pizza.
steep staff learning curve must be what happens when you try to gentrify pizza and have too many different menu options as a result
I'm pretty sure Mike's
got shut down.closed it's doors."got shut down" or they retired and closed the business just like backstreets did?
That's what I meant. Sorry!
Regardless of who owns it, mellow mushroom has better pizza.
yeah backstreets pizza was not good, to put it diplomatically.
My first experience with Mellow Mushroom was in Atlanta when I first moved there in 2001 and it was AMAZING. Best pizza I ever had. Years later I have been to several different mellow mushrooms in different locations and they have been terrible. They recently opened one in Dallas near my place and it was awful, and it closed down within a few months.
I guess it goes to show that whoever is operation the franchise can go a long way into making something good or not. That one in Atlanta that I lived near in early 2000's there were a bunch of hippies with dreadlocks working in there, and it was always legit.
Honestly it is the difference in water. Living in LA their was only 1 place to get pizza and they imported the water in from the east coast to make it.
So it makes sense why a franchise might have better pizza from one location to the other.
Backstreets stayed open about 5 years too long. It was legitimately good when I was in school. Then I moved back to the burg 3 years after graduation and the quality had gone way down hill. Gimme 2004 backstreets over mellow mushroom any day, but mellow mushroom was a massive improvement by the time it took over the spot
Mellow isn't bad in general, the Blacksburg Mellow is trash
Ladies* love Big Dax.
*And some fellas, not there is anything wrong with that.
Kinda OT, but I really miss Mike's. When I was in the third grade, I killed a whole pizza there by myself because it was so good.
I would LOVE to have one more of Mike's Cheeseburgers.
JUST ONE????!
Well, no, but you can only ask so much of the universe. I don't have that much karmic balance in the bank.
Not a huge Bull and Bones fan. In addition to Benny's, Sub Station II, Lefty's, Cabo, Carol Lee Cakes and Donuts, Cook Out Milkshakes, and Bojangles (for mornings after football games). I can survive in Blacksburg with those 7 spots.
bull and bones has good smoked wings and a good brisket sammich. everything else is better reputation than product for me. retweet on all your other must-haves except for Bojangles, and I'd include Bollo's as well
Bojangles is really just a necessary hangover cure for me.
Forgot Abby's.
Abby's is probably the best burger in town right now too. Them and PK's
lefty's
Lefty's is a meh for me. Honestly, we could put a nice sign up and a clean store and start a garbage bag shop in Blacksburg and would make a killing as long as it was trendy. People flock to the new thing for a bit and then move on.
lefty's has been around for 15 years though so i wouldn't call it new. moved into the vacant hokkaido building and opened a brewery in conjunction, but the food has always been good
I've been here in Blacksburg for over 20. I'm familiar. I thought it was obvious that I was referring to the new location. My apologies.
Add PK's to that list and you've got it. Wing bites and a slice of sicilian and i'm in heaven.
PK's has been my go-to spot when I'm back in Blacksburg for over 10 years now.
Same. I didn't go there a whole lot (but I definitely went some) when I was a student but I feel like I go there after every game now. Mostly because I can get food and drinks and sit down for a few minutes before hitting the busier bars.
Then we've probably been there at the same time. It's such a good hang.
I go there every single time I am in town at this point. It was not on my radar really back in the day but now it is easily my favorite spot.
DP Dough is awesome too. I literally cannot choose which calzone i want. They all sound amazing.
Just get the one that's on sale every time. At least that's what I did.
No Souvlaki's? How dare you?
Man all these restaurants you guys are talking about makes me realize that I really need to make an effort to get back to Blacksburg. I have been back for a handful of games since I graduated in 2000 but they were Thursday night games and I just came in from Roanoke (last one Clemson 06/07 I think?)
So for the late 90's some of my favorites were the all you could eat wing buffet at Sharkey's, not that the wings were great but it was all you could eat. Mikes, the Sycamore Deli, Souvlakis, and Sub Station II were definitely go to's during my time in the Burg. Some of these videos I barely recognize downtown, but it has been 20 years since I spent significant time there.
I got to meet Dax earlier this summer. Cool kid and enjoyed chatting with him. He has also been fun to follow on the Gram.
New one released with Grimsley
Shout out for PKs. Green dinosaur ftw!
Tijuana Flippin' Thursdays!
Tails never fails babbbbyyyy! Won 3 free pizzas one night and you would have thought i was the king of PKs
I had a 5 week streak going with my crew.
You know we are safe from recruiting violations when our 3 year starter (soon to be) at safety is driving a beige station wagon.
Isn't Subaru the safest car out there makes sense the safety has one.
Not anyone I've ever driven, I dont understand why all the suburu rentals I've had put the rearview mirror in the middle of the windshield, it blocks a lot of your forward lines of sight. You are constantly trying to look around it instead of concentrating on driving.
If you believe IIHS, they are pretty damn safe.
IIHS Link
This series is really cool. They need to do this more. I feel like it'd help with recruitment and just overall interest in the school.
I imagine that's why they started doing it