Restaurants in Laurel

Lola’s Lunches' mobile-minded caterers box up hearty breakfasts, lunches, and appetizers for pickup or delivery. Lola’s feeds hungry homes and offices with sausage-stuffed croissants in the morning and boxed sandwiches at lunch, which combine elementary-school spirit with grown-up taste by pairing eats such as the roast-beef-laden Westender with a side, a Lola’s cupcake, and a paper airplane made out of that morning’s Wall Street Journal. Lola’s also supplies groups with party platters and hot entrees that arrive table-ready with side dishes and dessert.

Virginia Barbeque first opened shop in a 100-year-old home in Ashland. The building's long history helped convey the sense of community roots that founder Rick Ivey wanted to express in his eatery's friendly, wood-smoked meats, and fresh-made sides. Now with locations across the state and a slew of accolades from the local media, Virginia Barbeque's mission to build a devoted following and pave a state highway with barbecue sauce is well under way. The restaurant's signature meats begin with a dry rub in a house spice blend before they take a 12-hour stint in a rotisserie smoker filled with hickory wood. Then, cooks hand-pull the meat and slather on house-made Virginia-style red sauce or North Carolina-style vinegar sauce.

Servers armed with avocados, limes, chopped spices, and a traditional molcajete mortar and pestle mash fresh tableside guacamole at The Patron, a verdant ritual that whets appetites for the Mexican meal to come. The chefs assemble standards such as fajitas, burritos, tacos, and mix-and-match combinations thereof, as well as specialties that include camarones Patrón, shrimp and mushrooms in chipotle cream sauce, or Patrón gorditas stuffed with slow-cooked pork carnitas and pico de gallo.

An iconic pig sits atop the roof of Carter's Pig Pen Bar-B-Que, where the scent of smoking chicken and simmering pork wafts through the air. Inside, chefs dress up hand-pulled meats and dreary cubist masterpieces either with a spicy, vinegar-based north carolina sauce or a thick, Virginia-style tomato sauce. Meaty cuts grace tables alongside classic Southern sides such as red-skin-potato salad and fresh-baked corn-bread muffins.

The pub has long served as the epicenter of Ireland’s social life—a place where friendships are made and stories are shared over foamy pints of beer. Finn McCool's Irish Pub positions itself firmly within this tradition of communality, inviting guests to bond while eating fish ‘n’ chips or clinking glasses of Guinness at a hardwood bar that spans the length of the room.

The convivial atmosphere isn’t the only aspect of Finn McCool's that recalls the old country. Traditional Irish staples such as shepherd’s pie, corned beef, and bangers and mash fill the pub’s menu. Savory scents waft through the air as guests throw darts, play billiards, and soak in the sunshine on the outdoor patio. A lineup of flat-screen TVs hums with the sounds of the day’s sporting events, which guests can wager their pots of gold or leprechaun manservants on at the pub’s Colonial Downs betting hub. :m]]

Under the trained eyes of the chefs at BanZara Restaurant, tender pieces of lamb absorb the piquant spices in lamb khorma’s coconut gravy, while marinated chicken chunks cook over a charcoal griddle before being dunked into delicious sauce for a tikka dish. The culinary team also pulls from Indo-Chinese recipes, combining eggs with flavored chicken and cooking deep-fried dumplings with traditional Indo-Chinese spices. In addition to dinners, the chefs also craft a lunch buffet of new dishes every day of the week, which diners can sample while ensconced in the eatery’s leather booths or, if they ask very nicely, straight from the chef’s ladle.