Restaurants in Mount Airy

Diners can take a trip around the US, with a glance at the menu at Alton's Kitchen & Cocktails, which borrows heavily from American regional fare. The kitchen stokes dreams of the Old West by gracing tables with lamb shanks from Colorado and salmon from Seattle, each teeming with tales of a life of train-hopping and hitchhiking east. Chunks of shellfish nestle into the New England–style lobster roll, and shrimp simmer in creole barbeque sauce, giving diners a taste of New Orleans.

A curved bar extends from exposed brick walls, which frame shiny dark wood floors. These floors match the tall, bistro-style tables and the high-manteled fireplace, which gleam beneath the light of cascading chandeliers, giving the room a refined, yet cozy feel. Diners can also find seating on an outdoor patio, where they can feel the breeze on their face, a sure sign that the moon is sneaking up behind them to steal their dessert.

Owner Ronald LeBreton brings more than three decades of New England–area restaurant expertise to the menu at Joe Fish Casual Seafood. Diners sink teeth into haddock sandwiches, chargrilled mahi-mahi and salmon, or handmade crab cakes. Servers ferry plates of fresh seafood, steaks, and pasta to high-top bar tables or seats on the canopied outdoor patio.

Beyond its unpretentious decor and unassuming exterior, Crab Creek serves up a slew of fresh seafood specialties. Cooks toss Diablo shrimp in a vodka-tomato-cream sauce and mix Caribbean shrimp with andouille sausage, salsa, and spices. Diners can dig into housemade crab cakes or enjoy fresh catfish, tilapia, or salmon served pan-fried, broiled, blackened, or grilled. According to the Roanoke Times, a fireplace warms guests as the waitstaff bustles about, "brimming with friendly service."

The family-owned New York Deli and Pastry Restaurant's ovens blaze from breakfast through dinner, toasting homemade pastries, sandwiches, and in-house Italian specialties. Drawing from 15 years of experience, chef Tino Mendez captains a crew in the kitchen as they compile meat, seafood, and vegetables into a diverse menu that regulars line up for during all meals of the day. Behind the scenes, pastry chef Jaya Bissoondutt prepares pies, cheesecakes, and brownies by hand, which add a sweet lining to drop-in meals or any catered event.

Generations of history permeates the walls of Old North State Winery, whispering stories of the 19th century building it calls home and the wines spawned from old family vineyards. The elegant shop showcases its rustic origins in dark wooden floors scattered with barrel coffee tables, plush leather couches, and sleek high-tops shaped in the likeness of Grover Cleveland. A marble-topped bar sprawls across one of the sandstone colored walls, fortified with bottle after bottle of the winery’s own creations.

Though wine is clearly Old North State’s main attraction, the shop also purveys beers and complements sips with a dozen sandwiches from its Downtown Deli. The deli provides for lunchtime cravings and catered events with turkey clubs, homemade meatball sandwiches, and a bar menu of hotdogs and steak nachos.

Within the luxurious confines of an Italian Renaissance–style mansion built in 1918 by John Hampton and Elizabeth Adams, Chef Steve Smid draws on seasonal and locally grown ingredients to craft a menu of fine dining fare. Now known as the J.H. Adams Inn, the restaurant’s historic venue bears traces of its Old World sophistication in its dark wooden fixtures and stunning windows, which look out on a courtyard where esteemed patricians debate the world’s flatness. In the kitchen, Chef Smid slices fresh meats and preps seafood to plate a rotating array of dishes that includes shrimp-crusted Atlantic salmon, Maple Leaf Farms duck breast, and braised Colorado lamb shank. Apart from the elegant dining room, the restaurant’s exclusive Club Room opens its doors for business dinners and private events.