Bar Meatball

Bar Meatball, Virginia-Highland

Holy balls or holy meatballs I should say this place is only three blocks away and could become dangerous. Bar Meatball was once Pazole but after 8 years the owner decided to make a change; he’s first generation American so many of the recipes come from this mother and grandmothers. The pictures on the wall are also of his actual family members. Sorry Bucca di Beppo this guy has you beat with authenticity. To be clear come for the meatballs, there are five on the menu along with a daily special. You can either choose a meatball, sauce, and a side or can go with one of the already crafted combinations. Regardless of what you choose go with your side “down low” as this assures the best sauce to item ratio. The cocktail menu looked artfully put together but I stuck with a carafe of wine, which if you’re going to drink two glasses buy the carafe as it is more economical! We went with the restaurant only being open a week but I didn’t notice any major kinks. The owner was walking about and welcomed every table. He told us once the place gets going they might do wine & meatball dinners on Sunday nights and my table assured him that would be a great idea. Taylor and I both ordered the Sausage & Pepper Meatballs with classic tomato sauce and rigatoni down low. Kiffy ordered the #3: Chicken & Rosemary Meatballs with mushroom gravy and parmesan mash down low. This was honestly thanksgiving with Italian flavors all in one bite. If you want something a little lighter they also have sliders that come individually. Next came dessert, Kiffy got a Root Beer Float and Taylor and I shared an Ice Cream Sandwich, peanut butter cookies and vanilla ice cream along with an order of Zeppole, which are light fluffy Italian donuts with powder sugar that come with a Nutella dipping sauce. This place rocks old school flavors and has a super comfortable vibe. If you come hungry you will without a doubt leave happy.

Timone’s

Timone’s, Morningside

The chef from Rosebud & The Lost Dog bring Morningside a local pizza joint and while I love the concept I wasn’t too impressed with the eats. To be fair I didn’t order pizza but rather the Garlic Knots and Meatballs. The garlic knots were okay and I was digging the whole gloves of garlic but as a whole they didn’t really knock it home for me. And the meatballs were pretty bland, however, the sauce was nice and tomato-y. One cool thing is that they do have four wine varieties on tap so you can order a glass or a full carafe. This restaurant is still relatively new and since I didn’t try their pizza I won’t completely turn away from the this place but after enjoying many dishes at both Rosebud & The Lost Dog I was pretty disappointed.