Dinner at Ava’s – St. Michaels Maryland

 …continuing with the photos and narrative from our family road trip to the Delmarva Peninsula this past September.

There are a lot of restaurants in little St. Michaels Maryland, several of which I noted in my last post.  Of course we ended up in a restaurant that we didn’t mention as we wandered around the center of the town.

The group decided on another option, Ava’s Pizzeria and Wine Bar… As it turns out, there are 3 Ava’s locations, with the other two being in Cambridge Maryland and in Rehoboth Beach Delaware.  It is part of a small restaurant conglomerate that includes a Hammy’s Burgers and Shakes in Rehoboth Beach and two Theo’s Steaks, Sides and Spirits.  One Theo’s is located in Rehoboth Beach and the other was right under our nose in St. Michaels.

Like almost every other restaurant…or business for that matter…Ava’s is located in an old former home.  As a result, the dining areas are based separate rooms throughout the house.  The bar and the main floor dining areas were quite busy and we were seated in a room on the second floor.  We had the room to ourselves for about half of our meal.  Laurie, Bill and Bonnie were at our table when I took this photo.

Our little group did indulge in a couple of adult beverages.  They included a Fig Mule ($15.00), a RAR Groove City Hefeweizen ($8.00), and 2 Devils Backbone Vienna Lagers. ($8.00) Nice profit margin on the beverages!  Laurie did enjoy her Fig Mule…

Bill ordered a Caesar Salad to accompany his pizza. ($11.00) Laurie ordered a Wedge Salad and as iceberg lettuce is permissible with my medications, we shared it. ($12.00) The salads were OK but not too impressive despite the prices.  Four other salads are offered on the menu, 2 of which with chicken are truly dinner salads.

As a starter for the table, Bill also ordered the Route 33 French Fries. ($8.00) We had a choice of parmesan cheese, Old Bay or bleu cheese toppings…and we picked the latter option.  Good fries and we all really like blue/bleu cheese.

Eight starters are listed on Ava’s menu.  Examples include Wasabi Oysters ($19.00), Ma’s Meatball (1 for $5.00) or 3 Ma’s Meatball Sliders ($17.00), and New Orleans style BBQ Shrimp. ($16.00)

Bonnie and Bill ordered a thin crust Boardwalk Pizza as their entrée.  It is a cheese pizza with a blend of mozzarella and provolone cheeses.  They added Italian sausage and mushrooms. ($21.00 with the added toppings)

Ava’s menu features 3 thin crust pizzas, 7 specialty pies and 8 Detroit style Sicilian pizzas.  I personally question the existence of a Reuben Pie ($19.00) that is topped with corned beef, gruyere cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing…

Laurie ordered a thin crust Margherita Pizza.  It was made with fresh homemade mozzarella cheese, milled tomatoes and basil. ($14.00) I didn’t have any pizza and the group shared both pizzas.  They thought that the pizzas were very good…

The 8 Detroit style deep dish pizzas on the menu include the “Pig Pen”. ($20.00) It features crispy prosciutto, chopped bacon, sweet caramelized onion, gruyere cheese, and crème fraiche. 

I just didn’t feel like pizza and since Ava’s has plenty of options on the menu, I strayed from the table’s trend.  This was Ava’s Seared Short Rib dinner. ($29.00) As you can see it consisted of red wine braised short rib/beef, mashed potatoes and glazed carrots with au jus.  It was quite tasty but I thought the beef should have been tenderer.

Ava’s also features 7 other entrees besides my short rib dinner.  Five of those entrees feature pasta.  For those who prefer sandwiches, there are 6 options, included a Caprese Panini. ($14.00)

There are two dessert options on the menu and both feature beignets!  One version comes with a trio of dips for your beignets and the other doesn’t… We ordered them without the dips. ($7.00) They were pretty good if not up to the standard set by Café du Monde in New Orleans.

All in all, Ava’s was a very nice place to eat.  Service was pleasant and competent and the food was above average.  Although a bit pricy, we weren’t surprised.  After all St. Michaels is a huge upscale weekend getaway and vacation destination for the big cities on the other side of Chesapeake Bay.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what was for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave