Eaton Gogh serves up fun, festive food
by Nicole Parker

If your taste buds are growing weary of the usual burgers and french fries of fast food cuisine, rest assured that an exciting and flavorful alternative awaits you just minutes away.

The Eaton Gogh, located on the corner of Colley Avenue and Harrington Avenue in Ghent (Norfolk), offers a relaxed dining atmosphere and a mouth-watering menu selection that won’t break your wallet. The service is so timely and convenient that you can easily come in for a quick meal, grab a snack to go, or linger over coffee with friends.

The Eaton Gogh’s make-yourself-at-home atmosphere makes each visit a pleasurable experience. Fresh flowers are placed in vases at each table, along with napkins, straws, and an arrangement of eating utensils for your convenience. Green plants decorate the small-but-quaint dining area, and large windows give the room a spacious view. And, for those of you who are in the mood for outside-dining, plenty of deck seating is available at the front of the restaurant.

The entree selection at The Eaton Gogh offers dishes as decorative and pleasing to the eye as the dining area itself. The menu features a wide variety of tasty foods, ranging from soups, salads, and quiches, to their famous “Roll-Up” and specialty sandwiches. The food items range from $2.95-$6.95 in price, and college students are welcome to a 10 percent discount on their meals.

“We try to keep our dinner specials under six or seven dollars,” said Brandon Pope, a manager at the restaurant.

One must-try item on The Eaton Gogh menu is the Cajun chicken salad roll-up ($5.25). This delicious sandwich is made with lettuce, tomato, and tender chunks of chicken smothered in spicy Russian dressing. Not only is the flavor of this roll-up a taste-bud turn-on, but the way it is served is a definite eye-catcher: the chicken is wrapped in a hot-pink soft flour tortilla! A side of chips or pasta salad (for the health conscious) completes the stylish dish. And, if Cajun chicken isn’t your thing, there are nine other roll-up sandwiches to choose from, including turkey and swiss, the tuna melt, and the garden veggie.

The Eaton Gogh’s specialty sandwiches include selections like the Classic Rueben, with corned beef and swiss cheese ($5.50), and the Club sandwich on toasted bread, made with smoked ham, turkey, swiss, and all of the veggie fixings ($5.50).

Other specialty items include the vegetarian lasagna, beautifully arranged on your plate with a garden salad and fresh fruit ($5.50), and the Chickaloupe, which is made out of a decoratively carved cantaloupe halve and stuffed with the restaurant’s famous Cashew-chicken salad, fresh fruit garnish, and cottage cheese ($5.25). To satisfy your sweet tooth, don’t forget to try items from the dessert menu, such as the Key Lime pie ($3.25) and the apple pie ($2.95).

In addition to the menu that the restaurant currently uses, The Eaton Gogh also has a special “Sunday Brunch” menu from 11a.m.-3p.m. every Sunday.

“Our Sunday-brunch menu is fairly new, and it’s doing very well,” says Brandon.

Food selections on this special menu include entrees like the Margherita Pasta Souffle, made with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil ($5.95), and the Vegetarian Muffin, made with smoked Gouda cheese, sliced tomato, sprouts, and red onions ($4.25). Both of these dishes are served with a side item of your choice, including seasonal fruit and rotini pasta.

Such a quaint menu incorporated into such a charming setting garners inquiries on where the owners came up with the restaurant’s play-on-words-name.

“The owner, Terry Fraley, and I used to work at the Pallets restaurant in the Chrysler Museum,” said Brandon. “We wanted the name to be art-related. ‘Eaton’ was totally made-up, and ‘Gogh’ is from Van Gogh. We thought it was cute.”

Cute, indeed! And what a great place to go to when you want a quick and tasty meal that decorates your plate like a work of art.