On Friday, Irene and I drove more than 300 miles to the small town of Chilhowie, Virginia for dinner. Why? It was a celebration of sorts for the 40th anniversary of the day we met, June 24, 1974, which was when I started at Marvel Comics.

But why Chilhowie?

The New York Times asked the same question back in 2009 when chefs John Shields and Karen Urie, who’d worked at Alinea and Charlie Trotter’s, chose to open Town House there rather than launch a Las Vegas Charlie Trotter’s spin-off. And what they whipped up at Town House earned them raves from bloggers and John a nod for Best New Chef from Food & Wine.

John and Karen left Town House a few years ago in the hopes of opening a restaurant in Washington, D.C., a plan which they’re still hoping to pull off. But until then, they’ve decided to offer dinners a few nights a month—only three each in June and July, for example—at Riverstead, a beautifully renovated 1903 home on 30 acres. It’s an intimate experience, with a maximum of 14 diners per seating, I believe, and only two rooms for overnight guests.

Once we realized that the June 20th opening night was close to to the date of our anniversary—and exactly how luxurious the renovated accommodations would be—and that it would be a straight shot for us down I-81—we snapped up a reservation. (more…)