Given the owners’ steakhouse pedigree, I felt compelled to order the dry-aged ribeye. My first impression of this dish, created by Table 50’s talented executive chef, Myles Wallace, was “get the doggy bag ready!” but after biting into the almost buttery-tender steak, a touch of Gorgonzola hidden underneath it, I did a respectable job of polishing off half of it—with a little help from my friends and a few sips of Malbec. While our server prepared our to-go bags, we shared a generous slice of Caudill’s signature chocolate mousse torte. To be honest, this type of dessert usually fails to impress me—it’s either too cold, too heavy or too sweet. But this one managed the engineering feat of being light and airy while also holding tall and firm with the help of an Oreo-praline crust, which added texture and crunch, as did the cocoa nibs blended into the mousse. Equally outstanding, the house-made lemon sorbet took us from chilly Roanoke to sunny Sicily in a single bright bite.
In other fine dining rooms around the state, we might comment on the artful presentation, the odd-shaped plate, the exotic spice, the molecular mystery. But at Table 50, we found ourselves repeating, over and over, a very simple mantra: “This tastes so good.” When it boils down to it, isn’t that what matters most in a dining experience? For Roanoke, a historic city with a new, ultra-modern museum, the answer would seem to be a hearty yes.
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(540) 344-7715
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