I’m embarrassed to say I grew up in Northumberland County and had never been to The Backdraft in neighboring Westmoreland County until a few weeks ago. Well, I’ve been missing out.
Originally opened by retired firefighter Jay Genest and his wife Annie, The Backdraft was purchased by the restaurant’s longtime manager Leah Lewis in 2022. She’ll celebrate her fourth anniversary as owner this month on July 21.
Lewis worked for the Genests for 19 years, since she was 17 years old, and made the move with them when they left the former Mooring Restaurant to open Backdraft.
With the purchase, she made some minor cosmetic changes—painting, remodeling the dining room and bathrooms—but the major change came in the kitchen, where the food got a significant upgrade.
“I don’t have entertainment like the previous owners did,” said Lewis. “I switched it to a more family-oriented restaurant. What we do is focus on good food.”
Good food…and plenty of it, as me and my dining companions found out.
We visited on a Saturday night and had made reservations, a good idea since there were few open tables remaining in the main dining room when we arrived and the bar/lounge area was filling up fast. As a side note, smoking is allowed in the bar.
Our server Cory made some great suggestions, steering us to a customer favorite appetizer—crab dip—and one of the nightly special apps—stuffed mushrooms. The five large mushrooms, stuffed with crab meat and smothered in cheese, would have easily served as a meal with a side salad. They were among the best I’ve ever had.
I was delighted to find the crab dip was much like mine, made with cream cheese and a touch of sweetness. It paired perfectly with the warm, salted tortilla chips.
Lewis said she tries to buy all her seafood locally, If she can’t, she makes sure it’s American-harvested seafood. Cory said most of the crab, including the meat in my crab cake and the softshell crab that came with it as a combo, were purchased from a waterman in Reedville.
Lewis said all of the restaurant’s steaks are hand cut and Cory recommended the ribeye, which was an easy sell to my husband. To say it was big is an understatement. In fact, all of the portions were generous.
He ordered it medium rare and it was just that…and butterknife tender. No steak sauce needed.
My father was happy to find that the prime rib is always on the menu. It’s slow roasted at the restaurant and a generous portion which offeres a challenge, even for a hungry man.
Cory also suggested the seafood ciabatta bread, which my stepmother ordered. It was a hearty portion of scallops, shrimp and lump crabmeat over a piece of ciabatta bread and smothered in a light, but creamy Alfredo sauce. Again, a portion meant for leftovers.
“I changed our products,” said Lewis. “We order better quality products. And I’m lucky. My best friend [Harriet Williams] is my chef and she is phenomenal.”
Everything but the mozzarella sticks, fries and chips is “hand-pattied, hand-battered, handmade, which I think is kind of rare. We even hand cut our cheeses,” said Lewis.
And almost all of the desserts are homemade, including the one I ordered—a warm, custardy bread pudding swimming in a vanilla sauce that paired perfectly the next morning with a hot cup of coffee. My husband, who doesn’t normally order dessert, barely let me finish ordering before he said, “I’ll have the blueberry crumble.” It came warm, in a large bowl, topped with heavy whipped cream.
The entrees are seafood- and steak-centric and include a fried seafood platter for two. There are also baskets, a variety of salads, sandwiches, including six different cheesesteaks, eight burgers and even footlong, beef hotdogs.
Sushi and taco night every Tuesday is a weekly draw, as are the rotating Thursday specials. Along with the regular menu, the first Thursday offers four summer meals that are $17 each and include a small house salad. The second Thursday offers all-you-can-eat ribs and shrimp; the third Thursday is hibachi night, and on the fourth Thursday, the special is a seafood boil. From what I’m told by a regular, it’s worth the drive from anywhere in the lower Northern Neck to Kinsale on any of those Thursday nights but especially on hibachi night. Guess, I’ll have to mark that on my calendar.
The Backdraft
The Backdraft7415 Oldhams Road, Kinsale
804-472-4200
Open
Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Customer favorites
Steaks, Burgers, Reuben, Seafood ciabatta bread, Crab dip
Did you know?
The restaurant was named by its former owner and retired firefighter, Jay Genest. The term describes an explosive fire that occurs when oxygen is suddenly reintroduced in a closed, oxygen-depleted space. A caricature of Genest is still the restaurant’s “mascot.”
