It’s a busy Saturday afternoon at the To Do Café in Tappahannock and co-owner Diane Lentz is circulating around the rush of lunch customers with a demeanor that is anything but rushed.
“Did you get enough to eat?” she asks a group of diners, her hand resting warmly on the shoulders of one, addressing many by name. It feels as if Lentz has invited you into her home for a home-cooked meal. From the “Welcome to our porch” sign as you walk up to the restaurant’s entrance to the warm greetings by staff, everything about the cafe feels homey and comfortable, right down to the comfort food menu.
The menu also tells the story of husband and wife team Robert and Diane Lentz, who met in the same building back in 1975 when it was called J&L Drive-In. The story goes that Bob had hitchhiked from Pennsylvania to visit his mother in Tappahannock and stopped in when Diane was working. A chance meeting over a chicken salad sandwich led to a lifetime together and has come full circle as they opened the restaurant together in 2009. The menu also explains the name of the cafe as a tribute to Diane’s friend Linda McCroskey who passed away around the same time.
When I asked Diane about favorite menu items, she quickly responded with two: the onion petals and the grilled steak sandwich. Better than typical onion rings, the sweet onions are lightly battered and fried and come with an appropriately named side of “lava” sauce. As the name suggests, it packs a lot of heat with a tangy, sweet taste. I resist the urge to eat them all so I can save room for the rest of the meal. The chopped grilled steak is nicely seasoned and topped with grilled onions and melted provolone cheese. The menu boasts “where everything is homemade” and you can certainly taste it.
The menu also includes lunch specials and on this particular afternoon— a lemon garlic chicken sandwich. Other lunch options include classic sandwiches like BLTs, clubs, and, of course, the ever important chicken salad. In addition to a variety of burgers, there are also seafood choices like fried oysters, catfish and shrimp. Continuing in my never-ending quest to try every crab cake in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, I ordered the crab cake basket, which comes with a couple of hush puppies and a side. Options include French fries, butterbeans, baked potato, and my choice of coleslaw. Much to my delight, the crab cakes were all crabmeat and no filler as well as seasoned and cooked to perfection. Not to be outshined, the sides were well-done too. The hush puppies were savory and sweet and the slaw was fresh and crunchy.
While the To Do Café has a loyal and local following, Diane says customers “come from all over” when visiting the region and not just for lunch. Seafood features prominently on the dinner menu, with scallops, shrimp, crab cakes and clams. If you can’t decide, you can also create your own seafood combo or try the sampler to have something of everything. If your mood is leaning less surf and more turf, fried or grilled pork chops are available along with a chef’s featured cut of steak.
True to the Lentz’s desire to create a family-oriented restaurant, a kid-friendly menu that includes hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken tenders and shrimp also is available.
Desserts are a numerous and changing assortment of cakes and pies. Diane, who had no restaurant experience or “never cooked much,” made the coconut cake that closed out my meal. Moist and sweet, but not too sweet, it was a fitting finale to the meal.
As weather warms, the front porch will be opening up and it will be the perfect spot to enjoy the evening on land after a day on the water. If you haven’t already, you should put the To Do Café on your to-do list of restaurants to visit.
