Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

As a former 20-year resident of Virginia beach, and avid Harley rider, I had to include my vote for one of (IMHO) best burgers in Virginia, Monks Place. This fine establishment sits on Princess Road a few short miles north of the NC line, and has my vote for one of the best bar burgers ever. On any given day in riding season, you'll see one to a dozen or more Harley motorcycles parked out front, with their riders inside downing a burger! I only get back that way around once a year or so now, but it's on my short list of "gotta go to" places to eat while I'm there.

I love TJs. They have great prices on frozen blueberries and edamame, organic milk and butter, nuts and dried fruits of all varieties, goat cheese, organic rolled oats, delicious freshly-squeezed OJ (it won first place in the SF Chronicle's tasting of store-bought OJs), and nitrite-free bacon. I'm also a huge fan of their eggplant hummus and tzatziki.

I have been an avid fan of Riverside Lunch in Charlottesville for years. By far, they have the best "good ole fashion" hamburger in VA. It slipped some when they moved to their current location and it is more of a family spot now, but the burgers are still tops, the french fries are great and the beer is ice cold.
I have enjoyed most of the other burger places mentioned, except Kenney's in Lexington. I have to wonder if this is the original Kenney Burger that had a burger spot in Charlottesville and Waynesboro that are no longer there. I am going to have to check them out.

I'm gonna have to 2nd Riverside...the first time i went there my dad set me up on the bar in my infant seat!!
been going there weekly ever since. i still miss the old spot that was tiny and grease stained, but the new spot serves up the same great burgers and they have the coldest beer and coke in a glass bottle around.

@ prieta: Pretty much all stores do that with their eggs. You'll hear that story from anyone who has ever worked at a supermarket...though I am disappointed to hear that TJ's does it, that's definitely industry standard.

I've been going to Trader Joe's for close to 13 years, ever since the first one opened in my hometown in California when I was a teenager. The way they keep their prices low is by buying in bulk, and the quality of the food is obvious. I don't think that many people on Serious Eats would be fooled by their "atmosphere" - they have really good stuff.

I actually don't buy that much of their prepared food, as a lot of it's too salty for me (but their chili and green cheese tamales are great) - I do get nuts, tofu, frozen fruit, tortillas, cheese, cooking oils, vegetable stock, grains, and other staples for so much less than I would pay at Whole Foods, and a lot of the time, less than I'd pay at a big grocery (and much higher quality).

Also, their vitamins are extremely inexpensive, and when I was in high-school chemistry we tested our multivitamins to see which had the closest amounts of certain vitamins to what was listed on the label, and my Trader Joe's multivitamin was the best in the class.

I know there's no big company out there that isn't primarily looking to make a dime, but based on my experiences with Trader Joe's over the years and talking to folks I know who have worked there, they are the real deal. They're good to their employees and use savvy buying strategies to offer quality goods at lower prices than their competition.

Cat cookies!

It certainly isn't a one-stop-grocery-market and you do have to know what's good; not everything is good. But they do carry some delicious items at reasonable costs, and the atmosphere doesn't hurt either. I know it's a pretty big company now, but still the stores have a mom and pop feel to them, and the workers are almost always cheerful and helpful.

No, don't buy into the hype. Just try it for yourself. If you don't like it, you don't like it. That's all.

Black pepper cashews, roasted tomato-red pepper soup, perlini, European-style chocolate and mocha yogurt, forzen bell pepper strips, frozen berries, spinach artichoke dip, cocktail crab cakes, steamed vacuum packed lentils (which I will never run out of ways to prepare), citrus shampoo and conditioner...it's my happy place.

Is TJ's food really good, or does the atmosphere make it seem good? I;ve been told by people in the business that TJ's really just buys chep crap, puts great packaging on it, and that's enough to fool most people.(hence they can sell it cheap...they are not running a non-profit, so if it don't cost you much, it didn't cost them much)....I know many of you will be insulted by this, but would like to hear from others who don't buy into the hype....

What's everyone's opinion of TJ's wines and coffees? Does filling the coffee containers with nitrogen really do anything? I mean, the air is 75 percent nitrogen, so is oxygen going to rot the beans?