Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

We were in Wytheville, Virginia (pronounced with-ville or as the young woman in the motel lobby said “wee-ith-vee-ill”).  Our motel was tucked in an odd corner of a street just off Route 11 and Interstate 81. Sort of around the corner next to a traffic light was this little Mexican Restaurant called El Peurto.

It was great.

This wasn’t the classic hole-in-the-wall place. It was of good size, well kept, and there were a number of people in there at five in the evening. I guess I didn’t expect much from a Mexican place in a town called Wee-ith-vee-ill. Happily, my expectations were wrong.

I don’t remember what I ate that evening, but I remember it was good. It wasn’t just the good that comes at the end of a 16-mile walk on a day when the weather goes from fog to hot sun to threatening dark clouds. It was the good that comes from fresh ingredients, an owner who isn’t cheap in buying those ingredients, and someone in the kitchen who can cook Mexican food with zest and love.

If you are in Southern Virginia,

• take exit 73 on I-81
• head towards town
• take a quick left on Main Dr
• take a quick right of Chapman Rd

It is easy to miss as it is tucked in a corner in a little side road off a side road.

El Peurto, 715 Chapman Rd, Wytheville, VA? – (276) 228-3159