Hole’d up?
Checking in with The Pigeon Hole and The Light Well
What difference does a year make?
The importance of a wine’s vintage
The cellar of your dreams (Or, just a nice collection of wine, stored well)
The first thing that pops into your mind as an everyday wine drinker who’s looking to start laying down a few bottles is, inevitably: “Don’t I need a big temperature-and-humidity-controlled dungeon, replete with rustic stone walls, candles, and old first-growth Bordeaux?” The answer is “No.”
Overheard on the restaurant scene… This week’s restaurant news
Now open in the former Pita Pit space on 14th Street: Onyx Lounge, a crêperie, sandwich shop, and hookah bar. It’s open until 4am Thursday-Saturday, giving Littlejohn’s a little competish on the late-night scene. Also open? The C’ville Cheese Store on Fifth Street SE in the former Downtown Deli
Five Finds on Friday: Melissa Close Hart of Palladio
On Fridays, we and The Charlottesville 29 feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. Today’s picks come from four-time James Beard award semi-finalist Melissa Close Hart, chef of Palladio Restaurant at Barboursville Vineyard. On June 9, Palladio will be celebrating the
Bistro chic: A Downtown Colonial gets a modern kitchen for the ages
If you own a house in a historic district, it turns out that implementing any kind of renovation project is tricky business. Mark and Caroline Shaffrey knew this when, in 1997, they decided to buy their 1902 Colonial in Downtown Charlottesville. And it meant waiting to make any changes to the
Full bloom: A Madison tulip farm extends its reach
The story of how Keriann Koeman came to have upwards of 50,000 tulips planted on her property starts with love, but not necessarily a love of tulips. Koeman, a self described “green girl,” met Jeroen Koeman, who hailed from a Dutch family of tulip growers. They fell in love, got married, and
Love what you do…And other lessons learned on a trip to Puerto Vallarta
Three days into my trip to Puerto Vallarta, I had an ephiphany. I’d traveled there with the Tequila Interchange Project, a nonprofit group working to preserve sustainable, traditional, and quality practices in the tequila industry, and we would spend seven days drinking the Mexican juice and
Free to be: Charlottesville street style
The freedom one feels when he gets dressed in the morning translates into his life every day. The medium is the message, be it architecture, nail art, or graffiti. How free can you be? SEAN was studying at Mudhouse when I approached him to talk about what he was wearing. Born in North Korea and [...]
Sowing trouble: When pets and plants collide
With an overdue spring finally coming into its own, it’s time for many of us to start spending some time in the garden. Whether you’re planting vegetables for the table or decorative plants to brighten up the yard, you can be pretty sure that your pets are going to be keen on inspecting the
Hanu Truck bets on SoCal recipe for C’ville success
“I’m trying to bring two things that people don’t see a lot of in Charlottesville or the East Coast,” said Patrick Kim, who has been making waves in the city’s food scene ever since he arrived in Charlottesville in February to open his Korean taco truck, Hanu. Kim, who grew up in Southern
Full of beans (and rice): Can local options stack up to Popeyes? (Yeah, we said Popeyes!)
The fast food franchise gods have extended a gesture of mercy toward us and hath bestowed upon our town a considerable bounty of good tidings with the opening of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (1). It might behoove us all to send up thanks with abandon and with earnest zeal as then these gods may
It’s Willamette, dammit! Making the case for Oregon wines
If rain is Oregon’s best-known cliché, then Pinot Noir is the runner-up. With May celebrating Oregon Wine Month, and the Willamette Valley being one of my favorite wine regions in the world, what better time than now to delve into this sustainable wine mecca? Viticulturally, Oregon is a big
Overheard on the Charlottesville restaurant scene: This week’s food news
Chef Harrison Keevil of Brookville Restaurant will create a farm-fresh meal at Bellair Farm Sunday, May 26. Blenheim Vineyards will handle the wine. Tickets are $65 ($10 for children under 9). Call The Happy Cook at 977-2665 to secure yours. You’ll get a second chance to try that meal (though
Best of C-VILLE 2013: Make your nominations!
It’s primary season! Get your local favorites on the upcoming 2013 Best of C-VILLE ballot by nominating the best people, places, and things in Charlottesville prior to the release of the final ballot. The best of the best will end up on a multiple-choice ticket for the official Best of C-VILLE
Passive aggressive: In Ruckersville, Katrina survivors start over with nature in mind
After decades spent living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Don and Minna Doyle found themselves facing catastrophe when Hurricane Katrina flooded their house with 12′ of water in 2005. “It was structurally sound, but everything had to be replaced,” Minna remembered. While many of their
Five Finds on Friday: Treat Huey
Today is the 50th edition of Five Finds on Friday, where chefs and local personalities pick five favorite food items in the area. To mark the occasion, The Charlottesville 29 has the picks of a Charlottesville resident who is among the top 29 in the world in his field. In fact, tennis player
Beyond the bitter: Brewers explore new flavors in ‘feature hops’
Humulus lupus, the species best known to us as hops, produces effects in beer that we traditionally associate with bitterness. Hops also produce aromas and flavors that are usually associated with earthiness, grassiness, floral characteristics, and a bit of weedy dankness. In the past couple of
Heat of the moment: Keeping pets cool in hot weather
Charlottesville has no shortage of things to do outdoors in the summer, and we’re lucky to live somewhere that pets are often just as welcome as people. From dog-friendly parks and hiking trails to Downtown restaurants that happily serve bowls of water to their canine dinner guests, there are
More Salt, new eats, and a canning lesson: This week’s restaurant news
How interesting! Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Mellow Mushroom’s “Most Interesting Man in the World” sweepstakes and win the Ultimate Mellow Mushroom Mexican vacation. Through May 5, stop in to the University Avenue location and take the “most interesting” photo with the Dos Equis Most
Seeing reds: White wine isn’t the only option for warmer weather
Seasonal associations are unavoidable with any food or drink: Warmer weather seemingly demands lighter fare, brighter wines, and, overall, a refreshing gastric experience. And, not coincidentally, just as our seasons change, the new, fresh white and rosé wines seem to pour into shops and
Beyond organic: Local farmer Michael Clark’s produce thrives despite growing pains
I had never known an independent organic farmer before I went to meet Michael Clark, who owns and works Planet Earth Diversified (PED) farm outside of Stanardsville. Therefore, I had nothing on which to base any expectations. But what I did not expect was to meet an organic farmer who would go