What’s cookin’?
As everyone in our area who’s grown excited about the idea of self-sustainability knows, the time is ripe for an Eat & Drink Annual issue that focuses not only on local fare, but locally produced fare. Click through the features below and get the economic lowdown on some local farms, discover which local coffee shop brews the best with the results of our blind taste test, and much more. We even bite the bullet and explain why certain foods just don’t come from here.
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In Charlottesville, a meal at Petit Pois is as close as it gets to eating in France. My dinner companion told me so. And, he should know. Jose de Brito, acclaimed chef at The Alley Light, was raised in France and his passion for French cuisine can produce strong views on the subject. What is
‘Wild ideas’ Faced with a terminal illness, most people might hunker down for months of treatment and forgo future plans. Not Mark Weber. Last summer, in the middle of an intensive treatment regimen for a malignant brain tumor, Weber bought Woolly Mammoth, the two-story restaurant at the corner
As you age, maintaining your health becomes more and more like a game of Whac-A-Mole: Exit the footloose and fancy-free 20s and suddenly you’re worried about your reproductive health and abnormal sleep patterns. Get past menopause and then it’s time to concentrate on the threat of high blood
Chef Ben Thompson fires up his favorite wintertime dishes with Rock Barn and Devils Backbone Brewing Company. Learn how to pair smoked sausage and pork with craft beer and try select brews. Friday 1/23. Free, 5pm. Ivy Provisions, 2206 Ivy Rd. 202-1308.
Sweet and savory We’re about to get a new pie shop on the Downtown Mall. And in true Charlottesville fashion, for the academic-turned-pastry-chef behind The Pie Chest, it was a circuitous path that led her here. The ever-changing food scene in this island-of-misfit-toys of a town seems to bring
Set aside for a moment that eating out three times a week is perhaps excessively gluttonous, and come with me on a quick trip. It’ll be like a vacation, but you’ll get to stay right here in Charlottesville. Oh, hey, we could call it a STAYcation! Get it? No one’s ever thought of that before,
Got a new store It hasn’t been a good stretch for frozen yogurt joints. First Cups in the Barracks Road shopping center went tits up, now Berry Berry on the Corner is getting a makeover. Fortunately the demise of Berry Berry comes with very very good news. The place turns out to be owned by
Ryan Hubbard and Mark Marshall aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. The two guys behind Red Hub Food Co., a catering service that recently opened a lunch counter at its 202 10th Street NW location, are serving up classic North Carolina-style barbecue, plain and simple. For them it’s not about
It’s resolution season, and a pair of local business owners are hoping to capitalize on the influx of interest in all things healthy that rolls around every January. If all goes according to plan, made-to-order juice bar and health food counter Cville Juice will be open by the end of January.
Sure, we’ve got Coke versus Pepsi, Yankees versus Red Sox, and Apple versus Android. But do any of these really hold a candle to the age-old rivalry between cats and dogs? If their depiction in pop culture is any indication, they’ve been squaring off since the dawn of time. I’m always a bit
Look, we get it. Cracking open that 2015 calendar gives rise to all manner of inspiration—get fit for bathing suit season! Read more books to shine in idle party chit-chat! Bone up on your ballroom skills before your cousin’s autumn wedding! Then suddenly it’s February and, not only have your
Jason Oliver wanted to make Devils Backbone a “brewer’s brewery.” That might seem like a terrible idea. Why would you want to run a brewery that appeals to such a small audience? But in the process of running a brewery that appeals to people like him, Oliver has unwittingly—or perhaps
Inn and out ’Tis the season for accoladed executive chefs to make some big changes, apparently. Not long after Melissa Close-Hart left her 14-year gig at Palladio to strike out on her own in Belmont, her culinary school classmate Tucker Yoder announced his plan to step down from his post as
Food is love. Food is happiness. And, once a year, food inspires us to conjure our inner poet and present to you a list of the year’s openings and closings—entirely in rhyme. It wasn’t a great year for restaurants downtown: Five Guys, El Puerto and Song Song’s, all down. Plus, we said bye to
Explore pioneer life with a variety of multicultural vignettes, a Mummer’s play by the museum’s traditional Irish forge and a horsedrawn carriage ride. Refreshments and live music follow this lantern-lit tour. Through 12/23. $8-15, 6pm. Frontier Culture Museum, 1290 Richmond Rd., Staunton.
Get an after-hours glimpse of Thomas Jefferson’s iconic Monticello. This hour-long small group tour winds through the historic house to give you an intimate look at 19th century holiday traditions. Through 12/30. $45, 5:30pm. Monticello, 931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. 984-9800.
Junction’s function Even chef Melissa Close-Hart seemed surprised when she revealed the concept behind the new Belmont eatery she’s opening with The Local owner Adam Frazier: It’ll be called Junction and serve up modern Mexican with a touch of “cowboy cuisine” thrown in. Close-Hart said she’s
A “global whiskey renaissance”—that’s what the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States is calling the trend in spirits over the last five years. Domestic and international demand for whiskey—bourbon in particular—has forced some of the largest producers to warn consumers of impending
Get your blood pumping and work off those last lingering Thanksgiving calories with a brisk run at the Holiday Classic 5K. This annual course, beginning at the East Walk of Monticello and ending at the Thomas Jefferson Vistor Center, supports trail preservation. The under-12 crowd can get in on
Café Cubano buyers show Grit What’s in a name? The group that bought Café Cubano last year is hoping not all that much. Eric Kelley, who’s owned and operated Para Coffee since 2008, and new partners Brad Uhl and Brandon Wooten are changing the name of the Downtown Mall breakfast bites and