Very few things about prize-winning Szechuan chef Peter Chang are absolutely clear. He has a Wikipedia page, for instance, but it doesn’t list a birthday. Stanley Tucci is reportedly making a film about his life, but until it comes out, every story about him will likely continue to contain words like ‘elusive.’ In the meantime, [...]
Corry Blanc can’t remember the first thing he ever made. “Making ‘things’ is all I’ve ever known,” he said. A native of Georgia (he grew up in the Appalachian foothills in the northern part of the state), the blacksmith began welding after high school when he took a job at his uncle’s welding and fabrication [...]
When social media site upworthy.com created a video with “pictures of women that make you feel better about yourself instead of worse,” local mothers Jennifer McDonald and Terry Beigie were inspired. Fed up with the media-supported charade of the ideal woman being 5’10″ with “perfect teeth, huge Barbie bosoms, and beautiful long blonde hair,” McDonald [...]
05/19/2013 2:30 pm The Taming of the Shrew Four County Players, Barboursville VA
On Fridays, we and The Charlottesville 29 feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. This week’s picks come from Michael McCarthy, chef/owner of Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie. McCarthy’s picks: 1) Hot Sicilian sandwich at Durty Nelly’s Wayside Deli. “Rye bread makes life better, plain and simple.” 2) Fried Chicken at GOCO on [...]
After spending too many nights in Clemons Library curled up next to my laptop, I find it refreshing (and healthy) to experience a new environment. At the same time, it can be unsettling to forgo comfort and consistency for change. Finding a new study place that isn’t on the Corner, which also offers good yet [...]
The New York pizza slice, for years the pizza gold standard, inspired a lot of wasted effort and money, what with people trying to reproduce NYC pizza parlors, replete with transported ovens, in places like Kansas or Albuquerque or (gack) San Francisco. Pizza everywhere was measured against some non-specific New York City pie. If you [...]
Virginia wine began as a collaboration between Thomas Jefferson and the Italian merchant Filipo Mazzei. But between war and pestilience, the dynamic duo wasn’t really able to ever make great wine. They did, however, realize that the name of the game was adapting European varietals to American soil. Virginia wine as we know it today [...]
When we asked you to weigh in on our jobs survey last month, you surprised us. In this era of lingering economic gloom, we figured a lot of you would report dismal job satisfaction, the result of being stuck in less-than-great positions simply for the security of a paycheck. But 72 percent of you said [...]
Join Early Mountain and Chatham vineyards as they team up to present their first Oyster Festival, which takes place at Early Mountain on Saturday, March 23. A $55 ticket gets you an endless supply of Eastern Shore oysters, clams, and chowder with all the fixins’. To wash it down, the ticket includes two glasses of [...]
Happy Birthday! Today’s picks in Five Finds on Friday at The Charlottesville 29 come from Jenny Peterson of Paradox Pastry, the outstanding baker of birthday cakes and much more, whose creations have made several appearances in Two for Tuesday. Peterson’s picks: 1) Olde Salt Oyster Stout at Champion Brewing Company. “All of the beers here [...]
I find food utterly irresistible. Growing up in a family of cooks, I guess it couldn’t have turned out any differently. Italians are all about food and I am certainly no exception. Family recipes fill my recipe box—most are in Italian and some I’ve made on my own in my new country. And while I [...]
You’ve heard of eat local, but what about give local? Young, ambitious fundraisers aim for the future—Future Fund, that is—Wednesday, March 13 when Clifton Inn hosts the second annual Future Fund-raising dinner. All food, service, and alcohol will be donated by the Clifton and the community to award grants towards education in Albemarle County and [...]
With all of the frost, fungi, and fruit flies that Virginia winemakers have to fret over, it’s easy to forget that they also have some fun along the way. And it was in the name of fun that friends and colleagues Jake Busching, Matthieu Finot, and Emily Hodson Pelton came up with the idea three [...]
Color me tacky and low-rent, but there’s just something homey and inviting about the naive optimism and dauntless ambition behind a strip mall storefront that has been transformed into an enchanting dining experience with a cozy darkened lounge. The practice must have been perfected in places like Texas, Florida, and Dubai, where the blistering heat [...]
If you’re hankering for something sweet, you can soon visit Pearl’s Bake Shoppe at 711 W. Main St. Co-owners Laurie Blakey and Laura Condrey specialize in 140 iterations of cupcakes, wedding cakes, macarons, and plenty of other tantalizing baked sundries. This will be their second outpost, after the popularity of their Richmond location, Pearl’s Cupcake. [...]
I folded my husband’s laundry for the very first time when our marriage was just a few days old. I sat cross-legged on our mattress—which had no bed frame—and thought about how happy he’d be when he came home to see all of his clean clothes folded and put away. I was a good wife [...]
On Fridays, we feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. This week’s picks come from Christian Kelly, chef and co-owner of Maya. This Monday, February 25, Maya is hosting an Italian wine dinner, where Kelly will be joined by wine importer Diego DeCorte. Five courses paired with wine for $75, inclusive of tax [...]
It’s a tale (tail?) of true love. More and more people are including their dogs in their wedding. After all, they’re family (and maybe more likeable than some relatives). From acting as best man to flower dog to ring bearer, Fido’s getting in on the action. Local blogger Jeannine Lalonde Smith and her husband, Marc, [...]
The first thing that many of us do when we sit down at a restaurant or belly up to a bar is pick up the beer menu, the wine menu, and/or the drink menu. Some of us take a break from old faithful and try something new on occasion. It is for these reasons that [...]
They say good artists borrow, and great artists steal. Go ahead and be a great artist on your wedding day—draw inspiration from (or just flat out copy) these ideas. (Don’t worry, we cleared it with the brides.) A pair of pretty tights: What a special touch to the day’s elevated attire. This bride bought her [...]
The Tonsler Park Recreation Center is busy at 4:30pm on a Wednesday. The long, L-shaped main room bustles with games of pool and chess, people coming and going past the old school Ms. Pac-Man game and the foosball table. Adults watch the T.V. on the wall, or sit and talk in small groups. You get [...]
Chef Jason Alley, owner of Comfort and Pasture restaurants, has created quite a buzz up (and especially down) the East Coast with his modern spin on Southern cuisine. Beginning with the 2002 opening of Comfort in Richmond with business partner Chris Chandler, he was ahead of the Southern food craze that is still sweeping the [...]