The most anticipated opening of 2009 happened last week. Chuck Adcock—former head chef and part owner of Michael’s Bistro (until he split with Bistro founder, the late Michael Crafaik last fall)—had a soft opening for his new restaurant, the 12th Street Tap House. By the time you read this, the place should be open for lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday and for all-day brunch on Sundays.

Though Adcock’s been in the industry for 15 years, this is his first foray into creating his own place from scratch. It took him only three and a half months to turn the long vacant old Northern Exposure on West Main into a lighter, brighter contemporary tavern. Of course, it helped that former Bistro bartender Sean Chandler and general manager Bob Dorsey helped with all the hammering and painting. It also helps that his sublessor is Coran Capshaw. Adcock says Capshaw approached him about taking over the building and has provided financial backing for the renovations.

Fans of the Bistro-vintage Adcock will be happy to know that food selections include a bison burger, a Cuban press sandwich, a baked brie appetizer and familiar comfort-food entrees such as slow-cooked beef brisket and bourbon-glazed meatloaf.

“The menu is similar to the Bistro. I created most of those dishes,” says Adcock.

And like the Bistro, all plates are designed to pair well with a large selection of beers—14 drafts and eventually up to 30 or 40 bottles. There’s also a full bar and a wine list that favors the organic and biodynamic. But beer’s the main event.

“My plan is to be the sommelier of beer,” says Chandler, who adds, “Beer pairs better with food than wine does.”

Look for a front patio to open for al fresco dining in the spring and a new rooftop deck to follow in the summer.

Olivaté turns one; Olive Garden eludes

We thought it was strange that Olivaté held a grand opening celebration last week. After all, it was a year ago that the restaurant opened in the old Fat Daddy’s space in the Albemarle Square Shopping Center. But then manager Heather Oliva explained: “We haven’t had a grand opening yet, and we feel like we’re ready for it now.” 

In the past year, Oliva says, the family-owned restaurant has added several new menu items and a new look—“We took the linens off the tables and added granite tops. People may have thought we were too fine dining before,” she says.

Now, on the nonlocally owned Italian restaurant front, Restaurantarama has lost count of the number of readers who’ve inquired as to why Charlottesville doesn’t have an Olive Garden. You’ve been asking and asking, and so this week, we tried to find an answer. Unfortunately, calls to Olive Garden’s media honcho were not returned by press time, which may prove that when you’re there, “you’re family,” but any other time, well, you can just go to hell.

But here’s what we can tell you. All 653 of the Olive Gardens in the United States and Canada are owned by Darden Restaurants, a publicly traded company that also owns Red Lobster and several other chains but, unfortunately, has no connection to UVA’s Darden School of Business. The choice to open an OG in Charlottesville rests with unknown corporate types at the company’s headquarters in Orlando, so for the foreseeable future you’ll have to trek to Lynchburg for your endless salad and breadsticks fix.

Quick bites

Tim Burgess tells us that he and partner Vincent Derquenne are back in the kitchen at their hot spot Bang!, actually cooking together several nights a week, and former Crush wineshop manager Hannah Pittard tells us that she and Andrew Ewell are planning an “upscale low country” restaurant for Belmont. More on these stories to come.