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 [...]
06/20/2013 10:00 pm Live Band Karaoke Fellini’s #9, Charlottesville VA
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 [...]
In the second week of February, the head brewer from Breckenridge Brewery in Denver, Colorado, came to brew a collaboration beer with me at Champion Brewing Company. Longtime head brewer and owner Todd Usry showed up at our place on a Tuesday with his nephew, Drew Usry, who is the Breckenridge [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
Assuming his new post as executive chef of Glass Haus Kitchen this past fall, Ian Boden had big shoes to fill—but they were all his own. The Northern Virginia native who put his New England Culinary Institute degree to use for 10 years in the kitchens of top New York restaurants, opened [...]
The cheap date is a tricky proposition. But there are ways to cut corners without necessarily revealing yourself for the broke-ass bounder that you really are. Despite the holdover notion that some here in central Virginia cleave to—the idea that we live in some bastion of Southern [...]
Nick Crutchfield may not hail from Charlottesville originally (Tidewater is his home), but he’s no stranger to these parts. Best bartender in C-VILLE’s 2012 Best of readers’ poll, you’ll find him shakin’ things up at Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar. Lately, he’s been working on an [...]
On Fridays, we feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. This week’s picks come from Brice Cunningham, the Paris-born chef who once co-owned Fleurie and Petit Pois, and now owns Tempo, serving “modern French cuisine with an international twist.” On Tuesdays, Tempo [...]
Although it still feels like winter outside, pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training next week, which indicates the time for baseball fans to start getting excited. With baseball, of course, comes beer, and for many, an increasingly exciting selection. The rich tradition of beer [...]
With days this cold and dark, a little trickle of sweetness goes a long way to cure a mean case of cabin fever. But reserving syrup for breakfast is selling the elixir short. These places around town are seeing the forest through the trees (and they’re not just maple) by treating us to syrup in [...]
What do you do when you’re faced with Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day in a single week? And how will your liver and stomach react after dueling back-to-back Restaurant Weeks? Here are your choices: a) Stay home and cook. b) Order take-out and keep it simple. c) Dress up in costume to go out and [...]
On Fridays, we feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. Today’s picks come from Ian Redshaw, Chef de Cuisine of L’Etoile, which now offers a $30 Chef’s three-course menu every Tuesday through Thursday evening. Redshaw’s picks: 1) Lunch at Pippin Hill Vineyard. [...]
After covering kebabs and burgers in my last two columns, I should, in the interest of my own constitution, undertake my signature psyllium screwdriver cleanse, which involves copious amounts of vodka, orange juice, a hot water bottle, and, well, you get the idea. Instead, I’m soldiering on, [...]
Rick Wasmund and Dan FitzHenry sit at a small table in a Stay Charlottesville rental house arrayed with plastic cups holding fluids of hues that range from clover honey through amber to the color of cherry juice, a natural reddish brown. You’ve heard about the surge in the craft distillery [...]
Moving on Andy Reagan of Jefferson Vineyards is moving on in his winemaking career after helming the vineyard and cellar, and acting as its general manager since 2005. According to a press release, Reagan wants to start his own winery and create his own “vision of Virginia wine.” A difference [...]
You can’t fake charm. It’s got to come naturally, and it does for Nellysford, the little town nuzzled in the bosom of Wintergreen’s mountains. It’s not trying to be anything that it isn’t, yet manages to enchant everyone who passes through, some so much so that they stay forever. Few places are [...]
Ace in spades Brian Ashworth of Ace Biscuit & BBQ is making quite a name for himself in the breakfast and lunch scene. Starting January 26, the restaurant will also be open on Saturdays—no doubt good news for the weekenders he often finds banging on the door. The biscuits rarely last beyond [...]