Sure, we always cry “Eat local!” and “Shop local!” and “Drink local!” But, in this issue, we’re putting our money where our mouths are, with more than 20 locally made items to keep on hand in your kitchen, from small-batch granola to a (maybe magic?) syrup that’s both good for your health and good in […]
While many regard wine as something best reserved for special occasions, there are tremendous rewards to be found by integrating it into everyday life. Treat it like a longtime friend—never a special guest—at every meal. Here are a few essentials that can become your “house wines”—staples to keep stocked and ready to be your companion […]
Maybe you like to take it slow. Relax. Stay in one place. With wine. Maybe you’re on the go. Real fast. Keep up the pace. With wine. If you’re inclined to check the first box, C’ville Picnic is for you. The new-to-Charlottesville concept offers upscale picnic experiences at local vineyards. If you’re more into box […]
Tavola continues to try to make limoncello out of its COVID limons; the Belmont Italian oasis’ latest venture is catering services large and small. “We’re trying to do a little bit of everything and put together decent weeks,” chef/owner Michael Keaveny says. “It’s been difficult, but between catering, neighborhood drop-offs, and curbside pickup, we’re doing […]
Rachel De Jong has traveled the world and rubbed elbows with its best chefs. She earned her diplôme de pâtisserie from Le Cordon Bleu École de Cuisine in Paris. She learned hospitality from The Inn at Little Washington’s Patrick O’Connell. And she traded dessert ideas with Ludo Lefebvre at Petit Trois in L.A. But De […]
Admit it: You’ve succumbed to the pandemic menu blahs. You’re stuck inside all the time, your brain’s frazzled, and it’s easier—but not necessarily more satisfying—to make the same few dishes over and over. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could enjoy something different? Maybe a taste of summer all year round? The Outer Banks […]
Lesly Gourdet had the flu. So he turned to someone he respected as a top infectious disease expert—his mom. It was 1993, and Gourdet hadn’t thought about a wonder tonic his family developed in years. But he took mom’s advice, making and drinking her three-ingredient recipe. He immediately felt better. Gourdet spent the next decade […]
Robin Fetter had considered herself a “lazy vegetarian” since the age of 13. Until, that is, a few months after her wedding in 2008, when an episode of Morgan Spurlock’s “30 Days” changed her diet (and mindset) forever. In the episode, a hunter from North Carolina was tasked with spending 30 days with a vegan […]
It’s becoming the most popular fruit you’ve never tried—or have you? Pawpaws are having a moment, so if you’re the sort who likes to sample new things, you may well have gotten your taste buds on a pawpaw already. Not that pawpaws are “new.” Actually, they’re native to the Appalachians, and they have a long […]
You’ve heard of book clubs. But have you heard of cookbook clubs? Neither had Jacqueline Willis, until blogger Kate Arends mentioned her own on her site, and eventually recorded an episode of her podcast explaining how she and her friends made it work. Willis was intrigued. “Jacqueline wanted to create the club for a few […]
Clayton Butler admits that, since working as a dishwasher at Duner’s in the late ’90s, his culinary journey has been “trial by fire.” He’s traveled and trained throughout the United States, including at a Relais & Chateaux establishment in North Carolina, celebrity chef restaurants in Las Vegas, and destinations in Lake Tahoe. The Batteau owner […]
Back when I had a side hustle as a winery tour driver, customers sometimes asked me to choose our next place to visit on the fly. If we were near Crozet, I invariably headed to White Hall Vineyards, which is out of the way and offers a feeling of discovery. You approach on a gravel […]
We usually present a dessert in The Last Bite, the department title of the last page of Knife & Fork magazine. But in our winter 2019/20 issue, we switched it up with an exclusive sweet/savory/hearty twist on classic baked acorn squash. Chef Della Bennett of Plenty, the fine home-cooking delivery service, recommends the creation as […]
At UVA, I did my third year in Madrid, Spain, and I discovered San Sebastian, a resort town on the coast near the French border that’s famous for its food. It has Michelin-starred restaurants, but my favorite places to eat there were pinxto bars. Pinxto means spike, or skewer, but it translates generally to snack, […]
On a sunny, blustery day in October, friends and fans of the four-year-old Virginia winery Lightwell Survey gathered in Waynesboro to celebrate the 2017 vintage release. Notably, a clown juggled red balls while swaying on a balance board, keeping the mood light—and slightly off-kilter. The winery’s neighbors in the complex include a concrete-fabrication facility as […]
The rain lets up all at once and the sun burns through the clouds, turning the dreary October day startlingly warm and pleasant. Clay Trainum, 58, walks swiftly along a dirt farm road behind his Waynesboro home, cutting across a 14-acre field toward a row of about 10 wooden lean-tos. The triangular structures stand at […]
On July 1, 2018, Virginia House Bill 286 went into effect, officially allowing dogs to enter winery tasting rooms. The occasion was met with no discernible reaction from one constituency: the dogs that live at wineries. • Those lucky animals need not engage in any “get your laws off my fur” protest. As vineyard owners […]
Bryant Farms and Nursery in Shipman doesn’t look that remarkable from the road: just acres of hillsides planted with young trees, their straight slender trunks forming a grid pattern. It’s not obvious, from a distance, what species is growing here. But following the gravel drive through the orchard, down into a ravine and up again, […]
“I think this may be the next Inn at Little Washington,” I said to my husband as we stepped off the wide porch of The Farmhouse at Veritas and out into the moonlight. I was tipsy, and the evening had been romantic, so I was happy and maybe exaggerating a little. Only time will tell. […]
Under normal circumstances, having your jaw broken and reset in order to correct an underbite—and then being laid-up in recovery for two months—would be a bummer. But Wilson Craig was happy for the time on the couch. It gave him an opportunity to think. He took his meals through a straw, and wasn’t able to […]
You grow up in Fluvanna County, graduate from the local high school, and you’re wondering, what am I going to do with my life? College is the next step—at least, it is for many people—so you attend Christopher Newport University, in Newport News. You study sociology and anthropology, and there’s one class, the anthropology of […]
Angelic Jenkins felt worried as she walked into the community meeting. A big development, Dairy Central, was getting started on Preston Avenue, and talk among folks in the adjoining, predominantly African-American neighborhood of 10th and Page had not been good. Charlottesville has a woeful history of displacing black residents, and this new place, they feared, […]
Jake Busching has a killer grin. It’s cozy and sly, a knowing, amused-by-the-world look that a salty old sea captain might wear. Except in Bushing’s case, it’s the smirk of a sweaty farm-tractor driver. I know this because I’m sitting down with him fresh out of the vineyards, where he’d been hedging—trimming back the wild […]