Best steak 2013: Downtown Grille

Downtown Grille 201 W. Main St. 817-7080 downtowngrille.com Runner-up: Aberdeen Barn 2018 Holiday Dr. 296-4630 aberdeenbarn.com Necessity is the mother of invention. For Henry Ford, inventor of the gas-powered vehicle, that necessity was finding a way to turn a profit on the wood scraps used in the production of his Model A. With some help […]

Best family-friendly restaurant 2013: Tip Top

Tip Top 1420 Richmond Rd. 244-3424 tiptoprestaurant.com Runner-up: Eppie’s 412 E. Main St. 963-9900 eatateppies.com Real talk. There are some places kids just really shouldn’t be: airplanes, museums, and, depending on how good of a job you’re doing as a parent, some restaurants. Luckily, Tip Top and Eppie’s provide solid options where little ones can […]

Best art gallery 2013: McGuffey Art Center

McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW 295-7973 mcguffeyartcenter.com Runner-up: Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE 977-7284 secondstreetgallery.com Three galleries comprise the McGuffey Art Center, the largest display space in the city. It’s there, in the 1916 school building, that visual artists, sculptors, photographers, and more converge for a veritable zoo of artistic talent. […]

Best preschool or daycare 2013: Bright Beginnings

Bright Beginnings 1221 Stoney Ridge Rd. 979-8585 3401 Worth Crossing 973-8414 brightbeginningsva.com Runner-up: ACAC Preschool 200 Four Seasons Dr. 978-7529 acac.com/youth/after-school “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” That’s a quote from Frederick Douglass who, as an escaped slave and revered orator, knew a little something about strong men. Bright […]

Best vegetarian menu 2013: Revolutionary Soup

Revolutionary Soup 105 14th St. NW 979-9988 108 Second St. SW 296-7687 revolutionarysoup.com Runner-up: Eppie’s 412 E. Main St. 963-9900 eatateppies.com A 2006 TV ad for Nutri-Grain bars features a very enthusiastic office worker who eats one of the snacks and then decides he feels so “grrrrrreeeaaaat!” that he quits his job, proposes to his […]

Best local hardware store 2013: Martin Hardware

Martin Hardware 941 Preston Ave. 293-8171 martinhardwareinc.com Runner-up: Crozet Hardware 5783 The Square (Crozet) 823-4381 facebook.com/crozethardware If it’s true that the average wood frame house uses between 20,000 and 30,000 nails of varying types and sizes, then Martin Hardware, readers say, is the place to go for supplies. For folks outside of the city, Crozet […]

Best place for stationery 2013: Rock Paper Scissors

Rock Paper Scissors 225 E. Main St. 979-6366 thinkrockpaperscissors.com Runner-up: Caspari 100 W. Main St. 817-7880 casparionline.com When you think of stationery, you think of friendship—people writing to each other across land and sea, sharing hellos and thank-yous and catching up. Take, for instance, Nellie Beaven and Daphne Morgenson, pen pals in England who wrote […]

Best optometrist 2013: Primary Eyecare

Primary Eyecare Barracks Road Shopping Center 977-2020 Hollymead Town Center 975-2020 cvilleeyecare.com Runner-up: Drs. Record & Record Optometrists 1450 Sachem Pl., Suite 202 978-4090 600 Peter Jefferson Pkwy., Suite 390 975-2420 recordeyecare.com The human eye can distinguish 500 shades of gray and blinks over 10,000,000 times a year. Those two facts are unrelated, but serve […]