By Max Patten The Corner on West Main Street has long been the go-to spot for burger bars like Boylan Heights, convenience store eats à la Sheetz, and late-night carbo-loading fixtures such as Insomnia Cookies. Yet times are changing, and smoothies and organic juices have recently joined the mix, as the demand for food that […]
The Charlottesville woman grew up in California wine country—St. Helena, to be precise. Her home, where she lived until she was 16, had a farmhouse feel: open, airy, and not fussy in the least. It was a place for family and friends to gather and literally see one another, without too many walls getting in […]
There’s an air of mystery about the renovated third-floor apartment on the Downtown Mall. A wall of rough-sawn reclaimed white oak treated with bleaching oil runs nearly the entire length of the main room, interrupted only by the rectangular opening that accommodates the black-glass stovetop, kitchen sink, and counter space for food prep. It’s a […]
Upon finding the source of the Jackson River, parent to the James River, Earl Swift writes in Journey on the James: Three Weeks through the Heart of Virginia: “From this trickle grows a river that offered sustenance to Indian and early colonist, carried pioneers to new lands of the West, bloomed red with the blood […]
Poodles get a bad rap as frilly leash candy. For this, we can blame the French. Forget Best in Show. The poodle has hunting-dog roots, which were developed in central Europe—particularly, in the area that would become Germany—in the 16th and 17th centuries. But during the 18th century, the breed became popular among French nobles, […]
Many years ago, in a different life, it seems, I steered a little aluminum boat with an outboard motor across the glistening surface of a lake. The memory is so vivid that it includes the oily smell of the exhaust swirling around my head and mixing with piney puffs of the soft summer air. In […]
On six-week jaunts over several years, Charlottesville’s Chris Register crisscrossed the country on his bike, interviewing people for his book series Conversations With US: Two Wheels, Fifty States, Hundreds of Voices, One America. The first volume, published in early 2019, is based on his 1,916-mile trip through the Midwest and Great Lakes states. Here, he […]
When Sweethaus abruptly closed last December, the year ended on a sour note for fans of the bakery’s cheerful confections. But the new year turned out sweetly for Charlottesville, as former manager Billy Koenig and his team opened Vivi’s Cakes and Candy in the former Sweethaus space on Ivy Road, with the same recipes and […]
Making charcuterie is an art, and the best meat artists in town can be found at J.M. Stock Provisions. “You have to receive the animal, break it down, use just the right balance of fat and lean, get the perfect matrix of textures, and chop, grind, and cook for hours,” says Alex Import, general manager. […]
No green thumb? No problem! If you love the idea of having fresh veggies and herbswithin easy reach, but you don’t have the time or inclination to plant a garden, Fifth Season has the solution: Garden in a Day. Experts install a four-by-four-foot raised cedar bed at your home, then fill and plant the bed—et […]