Eric Kelley became a coffee drinker only last July.

Tomas Rahal, executive chef and part owner of Mas, is fond of saying, “You’re only as good as your last meal.”

When espresso and gelato shop Milano and Italian homewares shop Verity Blue moved from the Main Street Market to the “pink building” at 100 South St. earlier this month, we wondered: Would Milano make an impact among all the other Downtown clatter and caffeine?

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that rumors of Rapture’s sale have been swirling about for some time, and in response, we said that restaurants are, in fact, almost always for sale for the right price. Catch a beleaguered proprietor at the right moment and with the right offer, and you’ve got yourself a deal.

Restaurants are like babies—their first year of life is the most perilous. That’s why when a dining establishment survives those first chaotic 12 months, it’s cause to invite the friends and family over for a celebration. Brooke and Luther Fedora, owners of 1-year-old Horse & Hound GastroPub on W. Main Street, are doing just that […]

A new food interest group and local blog debuted last month. It’s called A New Mountain Cookery, and the group’s focus is “modern cuisine.” Since its inception last month, one contributor to the blog, JaisonUpstairs—presumably the virtual persona of Jaison Burke, chef of The Upstairs—already has contributed six recipes, including one for apple foam and […]

“Chocolate ice? Please.” For years, that’s what a skeptical Kate Matikonas would say whenever her husband, Rob, a New Jersey native, raved about Rita’s Ice.

There’s been a recent media blitz about an apparent global hops crisis. Due to such factors as bad weather in Europe and the decreasing production of U.S. hops thanks to government subsidies for other crops such as corn (particularly with the current focus on making corn-based ethanol as an alternative fuel), hops—the ingredient that lends […]

Craig Hartman, executive chef at Keswick Hall and its restaurant, Fossett’s, may be one of the area’s original locavores. Over lunch on a recent afternoon, Restaurantarama had an opportunity to reflect with Hartman on his long culinary career and his particular devotion to Virginia-made foodstuffs. Despite the chichi surroundings and the European-esque elegance of the […]

Come down off the ledge, people—Anna’s Pizza Ristorante Italiano on Maury Avenue is not going anywhere! The family behind Anna’s is merely expanding to the mixed-used development planned for Old Trail Village in Crozet. Still, co-owner Marcella Kauffman (great-granddaughter of the Sicilian matriarch for whom the restaurant is named) says loyal customers have contacted the […]