A glass act

Lizzy Trevor became wine director at Tilman’s on the Downtown Mall a year ago, coming to the position by sheer force of will. The oenophile, who recently aced the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s level 2 examination, is completely self-taught and self-driven. She started working at Tilman’s two years ago as a team member and […]

Awoke to folk

Blake Layman’s solo offerings have been called “folk adjacent,” and he’s taken to the tag. Although the way he puts it is “almost folk.” The distinction’s subtle. But words are important to him. Layman, a Charlottesville native who plays bass for Richmond’s hot indie pop foursome Frames, has come a long way in the last […]

Collard greens for the soul

Vast culinary traditions influence Southern food—European, Native American, African, Caribbean. But if you’re thinking individually about those traditions when you’re thinking about Southern food, you’re kind of doing it wrong, according to food historian Leni Sorensen. Those traditions hit American soil in the 1600s and immediately began to mingle, even as they traveled south, she […]

Take it from the top

When Sally Rose and her band Shagwüf take the stage for Fridays After Five at the Ting Pavilion on June 18, they’ll be the first musicians to play the venue since Jeff Tweedy and Wilco came to town on November 8, 2019. Wait, the what pavilion? A lot has changed in 19 months—including C’ville’s largest […]

Straight talk

Want to know what to order from the new Café Frank, acclaimed chef Jose de Brito’s newest proving ground? Don’t ask acclaimed chef Jose de Brito. “I am never happy with my dishes, and I usually do not taste my finished plates,” de Brito says. “I am way too scared to find out how bad […]

Stream Sequence

Ivan Christo and Trevor Chase were headed to a themed party—a post- apocalyptic themed party, of course. So they invented two characters, vigilantes Ace Fondo and Lex Blazer, “a couple of badass guys” who “fought in every war, flexing their biceps while smoking cigars.” Now years later, “Ace & Lex: American Heroes, Elite Commandos” anchor […]

Not so fancy feast

Can anything overshadow the legendary Gus Burger at The White Spot? By today’s standards, the Gus is a humble hamburger sandwich. But it was revolutionary 65 years ago for the fried egg tucked in its bun, and its lore has grown as generations of UVA students have stumbled into The White Spot late at night […]

Slinging mud

Visitors to the new Mudhouse Coffee Roasters shop on 10th Street may find themselves unsure they’re in a Mudhouse location at all. The striking, sleek space is a departure from the more rustic approach proprietors John and Lynelle Lawrence have taken alongside their design team at Formwork Architecture for their previous cafés. According to John […]

Rockin’ stout

Beer drinkers are weaning themselves off of so many unfortunate St. Patrick’s Day traditions. Green beer? Gone. Drinking enough to shame their Irish forebears by the end of the night? Well, mostly gone. The next step? Reaching for a locally made, artisanal stout or porter, rather than that well-known macro sludge. No, we’re not talking […]

Small-town noir

S.A. Cosby set out to be the next Stephen King. But he soon turned to a life of crime writing, and his latest noir caper, Blacktop Wasteland, may have pulled him in too deep to let him out. “I love writing about crime because it’s something everyone can understand,” Cosby says. “The platform makes it […]