Herstory in a glass

Thomas Jefferson’s oldest daughter, Martha, wrote to her own daughter, Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, on the occasion of Ellen’s marriage. Postmarking her letter to Boston from Virginia, Martha said she would not be sending Ellen the family’s beer recipes. A fine young woman like Ellen wouldn’t need them, as Martha didn’t “presume” Ellen would ever […]

McBride in stride

It’d be easy for a bunch of theater-minded folks to say to themselves, “I’m not part of the drag community, but I can put on a play about drag, no problem.” That would be a trap, though, and one the Live Arts’ production team wants to avoid in its latest play, The Legend of Georgia […]

Virginia lovers

What’s with the “company” in Kendall Street Company? If you know anything about the local band, an 8- to 9-year-old jam-rock outfit with a dedicated regional following, you know these guys are anything but stuffed shirts. Business casual for frontman Louis Smith and his colleagues doesn’t even come with socks and shoes. No, Smith says […]

Song and social advance

There might be a few local residents who haven’t yet heard of Victory Hall Opera. But rest assured that opera aficionados nationwide—from the Deep South to the Pacific Northwest—have begun to take notice of the Charlottesville-based company. Victory Hall is turning heads thanks to its embrace of cutting-edge productions, like its latest, a world premiere […]

Next act

Susan Evans knows nothing is permanent in the theater. Nor should it be—theaters must evolve to stay relevant, says Live Arts’ artistic director. “A successful theater is a theater that never stops examining itself,” Evans says. “I think that many theaters get stuck. And it’s easy to get stuck because of money.” Evans got her […]

Prime location

New weddings-and-more venue The Bradbury is open for business on the Downtown Mall—and the team behind the new spot is a who’s who of weddings and events experts: Harvest Moon Catering’s Mark Hahn, Ken Notari, and Anne Peterson, photog Sarah Cramer, Just a Little Ditty’s Dickie Morris, and Second Line Business Management’s John Spagnolo. The […]

Poppin’ bottles

Springhouse Sundries springhousesundries.com Relative newcomer Springhouse Sundries focuses on the accessible—wines at a reasonable price we can all wrap our minds and taste buds around. Springhouse is a side project of the Wine Guild of Charlottesville, so it comes with some serious cred. Industry insiders Priscilla Curley and Matt Hauck pick the poison and offer […]

Crush a lot

Vincent Derquenne has been at the center of Charlottesville’s fine-dining universe for nearly 30 years. And certainly wine service has been somewhere in his orbit over the decades. Now, he’s bringing it closer than ever with the launch of Crush Pad Wines, a bar and bottle shop across the Downtown Mall from Bizou, the restaurant […]

Any way you slice it

If you want to make Neapolitan-style pizza in Charlottesville and you’re not from Naples, being from Lampo is probably the next best thing. But let’s back up. Aaron Hill’s pizza-making days started well before he served as the Belmont restaurant’s sous chef from 2016 to 2019. His first serious dough-flinging foray was at another member […]

Bake it till you make it

How many badass bakers can one modest hamlet support? Seems Charlottesville is determined to find out. Christina Martin comes to Charlottesville trailing a wake of Michelin-starred experiences by way of the West Coast and Chicago. She most recently wrapped a short stint at The Inn at Little Washington. Now, Martin’s putting out pastries under her […]