Small Bites: This week's restaurant news

Wine then beer, in the clear Hunter Smith, marketing manager of his family’s Afton Mountain Vineyards, is changing his poison of choice —at least in terms of his career. He’s putting his brewing diploma from Siebel Institute of Technology to work and opening Champion Brewing Company at 310 Avon St. (at the foot of the Belmont […]

The Rock ‘N’ Roll Cannibals want to eat your young

For those who like their oldies with a side order of human flesh, the Rock ‘N’ Roll Cannibals will release Blood & Pomade on Saturday at the Black Market Moto Saloon. (Photo by Meagan Jennett) Rock and roll, and its redneck cousin rockabilly, have long been associated with the spooky and the undead, from the […]

May ABODE: Needing extra space, local families discover the yurt

 Christine Gyovai and Reed Muehlman built an extra-big deck to support their yurt, so that they’d have outdoor hangout space around it. (Photo by Andrea Hubbell) It’s a moment familiar to countless homeowners: You look around the house and think If only we had a bit more space. More room for storage, a place to […]

May ABODE: My other kitchen

You’d think that Dean Maupin, Keswick Hall’s Executive Chef—who also lists The Greenbrier (West Virginia), Tra Vigne (California), and The Clifton Inn on his resume—would be the cook in his family of five, but he’s sure to give credit where it’s due. His wife, Erin, who studied pastry at the CIA and worked at Fauchon […]

May ABODE: Mike Ball takes a house to a higher plane

(Photo by Andrea Hubbell) When you walk into Mike Ball’s stunning, open-floor home located in the heart of Downtown Charlottesville, you immediately see the lush green of the backyard. The self-taught contractor, who started Element Construction after years of working for Artisan Construction, bought the space in 2008. But he and his wife Karen, a […]

May ABODE: The Scene

  Kim Speer, TheFeteBlog.com columnist and University of Virginia construction manager (Photo by Cramer Photo)   OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION Hot pot “Five years ago, I decided I wanted to learn to cook. Once I got cooking, I really wanted a Le Creuset Dutch oven pot, but I just couldn’t splurge that much so my parents surprised me […]

Raring for rhubarb: 10 ways to stalk the spring treat

Rhubarb, that ruby-stalked rhizome that adds a tantalizing tartness to dishes both sweet and savory, is among the handful of spring produce that, just like the blossoming flowers and trees, seem to vanish in the blink of an eye. That’s why we’re practicing scorpacciata, or the act of consuming large amounts of a particular local […]

Fossett’s cellar at the touch of a screen

A 100-year-old estate with a croquet lawn and a snooker room isn’t where you’d expect to be handed an iPad when being seated for dinner, but Keswick Hall’s gone new school, taking Fossett’s leather-bound tome of a wine list digital. Sommelier Richard Hewitt and his team started the project last September to “innovate and expand […]