Nobody puts Madeira in the corner

When a 200-year-old bottle treats you to everything from dried apricots to molasses to dark chocolate yet tastes as fresh and alive as a 20-year-old bottle, you can understand why Madeira-lovers hoard their vintage bottles.

Small bites

Benvenuto! As you read this, Carmello’s—an Emmet Street staple for nearly 20 years—is settling into its new spot on Fontaine Avenue in the former Ludwig’s Schnitzelhouse space. Owner Bill Hedges relocated the Italian restaurant last month and told us the new space would be “bigger and better.” Speaking of bigger and better, we wonder if […]

Youth in fast-forward

Depending on what you find funny, Denise Stewart either has the best or the most offensive sense of humor in town. She is both an actress and a writer, and with Mendy St. Ours, she performs as the Tip-Top Twins, a bouffanted fictional comedy duo said to entertain at the diner of same name with […]

Training food

  It’s the eve of the Charlottesville Marathon. The last training run is through, the shoes are broken in and the high-tech running togs laid out. All that’s left to do is carbo-load to power you through the hilly course. The ideal pre-race dinner is abundant, easy on the wallet and perfectly carbolicious. Any of […]

Small Bites

Familiar territory Second verse, same as the first? The new tenant in the former Rise Pizzaworks space is giving us déja vu. Slice, from the folks behind Vinny’s New York Pizza & Pasta, is bringing pie-by-the, er, slice back to Barracks Road. Local pie fans still feel the sting from the loss of Rise, which […]

How appetizing!

  Diners often skip starters, but practicing foodies know the appetizer course is where chefs shine, combining textures and flavors to create, quite possibly, the highlight of your meal. Lightly-fried wontons rolled and stuffed with fish and cilantro are a crunchy, scrumptious start at Taste of China (1) (and the newly opened Peter Chang China […]

Rosamond Casey's "blessed distance"

Since she first conceived the “visual fiction” project in the late 1990s, local multimedia artist Rosamond Casey has curated a series of projects that have all fallen under the banner of “Mapping the Dark: A Museum of Ambient Disorders.” First it was a 2003 installation at McGuffey Art Center. Then it was a mixed-media art […]

All the fixins'

  Ask a local foodie, “Where’s the best pizza?” and you’ll discover a fountain of passionate opinions. Whether you crave uber-thin New York or a sultry deep-dish Sicilian, Charlottesville has pies to suit every taste. In no particular order: It’s all about the single slice at Christian’s (1), a perennial favorite for its crispy crust […]

Small Bites

Semolina closed? Following its shuttering in early December, we were hopeful Raif Antar’s pizza spot, Semolina, was simply closed for Christmas break. But, after it was closed for Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day break, too, we contacted the restaurant’s former manager, Rebecca Deeds, who confirmed that she split in early December. Calls to Antar have […]