January 2009: Budget modern

  “Sometimes I think it was a sly architectural joke on Jim’s part,” says Mark Schuyler of his house, designed by Jim Rounsevell. “It’s a chicken shack with a dogtrot: It’s the Virginia vernacular to the extreme.” “I liked the idea of corrugated steel,” says Karen Schuyler, “because on our trips to the Outer Banks […]

Drink up

So, it’s the day before New Year’s Eve and, frankly, I am dreading tomorrow night. It is supposed to be an evening of wild debauchery and revelry, but if I see another alcoholic beverage within 20’ of me, I feel like I’m going to want to run screaming in the other direction. I am holiday-ed […]

Name games

When rumor had it that Il Cane Pazzo was for sale, Restaurantarama worried that it was another case of the Great Global Depression of 2008 hitting the shores of Charlottesville again.

Mind games

Trivia is a highly valued commodity in our culture. Just think of all the pastimes that revolve around it: “Jeopardy,” trivia nights at bars, Trivial Pursuit, um…yeah. Regardless, I firmly believe that we prize random facts if for no other reason than to satisfy the basic desire within us to impress the people we want […]

Same wine twice

The simple reason some of us spend many liver-destroying hours obsessing over wine is that it’s endlessly multifaceted.

Manning up

I recently saw the documentary Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29. As I sat in the dark theater watching aging white men dissect, play-by-play, a 40-year-old Ivy League football game, I laughed and cried and wondered how the hell it was happening that this movie about something that I couldn’t care less about was sucking me in […]