Compost isn’t a glamorous business, but then again—if it helps you hang onto a big, beautiful piece of land in Albemarle County—maybe it is. The 20-or-so acres that Steve Murray uses to produce compost and mulch at Panorama Paydirt, near Earlysville, have been one way to keep the 850-acre farm in the family. “I raised […]
An interesting housing experiment called Lochlyn Hill is taking shape about two miles east of the Downtown Mall, on the Charlottesville-Albemarle line by Pen Park. Five custom builders currently have a stake in the development, which the promotional material is careful to describe as a neighborhood or community. The architectural portfolio includes country-style homes with […]
When we asked Shawn Tevendale, owner of Blue Ridge Cyclery, to recommend a killer trail bike to feature, he emailed a link back within a minute to the mechanical wonder you see here. “It’s like a monster truck,” Tevendale says. “It’ll go anywhere you want it to, and crush it.” Tevendale also gives the Slash […]
When Sweethaus abruptly closed last December, the year ended on a sour note for fans of the bakery’s cheerful confections. But the new year turned out sweetly for Charlottesville, as former manager Billy Koenig and his team opened Vivi’s Cakes and Candy in the former Sweethaus space on Ivy Road, with the same recipes and […]
Jason Lavallee would like to thank everyone for being so nice. It’s not what a guy expects when he parachutes into town and opens a winery with his wife, and they’re total newbies to the industry, and he starts knocking on doors and asking established winemakers a lot of questions. “I was pretty open, like, […]
“It will be two years in July since I had this meal, and it was great not only because of what I ate, but also because of the beautiful setting. I was traveling with seven friends, two from Palermo, Italy, and the rest from the Charlottesville area. I remember it was very hot, about two […]
Making charcuterie is an art, and the best meat artists in town can be found at J.M. Stock Provisions. “You have to receive the animal, break it down, use just the right balance of fat and lean, get the perfect matrix of textures, and chop, grind, and cook for hours,” says Alex Import, general manager. […]
I first encountered an ovoid concrete fermentation vessel at Austria’s innovative biodynamic winery Meinklang in 2004. Actually, there were a few of them, all lined up and looking like 1950s science-fiction rocket ships, held upright by fin-shaped buttresses. A startling departure from the oak barrels and stainless-steel vats I was accustomed to seeing, the eggs, […]
The restaurant business, like any industry, goes in cycles. Grow, contract, repeat. Here in Charlottesville, our last boom came in 2014, a year that brought Lampo, The Alley Light, Oakhart Social, Parallel 38, Public Fish & Oyster, MarieBette, Rock Salt, Red Pump Kitchen, and Al Carbon, among others. Now, after a slight lull, the area’s […]
About 10 years ago, concurrent with the onset of the artisanal cocktail movement, small-batch European vermouths began showing up in the U.S. market. Winemakers took notice, and some started experimenting with producing their own. Today, vermouth is enjoying a moment, with some of the very best being made in our own backyard, by Afton’s Flying […]