Sweet and savory We’re about to get a new pie shop on the Downtown Mall. And in true Charlottesville fashion, for the academic-turned-pastry-chef behind The Pie Chest, it was a circuitous path that led her here. The ever-changing food scene in this island-of-misfit-toys of a town seems to bring restaurateurs via just about every avenue […]
Set aside for a moment that eating out three times a week is perhaps excessively gluttonous, and come with me on a quick trip. It’ll be like a vacation, but you’ll get to stay right here in Charlottesville. Oh, hey, we could call it a STAYcation! Get it? No one’s ever thought of that before, […]
Ryan Hubbard and Mark Marshall aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. The two guys behind Red Hub Food Co., a catering service that recently opened a lunch counter at its 202 10th Street NW location, are serving up classic North Carolina-style barbecue, plain and simple. For them it’s not about being on the cutting culinary […]
Hello, Lampo For a pizza place that turns out pies in a matter of minutes, we sure had to wait a long time for Lampo, the real deal Neapolitan joint that opened on Monticello Road last month. Loren Mendosa, Ian Redshaw, Mitchell Beerens and Andrew Cole promised a fall opening, and the fellas came through […]
It’s resolution season, and a pair of local business owners are hoping to capitalize on the influx of interest in all things healthy that rolls around every January. If all goes according to plan, made-to-order juice bar and health food counter Cville Juice will be open by the end of January. “It’s a healthy thing,” […]
Jason Oliver wanted to make Devils Backbone a “brewer’s brewery.” That might seem like a terrible idea. Why would you want to run a brewery that appeals to such a small audience? But in the process of running a brewery that appeals to people like him, Oliver has unwittingly—or perhaps wittingly—turned DB into a place […]
Inn and out ’Tis the season for accoladed executive chefs to make some big changes, apparently. Not long after Melissa Close-Hart left her 14-year gig at Palladio to strike out on her own in Belmont, her culinary school classmate Tucker Yoder announced his plan to step down from his post as executive chef at Clifton […]
Food is love. Food is happiness. And, once a year, food inspires us to conjure our inner poet and present to you a list of the year’s openings and closings—entirely in rhyme. It wasn’t a great year for restaurants downtown: Five Guys, El Puerto and Song Song’s, all down. Plus, we said bye to Peking […]
Junction’s function Even chef Melissa Close-Hart seemed surprised when she revealed the concept behind the new Belmont eatery she’s opening with The Local owner Adam Frazier: It’ll be called Junction and serve up modern Mexican with a touch of “cowboy cuisine” thrown in. Close-Hart said she’s never cooked Tex-Mex professionally—hence the surprise—but said it’s something […]
A “global whiskey renaissance”—that’s what the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States is calling the trend in spirits over the last five years. Domestic and international demand for whiskey—bourbon in particular—has forced some of the largest producers to warn consumers of impending shortages, as demand is significantly outpacing supply. U.S. Whiskey exports topped 1 […]