On Fridays, we feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. Today’s picks come from Rachel Willis, a New England Culinary Institute alum whose resume reads like a greatest hits of Charlottesville restaurants over the last few decades: Metropolitain, Continental Divide, L’Avventura, and Executive Chef of Clifton Inn. Willis now runs Black Twig Farm with her […]
When a college fraternity brother of mine got married about 10 years ago, he gave his groomsmen, me included, giant mugs as part of the grooms’ gift. “Yeah, dude! Huge ass beers!” is something that hopefully no one said out loud. But the implication was clear: throw that sucker in the freezer, go get yerself […]
“I’ll never forget it,” said Ivy Inn chef Angelo Vangelopoulos after a once-in-a-lifetime dinner last week at The Space Downtown. On the birthday of Mount Rushmore’s Thomas Jefferson, Vangelopoulos was joined by four other chefs named last year to Charlottesville’s own Mount Rushmore of Chefs in our annual C-VILLE food issue. These chefs had done […]
I am a bit of a restaurant freak. Or at least, I used to be. I’ve eaten off of the whole spectrum of flatware, from the greasiest spoon to some of the finest dessert forks. I go out of my way to be a gracious guest—I ask the server’s name, I try to express my pleasure […]
It’s called the Grills. Then, below that highly nondescript moniker on The White Spot’s menu, it says “with ice cream.” It’s not clear whether you have a choice between with or without. Regardless, you want it with. I’ve only been to The White Spot a couple of times, and I know that. For fans, it’s […]
Starr Hill unveils new tasting room For weeks beer lovers have been peering into the windows of Starr Hill Brewery’s Crozet tasting room, anxiously awaiting its reopening. It’s been nearly two months since the doors closed to make way for a substantial facelift, but the newly renovated tasting room is finally up and running, and […]
I distinctly remember the aromas of Tanqueray gin and Myers’s rum from my days as a country club bartender in Lynchburg. Despite their potency, I knew how to make the spirits taste as good as they smelled. Then there was the vermouth—cheap stuff, likely sitting open for years, as dry martini-drinking members from the ’80s had […]
Free money! April 7-14, restaurants of the Charlottesville Restaurant Group are offering $50 gift certificates for just $25 each, with all proceeds going to the care of Wes Chang, Ten chef Pei Chang’s infant son who is undergoing treatment for stage IV neuroblastoma. Purchase yours at MAS, Mono Loco, Blue Light Grill, TEN Sushi, and Three Notch’d Grill. Or, contribute […]
Why do crabs have shells? I’m no scientist, but I’m guessing it’s because their flesh is so effing delicious. If there were nothing hard and spiny to protect that sweet, briny, creamy white meat, crabs surely would have been eaten into extinction long ago. Which is not to say we humans haven’t come up with […]
On Fridays we feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. This week’s picks come from Stu Rifkin, the restaurateur and real estate maven who has done it all when it comes to Charlottesville restaurants: owned them, ran them, and brokered their sale. From April 7 thru 14, restaurants of theCharlottesville Restaurant Group, for […]