Knife & Fork: Spring 2016

Tips for your board from Feast!’s cheesemonger

SPRING 2016

Wine design

How Virginia is reinventing Bordeaux-style blends

Cocoa cam Behind the scenes at Gearharts Chocolates

Second helping

A dining spot we miss, and six we’ll always revisit CHEW ON THIS

400+ spots to wet your whistle

A local biz helps you eat your way through Spain

Pippin Hill’s Bill Scatena cooks a spring chicken

Taste is everything.

Eat your greens!

Salads and smoothies, dips and dressings: This spring, we’re loving leaves with everything

2 Knife&Fork Spring

Spring Knife&Fork 3

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S The Dish 11 Berry delicious Arley Cakes’ strawberry tart.

13 What a trip Epicurean Ways blends food

40¢ The cost of a 32-ounce beer at The Virginian in the ’50s. Page 25

and faraway places.

12,000 The number of pieces of chocolate made daily at Gearharts Fine Chocolates (“when we’re going full-tilt,” says owner Tim Gearhart). Page 23

15 Season well Bill Scatena’s favorite chicken recipe.

17 Counter culture Feast!’s cheesemonger gives us tips.

18 Salty debate Are anchovies the new bacon? Blasphemy!

21 Super chef Clifton’s Yannick Fayolle

“We want people to realize green can mean delicious.”

Mike Keenan of The Juice Laundry

Features Green giants

The spring season means bikini season is just around the corner, patio seating returns to the Downtown Mall and it’s time to start looking for fresh produce.

This issue hones in on leafy greens—from restaurant salads to storing lettuces at home. Trust us, it’s easy going green. PAGE 35

Beyond Bourdeaux As ground zero for some of the globe’s most widely grown grape varieties, France’s Bordeaux region is as valuable as its far-reaching and varied diasporas, like Virginia. A handful of local wineries are taking the Bordeaux-style blend and tweaking it according to soil and taste. PAGE 51

bulks up the menu.

23 Behind the scenes Feast your eyes on

Gearharts’ production line.

25 Digging up the past Local restaurants then and now.

29 Fair share A local chef and her

husband start a tradition.

31 Fresh twist The carroty Bloody Mary

at Oakhurst Inn.

Eat up

More than 400 restaurants to satisfy your craving—from cake to confit.

PAGE 59

ON THE COVER: The spinach stir-fry at Peter Chang China Grill is a simple dish of garlic, salt, pepper and, of course, leafy spinach. Photo by Tom McGovern. COMMENTS? E-mail the editor at caite@c-ville.com

2 to 3 ounces

That’s how much cheese, per person, Feast! cheesemonger Sara Adduci says you’ll need when entertaining. Page 17

Spring Knife&Fork 5

We asked the staff: What Charlottesville restaurant do you miss?

“Zinc for its horseshoe bar; Eppie’s for its chicken salad; Cassis for its late-night dance party.”

CAITE WHITE

“12th Street Taphouse.

I have a very specific memory of reconstituting my shriveled brain there one Sunday morning, eating corned beef hash and listening to Ray Charles.”

GABE RODRIGUEZ

Charlottesville’s News & Arts Weekly 308 E. Main St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 817-2749 Advertising/Editorial Fax: (434) 817-2758

www.c-ville.com Facebook: facebook.com/cville.weekly Instagram: @cvilleweekly

Editorial EDITOR

Jessica Luck (x20) editor@c-ville.com SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

Caitlin White (x45) NEWS EDITOR

Lisa Provence (x14) ARTS AND LIVING EDITOR

Tami Keaveny (x18) STAFF REPORTER

“Hardware Store! The best onion rings. Huge and stacked on a wooden stick.”

Samantha Baars (x40)

LORENA PEREZ

Sherry Brown

“Atomic Burrito. It was a staple for lunch when I first started working at C-VILLE.”

BIANCA JOHNSON

“Barnaby’s Pizza. It was full of lots of cozy booths to hang out, yummy, simple pizza and Ms. Pac-Man in the arcade.”

KATIE HARPER

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Bill LeSueur (x17)

Max March (x16)

“Pargo’s. Bring back the curly fries!”

✣ Function space for up to 100 people

Design and Production

“Bluebird Café. I once saw a woman throw a drink in a man’s face there, just like in the movies.”

HARDING COUGHTER

✣ Gourmet catering available

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

artdirector@c-ville.com

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“One Meatball Place that used to be on West Main!

They had really tasty hummus and falafel, plus... where else can you find a salmon meatball?”

SHERRY BROWN

EDITORIAL DESIGNER GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Harding Coughter (x19) Henry Jones (x22), Lorena Perez (x25)

Advertising

advertising@c-ville.com NEW MEDIA DIRECTOR

Gabriel Rodriguez (x29) RETAIL ADVERTISING MANAGER

Bianca J. Johnson (x42) SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Greg Allen (x30) ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Katie Harper (x15) PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Billy Dempsey (x11) VERTICAL MARKETS classifieds@c-ville.com CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING MANAGER

Ashley Wood (x43) ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Kristen Canseco (x36)

Business PUBLISHER

Aimee Atteberry (x12) aimee@c-ville.com CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Debbie Miller (x28) MARKETING MANAGER

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“Still trying to find something to replace The Steeple Chase, Horse & Hound’s hangover-buster on a plate.”

ACCOUNT MANAGER

SUSAN SORENSEN

Bill Chapman, Blair Kelly

See page 25 for more local dining lore.

KNIFE & FORK, a supplement to C-VILLE Weekly, is distributed regionally. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. ©2016 C-VILLE Weekly.

Randi Henry (x33) CIRCULATION MANAGER

Miguel Coradine (x32) C-VILLE HOLDINGS

Sample a historic vintage at our house.

Visit Montpelier this Spring.

History’s doors are open to you seven days a week at Montpelier, the lifelong home of President James Madison. Just 30 minutes from Charlottesville, access to the estate—which includes 2,600 acres of rolling hills, more than 8 miles of trails, and formal gardens– is free to the public.

Enjoy Montpelier’s Wine Festival, May 7-8 The best of central Virginia’s wine, food and crafts, all on Montpelier’s grounds.

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Spring Knife&Fork 7

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Restaurant Wine List

The Dish TRENDS, TASTEMAKERS AND FOODS WE LOVE

AMY JACKSON

The art of tart

Whether Arley Arrington is frying donuts at Brookville or whipping up macarons in her home kitchen, we just can’t get enough of her sweets. We asked the owner of local baking company Arley Cakes a few questions—from her guilty pleasure food to how to make her strawberry tart at home.

Spring Knife&Fork 11

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Knife & Fork: What’s your favorite kitchen utensil or tool?

Arrington: A good friend of mine

loaned me her KitchenAid mixer on a long-term basis, since she never used it. I’ve had it for about a year and a half now. Sometimes, I try to imagine my life before the mixer was in it, and it just doesn’t make sense.

Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to food?

Utz Cheezballs. My 2016 New Year’s resolution is “eat more food,” which mostly means “Stop eating a giant bowlful of Cheezballs and calling it a meal.”

What advice would you give someone who wants to be a professional baker?

Tart crust

Remove the foil and weights and bake for 10 minutes longer or until the crust is golden. Allow the crust to cool.

1 1/4 cup flour 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup butter, cut into 1/4" cubes 1 egg Combine the first three ingredients. Add the cubed butter, cutting it into the flour until it resembles coarse sand. (You can use a pastry cutter, or two knives if you don’t have one.) Beat the egg, and mix it into the dough until it just starts to come together. Quickly knead the dough by hand to finish combining all ingredients. Shape it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for about an hour. Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface to about a 10" diameter (for a 9" tart pan). Press it into the tart pan.

Poke it with a fork in several places. Cover it in foil and chill for 30 more minutes. Fill tart pan with pie weights or dried beans. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Cream cheese filling 8 oz. cream cheese 1/4 cup heavy cream 2 tbs. butter 1/4 cup super fine sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. lemon juice 1/2 tsp. lemon zest 2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced 2 tbs. fresh mint

AMY JACKSON

Go for it! You might have to put in a lot of hours being paid not a lot of money (or no money at all), doing some less-than-glorious work (or volunteering), but it’s attainable. I’ve been baking my butt off and working in the food industry here for five years, but it’s only been in the most recent one that I’ve actually been able to make money off of baking. You have to stick to it. Also, get good shoes. And by good, I mean very ugly, but very supportive.—Laura Ingles

Strawberry mint and cream cheese tart

The Dish

Beat first four ingredients together until stiff and completely smooth —there should be no sugar grains remaining. Add the vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Beat well, making sure all ingredients are combined.

Pour filling into cooled crust. Arrange strawberries on top of filling.

Sprinkle with mint. Tart is best served the day it has been made.

BERRY GOOD TIMES Want to pick your own? Strawberries have a short season (mid-May to June), but you can find them at Chesterfield Berry Farm, Chiles Peach Orchard, Critzer Family Farm, Middle Fork Farm and Silver Creek & Seamans’ Orchard.

Eat, drink and be merry Epicurean Ways fulfills any foodie’s whim When Jane Gregg studied in Madrid and

excursion to a single region, learning to cook

at his Montsant estate for a tasting of eight to

Salamanca, Spain, during college, she had no idea

alongside a Michelin star chef or spending time

10 wines—white and red, Priorat and

it was the start of something wonderful.

in a small village, visiting food producers and

Montsant—including some older vintages.

Epicurean Ways, her Charlottesville-based compa-

soaking up the local ambiance.

ny that customizes luxury food and drink tours

“Our job is to guide people to the best

Gregg’s clients also enjoy cooking with a private chef at a txoko (cooking society) in the

experiences, restaurants and hotels in harmony

Basque Country. The chef takes everyone to the

with their tastes and interests and the way they

market in a fishing village outside San

and then went to graduate school for Spanish

like to travel,” Gregg explains, adding that one

Sebastian, where they buy the fish and go back

literature,” Gregg says. She ran a Spanish-En-

of her favorite trips includes spending the better

to the txoko and “cook up a storm,” she says.

glish translation agency for several years, and in

part of a day with Françesc Capafons, “the

“They are usually in the txoko until 4 or 5 in the

2005 she moved her family to Spain so her

charming” 71-year-old owner of Capafons Ossó

afternoon, after a long lunch with a few bottles

children would “get to know the culture from

winery in the Priorat wine region outside of

of Txakoli.”

the inside.” It was during that time that Gregg

Barcelona. He loads visitors into his 4x4

formed relationships with chefs, winemakers,

vehicle for a trip to hilltop vineyards,

ones mentioned above are typically

artisan food producers and guides from all over

where they “look out over the Priorat and

between four and 10 days and cost about

the country. In 2008, Epicurean Ways was born.

inhale the scent of the rosemary and

$400 per person per day for groups of two

thyme and mountain herbs that he lets

or larger (not including airfare). For more

whether there are two or 22 people in a group,

grow among the vines,” Gregg says.

information, visit epicureanways.com.—

and they might include an in-depth wine

Afterward, Capafons’ guests spend time

Susan Sorensen

throughout Spain and Portugal, to be precise.

“After college I lived in Madrid for three years

All of Gregg’s trips are custom-created,

Tours that include excursions like the

Spring Knife&Fork 13

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Spring chicken

The Dish

T

o a chef, a new season means a chance to spruce up the menu.

We asked Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards’ executive chef, Bill Scatena, to share one thing he’s excited to start cooking this spring.—Caite White “My inspiration for this dish [comes from] cooking chicken on a little Weber grill in between high school and college. It was one of the first proteins I gained confidence cooking with. My dad also showed me how to roast poultry the proper way—whole birds, to be exact (i.e. proper trussing, roasting technique, brines, etc.).

I source the onions from Manakintowne—they also have other wonderful alliums, all of which we are eager to use again this year.

For the Aleppo chile, I stumbled upon it at a farmers market one weekend when I lived in Colorado for a few years. The flavor is a bit more piquant than that of an ancho—which is smoky and earthy—but the same spice level, roughly. It’s a very forgiving spice with a moderate heat level.”

with spring onion Roasted whole chicken and Aleppo chile olive oil over the chicken 1 pasture-raised whole and patted dry) ed rins d, ove (giblets rem oil 2 tbs. extra virgin olive ons oni en gre of s che 2 bun lks thinly sliced) (bulbs reserved and sta ed) 8 cloves garlic (thinly slic Aleppo chile und gro ly rse coa 1 1/2 tbs. (similar to ancho chile)

degrees. In a Preheat the oven to 425 butter, garlic, food processor, add the le and thyme. onion stalks, Aleppo chi incorporated Mix until the butter has with salt and evenly. Season lightly the butter pepper, then gently rub nooks and all in underneath the skin with half a n cke chi the crannies. Stuff on bulbs, oni ed erv res lemon and the ore bef tly tigh s leg the s then trus

Bill Scatena

ANDREA HUBBELL

Y WILSON RACHEL ZAHUMENSK

2 tsp. minced thyme 1 lemon, cut in half perature 4 tbs. butter, room tem black pepper d cke cra and Kosher salt

cooking. Pour the h salt and pepper chicken and season wit in the oven in a e plac to preference and minutes, then 20 for k roasting pan. Coo rees and cook for reduce heat to 350 deg ting with pan another 45 minutes, bas s. Insert a juices every 15 minute thigh section and thermometer into the chicken out, at 165 degrees, pull the r the top with ove e squeeze lemon juic and let it rest for half on the remaining lem te with the soft pla and ve 15 minutes. Car juices. Serves 4 spring onions and pan

Spring Knife&Fork 15

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‘One cheese led to another’

The Dish

Behind the counter with Feast!’s Sara Adduci How much cheese do you actually end up eating every day?

About a pound. I’m kidding. Honestly, not all that much! I have some quality control nibbles here and there throughout the day, but generally it isn’t a huge amount.

What’s the most common question people ask you when they approach the counter?

That would probably be “What is your favorite cheese?”, the answer to which depends on the day, my mood, which direction the wind is blowing and whatever swoon-worthy cheese is my current crush.

What’s a good rule of thumb when buying cheese for a party (i.e. how much cheese per person)?

I suggest three to five cheeses, making sure to include different textures and different milks, and I cal-

culate about 2-3 ounces of cheese per person.

I have $50 to spend to make a cheese board. What do I buy?

Something soft and creamy, something firm and a wild card, like a blue or something with a bit of attitude. This should be about $30- 35.

Use the rest to get a baguette, a box of crackers, some mixed nuts and fresh or dried fruit. The best suggestion I have, though, is to find a cheesemonger to help. We are really good at finding just what you need to please your people, whether they are conservative cheese folks or wideopen turophiles (cheese connoisseurs). We can let you taste first, we can work within any themes or special requests, and we can send you home with all you need to impress!

Feast!’s Sara Adduci says that, as a cheesemonger, she doesn’t eat as much cheese on the job as one would think.

We say she’s squandering an opportunity.

CURDS THIS WAY What’s a no-fail cheese choice? Adduci says, “Two words: triple crème. These rich, decadent, soft cheeses are like cheese butter, and it is very rare that someone doesn’t like them.”

on cally in seas ies are typi Strawberr

through mid-April

mid-June.

TOM MCGOVERN

S

ometimes, when it comes to food, it’s best to leave it to the experts—from your brunch omelet to your post-dinner cheese plate. We asked Feast! cheesemonger Sara Adduci to tell us how to do it right. She’s been cheesemongering for 12 years, ever since taking a part-time job at a shop in Richmond following a “terrible addiction to a two-year aged Gouda. One cheese led to another and soon enough I was hooked,” she says.

Not hooked enough to try her hand at making cheese on her own, though.

“I made cheese with Gail HobbsPage at Caromont Farm, back in the day,” Adduci says. “But I’m around so many of my favorites at Feast! I’ve never seen the need!”

Here’s what she says about creating the perfect plate (including a universal crowd-pleaser).—Caite White

hard.Com C r o h c a e p s e il h C Crozet, VA 3 8 5 1 • 3 2 434 • 8 Spring Knife&Fork 17

The Dish

If you’re gonna eat anchovies, really go for it. The boquerones at Mas are a courageous —and delicious— introduction.

ANDREA HUBBELL

The new bacon?

Anchovies take their place among umami foods

T

hey aren’t just the pizza topping you love to hate anymore. Anchovies are showing up on menus all over town, and diners are responding.

“I think more chefs are turning to anchovies as an ingredient not just as a topping but as a way to add depth and umami to other dishes,” Lampo co-owner and chef Loren Mendosa says, referring to the so-called fifth taste that might be described as “savory kicked up a notch.” “Umami is kind of a

18 Knife&Fork Spring

buzzword, but it really is important. Chefs are constantly looking for foods that have high concentrations of umami, and anchovies are one of them.”

Fact is, anchovies have been in dishes for quite some time. But it’s only been in the last decade or so that diners’ tastes have become accepting enough for them to be mentioned on menus, according to Parallel 38 owner Justin Ross.

As Ross puts it, “consumers have more and better resources, so they

are better educated about what’s in their food and, perhaps more importantly, what’s in their favorite chef ’s food.”

These days anchovies are taking center stage in an array of preparations: white anchovies dressed with oil and citrus as boquerones, fresh-roasted anchovies and cured anchovies mixed into spreads, tossed with pasta, giving salads that extravagant edge and—of course—on pizza. “Anchovies give you the brininess, a lot of mouth

feel from the oil and fat and a hint of the ocean,” says former Public Fish & Oyster chef Donnie Glass, who’s in the process of opening Banyan Day Provisions, a seafood counter in Timbercreek Market.

Glass points out the majority of preparations feature cured anchovies—the tinned, floating-in-oil variety usually associated with the fish. And Mendosa says it’s that age-old version that fits so well with modern cookery. “When you’re trying to build a dish that

Anchovies ahoy

Farmers’ Market Season is Here

One of the longest-standing anchovy preparations in town, Mas’ white Cantabrian anchovy fillets dressed in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice are a favorite of local chefs and foodies. According to Lampo co-owner and chef Loren Mendosa, the fillets that Mas mastermind Tomas Rahal sources are the “best of the white anchovies.”

Parallel 38 occasionally serves boquerones marinated in olive oil, citrus, vinegar, garlic and herbs as a special, and owner Justin Ross says the fish are used to punch up many of the restaurant’s traditional sauces.

For your everyday anchovy fix, try the tapenade with kalamata olives, anchovies and lemon.

SaturdayS 8– 12 IN NELLYSFORD

Ross says “anchovies are the flavor backbone of puttanesca,” and Fellini’s take on the classic dish doesn’t disappoint.

The campanelle pasta with sausage is tossed in a sauce of fresh tomatoes, artichokes, capers, olives and an anchovy wine reduction for that mouthcoating umami kick.—S.G.

JOHN ROBINSON

has some bigger flavors, you can’t add things that are too light because they will be overpowered,” he says. “Anchovies can take it.”

Anchovies are most often cured for good reason, Glass says—they just don’t stay fresh long. But they’re also delicious fresh, according to Mendosa. “They’re an oily fish, similar to mackerel, so they can stand up to the high temperatures” and crisp up without drying out, he says.

Ross says white anchovies are “more approachable” and have also helped the fish’s popularity.

Less pungent than the cured variety, white anchovies are more likely to be seen as a standalone protein.

So what’s the future for anchovies? Are they here to stay?

Will they come and go? Heck, could they be the new bacon?

Glass says no.

“False. Absolutely false,” he says. “There will never be a new bacon, and if there is we will see it come and go and see bacon retake its place at the top of the food chain.”

Ross is more diplomatic. “Anchovies are perhaps the new olive…always hidden in recipes to pack a punch when it comes to flavor, insanely versatile and absolutely delicious on their own,” he says.—Shea Gibbs

There’s something a little fishy about this tapenade at Parallel 38 (hint: It’s anchovies).

Spring Knife&Fork 19

Cohousing: Yesterday’s neighborhood today

Emerson

COMMONS

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20 Knife&Fork Spring

The Dish

Natural fit

Clifton Inn’s chef mixes health and food

Always on the bar: I don’t

have one.

Special-occasion drink: I would say a good glass of Premier Grand Cru Classé à Pauillac.

Energy source: My daily

workouts.

Breakfast: Smoothie with 1

cup of spinach, 1 cup of strawberries, 2 tbs. of peanut butter, 2 scoops of whey protein and whole milk.

Lunch spot: Chipotle (and I

ask for extra protein).

Japanese restaurant order:

I go for unagi nigiri.

Sandwich: Corned beef

Reuben Unusual ingredient: Bison tail Healthy snack: A Quest Bar Unhealthy snack: A beer Condiment: Pickled carrot peel Chocolate: Chocolate and goat

cheese crumble that one of my cooks came up with.

Grocery store cookie: Of

course not.

Dessert: Scoop of ice cream

with a shot of Frangelico.

Beer: My Mauritian beer—

the Phoenix.

Ice cream flavor: Earl Grey Kitchen aroma: Searing thyme and garlic and curry. Reminds me of home.

Always in the home fridge:

Lots of meat Always in the pantry: White

basmati rice Bodo’s order: Everything bagel

with four scrambled eggs, bacon and cream cheese Salad bar toppings: Chicken Cut of meat: Hare tenderloin Fish: Red snapper. The perfect

red snapper has an interesting shellfish taste to it.

Vegetable: At this moment, it would be a tomato.

Midnight snack: None Knife: My deboner and fish

knives.

Cookbooks: Bon! by Thierry Marx. It shows the purity of the ingredients.

AMY JACKSON

Y

ou’ll find Yannick Fayolle, Clifton Inn’s executive chef since October 2015, on Instagram @superman_chef. It’s a moniker that speaks to his kitchen chops, of course, but also hints at his other passion: natural bodybuilding. He’s currently preparing for his second competition.

“It keeps me close to a healthy lifestyle where I can think clearly,” he says. “I like to be clear-minded.”

That’s how he leads the team in his kitchen, too—clean eats, but with a little international flare. Fayolle hails from Mauritius, where he started his culinary career before working in kitchens in Switzerland and India. We asked the chef to tell us about a few of his favorite foodie things.—Caite White

Dream trip: An experimental

Food-related tattoos: The one

food trip in Asia.

on my forearms. It’s a Thai philosophy: Food is art.

First food memory: Quail eggs and tropical fruits Best meal ever: I was on a boat barbecuing a fresh snapper and lobsters.

Food city: Tokyo Cooking clothes: Chef ’s jacket Kitchen shoes: Skechers

Mentors: My dad and mom.

Cooking music: Dubstep and

They taught me discipline.

deep house

Spring Knife&Fork 21

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22 Knife&Fork Spring

Home sweet home

The Dish

Bigger is better at Gearharts Fine Chocolates

T

move, but to take the opportunity to enhance our footprint in Charlottesville,” he says, adding that his goal is to make the city a destination for chocolate in the same way it is for wine and beer.

Gearharts’ small, dark, former location “wasn’t exactly a place to bring family when they were in town,” he says, but he has room enough in his new eat-in café for plenty of customers to enjoy his wares, which, in addition to the 12,000 pieces of chocolate made daily (“when we’re going full-tilt,” he says), now include chocolatecentric desserts, such as cakes, tortes, cookies, brownies and cupcakes. And you can’t beat the view: A large window on one side of the cafe allows guests to watch the magic happen in the “chocolate

room” of the new kitchen. It’s here where Mayas (cocoa-dusted bittersweet chocolate ganache balls that are part of Gearharts’ signature line of 16 chocolates) are hand-rolled (as many as 600 a day during the Christmas rush), and fillings, such as nuts, fruit and caramel, are coated in chocolate by an enrobing machine that can cover 2,000 pieces an hour and has allowed Gearhart to retire his dipping forks. Two hundred chocolate bars are also hand-wrapped every day in this space.

But Gearhart, a Marine Corps cook, Culinary Institute of America grad and former pastry chef at Hamiltons’ at First & Main, says he hasn’t created “an endless factory.”

“We’re not doing anything different from what we did on day

one,” he says. “We’re just doing more of it,” including serving custom chocolates to French President François Hollande during a State Department luncheon, says Gearhart, who uses a blend of Valrhona chocolate made exclusively for him in France. When pressed, he says the Peanut Butter Pups (milk chocolate and peanut butter puppies with dark-chocolate faces and almond ears) are among his best sellers. Gearhart’s products can be found in 300 stores around Virginia, everywhere from mom-andpop wine shops to Whole Foods.

“I love making people happy, and what better way to do it than with chocolate?” he says. “I tell my employees how lucky we are to get to do something like this every day.

It’s not a bad gig.”—Susan Sorensen

PHOTOGRAPHY: TOM MCGOVERN

im Gearhart outgrew his space in the Main Street Market five years ago, but it wasn’t until late last fall that he opened his new store in the Vinegar Hill Shopping Center next door to Staples. Gearhart’s business had grown enormously since it opened in 2001, back when he used two forks to hand-dip every piece of chocolate, and “it got to the point where we had to make a change,” he says. “We loved the Main Street Market, it’s a great part of our DNA, but it was time to leave, and it came down to how important it was to produce where we sell.”

“We could have made [our products] somewhere else much cheaper and trucked them to the [West Main Street] store, but in the end, we decided not only to make the

“We’re not doing anything different from what we did on day one,” says Tim Gearhart.

“We’re just doing more of it.”

Spring Knife&Fork 23

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24 Knife&Fork Spring

The Dish

Living history

T

he scene of a movie, the site of a mooning, an old inn reassembled from parts: Here are six local restaurants that have set the bar when it comes to keeping things interesting (and standing the test of time).—Laura Ingles, Dan Testa, Lynn Thorne and Caite White 1923

The Virginian (1521 University Ave.)

The Virginian is to Charlottesville dining what the Rotunda is to academia here: the foundation for much of what flourishes today.

Opened in 1923, the “V” persevered through Prohibition in the 1930s and louche affairs downstairs in the 1970s.

UVA students and alumni still fill it seven days a week. One of them, Andy McClure, bought the restaurant in 2001. He cites the Stumble Down Mac N’ Cheese, named for the former downstairs pool hall, as an enduring favorite. “It’s the perfect blend of crunchy and creamy, and it can cure what ails ya,” he says.

Among McClure’s favorite trivia is that the V served as a backdrop for scenes in the 1991 John Cusack and James Spader drama True Colors. McClure calls those scenes, “a perfect representation of what people love about the place.

It’s where friends meet, and what’s better than that?”—D.T.

ing his father’s passing in the late 1700s, he was bequeathed a tract of land. He built a home, then, in 1784, he received a license to operate an inn. It remained a hub of local activity—dances, church services and performances—until 1910, when the tavern was sold at a state auction to a family that kept it as a private residence for nearly the next two decades.

In 1927, local businesswoman Josephine Henderson bought the property to display her large collection of antiques. But its location on Buck Mountain was all but inaccessible. To capitalize on booming tourism, Henderson had it disassembled and moved 17 miles to where it stands today, at the base of Carter Mountain, a half-mile from Monticello. Currently a restaurant and museum, Michie Tavern is the

largest grouping of reassembled buildings in Albemarle County— and the only place in town to get

fried chicken delivered to your table by servers in period dress.—C.W. 1969

Spudnuts

Memory palace “Mostly only students would go [to the Virginian] and very few women. The 32-ounce beer (called a bumper) cost 40 cents and a 16ounce glass was 20 cents. Boiled eggs sat on the bar and cost a nickel. The dog mascots, Seal and later Beta, would hang out and the students would take a hamburger and put it in the bottom of a pail and fill it with beer. The dogs would both drink the beer down to the level where they could get the hamburger and usually get drunk.”

Ed Roseberry Charlottesville

(309 Avon St.) How do you make a donut that delights a town for nearly 50 years?

Make “friendliness part of the recipe,” according to Spudnuts founder Richard Wingfield. Wingfield passed away in 2005 but his daughter Lori and her husband, Mike Fitzgerald, continue the tradition today with same delicious results.

Fitzgerald says they serve “the best people in the world,” who comprise a diverse group from high school seniors to senior citizens (some of who have been “meeting there every day for 40 years to discuss life and CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Michie Tavern

(683 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy.)

When Corporal William Michie returned home to Virginia follow-

PHIL LARKUM

1928

The Virginian

STILL GOING STRONG 1890

1923

1928

1935

Timberlake’s

The Virginian

Michie Tavern

Riverside Lunch Jak-N-Jil

1944

322 E. Main St., Downtown Mall

1521 University Ave.

683 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy.

1429 Hazel St.

1404 E. High St.

1950

1951

1955

1963

1964

1965

Korner Restaurant

The Nook

Foods of All Nations

Wayside Chicken 2203 Jefferson Park Ave.

The Colleen Drive-In

Aberdeen Barn

415 Ninth St. SW

415 E. Main St. NE, Downtown Mall

2121 Ivy Rd.

4105 Thomas Nelson Hwy., Arrington

2018 Holiday Dr.

Spring Knife&Fork 25

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The Dish

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

politics”). Customers nosh on the best-selling glazed and the blueberry, along with a few newer additions.

“It’s a hard business with long hours” (he comes in between 12:30 and 1am each day) but “it’s almost like you put a smile on their face and that makes it worth it.”—L.T. 1976

(1427 University Ave.) When they say open 24/7, they mean it, which might be why Littlejohns’ has been around for 40 years. The Corner deli has literally been open every day since it opened, regardless of weather or holidays. In the case of snow, management has been known to arrange carpools with whoever has access to four-wheel drive, and put employees up in a nearby hotel so they can make it in to work.

As for the menu, owner Colleen Strong says it doesn’t change very often, but occasionally the team behind the counter will come up with a new combination, or someone will come in with suggestions.

The most recent one came a few years ago, when members of the 21 Society at UVA showed up outside the restaurant with cloaks covering their faces and sampled several sandwiches until choosing the sub with ham, bacon, cheddar and blue cheeses, onion, lettuce and tomato as the society’s namesake.—L.I 1983

Duner’s

(4372 Ivy Rd.) Bob Caldwell was a cook when Duner’s opened in 1983, serving what he described as a “diner-y” menu seven days a week. He bought the restaurant in 1988, presiding over its evolution into an Ivy fixture CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

ED ROSEBERRY/C'VILLE IMAGES

Littlejohns’ New York Delicatessen

Back in the day We took to Facebook to ask readers what restaurant they missed the most. Of over 100 responses, this is our favorite. Go online to c-ville.com/knifeandfork to read more.—Caite White “I grew up in the Gaslight, which was founded by my stepfather, John Tuck, and have a wealth of memories of the restaurant at all three of its locations—the original spot in the old Albemarle Hotel at 615 W. Main St.; its second location in Barracks Road Shopping Center, at the old fountain, where it became The Gaslight Fountain Restaurant (currently Five Guys); and its final location back on West Main next door to its original location (now an empty storefront but most recently The Horse & Hound). John was a very colorful character, and very well-known around town. By the way, the waiter in the photo is Norman Goins, who was also probably known to everyone in Charlottesville. The kitchen was very ably presided over by William Morse, who probably cooked more meals for me than my own mother. William cooked a New York strip to perfection, and made a mean London broil. He also prepared delicious lobster, which were shipped in fresh from Maine on a railways bus, from the live tank in the dining room.

I used to go down to the bus station with John to pick them up in their huge styrofoam box, and it was my job to unpack them and place them in the freezing cold saltwater tank (or throw them away if they hadn’t survived the trip). The Gaslight opened in 1961, and for quite some time was regarded as the only real restaurant in town.

At the opening, John offered a free dinner to anyone who donated an interesting piece of décor, and that’s how the restaurant ended up with its amazing collection of diverse decorations, including a giant stuffed walrus head that surveyed the dining room while wearing an old silk top hat.

Other pieces that stick out in my memory are an oil painting of the four horsemen of the apocalypse that used to scare the bejesus out of me when I was a child, and an electric kaleidoscope projector hanging from the ceiling that played a psychedelic color show across the dining room every night until the restaurant moved to Barracks Road in the mid-’70s. Pretty much every act that came to give a concert at UVA during the ’60s and every personality who came to speak at the university had dinner at the Gaslight, ranging from Bob Dylan to Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I remember one of the old menus on which the entire back of the page was covered in the names of famous people who had dined at The Gaslight.”—C.B. Stevens, Keswick

50+ years

1969

1970

1975

1976

1977

1979

1981

1983

1984

1985

1986

The White Spot

Spudnuts

Lord Hardwicke’s

Integral Yoga

Crozet Pizza

Fellini’s #9

Miller’s

Duner’s

Mel’s Café

Chaps Ice Cream

HotCakes

1248 Emmet St. N

923 Preston Ave.

Littlejohns’ New York Deli

1407 University Ave.

309 Avon St.

1427 University Ave.

C&O Restaurant

515 E. Water St.

5752 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet

200 Market St.

109 W. Main St., Downtown Mall

4372 Ivy Rd.

719 W. Main St.

223 E. Main St., Downtown Mall

Barracks Road Shopping Center

Sal’s Caffe Italia 221 E. Main St., Downtown Mall

St. Maarten Cafe

1400 Wertland St.

Spring Knife&Fork 27

WEDDINGS • REHEARSAL DINNERS • CORPORATE AND PRIVATE EVENTS

434-242-5495 28 Knife&Fork Spring

MC

The Dish

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

1984

Mel’s Cafe

(719 W. Main St.) While the West Main neighborhood surrounding Mel’s Cafe has changed dramatically over the more than three decades since owner and operator Melvin Walker opened, his approach has not: Southern comfort food served in a warm, casual atmosphere.

That attitude, with help from Walker’s wife, Tia, has made Mel’s Cafe a Charlottesville institution.

“We treat people very friendly, make them feel at home. Especially my wife, she talks a lot,” Walker says. “People ain’t never been here before, she acts like she’s known them for years. That attracts a lot of people back to us.”

Born and raised in Vinegar Hill, Walker has been working in restaurants since age 11. He recalls cooking nights at The Virginian after school at age 13. That experience comes through in dishes that attract locals and tourists alike. “Most people come in holler about the fried chicken and the barbecue ribs and fresh made ground burgers,” he says.—D.T. EXTRA HELPINGS For more inside scoop on local longstanding restaurants, head to c-ville.com/knifeandfork.

Dinner for two Firefly chef shares meals with her overseas husband

I

t’s dinnertime at chef Diana Sbaitri’s house. She’s put two plates on the table, one for her and one for her husband, Morad.

There’s just one thing missing: Morad. A chef based in Berkane, Morocco, he’s in the process of getting a visa to live in America with his wife. To cope with the distance between them—an 18hour plane ride—Sbaitri has a nightly ritual.

“I make him a plate every night and send him photos, descriptions and sometimes recipes that he can try,” Sbaitri says. “It’s for us. It’s setting aside the time every day to say, ‘This is what I would be cooking you tonight if you were here.’”

The couple met through social media: Sbaitri, who runs a homebased catering business and cooks part-time at Firefly, showed up on Facebook as a friend suggestion for Morad via a group for international chefs. He sent her a request right away (“He said he liked my ‘shy smile like the Mona Lisa,’” Sbaitri says).

“I didn’t respond immediately and he started sweating it a little, hoping I would,” says Sbaitri. Once she did, they discussed their shared love of food and, eventually, their shared goals and values. They wed in Morocco in July 2015.

“People from all over the world, especially fellow chefs, followed our love story on social media and were really inspired by the fact that we are both chefs in love making this huge leap together from halfway around the world because it can be brutal in this profession trying to find the person you’re looking for in life.”

Sbaitri will ask Morad to pick a protein or a type of cuisine and she’ll make what he chooses (“un-

less it’s my turn to pick”). She says it’s their way of creating normalcy in an abnormal situation. And Morad makes food for her, too.

Often she’ll receive photos of him cooking at the restaurant where he works or of a plate he’s created for her, with “Diana” or “Honey” written in a sauce on the plate’s edge.

“It means a lot to him,” Sbaitri says. “I cook something different every night and he gets exposed to different food cultures, learns more about the spices we readily

use here, plating styles. ...I’m currently trying to teach Morad more Peruvian food and he’s teaching me Tajine. We continue to educate each other and grow more as a couple because of it.” (And the couple’s dog grows, too: Their 125-pound Newfoundland, Ursa Major, gets the leftovers Sbaitri prepares.)

“We sort of see our own story as being special and unique in that way because it’s both food and love conquering all.”—Caite White

RON PARIS

offering casual fine dining with seasonal ingredients. In that time he’s witnessed the renaissance of locally sourced ingredients.

“When we first opened we actually got local eggs, local chickens and local rabbits from local farmers back then,” Caldwell says. “It’s come back, which is great.” Among changing specials, menu mainstays include sweetbreads and crab cakes. “I have people calling me weeks ahead of time to see when softshell crabs show up,” he adds.

Historical highlights include Muhammad Ali signing tablecloths at Duner’s in the ’80s, dishwashers who robbed a bank and hid the cash in a storage room and the infamous “Duner’s mooning” incident following an argument between customers.—D.T.

Chef Diana Sbaitri prepares a plate for her husband each night, even though he lives in Morocco. “It’s normalcy in an abnormal situation,” she says.

Spring Knife&Fork 29

Influenced by the spirit of colonialism that founded the region.

Call today to rediscover Charlottesville’s finest in locally sourced, regional cuisine.

(434) 979-3440 Keswick Hall and Golf Club 701 Club Dr, Keswick, VA 22947

30 Knife&Fork Spring

The Dish

Carrot gold

TOM MCGOVERN

With just the right balance of sweetness and spice, the Oakhurst Bloody Mary is an inventive take on the classic: vodka, fresh-pressed carrotginger juice and a splash of Tabasco topped with garlic-stuffed green olives and pickled green beans. Call it orange juice and you won’t feel so guilty ordering a second.

Spring Knife&Fork 31

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Go greens!

If we could assign a color to each season, it’d go something like this: orange for summer, red for fall, blue for winter. And for spring? Green. It’s the color that symbolizes growth and, for a season in which everything, er, springs back to life, we couldn’t think of a better topic than nutrient-rich leafy greens. This issue celebrates the lush veggies found in everything from salads to spreads. We’ve talked to folks who grow them, cut them, prepare them and have opinions on which ones might have the power to outlast their 15 minutes of fame (we’re looking at you, kale). We’re going green this season. Don’t lettuce be the only ones.

Schuyler Greens’ wheatgrass makes its way into the juices at Richmond-based Ginger Juice Co., among other places.

TOM MCGOVERN

Spring Knife&Fork 35

A new leaf A fresh batch of Bibb lettuce is ready for the salad bowl.

TOM MCGOVERN

36 Knife&Fork Spring

Green guide

Schuyler Greens is awash with fresh produce

Greens, they’re everywhere. In salads, on sandwiches or as wraps.

You can grill them, blend them and stir-fry them. But if you have trouble differentiating between kale and collard, here’s a handy guide.

Arugula: Dark green and tender, these peppery, slightly mustardy tasting leaves are popular in Mediterranean dishes.

Boston (aka butter and bibb): Sweet and mild-tasting lettuce with delicate, cup-shaped leaves that are good in salads, on sandwiches or as wraps.

Cabbage: Crisp and crunchy with a sharp, bitter taste, these leaves work well in stir-frys, soups and shredded for slaw.

TOM MCGOVERN

John McMahon (below) grows his greens hydroponically with a technique that recirculates a nutrient-rich solution to provide plants with everything they need.

“when most everything on store shelves is coming from Mexico and California, it’s difficult to get local produce. Since I grow year-round, [my clients] can plan every week to have X amount of fresh arugula or X amount of fresh kale.”

Sara Miller, owner of Timbercreek Market, is one of those clients.

“All John’s greens are amazing, so

TOM MCGOVERN

John McMahon studied English and music at the University of Virginia, and he has an MBA from Fordham University. So it makes perfect sense that he grows salad greens, herbs and microgreens in the Esmont greenhouse he built last year. Stay with us here.

The 33-year-old grew up on farms in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and calls Schuyler Greens Company, which he opened last fall, “a perfect combination of my different life experiences and skills.” He worked in finance for several years, but realized his “passion and soul weren’t in it,” he says. “I was most happy farming, so I started looking at different, meaningful ways to do that,” which led him to purchase the land where his high-tech, climate-controlled greenhouse can be found.

McMahon’s greens are grown hydroponically, meaning without soil, in liquid that bathes the plants’ roots in a nutrient-rich, recirculated solution that provides them with everything they need. He uses much less water than conventional farmers do, and because his plants are grown indoors, sophisticated sensors and a computer adjust ventilation, light, temperature and humidity. “The plants grow in the most comfortable environment possible,” he says. The system shields the entire greenhouse from too much sun or heat. If skies are overcast, and there’s not enough sun for his arugula, romaine, oakleaf, mizuna, kale, basil and cilantro, artificial lights make sure they get exactly what they need.

“The plants aren’t exposed to a lot of shocks,” McMahon explains.

“Everything is kept as consistent and even as possible.” He also doesn’t “spray my problems away,” opting for integrated pest management (“ladybugs patrol for aphids,” he says) instead of chemicals.

Business is booming, he says, because in the cold-weather months,

we take what we can get each week,” she says. And because McMahon “harvests the produce and delivers immediately,” Miller adds, “the greens arrive and are ready for use, which is huge for any restaurant.”

In addition to Timbercreek Market, McMahon’s customers include Integral Yoga, Nude Fude and several Richmond restaurants. Next year, Schuyler Greens Company’s produce will be served to Albemarle County Public School students as part of a USDA pilot program.

McMahon says he initially “tried to keep a low profile,” but demand for his product has been so high he’s in the process of expanding his greenhouse from 1,800 to 3,000 square feet. Asked about the secret to his success, he laughs and says, “On average, a head of lettuce travels 1,400 miles by the time it gets to a distributor, and it’s about two weeks old by the time you buy it.

It takes the greens I grow a few hours, at most, to go from being picked to restaurants and stores.”

—Susan Sorensen

Chard: Large, deep green leaves that taste a little like beets and are delicious sautéed, pickled or in casseroles.

Endive: Elongated leaves are both bitter and mild and can be used in mixed salads or as scoops for appetizers.

Kale: Broad, ruffled, cabbagey-tasting leaves that range in color from dark green to bluish-purple and are perfect in salads, smoothies and soups, or cooked into chips.

Iceberg: Crisp, mild and crunchy, iceberg lettuce is often served as a wedge with blue cheese dressing.

Leaf: Red-tipped or dark green leaves have a mild, sweet taste and are great in salads.

Mesclun: A mix of tender young greens that might include arugula, frisee, radicchio, dandelion greens and fresh herbs.

Radicchio: Crisp, peppery-tasting deep red and white leaves that can be grilled or served in a mixed salad.

Romaine: Crunchy, long green leaves that are used in Caesar salad.

Spinach: Tender and dark green, these slightly bitter leaves work well in salads, smoothies and quesadillas.

Watercress: Small, dark green leaves with a strong peppery taste are good in Asian soups or stir-frys.—S.S.

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Mexican Restaurant

tastiest beg

innings

Charlottesville’s Premier Mexican Spot for Cuisine & Cocktails Tuesday-Sunday Lunch 11-2:30, Dinner 5-10

Late night menu & Bar til Midnight Tues -Thurs, 2am Fri & Sat

Lua (Music of Mexilachia) - Every Thursday Evening The Glass Building Downtown 313 2nd St SE (434) 234-3763

sweetest endings

all the courses in betwee

n

At Miso Sweet we serve an unlikely yet satisfying combination of ramen noodle bowls and hand-rolled donuts. Our food is informed by tradition, but it’s never defined by it. But, more importantly our food is a reflection of who we are, where we’ve been and what we enjoy. Sidle up to the ramen bar or take a seat in our outdoor patio. Join us.

412 E. Main St I Downtown Mall Charlottesville, VA 22901 I misosweetcville.com

38 Knife&Fork Spring

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TOM MCGOVERN

Tender loving kale Kale may have been the healthyeating “it” food in recent years, but it’s more than earned a spot in the mainstream. “As health and diet trends come and go, the spotlight on kale may shift to a different food,” says Roots Natural Kitchen co-owner Jung Kim, “but I think it has become a staple ingredient in many people’s diets and will still continue to be widely consumed for its numerous health benefits.”

Arugula

Wrap star

G R E E N S !

Beet

With all this talk of leafy greens, we’d be remiss not to include Greenie’s, one half of the postage stamp-sized takeout window, The Spot, on Second Street. But, veggie-friendly name aside, its unexpected use of collard greens— as a robust wrap stuffed with veggies —would have caught our eye no matter what.

Owner Kathy Zentgraf says anything can go in the collard wrap, but the one served at Greenie’s contains cabbages, carrots and nuts and a cilantro Vegenaise sauce. It’s a recipe she got from a friend, but adapted on her own: “I kept the mix of slightly sweet and savory,” Zentgraf says. She adds a little fig jam or apple butter “to offset the savory Vegenaise taste.”

Nutritionally, collards are nearly unmatched, with cancer-fighting and heart-healthy benefits and plenty of Vitamin C. “One of the things I love about it is that you can eat it for lunch and you don’t have that blood sugar drop at 3pm when you think, if you don’t have coffee or chocolate, you can’t go on another minute,” Zentgraf says.— Caite White

Basil instincts More than a leafy herb, basil is wonderfully transformative— and darn flexible, too. We asked Chef de Cuisine Caleb Warr at Tavola how to use basil to enhance dishes.

KALE

Pesto. This go-to sauce can start with any delicate herb base, but basil is a classic, in part due to its aromatic compound.

The basic broth. “Any time I make a stock, I use different aromatics—onions, carrots, bay leaves, garlic—but basil always helps intensify the flavor,” Warr says.

BASIL

The big finish. “We use basil as a finishing garnish on many of our dishes to add color and flavor.”—Lynn Thorne

Boston

Cabbage

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Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

We can be yours

Thanks for 25 great years, Charlottesville!

Handmade pasta.

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40 Knife&Fork Spring

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Leafy greens don’t just appear overnight. A beautiful head of lettuce starts with its soil and, if you’re growing it in the ground, there are a few tricks to ensuring a perfect end product.

Jenn Pineau, owner of Nature Composed, a local garden-based floral design studio, knows a few things about how to make the most of raw earth. She’s worked with expert gardeners, attended lectures and holds a certificate in permaculture design from George Mason University. When it comes to soil, she says you need two things: biology (living things) and geology (rocks).

“These combine to create a spongelike ecosystem in which water is trapped and stored efficiently and nutrients are made available for uptake by plants,” she says. “Healthy living soils, with very minimal watering, grow productive plants that are powerhouses of nutrients.”

Pineau cautions against Miracle-Gro, instead favoring natural fertilization techniques (“Over-tilled and full of chemicals means nothing is excited about living in that soil,” she says).

“Leafy greens love nitrogen, so planting legumes (nitrogen fixers) alongside acts as a natural fertilizer,” she says.

At Nature Composed, Pineau uses cardboard from the business to make new beds on top of the existing lawn, allowing the cardboard to block weeds, feed the soil and act as mulch.

Another general tip is to prepare the soil to be a good home for worms and fungus like mycorrhiza, which acts as an extension of a plant’s roots. And, says Pineau, it’s important to rotate crops and cover the soil year-round (with cover crops or other materials) to prevent erosion.—Caite White

Nature’s helper Pineau recommends Living Soil Solutions, a Charlottesville-based company that sells mycorrhiza and other compost teas. Visit livingsoil solutions.com for more information.

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Green machine

A chef’s recipe for storing, cutting and dressing at home

W

hen you’re making yourself a salad, you pretty much think two things.

One, “Oh boy, do I wish this was a sandwich.” And two, “How do I make this salad even half as tasty as a sandwich?”

The secret is handling your greens properly, from sourcing to storing to chopping to dressing.

For sourcing, Oakhart Social chef Tristan Wraight suggests getting as close to the dirt as possible, whether it’s growing them yourself, buying from a co-op or going to the farmers market. And try to buy in smaller quantities, because properly storing greens in the standard home kitchen can be tough.

As soon as you get your greens home, Wraight says to spread them out on a towel over a sheet tray, then put them in the fridge. “Don’t stack them,” he says. “The heavier the weight, the quicker it breaks them down.” Moisture is also your enemy.

Wraight prefers to break his larger greens (kale, chard, collards) down into smaller pieces so that when they’re in a dish, you get that perfect bite every time. That means either tearing the leaves away from the stems and into bite-size pieces or employing the julienne cut (like a thinner matchstick). You can also pickle the stems, he says, and throw them in the salad—or in a soup or on a sandwich.

Acidity is key when you’re dressing greens, Wraight says, but getting the right level of dressing is tricky. First, season your greens before applying dressing. It helps it adhere better.

“Otherwise it’s like you’re seasoning your dressing again,” he says.

Next, gear your strategy to the green you’re using. “The softer the

green, the lighter you want to dress it,” he says. Then go step by step, adding a bit of dressing at a time and tasting to avoid a soggy mess.

“The bummer is when you put too much shit on your lettuce and it dies,” Wraight says. “I always go gingerly because you want to taste the lettuce or the green.”—Shea Gibbs

AMY JACKSON

Grow on

Oakhart Social’s Tristan Wraight to says season your greens before applying dressing.

Maybe that’s what makes his shaved salad (see next page) so good.

Leaf keeper No room to lay your greens on a sheet tray in the fridge? The folks at The Happy Cook say this produce keeper is a good alternative if you’re low on space. A carbon filter absorbs ethylene gas and the elevated basket promotes airflow to keep the leaves from rotting. $28

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It’s a toss-up!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for...salad greens? No, really—there’s more to salads than the Hidden Valley-drenched lettuce piles we considered a serving of vegetables as kids, and we love everything about these local leafy options.

Gorgonzola grilled

1

2

3

Bella’s 707 W. Main St., 327-4833 1 It all started when Bella’s CEO Douglas Muir flew his Italian mother-in-law to town to help him hire a chef in 2012. A particularly persistent applicant insisted on using the grill during his interview, and he emerged from the kitchen with plates of grilled romaine hearts topped with diced tomatoes, crispy pancetta, creamy gorgonzola dressing and a balsamic drizzle. “[My mother-in-law] tasted it first,” Muir says. “Her eyes lit up and she looked at the chef and said in Italian, ‘Sei impiegato!’

You’re hired!”

Wedge

4

5

6

Citizen Burger Bar 212 E. Main St., Downtown Mall, 979-9944 2 Any salad with Nueske’s bacon is a salad worth eating. Topped with bits of bacon and creamy housemade ranch dressing, Citizen’s hefty wedge salad features iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onion, roasted garlic and buttermilk blue cheese crumbles.

“Being a burger bar and focusing on beef and sandwiches, it was absolutely vital for us to have bangin’ additional items,” says owner Andy McClure. “What an amazing complement that salad is to red meat.”

Tuna Niçoise 7

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8

9 3: ANDREA HUBBELL, 7: AMY JACKSON

Petit Pois 201 Main St., Downtown Mall, 979-7647 3 The Niçoise is a classic French

salad from—you guessed it— Nice, the capital of the French Riviera. The one at Petit Pois boasts seared tuna atop salad greens loaded with potatoes, tomatoes, hardboiled eggs, haricot verts and Niçoise olives, all dressed in a light vinaigrette. Très bien!

Cavolo nero Lampo 205 Monticello Rd., 244-3226 4 Inspired by Francesco Buitoni’s kale salad at Mercato in Red Hook, New York, Lampo chef Ian Redshaw adds texture and flavor to a bed of black kale with pickled mustard seeds, crispy parsnips and ricotta salata.

“The idea was to use all of the flavor sensors,” Redshaw says. An apple cider vinaigrette ties it all together, and Redshaw recommends pairing it with a pint of Potter’s Craft Mosaic Hop Cider.

Roquefort Revolutionary Soup 202 Second St. SW, 296-7687 5 We can certainly get behind a salad that’s named for its cheese.

Sure, you’ll find dried cranberries, candied walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette atop the fresh baby spinach, but crumbles of Roquefort, the classic French blue cheese made from unpasteurized sheep’s milk, are clearly the stars of the show.

“This was adapted from a salad I used to enjoy as a kid,” says owner Will Richey. “My mother made a version of this and I have been a Roquefort junkie for a long time.”

For those of you who frequent Rev Soup’s Corner location, you’ll need to head to the one on the Downtown Mall for this particular salad.

The Mayweather Roots Natural Kitchen 1329 W. Main St., 529-6229 6 Ever tried bulgur before? We hadn’t either, but it’s available as a topping at Roots Natural Kitchen to add fiber and substance to grain and salad bowls. You’ll find the partially cooked, cracked whole

wheat grain on the Mayweather salad, one of the most popular signature bowls on the menu, according to co-owner Jung Kim. The salad is hefty and filling, with lightly seasoned chicken, roasted beets, sweet potatoes, red onion, goat cheese and avocado on top of a bed of raw kale. You can top it off with any of the available dressings, but Roots recommends the lemon tahini or pesto vinaigrette.

Shaved Oakhart Social 511 W. Main St., 995-5449 7 Salads are all about texture and contrast, which are just two of the reasons Oakhart Social’s makes the list. Co-owner and chef Tristan Wraight says he loves the spiciness of Sylvetta arugula, which he cuts with the peppery flavor of baby arugula. Served with a creamy garlic dressing, the base of delicate greens is balanced by fennel, baby carrots, endive, medjool dates, Fuji apple and bread crumbs.

Joie de vivre The Shebeen Pub & Braai 247 Ridge-McIntire Rd., 296-3185 8 Coined after the classic French phrase translating to “joy of living,” the joie de vivre salad is joyful, indeed. Pecans, white raisins and goat cheese create a crunchy, chewy and creamy medley on mixed greens with bell peppers and grape tomatoes, and chefowner Walter Slawski recommends dressing it with either the raspberry or balsamic vinaigrette.

Mediterranean Sedona Taphouse 1035 Millmont St., 296-2337 9 Known for its 50 beers on tap (and over 400 bottled), Sedona Taphouse is a place for meat-lovers. But even the most carnivorous of carnivores will be satisfied with the Mediterranean salad: Ribbons of prosciutto mingle with feta, kalamata olives, tomatoes and hearts of palm over a bed of organic greens.—Laura Ingles

Stuarts 30Draft Farm Market years in business • Farmers Market Quality at Affordable Prices • Featuring Local Produce in Season low spray and no spray • Free Range Brown Eggs • All Natural Sausage and Ground Beef • Fresh, Never Frozen Seafood • Local Raw Honey • Amish Country Butter • Local Milk • So Much To See You Won’t Believe Everything We Carry!!!

Open for the season Thursday April 7

Thursday – Saturday 9-6 Sunday 12-5 540-337-1686

www.stuartsdraftfarmmarket.com like us on Facebook for specials 2964 Stuarts Draft Hwy. Stuarts Draft , VA 24477

City of Charlottesville Live local, serve local.

Make a difference and a career in your community!

We are accepting applications for full-time and temp positions.

For a complete listing of current openings and directions on how to apply for a City job, visit our website at:

www.charlottesville.org/jobs HR Office: 434-970-3490

A Leading Employer in a World Class City Equal Opportunity Employer

Reasonable accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. The City conducts pre-employment drug testing for all positions. Final applicants required to register with Selective Service must show proof of registration. You will be asked to provide personal identity and eligibility for work in the U.S. in accordance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Spring Knife&Fork 43

Chaps Homemade Gourmet Ice Cream

Celebrating 31 Years!

Our Ice Cream is more than just a dessert, it's a gourmet's delight!

Relax . . . We have bacon And Breakfast All Day.

Full Grill Service Homemade Premium Ice Cream and Donuts

223 East Main Street Charlottesville’s Historic Downtown Mall

977-4139

Down-Home Holistic • Fresh bread, veggies, meats & taters daily specials and the omelets of champions 313 2nd St SE • Just a block off the downtown mall • 434-295-9700 Tues-Fri: 7 AM to 2 PM • Sat: 7 AM - 1:30 PM • Sun: 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM www.bluegrasscville.com Walk-Ins Welcome, Good For Kids, Take Out and Waiter Service, Cash & Check Only

115 S Main St, Gordonsville, VA 22942 (540) 832-0130 44 Knife&Fork Spring

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Dip, baby, dip

RAMMELKAMP FOTO

If it has green vegetables in it, that means it’s healthy, right? That’s what we tell ourselves, especially when it comes to dishes like the spinach crab dip at Shadwells Restaurant. Topped with parmesan cheese that’s been baked to crispy perfection, the house-made appetizer (or entrée, if you’re not into sharing) is an ooey, gooey concoction of cream cheese, artichokes and blue crab with ribbons of leafy spinach and a touch of Old Bay seasoning. It’s served with hefty, freshly fried tortilla chips, but we’re guessing you could dunk just about anything in this dip and not be disappointed.—Laura Ingles

JOHN ROBINSON

What’s the best way to top a bountiful bowl of greens? Believe it or not, with more greens.

The Greek goddess dressing at Feast! earns our vote. Its creamy combo of basil, parsley, vinegar, mayo and Greek yogurt is an herbivore’s wish come true—on a salad, a sandwich or by the spoonful (we won’t judge).—Caite White.

AMY JACKSON

Worship worthy

Greener pastures “We’re trying to change the association people have with greens.”

Lofty goals from Mike Keenan, owner of Charlottesville’s The Juice Laundry, where juicing and made-to-order smoothies help fill the green vegetable void.

From the Gentle Green Juice (kale, spinach with cukes, grapefruit and apple) to the Spicy Green (not for the faint of heart), every offering packs the potent green nutrients our bodies need with a taste that’s anything but bland. “We want people to realize green can mean delicious.”

—Lynn Thorne

Serves you well Do us a favor: Don’t allow your beautiful, leafy green salad to languish in an unworthy receptacle. We recommend this naturaledge red maple bowl, handcrafted by local woodworker Fred Williamson. $225, fredwilliamson.com.

Chard

Collard

Endive

Escarole

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ABERDEEN BARN Virginia’s finest steakhouse since 1965.

Roast Prime Rib • Charcoal Broiled Ribeye • The Porterhouse • Broiled Lobster Tail • Maryland Style Crab Cakes

2

2018 Holiday Drive 434.296.4630 | www.aberdeenbarn.com 46 Knife&Fork Spring

Romaine calm

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These lettuce jokes will have you rolling on the floor leafing.

What is a honeymoon salad?

Lettuce alone, with no dressing!

621 STUDIOS

What did the host of “Top Chef” say to the contestants?

Lettuce begin.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Lettuce.

Lettuce who?

Lettuce in and you’ll find out!

What do you call a chicken looking at lettuce?

Chicken Caesar salad.

What do you call a Disney movie about vegetables?

A fairy kale.

What do you call a romantic comedy about greens?

You’ve Got Kale.

Where did the spinach go to have a few drinks?

The Salad Bar. What do you call the king of vegetables?

Elvis Parsley.

Frisee

Join Gabriele Rausse, Monticello’s director of gardens and grounds, at the little mountain for a garden tour.

Garden variety

Thomas Jefferson loved salads. In fact, he spent much time in his vegetable garden, planting many of the seeds himself. He used the 1,000-foot kitchen garden as a kind of living laboratory, where he experimented with cultivating 70 different species and 250 varieties of vegetables—including (you

guessed it) leafy greens. According to Jefferson’s Garden Kalendar, lettuce was planted five or six times a year between 1809 and 1824. The most common varieties were Brown Dutch and Tennis-ball, two loose-headed lettuces perfect for salads, which are still part of the Monticello collection today.

At 10am on Tuesday, April 26, Monticello’s director of gardens and grounds, Gabriele Rausse, will lead a two-hour walking tour of the terrace garden. He’ll lecture on current efforts to restore and preserve Jefferson’s horticultural legacy. The event is free, but registration is required. monticello.org

Jefferson experimented with cultivating 70 different species and 250 varieties of vegetables

Parsley and progress Chefs originally began garnishing plates with greens like parsley sprigs to serve as a digestive aid, breath freshener and to add contrast to an otherwise monochromatic plate. But has garnish become gauche?

“The sprig of parsley, that is definitely done. I don’t see it much anymore,” Christian Kelly, chef and co-owner of Maya Restaurant, says. “In general we have come away from being so fixated

Iceberg

on garnish as a finishing element to a plate and more into sort of overall plate composition.”

Duner’s owner Bob Caldwell recalled garnishing plates with parsley in the 1980s, but both restaurants now use microgreens. “They’re beautiful and they taste good,” Caldwell says.

Duner’s sources its microgreens from Manakintowne Specialty Growers in Powhatan County, and Maya gets its

Kale

from Harvest Thyme Herbs in Staunton.

Kelly respects the traditional approach of restaurants that employ garnishes, like the seafood joint where your fish comes with a lemon slice on a bed of parsley. “I love to see that because it’s a reminder of where we’ve come from and I also dig garnishes,” he says. “But I just don’t see it as a real focus.”—D.T.

Mustard

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Move aside, meat

Listen, we understand a childhood-onset aversion to greens can be tough to overcome. Rabbit food, amirite? But when those greens are deep fried, sautéed with garlic or smothered in melted cheese, it’s easy to make the case for them. Whether you’re a die-hard veggie connoisseur or your doctor just advised you to add more folic acid to your diet, these four greens-heavy dishes are worth a try.

KALE

Marinated mushroom and black kale pizza at Oakhart Social 511 W. Main St., 995-5449 Say what you will about the trendiness of kale and whether it belongs in smoothies, but what’s not to love when it’s on top of a pizza? Oakhart Social chef and co-owner Tristan Wraight prefers black kale over the curly variety, which he pairs with marinated mushrooms atop a pizza with garlic potato cream and parmesan.

“The black kale goes on torn and raw,” Wraight says, “and the intense wood oven heat chars the bits that poke out beautifully and the cheese and sauce steam the rest.”

CHARD

Eggs Benedict with chard and kale at Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar 422 E. Main St., Downtown Mall, 202-7728

Radicchio

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TOM MCGOVERN

If you’ve gotta eat vegetables for breakfast, this is the way to do it.

Among all the meaty brunch classics on the menu at Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar is a greener version of eggs Benedict, with chard

Red Leaf

Romaine

Spinach

rustic • italian • food • wine craft cocktails • cicchetti bar

JOHN ROBINSON

and kale sautéed together in olive oil with salt and pepper.

“There’s a great calling for vegetarian options so we always try to have at least a few veggie options on the menu,” says Commonwealth director of operations Kirk Smith. “Plus the absolute best way to make greens taste amazing is to cover them in hollandaise sauce.”

ARUGULA

Fried oyster platter at Shadwells Restaurant 1791 Richmond Rd., 202-2568

Turnip

SPINACH

Spinach stir-fry at Peter Chang China Grill

tues–sat • 5pm

Barracks Road Shopping Center North Wing, 244-9818 Less isn’t always more, but in this case, it seems to be. Renowned chef Peter Chang allows the greens to speak for themselves in this simple, classic dish of spinach stir-fried with garlic, salt and pepper and served with rice.

“It’s one of our specials and we really don’t cook it with much sauce or put a lot of other flavors in it,” restaurant manager Novianti Beerens says. “It’s just real flavor, back to the basics.” —Laura Ingles

TOM MCGOVERN

Arugula is more than just a salad green. When preparing for the 2013 opening of Shadwells, chef Travis Dotson wanted to deepen the flavor and texture profile of the fried oyster platter (which already included a corn and black bean salsa and Cajun remoulade), so he turned to the peppery leafy green and dropped it in the deep fryer.

“It has a nice moisture and is different from most greens,” Dotson says. “It keeps its shape and color and gets really nice and crispy.”

————————————— 434.972.9463 tavolavino.com 826 Hinton Ave Charlottesville VA 2 2 9 0 2 —————————————

Watercress

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www.bbvwine.com

1976 ~ 2016 40 years of growing a unique estate of wine

50 Knife&Fork Spring

Working with the

LAND Virginia’s Bourdeaux-style blends take cues from the past, but look to the future

ROBERT LLEWELLYN

By ERIN SCALA

Spring Knife&Fork 51

MODERN JAPANESE CUISINE DINNER SERVED MON-SAT

SERVING ITALIAN "MASTER PIZZAS" SINCE 1997.

COMING SOON: NEW EXTENDED MENU! Sun 12 pm - 8pm • Mon-Wed 11am-8pm Thurs-Sat 11am-9pm

310 E. MAIN ST DOWNTOWN MALL 977- 0162

Ten is Available to Host Your Private Event

120B E. Main St., Charlottesville on the Downtown Mall • www.ten-sushi.com • reservations: 295-6691

LOCAL BEFORE LOCAL WAS LOCAL.

Before it was a buzzword, being local was simply about pursuing quality. Since 1996, we have sought out the area’s finest from regional farms and vineyards for your table.

Come celebrate 20 years with us, and share in the culture of a great meal with great friends.

Celebrate your local. Charlottesville’s original. Hamiltons’.

101 West Main St | www.hamiltonsrestaurant.com | 434.295.7064

52 Knife&Fork Spring

O

Soils and grapes These soils birthed some of the most important grape varieties of all time: Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc were born close by, but made their home in Bordeaux. From this great incubator of genetic vine material, cuttings traveled by ship, air and land to new places. Even if you’re not a fan of the varieties, it’s impossible to deny their far-reaching impact on the global economy. Imagine a world without New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, without California Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, no Chilean Carménère CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

COURTESY SUBJECT

ver the course of a dozen centuries, wines from France’s Bordeaux region have revolutionized today’s world of wine. As ground zero for some of the globe’s most widely grown grape varieties, Bordeaux itself is as valuable as its far-reaching and varied diasporas. Virginia embodies pieces of a Bordeaux diaspora, so to truly understand Virginia wine, we must first explore the long ago and faraway vines that stood sentinel along Bordeaux’s Gironde River Estuary.

Thanks to Roman soldiers who spread the vine throughout the Roman empire, wine arrived in Bordeaux about 2,000 years ago.

Bordeaux wine enjoyed local popularity until the marriage of Aliénor d’Aquitaine and Henry Plantagenet opened up trade routes to Britain. The Bordeaux region transformed into a wine export economy, with the Gironde River as a prime conduit to ocean trade routes during the height of the sea navigation age. The Bordeaux wine region of this era was much smaller, with substantial vines in the Graves area, and some plantings on the Right Bank. The now-famous vineyards of Château Lafite, Mouton, Margaux and Latour? They were...under water.

About four centuries ago, when Dutch merchants waded across the wetlands along the Gironde’s Left Bank, they built a series of

canals and drainage ditches that successfully drained the area. Little did they know that they exposed some of the great vineyards of the future. When the water drained away, an interesting melange of soils remained, left behind by a glacier’s retreat at the end of the last Ice Age.

Extensive Wine List

A trip to Bourdeaux gave Linden Vineyards’ Jim Law a better idea of the relationship between vine and soil.

The verdot stands alone Throughout the world, you rarely see Petit Verdot on its own, or even as more than 5 percent of a blend. In Bordeaux, it usually comprises between 1 and 5 percent of a Left Bank blend. In Virginia, however, Petit Verdot can and usually will ripen fully. Rarely seen outside of Virginia, winemakers here often bottle 100 percent Petit Verdot wines, and use the grape in much higher blending percentages than most other wine regions.—E.S.

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54 Knife&Fork Spring

and no Virginia Cabernet Franc.

Without the Bordeaux diaspora, the vinous landscape would be barely recognizable.

But the soils. Deep gravels in some areas, with hints of clay in others—the many soils of Bordeaux became a place where multiple grapes worked in tandem.

Merlot loves the moisture-rich clays and Cabernet likes the moistureregulating gravels that also soak up heat and slowly release it at night, keeping vine temperatures in a sweet spot for ripening. Apply this thinking to the diaspora, and throughout the world you’ll find plenty of Merlot on clay and cabernet on gravels.

Left Bank (gravel) blends are based mostly on Cabernet Sauvignon, then Merlot and Cabernet Franc in smaller amounts, and many wines incorporate a tiny amount (1 to 2 percent) of Petit Verdot as “spice.” Right Bank (clay) blends are based mostly on Merlot, with Cabernet Franc following behind.

Why blend?

In the United States, we’re accustomed to seeing bottles of this or that grape variety. Why blend varieties together? Bordeaux vintages differ vastly from one another, and with many grapes to choose from, each ripening at a slightly different time, different grape varieties can make or break your crop. A rain at the beginning of the harvest might not affect your late ripeners, and a storm at the very end of the harvest may only affect the last of the fruit.

Planting many different blending grapes, some that come in to the winery earlier than others, allows you to hedge your bets a little, without fear of losing your entire crop if bad weather erupts.

Like Bordeaux, Virginia experiences drastic vintage variations.

Around Charlottesville, harvest time can be interrupted by hail, rain, droughts and hurricanes.

Rachel Stinson Vrooman, of Stin-

RAMMELKAMP FOTO

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 53

In making his Bourdeaux-style blend at King Family Vineyards, winemaker Matthieu Finot focuses on a Right Bank Merlot-based blend.

son Vineyards, observes that Bordeaux-style Meritage blends provide an insurance policy in a difficult vintage.

“Ripening Cabernet Sauvignon is a challenge in Virginia due to late-season rain and humidity,” she says. “Petit Verdot can provide the tannic structure that is often missing in our Cab Sauvs.

Cabernet Franc does the best in our soil at Stinson, which is a red clay loam. It provides finesse and adds perfume. Merlot makes a softer, more accessible wine— and is also the first to ripen in most years. A sturdy Merlot can make up for a lot of shortcomings in other varietals.”

And then there are the aesthetics—a blend can allow you to capture Merlot’s soft fruit center, the powerful tannins of Cabernet Sauvignon, the savoriness of Cabernet Franc and the dense spiciness of Petit Verdot all in the same wine.

Like an orchestra performance as opposed to a solo, multiple varieties blended together can round out the wine and hit more pleasure points— acid, tannin, structure, fruit, minerality—without committing to just one characteristic profile.

Bordeaux-style in Virginia Virginia’s wine industry looks promising through the lens of Bordeaux’s history. Bordeaux-style blends account for many of the great wines in this state.

The benchmark producer of Bordeaux-style Virginia red is Jim Law at Linden Vineyards. Law has something on his side that only a handful of other Virginia winemakers have: time. Three decades in, he’s had the time a new winery needs to learn and reflect, act on mistakes and grow to embody a particular vision.

“The relationship between grape variety and soil is super important,” Law says. “I always knew it was important, but about 20 years ago, I began to understand how important it really is. I went to Bordeaux, and it became quickly apparent what that [vine-soil] relationship was, and what I needed to focus on.

When I planted in ’85, it was hit and miss. Well, I missed with the reds.”

To compensate, 15 years ago he began replanting the vineyards in a more soil-appropriate way, which made a noticeable difference. “The wines are much better now.”

Law has granite and greenstone soils at his home vineyard, which make for powerful reds chock-full of minerality. Closer to Charlottesville, we have red clay, and the wines express themselves a bit differently than those at Linden Vineyards.

One blend that stands out as an ambassador of Virginia’s wine industry is Barboursville Vineyards’ Octagon blend. Winemaker Luca Paschina makes the wine in great years with a core of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, blending in Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon when possible.

Beyond Bordeaux A few Virginia winemakers are taking the Bordeaux-style blend and tweaking it for their soils and tastes.

Matthieu Finot, winemaker at King Family Vineyards, doesn’t plant Cabernet Sauvignon, finding it unsuited for his soils. He focuses on a Right Bank Bordeaux-style, Merlot-based blend. Instead of following Bordeaux’s trend of using 1 or 2 percent of Petit Verdot to add spice to the wine, Finot adds closer to 25 percent. “The Petit Verdot brings some structure, volume and CONTINUED ON PAGE 57

Meritage (rhymes with “heritage”) is a term for a Bordeaux-style blend made outside of Bordeaux. Wineries may join the Meritage Alliance to use the word Meritage on their label. When you see the word, you know the wine is made as a Bordeaux-style blend and adheres to certain standards of the alliance.—E.S.

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Wineries, Vinyeards, and Cideries Afton Mountain Vineyards Try the Albarino, a limited-production, estate-grown white only available in the summer. Tastings are $7 per person. 234 Vineyard Ln., Afton. (540) 4568667. aftonmountainvineyards.com

First Colony Winery Adopt a row of grape vines and you’ll get to watch the growing process, learn how to prune and participate in its harvest. $5 tastings. 1650 Harris Creek Rd. 979-7105. first colonywinery.com.

Mountain Cove Vineyards Even better with age? The first batch of wine here was made in 1976. Open for tours and tastings. 1362 Fortunes Cove Ln., Lovingston. 263-5392. mountain covevineyards.com.

Albemarle CiderWorks What started as an orchard for rare and heirloom apples grew into a popular area cidery. Tastings and tours are available for $3 per person. 2550 Rural Ridge Ln. 297-2326. albemarleciderworks.com.

Flying Fox Vineyard Named after the weathervane on the vineyard’s main building, Flying Fox boasts a limited production of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Viognier and Pinot Gris. Tastings are $5. Hwy. 151 and Chapel Hollow Rd., Afton. 361-1692. flyingfoxvineyard.com.

Mountfair Vineyards You’ll find small-batch, blended red wines at Mountfair, just 20 miles west of Charlottesville. Open for complimentary tastings. 4875 Fox Mountain Rd., Crozet. 8237605. mountfair.com.

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Ankida Ridge Vineyards A Sumerian word that means “where heaven and earth join,” Ankida marks the spot—at 1,800' on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Visit the downtown tasting room (209 Second St., 9897420, 22brixwineroom.com), too. 1304 Franklin Creek Rd., Amherst. 922-7678. ankidaridge.com.

At Barboursville Vineyards, winemaker Luca Paschina has experimented with adding one of his favorite grapes, Nebbiolo, to the winery’s Bourdeaux-style blend.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 55

tannin, without losing the finesse and subtlety of the Merlot,” he says.

Paschina has experimented at Barboursville by integrating one of his favorite grapes, Nebbiolo, into a classic Bordeaux-style. He wonders if there could be a unique grape blend different than European models that makes sense for Virginia.

Ben Jordan, winemaker at Early Mountain Vineyards, has the same hunch. He senses that, as a new wine region, Virginia still has much to learn. He wants to make Virginia blends viable for Virginia soils and climates, rather than blindly following Bordelaise tradition. “It’s great that we are making Bordeauxstyle blends, and they can be very good,” Jordan says, “but I think it is important for us to be open to veering from the Bordeaux model, because we can. An example is using Tannat in blends that have a good amount of Cabernet Franc.

We are not Bordeaux, we are Virginia, and we’re not done yet.”

Wines to try To explore the Bordeaux diaspora in Virginia, look for the following wines.

Michael Shaps Wineworks’ Meritage Stinson Vineyards’ Meritage Barboursville Vineyards’ Octagon Linden Vineyards’ Hardscrabble Red, Boisseau Red and Claret King Family Vineyard’s Meritage

Autumn Hill Vineyards Only open four weekends per year, Autumn Hill produces eight varietals. Tastings are $7 per person. Stanardsville. 985-6100. autumnhillwine.com.

Barboursville Vineyards Routinely listed on national “Best winery” lists, Barboursville is a true destination—for the wines and the scenery. Open for tastings ($5, includes glass).

17655 Winery Rd., Barboursville. (540) 8323824. bbvwine.com.

Blenheim Vineyards Established in 2000 by owner Dave Matthews (yep, that Dave Matthews), Blenheim’s timber-frame tasting room looks down into the barrel room. Tours and tastings are $5 per person. 31 Blenheim Farm.

293-5366. blenheim vineyards.com.

Bold Rock Cidery Virginia’s largest (and growing!) cidery. Free tours and tastings daily.

1020 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 3611030. boldrock.com.

Burnley Vineyards One of the oldest vineyards in the Monticello Viticultural Area. Tastings are $2 per person. 4500 Winery Ln., Barboursville. (540) 832-2828. burnleywines.com.

Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery Try the Quattro—a blend of Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Viognier and Traminette—at this spare but relaxing spot. Open for tours and $5 tastings.

9423 Batesville Rd., Afton. (540) 456-8400. cardinalpointwinery.com.

Castle Hill Cider Enjoy a glass of Terrestrial on the octagonal porch or explore the grounds.

Open for tastings daily. 6065 Turkey Sag Rd., Keswick. 296-0047. castlehillcider.com.

Cooper Vineyards There’s something for everyone—including sangria—under Cooper’s LEED-certified roof. Open for tastings daily. $10 per person. 13372 Shannon Hill Rd., Louisa.

(540) 894-5253. coopervineyards.com.

DelFosse Vineyards & Winery Try the reds at this off-the-beaten-path spot 30 minutes from Charlottesville. $5 for a classic tasting, $10 for reserve. 500 DelFosse Winery Ln. 2636100. delfossewine. com.

DuCard Vineyards A successful grape-growing business bloomed into what’s now this boutique winery. Tastings are $6 per person and are credited back with a two-bottle minimum purchase. 40 Gibson Hollow Ln., Etlan.

(540) 923-4206. ducardvineyards.com.

Early Mountain Vineyards Beautifully appointed facility, with a terrace for mountain and vineyards views while sipping. 6109 Wolftown-Hood Rd., Madison. (540) 948-9005. earlymountain.com.

Glass House Winery Don’t miss the tropical conservatory next to the tasting room—or the hand-crafted chocolates! Tastings are $5 per person, $8 with an etched wine glass. 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. 975-0094. glass housewinery.com.

Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery The bread and butter at this medieval-themed winery is the authentic honey meads. Try the Dragon’s Blood.

Open for tours and tasting. 2800 Berry Hill Rd., Nellysford. 361-1266. hilltopberry wine.com.

Horton Vineyards Fruit and dessert wines abound at this winery just outside of Barboursville. Tastings are $5. 6399 Spotswood Trail, Gordonsville. (540) 832-7440. hortonwine.com.

Jefferson Vineyards Grab a bottle of Meritage and get a spot on the tree deck for a completely picturesque afternoon. Tastings are $10. 1353 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. 977-3042. jeffersonvineyards.com.

Keswick Vineyards Dog-friendly tasting spot located at the historic 400-acre Edgewood Estate. Tastings daily. 1575 Keswick Winery Dr., Keswick. 244-3341. keswickvineyards.com.

Kilaurwen Winery Artisanal wines near Shenandoah National Park. 1543 Evergreen Church Rd., Stanardsville. 985-2535. kilaurwen winery.com.

King Family Vineyards Frequent Governor’s Cup award winner, King Family is also the site of polo matches every Sunday from Memorial Day weekend to mid-October. Tastings are $7, and you get to keep the glass! 6550 Roseland Farm, Crozet. 823-7800. kingfamilyvineyards.com Knight’s Gambit Vineyard Over five acres of Petit Verdot, Pinot Grigio, Merlot and Cabernet Franc located on a rolling hillside near Whitehall. 2218 Lake Albemarle Rd. 566-1168. knights gambitvineyard.com.

Lazy Days Winery A boutique winery that’s home to local festivals like the Virginia Summer Solstice Wine Festival. Open for tastings.

1351 N. Amherst Hwy., Amherst. 381-6088. lazydayswinery.com.

Lovingston Winery A densely planted 8.5 acres yields wine of high-quality fruit. (Word to the wise: Leave your pups at home; there are two here already!) Free tastings. 885 Freshwater Cove Ln., Lovingston. 263-8467. lovingstonwinery.com.

Meriwether Springs Vineyard The postand-beam event space is just the beginning— there are also two ponds, a three-acre lake and beautiful Ivy Creek here, which flanks the property. Open for tours and tastings. 1040 Owensville Rd. 270-4299. meriwethersprings.com.

Michael Shaps Wineworks Sample Virginia wines in the spare but stylish tasting room, as well as the Premiere Cru Burgundies, grown and bottled in France by owner Michael Shaps. $10 for a tasting of 12 wines. 1781 Harris Creek Way. 296-3438. michaelshapswines.com.

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards Try a glass of the Merlot Reserve while having lunch at the Farm Table & Wine Bar. Tastings are $6 per person. 5022 Plank Rd., North Garden. 202-8063. pippinhillfarm.com.

Pollak Vineyards Located between Charlottesville and Wintergreen, this 98-acre farm produces 27 acres of French vinifera. Open daily.

330 Newtown Rd., Greenwood. (540) 456-8844. pollakvineyards.com.

Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery Sip a glass of Chardonnay in Prince Michel’s tasting room, above the barrel cave and tank room. Tastings and self-guided tours. 154 Winery Ln., Leon.

(540) 547-3707. princemichel.com.

Rappahannock Cellars West Coast wine on the East: A desire to raise their 12 children in Virginia led Rappahannock’s owners to relocate from California. Open year-round for tours and $8 tastings. 14437 Hume Rd., Huntly. (540) 635-9398. rappahannockcellars.com.

Sharp Rock Vineyards Once a working family farm, Sharp Rock is now a vineyard, winery and bed and breakfast. Tastings and self-guided tours available. 5 Sharp Rock Rd., Sperryville.

(540) 987-8020. sharprockvineyards.com.

Stinson Vineyards The cozy tasting room opens to a quaint patio for sipping award-winning wines and noshing on farm-fresh snacks.

Tastings are $7, $10 per person for groups of 10 or more. 4744 Sugar Hollow Rd., Crozet.

823-7300. stinson vineyards.com Stone Mountain Vineyards A rustic winery offers panoramic views of the surrounding counties from 1,700'. Tastings and tours available. 1376 Wyatt Mountain Rd., Dyke. 990-9463. stonemountainvineyards.com.

Trump Winery Virginia’s largest vineyard, Trump (yes, that Trump) offers 200 acres of French vinifera varieties. Tastings are $10 for seven wines. 3550 Blenheim Rd., 984-4855. trumpwinery.com.

Veritas Vineyard & Winery Award-winning wines at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Bring a picnic basket! Tastings are $5. 145 Saddleback Farm, Afton. (540) 456-8000. veritas wines.com.

Weston Farm Vineyard & Winery Small, family-owned winery. Must love dogs: Charlie and Suzie, the owners’ French bulldogs, often roam the property. $5 tastings and you keep the glass. 206 Harris Creek Rd., Louisa. (540) 9674647. westonfarmvineyardandwinery.webs.com.

White Hall Vineyards Call ahead to reserve a cheese plate from the neighboring monastery to enjoy with your $5 tasting. 5282 Sugar Ridge Rd., White Hall. 823-8615. whitehallvineyards.com.

Wisdom Oak Winery Make your way down the long gravel road to get to an intimate tasting room and outdoor picnic area. Tastings and tours are $5 per person and $10 per person for groups of eight or more. 3613 Walnut Branch Ln., North Garden. 984-4272. wisdom oakwinery.com.

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Restaurant Guide Restaurant price ranges $/Under $10, $$/$10-25, $$$/$25+

Asian Cuisine Asian Express Cheap and cheerful. Delivery, too. 909 W. Main St. 979-1888. $.

Asian Fusion Buffet Mandarin, Cantonese and Szechuan. Seminole Square Shopping Center. 973-8988. $.

Bamboo House Korean and Chinese served with an aesthetic flair. 4831 Seminole Trail.

973-9211. $$.

Bang! Asian fusion tapas, martinis to die for.

213 Second St. 984-BANG. $.

Bangkok ’99 Traditional Thai. 540 Radford Ln. #700, Crozet, 823-5881; 2005 Commonwealth Dr., 974-1326. $$.

Café 88 Dim sum, bento boxes and soups. Veggie offerings, too. Preston Plaza. 293-9888. $.

Chen’s Chinese Take-out or eat-in. 73 Callohill Dr., Lovingston. 263-8865. $.

Chopsticks Express Straight-up no-nonsense Chinese place. 1841 Seminole Trail. 975-4380. $.

Downtown Thai Earn your spot on the Wall of Flame. 111 W. Water St. 245-9300. $$.

East Garden Chow mein to General Tso’s.

Pantops Shopping Center. 295-2888. $.

Flaming Wok Japanese standards prepared before your eyes. 1305 Seminole Trail. 9746555. $$.

Giddy’s Good Fortune Take-away Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai. 4916 Plank Rd., North Garden. 245-0332. $.

Ginkgo Chinese Restaurant Sichuan classics from a Peter Chang-trained chef. 104 14th St. NW #8. 872-9386. $/$$.

Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet Watch chefs prepare food hibachi-style. 1185 Seminole Trail.

973-8889. $$.

Himalayan Fusion Curries, tandoori and more, plus a lunch buffet. 520 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 293-3120. $$.

Hong Kong Restaurant & Take-out Chinese favorites down Avon way. Southside Shopping Center. 245-8818. $.

Jade Garden Chinese essentials, plus twists like Hawaiian-style Triple Delight. 1139 Fifth St. SW. 979-3512. $.

Kabuto Sushi and Teppanyaki Fresh sushi and teppanyaki, plus soups and desserts. 1836 Abbey Rd. 973-1585. $.

Korean House Traditional Korean specials for modest prices. Cheap lunch specials, too. 221 Carlton Rd. 244-0736. $$.

Kuma Sushi Noodle & Bar Pan-Asian restaurant and karaoke bar. 12 Elliewood Ave. 3282741. $.

Kyoto A mix of Japanese and Chinese meals— teppanyaki to bento boxes. Rio Hill Shopping Center. 923-8889. $.

Lemongrass Vietnam meets Thailand. Veggie options and delivery, too. 104 14th St. NW. 244THAI. $$.

Lime Leaf Thai A tad more upscale than the average Thai place. Rio Hill Shopping Center.

245-8884. $/$$.

Love Sushi King All-you-can-eat sushi for $11.98 (lunch) or $17.99 (dinner). Seminole Square Shopping Center. 978-1199. $.

Maharaja Spicy Indian specialties. The lunch buffet’s a deal. Seminole Square Shopping Center. 973-1110. $$.

Marco & Luca’s Noodle Shop Dumplings under $5. York Place, 295-3855; 107 Elliewood Ave., 244-0016; 176 Zan Rd., no phone. $.

Mi Canton Think pupusas with a side of beef lo mein. McIntire Plaza. 296-8661. $.

Mican Small but upscale sushi spot with friendly service. York Place on the Downtown Mall. 977-0167. $$.

Miso Sweet Ramen and donuts. 414 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-6496. $.

Milan Indian Cuisine Authentic Indian cuisine with all the standards; daily lunch buffet.

1817 Emmet St. 984-2828. $$.

Ming Dynasty Chinese food with many vegetarian options. Low-fat menu available. 1417 Emmet St. N. 979-0909. $.

Monsoon Siam Curries, pad Thai and other entrées, plus an outdoor patio. 113 W. Market St. 971-1515. $$.

Ni Hao Café Budget-friendly entrées from across Asia. 104 14th St. NW. 872-9386. $.

Noodles & Company Noodles, soups and sandwiches. The Shops at Stonefield. 984-9621. $.

Now & Zen Bite-sized gourmet Japanese and sushi spot. 202 Second St. NW. 971-1177. $$.

Oriental Express Chinese standards plus sushi. 3440 Seminole Trail, Suite 107. 9749988. $.

Pad Thai Excellent homestyle Thai cooking from an experienced chef. 156 Carlton Rd. 293-4032. $$.

Peter Chang China Grill Authentic Sichuan from a renowned chef. Barracks Road Shopping Center North Wing. 244-9818. $$.

Red Lantern Chinese cuisine by the pint or the quart at this Carlton Road eatery. 221 Carlton Rd. 979-9968. $.

Royal Indian Restaurant One of the best-kept secrets in town. Seminole Square Shopping Center. 973-2288. $$.

Sakura Japanese Steak and Seafood Teppanyaki seafood and Japanese-style steaks.

Hollymead Town Center. 872-0099. $$/ $$$.

ShangHai Wide array of regional selections, plus a lunch buffet. 312 Pantops Shopping Center. 984-2688. $.

Shun Xing Szechuan, Hunan and Cantonesestyle dishes for the Forest Lakes crowd. Forest Lakes Shopping Center. 974-9888. $.

Szechuan Szechuan, Mandarin, Japanese hibachi and all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Delivery, too. 2006 Holiday Dr. 296-9090. $.

Taiwan Garden Basic assortment of Chinese fare in basic surroundings. 2171 Ivy Rd. 2950081. $.

Tara Thai Affordable Thai faves with multiple meat, fish and veggie options. Barracks Road Shopping Center. 984-9998. $$.

Taste of China Chinese favorites on 29N. Albemarle Square Shopping Center. 975-6688. $$.

Taste of India Delicious Indian fare and a lunch buffet under $9. 310 E. Main St, Downtown Mall. 984-9944. $$.

Tea House Chinese-American and authentic Chinese weekly specials. 325 Four Leaf Ln., Crozet. 823-2868. $.

Ten Super swanky second-floor spot serving modern Japanese. 120B E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 295-6691. $$$.

Thai ’99 Thai restaurant with everything you’d expect, served simply and reasonably priced.

2210 Fontaine Ave. 245-5263. $.

Thai ’99 II Similar food as its numerical predecessor but with a way different interior.

Garden Shopping Center. 964-1212. $.

Thai Cuisine & Noodle House Traditional Thai food, noodle dishes and vegetarian specials. 2005 Commonwealth Dr. 974-1326. $$.

Thai Fresh Thai take-out with great prices.

2210 Fontaine Ave. 245-5263. $.

Tokyo Rose Long-standing landmark serves sushi and sashimi. 2171 Ivy Rd. 296-3366. $$.

Vu Noodles Four kinds of homemade noodle bowls from a take-out window. 110 Second St. NW. $.

Yuan Ho Great lunch deal before 4pm. 117 Maury Ave. 977-7878. $.

Zzaam Fresh Korean Grill Tacos, rice bowls, noodle bowls and more—Korean-style. 1232 Emmet St. 284-8980. $.

Bakeries Albemarle Baking Company Get your ABCs of baked goods here. 418 W. Main St., in the Main Street Market. 293-6456. $.

BreadWorks Breads, desserts and a full deli.

Preston Plaza, 296-4663; 2955 Ivy Rd., 2204575. $.

Carpe Donut Well-loved donuts, hot beverages and locally brewed kombucha. McIntire Plaza. 202-2918. $.

Chandler’s Bakery Cakes for any occasion, plus cookies and brownies. Rio Hill Shopping Center. 975-2253. $.

Duck Donuts Outer Banks donut spot with madeto-order treats. Stonefield Shopping Center, 823-1960. $.

Great Harvest Bread Company Sandwiches, sweets and bread baked from scratch every day. McIntire Plaza. 202-7813. $.

Paradox Pastry Retro-urban-vibed bakery and dessert café. 313 Second St., in the Glass Building. 245-2253. $.

Pearl’s Bake Shoppe Classic and specialty cupcakes, plus desserts and other sweets. 711 W. Main St. 293-2253. $.

SweetHaus Homemade cupcakes and candy at this sweet shop. Candy catering, too. 843 W. Main St. 422-2677. $.

The Pie Chest Homemade breakfast and hand pies, plus by-the-slice options (for those who can’t decide). 119 Fourth St. NE. 977-0443. $.

The Spudnut Shop A Belmont institution: homemade potato doughnuts. 309 Avon St. 296-0590. $.

Bars, Breweries and Grills Beer Run Rotating beers on tap, booze to take away and three meals daily. 156 Carlton Rd., Suite 203. 984-2337. $$.

Blue Mountain Brewery Well-liked brewery with local drafts, lunch and dinner. 9519 Critzers Shop Rd., Afton. (540) 456-8020. $$.

Blue Tavern & Sports Bar Food offerings include 55 flavors of chicken wings. 8315 Seminole Trail, Ruckersville. 985-3633. $$.

Bold Rock Hard Cider Excellent hard cider and scenic views. Lunch and apps, too. 1020 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 361-1030. $.

Brick & Mortar Classic burgers, sandwiches and small plates—plus beer! 32 Mill Creek Dr. 296-7472. $$.

C’ville-ian Brewing Company Pint-sized brewery with occasional live music. 705 W. Main St. 328-2252. $.

Champion Brewing Company No food, but at least five ales on tap and sometimes food trucks outside. 324 Sixth St. SE. 295-2739. $.

Coupe’s Pub food with a popular late-night scene on one of the Corner’s most bustling streets. 9 Elliewood Ave. 282-2141. $.

Devils Backbone Brewing Company Awardwinning craft beers with lunch and dinner. 200 Mosbys Run, Roseland. 361-1001. $$.

Double Horseshoe Saloon American food, plus billiards and occasional live music. 1522 E. High St. 202-8714. $.

Eddy’s Tavern Edgar Allan Poe-themed pub on the Corner. 1517 University Ave. 984-4653. $.

Fardowners Restaurant Local ingredients liven up pub fare like sliders and sandwiches.

5773 The Square, Crozet. 823-1300. $/$$.

Firefly Craft beer, tasty eats and arcade games.

1304 E. Market St. 202-1050. $.

James River Brewing Co. There’s only beer here—plenty on tap, plus seasonal and reserve offerings. 561 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-7837. $.

Joe’s Pool Hall & Sports Bar Pool, darts and poker, but don’t miss the ’que. Scottsville Shopping Center, Scottsville. 286-7665. $.

Kardinal Hall Beer hall with two bocce courts and Alpine-inspired grub. 722 Preston Ave. Ste. 101. 295-4255. $$.

Lazy Parrot Grill Tropical-themed sports bar serving wings (62 flavors!) and burgers. Pantops Shopping Center. 977-1020. $.

McGrady’s Irish Pub American pub fare and Irish specialties. Twenty-four beers on tap, pool, TVs. 946 Grady Ave. 293-3473. $/$$.

Miller’s A truly classic Downtown bar, with pub grub and live music every night. 109 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 971-8511. $$.

Mountainside Grille Everything from Cobb salad to peanut butter and chocolate chip pie.

375 Four Leaf Ln., Crozet. 823-7080. $$.

Pro Re Nata Brewery Farm brewery and food truck with up to 12 craft beers and live music.

6135 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. 823-4878. $.

Rapture Contempo American with weekend brunch, purple pool tables and a dance club. 303 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 293-9526. $$.

Rockfish 151 Pub Irish-American grub, with daily specials. 9278 Rockfish Valley Hwy. 9666992. $.

South Street Brewery Brews and food from the folks at Blue Mountain. 106 W. South St. 293-6550. $$.

St. Maarten’s Cafe More than 25 years of history fills this Corner lunch and dinner mainstay. 1400 Wertland St. 293-2233. $.

Stoney Creek Bar & Grill Distinctive dining at Wintergreen’s Stoney Creek Golf Course.

Wintergreen Resort, Rte. 664. 325-8110. $-$$.

Tavern & Grocery American tavern fare from chicken sandwiches to banh mi. 333 W. Main St. 293-7403. $.

The Biltmore Large portions and a popular drinking scene, all at student-oriented prices.

16 Elliewood Ave. 202-1498. $.

The Livery Stable Hole-in-the-wall (er, basement) spot Downtown­. 120 Old Preston Ave. 202-2088. $/$$.

The Smokehouse Grille Locally sourced barbecue, plus a seasonal farm-to-table menu. 515 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-4745. $$.

The Southern Café & Music Hall Downtown music venue also does lunch. 103 S. First St. 977-5590. $.

The Virginian Cozy Corner mainstay with an 80-plus-year history. 1521 University Ave. 9844667. $$.

The Whiskey Jar Saloon-style Southern spot with more than 90 varieties of whiskey. 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 202-1549. $$.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 61

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Three Notch’d Brewing Company No food, but seven Three Notch’d beers on tap. 946 Grady Ave. 293-0610. $.

Three Notch’d Grill Mixed American grill with sandwiches, pasta, seafood and more.

5790 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. 823-4626. $$.

Timberwood Grill All-American eatery and after-work watering hole. 3311 Worth Crossing.

975-3311. $$.

Tin Whistle Irish Pub Traditional Irish pub Downtown. 609 E. Market St. 979-4279. $$.

Trinity Irish Pub Hand-carved wooden bars, exposed brick and an upstairs balcony directly across from Grounds. 1505 University Ave. 295-7100. $.

Wild Wolf Brewing Company An outdoor “biergarten,” robust menu and up to 12 brews on tap. 2461 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford.

361-0088. $$.

World of Beer Over 500 different beers from more than 40 countries. Plus, y’know, food and stuff. 852 W. Main St. 970-1088. $$.

Breakfast Joints Bluegrass Grill and Bakery Unpretentious breakfast and lunch spot, beloved by weekenders. Cash and check only. Glass Building, Second Street. 295-9700. $.

Cavalier Diner Breakfast all day long, plus burgers, subs and Italian standbys like lasagna.

1403 Emmet St. 977-1619. $.

International House of Pancakes Standard breakfast fare. Long lines on the weekends. Rio Hill Shopping Center. 964-0830. $.

MarieBette French pastries for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 700 Rose Hill Dr. 529-6118. $$.

Sam’s Kitchen All-day breakfast, plus American and French dishes at this local institution.

1863 Seminole Trail. 964-9488. $.

The Pigeon Hole Cozy all-day breakfast spot with fresh-squeezed juices and stone-ground grits. 11 Elliewood Ave. 977-4711. $.

The Southern Way Café Southern cooking done right with great daily specials. 5382 Three Notch’d Rd. 823-4328. $/$$.

The Villa American breakfast all day. 129 N. Emmet St. 296-9977. $.

The Well House Cafe Coffee, tea, smoothies and pastries. 118 10 1/2 St. NW. 973-0002. $.

Waffle House Smothered, covered, scrambled and fried: breakfast ’round the clock. 1162 Fifth St. SW, 296-5010; 495 Premier Cir. on 29N, 975-5860. $.

Burgers, BBQ, Dogs and Diners Ace Biscuit & Barbecue Breakfast and lunch spot serving up soul food by the biscuit. 711 Henry Ave. 202-1403. $.

Barbeque Exchange Pork shoulders and spareribs, plus hushpuppies, pie and pickles. 102 Martinsburg Ave., Gordonsville. (540) 832-0227. $.

Blue Moon Diner Burgers, upscale sandwiches and big dinner plates at a local institution.

512 W. Main St. 980-MOON. $/$$.

Blue Ridge Pig For connoisseurs of barbecue, the Pig is the place. No credit cards. Rte. 151, Nellysford. 361-1170. $.

Boylan Heights Burger spot and popular bar serves organic Virginia beef and other local and organic fare. 102 14th St. 984-5707. $.

Brother’s Bar & Grill The same barbecue folks have loved for years. Daily 11am-9pm. 2104 Angus Rd. 293-6333. $.

Buck Island BBQ Pulled pork, spare ribs, fried chicken and a 20-ingredient house sauce.

4842 Richmond Rd., Keswick. 872-0259. $.

Buffalo Wild Wings Wings and burgers, plus 24 beers on tap, 35 TVs and 11 satellites. Barracks Road Shopping Center. 977-1882. $.

Charlie’s Restaurant Down-home American favorites: pork chops, grilled cheese, burgers and steaks. 1522 E. High St. 293-7232. $.

Chicken Coop Chicken, barbecue and a variety of sandwiches. Located in the Nelson Food Mart. 40 Front St., Lovingston. 263-7818. $.

Citizen Burger Bar Gourmet burgers with highquality meat, plus a large beer list. 212 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-9944. $$.

Five Guys Two locations for local carnivores.

Barracks Road Shopping Center, 975-GUYS; Hollymead Town Center, 963-GUYS. $.

Fox’s Café Daily specials, burgers, dogs and dinners, all served homestyle and wallet-friendly. 403 Avon St. 293-2844. $.

Holly’s Deli & Pub Southern food, live music and beer. 1221 E. Market St. 282-2713. $.

Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint Classic burgers, daily specials and bras on the chandelier. 109 Second St. SE. 244-0073. $.

Jak-N-Jil Foot-longs and fries. Also, hearty breakfast fare. No credit cards. ATM on site.

1404 E. High St. 293-7213. $.

Korner Restaurant This greasy spoon offers all the usual suspects. Daily lunch special. 415 Ninth St. SW. 977-9535. $.

Lazy Parrot Backyard BBQ The Lazy Parrot Grill’s sister serves up a wide array of ’cue classics. Pantops Shopping Center. 244-0723. $/$$.

Lord Hardwicke’s American fare in an Englishtavern setting. 1248 Emmet St., 295-6668; 5924 Seminole Trail, Ruckersville, 990-2095. $.

Lumpkins Classic burgers, salads, fried chicken and foot-long hotdogs. 1075 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-3690. $.

Martin’s Grill Delicious hamburgers, veggie burgers and fries. 3449 Seminole Trail, in the Forest Lakes Shopping Center. 974-9955. $.

Me2 Market and Eatery Barbecue and fresh baked treats just 3.5 miles east of Monticello.

2243 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. 297-2201. $.

Mel’s Café Southern soul-soothing food. A longtime favorite on West Main. 719 W. Main St. 971-8819. $.

Moe’s Original BBQ Alabama-style pulled pork smoked in-house. 2119 Ivy Rd. 244-7427. $.

Moose’s by the Creek American favorites, plus mounted moose antlers for photo ops.

1710 Monticello Rd. 977-4150. $.

Nelly’s Roadhouse American and Mexican menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 2815 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 361-1400. $$.

Olive’s Grill Food for the working man. Most items under $10. 8839 Seminole Trail, Ruckersville. 990-2634. $.

Otto’s All-American faves and daily specials at your service. Order at the counter and sit outside. 325 Four Leaf Ln. 823-4200. $.

Paulie’s Pig Out First barbecue joint on the way to Wintergreen. 7376 Rockfish Valley Hwy. 361-2001. $.

Pig N’ Steak Pig…and steak. ’Que is cooked “the old-fashioned way,” with wood for 16 hours. 313 Washington St., Madison. (540) 948-3130. $.

Riverside Lunch Legendary burgers and fries.

The secret? First they smash it, then they cook it. 1429 Hazel St. 971-3546. $.

Riverside North Notable burgers and fries on 29N. Sunday morning buffet, too. Forest Lakes Shopping Center. 979-1000. $.

Sam’s Hot Dog Stand Get three dogs, fries and a drink for only $8.20. 5786 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. 205-4438. $.

The Colleen Drive-In On Rte. 29, look for the huge ice cream cone! 4105 Thomas Nelson Hwy., Arrington. 263-5343. $.

Timberlake’s Old-fashioned soda fountain, sandwiches, burgers and dogs behind cosmetics and shampoo. 322 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 295-9155. $.

Tip Top Breakfast, lunch and dinner with Italian and Greek specials. 1420 Richmond Rd., on Pantops Mountain. 244-3424. $.

Wayside Takeout & Catering Come by for chicken livers, famous fried chicken and barbecue sandwiches. 2203 Jefferson Park Ave. 977-5000. $.

White Spot Burgers with tradition at this popular Corner spot. Try a Gus burger. 1407 University Ave. 295-9899. $.

Wild Wing Café Sports bar features wings and beer, plus pastimes like karaoke, trivia and poker. In the Amtrak station. 820 W. Main St. 979-WING. $/$$.

Wings Over Charlottesville Wing delivery spot that encourages patrons to eat like a caveman. 2029 Ivy Rd. 964-9464. $$.

Zinburger Wine & Burger Gourmet burgers, fries, milkshakes and, of course, plenty of wine.

Barracks Road Shopping Center. 244-2604. $$.

Coffee Places with Kitchens Atlas Coffee Get a cup of coffee or an espresso roasted by Shenandoah Joe at this Fontaine coffee spot. 2206B Fontaine Ave. 970-1700. $.

Baine’s Books & Coffee Books, music, film, pottery, musical instruments, food and, of course, coffee. 485 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-3577. $.

C’ville Coffee Co. Well-established café, with a kids’ corner and library to keep wee ones entertained. 1301 Harris St. 817-2633. $.

Calvino Café Espresso, panini and smoothies, plus breakfast on Sundays. In the Main Street Market. 293-5696. $.

Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins Coffee that America runs on, plus, obvs, doughnuts. 1509 University Ave. 984-9600. $.

Greenberry’s Java and specialty drinks, plus fresh baked goods. Barracks Road Shopping Center, 984-0200; in Alderman Library on UVA grounds, 243-8961. $.

Grit Coffee People, coffee, food, space, design and work: That’s the focus at Grit. 110 Old Trail Dr., Crozet, 205-4253; 112 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 971-8743; 989 Second St. SE, no phone; 19 Elliewood Ave., 293-4412. $.

Java Java All fair-trade organic coffee all the time. There’s a lunch menu, too. 421 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-0020. $.

La Taza Cuban press sandwiches, soups and salads. Live music often. 407B Monticello Rd., 296-8292; 212 Seventh St. (inside the SNL Building), no phone. $.

Mermaid Express Mochas to smoothies.

Inside PVCC. No phone. $.

Milli Joe Coffee & Gelato Coffee and gelato? What’s not to like? 400 Preston Ave., Suite 150. 282-2659. $.

Mudhouse Locally roasted, heavy-duty coffee.

213 W. Main St., 984-6833; The Square, Crozet, 823-2240; Bellair Market, 977-0222; Mill Creek, 984-1996; and Mulberry Station, 245-0163. $.

Rapunzel’s Coffee, books and music; chill out in Lovingston. Live music, too. 924 Front St., Lovingston. 263-6660. $.

Shark Mountain Coffee Roastery, coffee shop, chocolatier. 969 Second St. SE and 621 Nash Dr., (540) 327-1564. $.

Shenandoah Joe Local roaster with a coffee bar and pastries. 945 Preston Ave., 295-4563; 2214 Ivy Rd., 923-4563. $.

Smoky’s Black Bear Café Serving Colony Coffee with full coffee menu, lunch and snacks.

Free Wi-Fi. 121 Blue Ridge Dr., Wintergreen Resort. 325-1227. $.

Starbucks Multiple locations for your corporate coffee needs. 1601 University Ave., 9701058; Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center, 295-4996; 1520 Seminole Trail, 973-5298; Hollymead Town Center, 975-6005; Fashion Square Mall, no phone. $.

The Corner Cup Fresh Trager Brothers coffee and espresso, plus pastries and muffins. 1325 W. Main St. 293-7905. $.

Trager Brothers Coffee See the roastery in action and sample some of the fresh roasted coffee while you’re there. 486 Front St., Lovingston. 263-8916. $.

Family-Friendly Ann’s Family Restaurant Good old country cooking. Fresh vegetables and specials every day. 1170 Thomas Nelson Hwy. (Rte. 29, south of Lovingston). 263-8110. $.

Applebee’s Steak and Southwestern amid local memorabilia. 571 Branchlands Blvd., 9745596; Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center, 2933208; 2005 Abbey Rd., 293-3208. $/$$.

Chili’s Southwestern eats in a colorful, boothheavy interior. Giant bar drinks and spicy salads. 100 Zan Rd. 975-0800. $/$$.

Michie Tavern Traditional Southern lunch in an 18th-century tavern near Monticello. 683 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy. 977-1234. $$.

Red Robin Gourmet burgers, salads and bottomless pits of steak fries. Kid-friendly. Fashion Square Mall. 964-9523. $.

Ruby Tuesday Burgers, salad bar and lotsa beer.

Barracks Road Shopping Center. 295-9118. $/$$.

The Light Well Coffee-kitchen-tavern combo with healthy homemade recipes. 110 E. Main St., Orange. (540) 661-0004. $.

The Nook Half-century-old Charlottesville diner with breakfast, lunch, dinner and a full bar.

415 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 295-6665. $.

Trackside Café Healthy fare and smoothies inside ACAC. Open to all. ACAC, Albemarle Square Shopping Center. 978-3800. $.

Wood Grill Buffet Big buffet featuring things grilled on wood. 576 Branchlands Blvd. 9755613. $.

Fast Food Arby’s Big roast beef. 1230 Emmet St., 2968995; 1700 Timberwood Blvd., 978-1050. $.

Bojangles Chicken and biscuits on Pantops.

2009 Abbey Rd. 293-1190. $.

Burger King The Whopper. Pantops Shopping Center, 296-5145; 1181 Fifth St. Ext., 963-7827; 1000 Emmet St., 293-8566; 11518 James Madison Hwy., Gordonsville, 589-6854. $.

Chick-Fil-A Waffle fries. 350 Woodbrook Dr., 872-0187; Fashion Square Mall, 973-1646. $.

Cook-Out Usual diner fare, plus chicken nuggets—as a side. 1254 Emmet St. $.

Dairy Queen Home of the Blizzard…but you knew that. 1248 Crozet Ave., 823-6585; 1777 Fortune Park Rd., 964-9595. $.

Hardee’s Big burgers, bigger breakfasts and fried chicken. 1150 Fifth St. SW, 977-4804; Rte. 250E, 977-3191; Rte. 29N, 973-2083. $.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Double-down with the Colonel. 1705 Emmet St. 295-5158. $.

McDonald’s Home of the Happy Meal. Barracks Road Shopping Center, 295-6092; 475 Ridge McIntire Rd., 977-2984; 1294 Stoney Point Rd., 295-6677; 29th Place, 973-3055; Forest Lakes Shopping Center, 975-1112; 11455 James Madison Hwy., Gordonsville, 589-6753; 85 Callohill Dr., Lovingston, 263-8066. $.

Popeyes Chicken chain with savory sides.

1709 Emmet St. 529-8148. $.

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Spring Knife&Fork 61

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 69

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers Chicken fingers and Texas toast. 1805 N. Emmet St. 293-4331. $.

Taco Bell Great late-night drive-thru. 820 Gardens Blvd., 974-1344; 1158 Fifth St. NW, 2959185; 801 Emmet St., 979-9074; Pantops Shopping Center, 296-7647. $.

Wendy’s Spicy No. 6. 416 Fourth St. NW, 9790380; Corner of Rte. 250E and Rte. 20, 9795908; Fashion Square Mall, 973-6226; 8764 Seminole Trail, Ruckersville, 990-2021. $.

French Basic Necessities A taste of Southern France with fresh fare. Reservations preferred. 2226 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 361-1766. $$.

C&O Sophisticated French at a 30-plus-year-old establishment. Excellent cheese plate, extensive wine list, popular bar. 515 E. Water St. 971-7044. $$$.

Fleurie Upscale modern French restaurant gets rave reviews. Extensive wine list. 108 Third St. NE. 971-7800. $$$.

Petit Pois French-American bistro from the owners of Fleurie. All the chic, lower check.

201 E. Main St. 979-7647. $$.

Pomme Casual French in the heart of picturesque Gordonsville. Reservations recommended. 115 S. Main St., Gordonsville. (540) 8320130. $$$.

Tempo A progressive French bistro incorporating cooking styles from all over the world.

117 Fifth St. SE. 244-0217. $$.

Frozen Treats Arch’s Frozen Yogurt Wahoo-approved yogurt with tons of optional toppings. 104 14th St. NW. 984-2724. $.

Ben & Jerry’s Thirty-four flavors of ice cream and froyo plus cookies and ice cream cakes.

Barracks Road Shopping Center. 244-7438. $.

Berry Berry Greek frozen yogurt on the Corner with plenty of toppings and other menu items.

1395 W. Main St. 244-0102. $.

Bloop Self-serve froyo with rotating flavors.

1430 Rolkin Ct. 282-2093; 32 Mill Creek Dr. 328-2288. $.

Chaps More than 20 years of gourmet homemade ice cream. Grub like burgers and diner fare.

223 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 977-4139. $.

Cold Stone Creamery Ice cream, cakes, shakes and smoothies at this frozen treat chain.

1709 Emmet St. 529-8526. $.

Juice Laundry Pressed juices, nut milks, shots, smoothies, coffee, salads and raw foods.

722 Preston Ave. #105. 234-3044. $.

Kilwin’s Ice cream, fudge and truffles. 313 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 234-3634. $.

Kirt’s Homemade Ice Cream Ice cream made fresh in the store. 202-0306. $.

Kohr Bros. Frozen Custard Cones, cups, floats, sundaes, “snowstorms” and smoothies.

Woodbrook Shopping Center, 975-4651; 250E, 296-0041. $.

La Flor Michoacana Homemade popsicles, fruit beverages and ice cream. 601 Cherry Ave., 984-1604. $.

Smoothie King Chain features smoothies, supplements and healthy snacks. Barracks Road Shopping Center, 295-8502; Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center, 975-5464. $.

Splendora’s Gelato Ranging selection of Italian gelato (and sorbet) in a bright Downtown location. 317 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

296-8555. $.

62 Knife&Fork Spring

Spoon & Berry Upscale self-serve frozen yogurt—14 flavors of low-fat yogurt and up to 45 toppings. The Shops at Stonefield. 964-9338. $.

Sweet Frog Interesting froyo flavors and even more interesting toppings. 219 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 293-7123; Hollymead Town Center, 975-3764; Barracks Road Shopping Center, 293-1130. $.

Gourmet Groceries and Gas Stations Batesville Market Sandwiches to order, salads and baked goods plus packaged goods.

6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. 823-2001. $.

Bellair Market Gourmet sandwich spot on Ivy Road. 2401 Ivy Rd. 971-6608. $.

Brownsville Market Hot breakfast starting at 5am and burgers, sides and famous fried chicken for lunch and dinner. 5995 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. 823-5251. $.

Everyday Café Gourmet gas station with homemade pizza and gelato. 2404 Fontaine Ave., 206-3790; 250E on Pantops Mountain, 9718771. $.

Feast! Nationally noted cheese, wine and specialty food shop. 416 W. Main St., in the Main Street Market. 244-7800. $$.

Foods of All Nations Sandwiches, deli and salads at this gourmet grocery. Try the West Coast. 2121 Ivy Rd. 296-6131. $.

Gibson’s Grocery Fresh deli sandwiches and hot dogs plus Trager Brothers Coffee and locally made food and wine. 703 Hinton Ave. 977-4906. $.

Greenwood Gourmet Grocery Made-toorder sandwiches, plus fresh soup and a deli.

6701 Rockfish Gap Tpke., Crozet. (540) 4566431. $.

Hunt Country Market A rotating menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 2048 Garth Rd. 296-1648. $.

Integral Yoga Natural Foods All-natural food, supplements and personal care products, plus a deli and juice/smoothie bar. 923 Preston Ave. 293-4111. $.

JM Stock Provisions Whole-animal butcher shop with sandwiches to go. 709 W. Main St. 244-2480. $.

Market Street Café Not on Market Street, but offers gourmet breakfast, rotisserie chicken and deli meats. 1111 E. Rio Rd. 964-1185. $.

Market Street Market Deli in the Downtown grocery serves sandwiches and prepared foods.

400 E. Market St. 293-3478. $.

Mill Creek Market The Southern sister of Bellair Market. Daily 24 hours. Avon Street,

WHAT TO DO

Ready, set, eat Mark your calendar—these spring food events will fill you up.

City Market Every Saturday through October, catch what’s great about Charlottesville: artisan goods, community and, of course, food. Get there early to grab a taco! Begins April 2, 7am-noon. Corner of Water and Second streets.

Bonus: Farmers in the Park, at Meade Park, for a Wednesday market fix (begins in June).

Taste of Monticello Wine Trail Wines from 25 local wineries, plus live entertainment. $35 general admission, $80 VIP. April 9, 1-5pm. nTelos Wireless Pavilion. monticellowine trailfestival.com.

Tom Tom Founders Festival Check out the Farm to Table Restaurant Week (April 11-17) and its Iron Chef Competition: Six sous chefs use $50 and 35 minutes at the City Market to create a dish that is 100 percent locally sourced. April 16, 9amnoon. Charlottesville City Market. tomtomfest.com.

Cinco de Mayo Enjoy Mexican menu specials and a special steal-the-glass event. May 5, 11am-10pm. Blue Mountain Brewery, 9519 Critzer Shop Rd. (Afton). bluemountainbrewery.com.

Montpelier Wine Festival Wines from 20 different Virginia wineries, plus specialty food vendors, live music, wagon rides and a hat contest. $5-20. May 7 and 8, 11am-5pm.

Montpelier, 11407 Constitution Hwy. (Montpelier Station). montpelier winefestival.com.

across from Southside Shopping Center. 8171570. $.

Mulberry Station at Shadwell A full-service convenience store with homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner items. 3008 Richmond Rd., Keswick. 245-0315. $.

Salt Artisan Market Artisan cheeses, meats, charcuterie, sandwiches and prepared foods.

1330 Thomas Jefferson Parkway. 270-2072. $.

The Fresh Market A European-style market chain, with high-quality meats, cheese, seafood and über-fresh produce. Albemarle Square.

244-2444. $$.

Timbercreek Market Grocery arm of Albemarle’s Timbercreek Farm. Produce, meats and cheeses, plus a café with a locally sourced menu. 722 Preston Ave. 202-8052. $.

Trader Joe’s This much-anticipated grocery chain boasts top quality at low cost. The Shops at Stonefield. 974-1466. $$.

Whole Foods Market Fresh, all-natural foods (and groceries, too). Big salad and preparedfoods bar. 1797 Hydraulic Rd. 973-4900. $$.

Inns and Hotel Restaurants Birdwood Grill at The Boar’s Head Open seasonally for breakfast and lunch. 410 Golf Course Dr. 293-6401. $$.

Café 1201 Seven-day breakfast buffet. At Courtyard Marriott-UVA Medical Center. 1201 W. Main St. 977-1700. $$.

Charlotte’s All-American in the Holiday Inn. Semi-upscale, but kick back over appetizers and the flat-screen. 1200 Fifth St. SW. 9775100. $$.

Emmet’s Holiday Inn restaurant serves American fare. 1901 Emmet St. 977-0803. $$.

Fossett’s American regional cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a tapas bar. Inside Keswick Hall, 701 Club Dr., off 250E. 979-3440. $$$.

Inn at Court Square Upscale Southern in the oldest house Downtown. 410 E. Jefferson St. 295-2800. $$$.

Keswick Hall Monday through Friday lunch buffet in the Villa Crawford. Reservations required. 701 Club Dr. 979-3440. $$.

Lafayette Inn Restored 1840s inn was once a boarding house for proper young ladies.

Reservations recommended. 146 Main St., Stanardsville. 985-6345. $$$.

Oakhurst Inn Coffee & Café Southern breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. 1616 Jefferson Park Ave. 872-0100. $.

Old Mill Room Restaurant Expect an historic ambience with your breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. AAA Four-Diamond award-winner.

The Boar’s Head, 200 Ednam Dr. 972-2230. $$$.

Prospect Hill Plantation Inn & Restaurant Candlelit prie fixe dinners in this 1732 plantation house. 2887 Poindexter Rd., Trevilians.

(540) 967-0844. $$$.

The Boar’s Head Formal dining at The Old Mill Room, relaxed dinner at Bistro 1834 and casual dining at Sports Club Café and Birdwood Grill. Prices vary widely. 200 Ednam Dr. 9722230. $$$.

The Edge Casual fare with a family priced menu for a meal overlooking the slopes. Wintergreen Resort, Rte. 664. 325-8080. $$.

The Fountain Room at the Mark Addy Inn Picture-perfect mountain B&B with a public dining room. Reservations required. 56 Rodes Farm Dr., Nellysford. 361-1101. $$$.

The Inn at Meander Plantation Upscale American cuisine and candlelight dining. Breakfast open to inn guests only. 2333 N. James

Italian and Pizza Amici’s Italian Bistro Chefs from Dillwyn and Fork Union join forces to make authentic Sicilian cuisine. 370 Valley St., Scottsville.

286-4000. $.

Anna’s Pizza No. 5 In the family for 35 years.

Pizza, subs, dinners and desserts. 115 Maury Ave. 295-7500. $.

Anna’s Ristorante Italiano From the folks behind Anna’s Pizza No. 5. 1015 Heathercroft Cir., Crozet. 823-1327. $.

Bella’s Restaurant An authentic Roman-Italian family-style restaurant. 707 W. Main St. 327-4833. $$.

Belmont Pizza and Pub Fresh, stone-baked pizza on hand-tossed pies. Beer, too! 211 Carlton Rd. Suite 10. 977-1970. $.

Benny Deluca’s Giant slices from a simple five-pie menu. 913 W. Main St. 245-4007.

Brick Oven Gourmet pizzas, sandwiches from an authentic wood-fired grill. Rio Hill Shopping Center. 964-1119. $.

Brixx Wood Fired Pizza Franchise pizza spot serves, you guessed it, wood-fired pies. Barracks Road Shopping Center. 245-4050. $$.

Carmello’s Upscale Italian cuisine, specialty pasta, veal, chicken, seafood. 29th Place. 9775200. $$.

Chirio’s Pizza Authentic, homemade NY pizza, subs, salads, sandwiches. Eat in, take-out, delivery. 2777 Rockfish Valley Hwy. 361-9188. $.

Christian’s Pizza The place to get fresh pies by-the-slice or the whole darn thing. 118 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 977-9688; 100 14th St. NW, 872-0436; 3440 Seminole Trail, 9737280; Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center, 2936788. $.

CiCi’s Pizza Franchise with all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta and salad. 240 Zan Rd. in the Seminole Square Shopping Center. 964-0001. $.

College Inn Straight-up late-night goodness.

Breakfast items, too. 1511 University Ave. 9772710. $.

Crozet Pizza Unpretentious, family-owned pizza parlor with nationally recognized pies.

No credit cards. 5794 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet, 823-2132; 20 Elliewood Ave., 202-1046. $.

Domino’s Six locally owned branches of the national chain. 1137 Millmont St., 971-8383; 1147 Fifth St. SW, 970-7777; 2335 Seminole Trail, 973-1243; 508 Stewart St., 979-2525; Food Lion Shopping Center, Ruckersville, 990-2000; 325 Four Leaf Ln., Crozet, 823-7752. $.

Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie Beloved pizza joint in the Crossroads mini-mall. 4916 Plank Rd., on 29S at North Garden. 245-0000. $/$$.

End Zone Pizza Pizza, big subs and fresh salads. Forest Lakes Shopping Center. 973-8207. $.

Fabio’s New York Pizza Pizza, subs, salads and calzones made by natives of Naples. 1551 E. High St. 872-0070. $.

Fellini’s #9 A local landmark featuring Italian favorites and inventive new takes. Thriving bar

scene and live music. 200 W. Market St. 9794279. $$.

Fry’s Spring Station Characterful brick-oven pizza joint with local beer along with the pies and patio seating. 2115 Jefferson Park Ave. 202-2257. $$.

Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant Everything you could want out of classical Italian fare.

2842 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 3619170. $$.

Lampo Authentic Neapolitan pizzeria in Belmont. 205 Monticello Rd. 282-0607. $.

Little Caesar’s Pizza Home of the $5 Large Hot-n-Ready Pizza. 1301 Hydraulic Rd. 2965646. $.

Mellow Mushroom Trippy-themed franchise, with great pizza and even better beer selection.

Trivia on Wednesdays. 1321 W. Main St., 9729366. $.

Mona Lisa Pasta This market carries nearly every variety of pasta and sauce imaginable.

Preston Plaza. 295-2494. $$.

Nate & Em’s Pizza All your pizzeria faves: calzones, stromboli, pasta and—of course— pies. 5924 Seminole Trail, Ruckersville. 9859000. $.

Palladio Restaurant Northern Italian cuisine and Barboursville wines. Reservations required.

17655 Winery Rd., Barboursville. (540) 8327848. $$$.

Papa John’s Pizza fans come to Papa. 3441 Seminole Trail, 973-7272; University Shopping Center, 979-7272; 1305-A Long St., 296-7272. $.

Pizza Hut The Jabba of pizza chains. 1718 Seminole Trail, 973-1616; 540 Radford Ln., Suite 300, 823-7500. $.

Sal’s Caffe Italia Brick-oven pizza plus subs, pasta and outdoor seating in a lively Mall location. 221 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 2958484. $$.

Sal’s Pizza Hand-tossed pizzas, fresh bread, delicious pasta dishes since 1987. Crozet Shopping Center, Crozet. 823-1611. $.

Tavola Open kitchen serves up lovely food and an artisanal wine list. 826 Hinton Ave. 9729463. $$.

Threepenny Café Artisan pizza and rustic entrées. 420 W. Main St. 995-5277. $$.

Travinia Italian Kitchen Contemporary American Italian, plus an outdoor patio for people watching. The Shops at Stonefield. 244-3304. $$.

Vinny’s Italian Grill & Pizzeria This regional chain has pies plus a slew of caloric subs, pastas and stromboli. Hollymead Town Center.

973-4055. $$.

Vinny’s New York Pizza and Pasta Authentic pies, pastas and subs. Lasagna and veal are faves here. 8841 Seminole Trail. 985-4731. $.

Vita Nova Cheap and hearty pizza by the slice.

310 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 977-0162. $.

Vito’s Italian Restaurant Specializing in pizza and Italian dishes. Rte. 29, 8181 Thomas Nelson Hwy., Lovingston. 263-8688. $$.

Vivace Every kind of pasta imaginable, plus seafood, Italian wines, grappas and full bar.

2244 Ivy Rd. 979-0994. $$.

Vocelli Pizza Pizza, pasta, panini, salads and stromboli for carryout and delivery. 1857 Seminole Trail in the Woodbrook Shopping Center.

977-4992. $.

Mediterranean

Bashir’s Taverna Authentic Mediterranean cuisine by a Mediterranean chef. Outdoor seating available. 507 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 923-0927. $$.

MY FAVORITE BITE

AMY JACKSON

Madison Hwy., Locust Dale. (800) 385-4936. $$$.

The Inn at Willow Grove This inn boasts an exquisite menu at its in-house restaurant, Vintage. 14079 Plantation Way, Orange. (540) 317-1206. $$$.

The Pointe Tapas-style appetizers, filet mignon and Starr Hill beers on tap, in a seven-story atrium or a Mall-side patio. Omni Hotel, Downtown Mall. 971-5500. $$$.

TJ’s Tavern and Dining Room Doubletree Hotel dining room with views of the Rivanna.

990 Hilton Heights Rd. 973-2121. $$.

Banyan Day’s Donnie Glass gets bare bones “Chicken necks and backbones right off the rotisserie at The Parkside in Providence, Rhode Island. I worked at The Parkside as the meat cook early in my cooking career, while I was at Johnson & Wales University. We brined whole birds with lemon and garlic, then roasted them slowly on a gorgeous, fire engine red Rotisol rotisserie. As soon as they came off the flames, I would use shears and cut the backbones out (half chickens were on the menu), ending up with a big pile of them every single day. The best part is a little half dollar-sized piece of meat on the lower back of a chicken called the ‘oyster,’ but the whole thing would just get eaten by the chefs like an ear of corn on the cob, spitting out vertebrae like watermelon seeds. The skin was brown and crispy and still gelatinous, the meat was falling off the bone, perfectly salty and garlicky.

I’ve never tasted anything so good in my life.”

Banyan Day Provisions is a seafood counter in Timbercreek Market.

Basil Mediterranean Bistro Grape leaves to tapas, plus a late-night wine bar. 109 14th St. 977-5700. $.

Copper Mine Bistro Entrées like shrimp provençal and veal saltimbocca. Wintergreen Resort. 325-8090. $/$$.

Mezeh Mediterranean Grill Bowls, wraps and pita pockets, all prepared with the fresh ingredients of your choosing. The Shops at Stonefield. 202-1446. $.

Mezza Tiny tapas spot with vegan and vegetarian dishes. 817 W. Main St. 979-9990. $$.

Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar Dishes from Spain to Greece and wines of the world. Main Street Market. 975-6796. $$.

Parallel 38 Small plates, innovative “farm-totable” cocktails and an extensive wine list. The Shops at Stonefield. 923-3838. $$.

Mexican and Southwestern Al Carbon Chicken Tacos, tamales and sandwiches with rotisseried chicken. 1871 Seminole Trail. 964-1052. $.

Aqui es Mexico Authentic Mexican and Salvadoran tacos, toras, sopas, pupusas and more.

221 Carlton Rd., Ste. 12. 295-4748. $.

Baja Bean Co. California Mex flair on 29N. Hearty salsa and margaritas to die for. 2291 Seminole Ln., 975-1070. $.

Brazos Tacos Austin, Texas-style breakfast, lunch, early dinner and brunch tacos. 925 Second St. SE, 984-1163. $.

Burrito Baby Made-to-order burritos, baby. 205 N. Main St., Gordonsville. (540) 832-6677. $.

BurritOh! Burritos, tacos, rice bowls, quesadillas and nachos made to order. 540 Radford Ln., Crozet. 812-2152. $.

Chipotle Simple menu of burritos and tacos made before your eyes. Barracks Road Shopping Center, 872-0212; 2040 Abbey Rd. Suite 101, 984-1512. $.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 65

Spring Knife&Fork 63

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Cinema Taco Burritos, tacos and empanadas inside the Jefferson Theater. Delicious and cheap.

110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-4981. $.

Continental Divide “Get in Here!” commands the neon sign in the window—do it early to get a seat in this popular spot. 811 W. Main St. 984-0143. $$.

El Jaripeo Mexican favorites for the 29N crowd and also the UVA Corner crowd. 1750 Timberwood Blvd., 296-9300; 1202 W. Main St., 9729190. $.

El Vaquero West This tried-and-true Mexican place has sister locations in Palmyra, Haymarket and Orange. 1863 Seminole Trail. 964-1190. $.

Guadalajara Mexican food by Mexican folks.

Cheap prices! 805 E. Market St., 977-2676; 395 Greenbrier Dr., 978-4313; 2206 Fontaine Ave., 979-2424; 108 Town Country Ln., 293-3538; 3450 Seminole Trail, 977-2677. $.

La Cocina del Sol Southwestern flair for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 1200 Crozet Ave., Crozet, 823-5469. $$.

La Joya Authentic Mexican from tacos to churros. 1145 Fifth St. SW, 293-3185; 1015 Heathercroft Cir, Ste. #300 (Crozet), 205-4609. $.

La Michoacana Mexican deli serves budget-friendly burritos, tacos and enchiladas.

1138 E. High St. 409-9941. $.

La Tortuga Feliz Authentic Mexican entrées and baked goods. 1195 Seminole Trail. 8827461. $.

Margarita’s the Flavor of Mexico Authentic Mexican, American and margaritas. 2815 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 218-7767. $.

Mono Loco Latin-themed entrées, inventive sides and legendary margaritas. 200 W. Water St. 979-0688. $$.

Plaza Azteca Tableside guacamole is just the start of the offerings at this Mexi chain. Seminole Square Shopping Center. 964-1045. $.

Qdoba Mexican Grill Spicy burritos, quesadillas and Mexican salads made before your eyes. 1415 University Ave. 293-6299. $.

Tequila Sunrise Bar & Grill Extensive menu of Mexican standards, specials and vegetarian options. 330 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-2300. $.

The Bebedero Upscale authentic Mexican, plus cocktails and made-to-order guac. 313 Second St. SE. 234-3763. $$.

Toro’s Tacos Luchador matches daily, plus, y’know, tacos and stuff. 1327 W. Main St. 245-8676. $.

Two Guys Tacos An explosion of authentic, delicious, Mexican street food for lunch, dinner and late-night. 101 14th St. NW. 202-0321. $.

Yearbook Taco “Tacos, booze and nostalgia.”

Downtown Mall. 202-2619. $.

Miscellaneous Nationalities Afghan Kabob Palace Mouthwatering authentic Afghan cuisine. Dine in, take out or free delivery. 400 Emmet St. N. 245-0095. $$.

Aromas Café Mediterranean and Middle Eastern fare. Sandwiches, salads and famous falafel. Barracks Road Shopping Center. 2442486. $.

Bavarian Chef German cuisine in Alpine atmosphere. Very filling, to justify the 18-mile drive north. 29N in Madison. (540) 948-6505. $$.

Little India Delicious Pakistani, Indian and Middle Eastern-inspired food for veggies and carnivores. 1329 W. Main St. 202-2067. $.

M&M Lounge Authentic Eastern European fare, dance floor and billiards room. Preston Plaza. 962-6526. $$.

Mas Authentic Spanish tapas and wines in a funky, dimly lit atmosphere in the heart of Belmont. 904 Monticello Rd. 979-0990. $$.

Obrigado New American fare and pasta nights are the specialties here. 109 W. Main St., Louisa. (540) 967-9447. $$.

Sticks A quick, healthy alternative to fast food: kebobs! Preston Plaza, 295-5262; Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center, 295-5212. $.

Sultan Kebab Authentic Turkish food: kebabs, vegetarian dishes, homemade Turkish baklava, tea and coffee. 1710 Seminole Trail. 981-0090. $.

The Shebeen Pub and Braai Conjures the South African veldt with brunch on Sundays.

Great bar for futbol-watching. Vinegar Hill Shopping Center. 296-3185. $$.

Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar International vegetarian fare and 80-plus exotic loose teas and hookah. 414 E. Main St., Downtown Mall.

293-9947. $.

Soups, Salads, Sandwiches Babes in the Wood Pork-focused breakfast and lunch menu with meat from Babes in the Wood farm in in Buckingham County. 909 W. Main St. 980-6484. $.

Baggby’s Gourmet Sandwiches Give your name; your sammich arrives in a bag with a cookie. Get it? 512 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 984-1862. $.

Blue Ridge Café American-continental: crab cakes, gourmet burgers, homemade soups and salads. 8315 Seminole Trail. 985-3633. $$.

Blue Ridge Country Store Breakfast is eggs, scones and muffins; lunch is a popular salad bar, plus wraps and soups. 518 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 295-1573. $.

Bodo’s Bagel Bakery Still the king of bagels.

1418 N. Emmet St., 977-9598; 505 Preston Ave., 293-5224; 1609 University Ave., 293-6021. $.

Café at Monticello Sandwiches, barbecue, coffee, tea and ice cream post-tour. Inside Monticello’s Visitor Center. 984-9800. $.

Café Caturra Fresh food and boutique wines on the Corner. 1327 W. Main St., 202-2051. $$.

Carving Board Café Inventive salads, soups and sandwiches for the 29N lunch bunch. Albemarle Square Shopping Center. 974-9004. $.

Durty Nelly’s Jazz, blues and rock in a rootsy pub and deli that caters. 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. 295-1278. $.

Firehouse Subs Hot subs and sandwiches across from Fashion Square. 29th Place. 9955921. $.

Greenie’s Vegetarian and vegan sandwiches.

110 Second St. NW. 996-1869. $.

HotCakes Fancy sandwiches, homemade entrées and desserts. Delivery available. Barracks Road Shopping Center. 295-6037. $.

Ivy Provisions Hot and cold sammies with inventive names like the “Don’t Call Me Shirley” and the “K.I.S.S.” 2206 Ivy Rd. 202-1308. $.

Jimmy John’s Low-cost sandwiches near UVA and on 29N. “Freaky fast” delivery. 1309 W. Main St., 984-3131; 1650 E. Rio Rd., 975-2100. $.

Littlejohn’s New York Delicatessen Buxom sandwiches. Delivery, too! 1427 University Ave., 977-0588; The Shops at Stonefield, 977-0335. $.

Lovingston Café A pleasant surprise in the middle of Lovingston, offering a diverse, modestly priced menu. 165 Front St., Lovingston.

263-8000. $.

Mac’s Country Store Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. 7023 Patrick Henry Hwy., Roseland.

277-5305. $.

Martha’s Garden Café Healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner options inside Martha Jefferson Hospital. 595 Martha Jefferson Dr. 654-6037. $.

Nude Fude Locally sourced. Seasonally inspired.

Real food. 2800 Hydraulic Rd. 973-5625. $.

Panera Bread Co. Ubiquitous chain with breads and pastries, sandwiches and soups.

Barracks Road Shopping Center, 245-6192; Hollymead Town Center, 973-5264. $.

Quizno’s Subs Chain offering cheesesteaks, meatballs and specialty subs. Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center. 977-7827. $.

Revolutionary Soup Choose from a slew of enticing soups made daily. 108 Second St. SW, 296-SOUP; 104 14th St. NW, 979-9988. $.

Roots Natural Kitchen Fast-casual health food from UVA alumi. 1329 W. Main St. 5296229. $.

Subway Tons of locations, so you can “eat fresh” anywhere. 1764 Rio Hill Ct., 978-7008; 32 Mill Creek Dr., 295-5555; Pantops Shopping Center, 984-0652; 1061 E. Rio Rd., 973-9898; 2212 Ivy Rd., 293-0666; 104 14th St. NW, 295-7827; 111 Maury Ave., 977-5141; 1220 Seminole Trail, 973-4035; 1779 Fortune Park Rd., 974-9595; Vinegar Hill Shopping Center, 245-8000; 65 Callohill Dr., Lovingston, 263-6800. $.

Take It Away Sandwiches, salads, sides and desserts in a jazz-themed shop. 115 Elliewood Ave. 295-1899. $.

The Flat The place for crêpes: Choose sweet or savory for lunch or dinner. 111A E. Water St. 978-FLAT. $.

Trackside Café Healthy fare and smoothies in ACAC. Open to all, even those not pumping iron. Albemarle Square Shopping Center. 9783800. $.

Tubby’s Grilled sandwiches and subs galore.

1412 E. High St. 293-3825. $.

Which Wich Superior Sandwiches Create your own sandwiches by marking up pre-printed brown bags. Hollymead Town Center. 9779424. $.

Zazus Fresh Grille Lots of wraps, salads, soups and fresh smoothies. Delivery available.

2214 Ivy Rd. 293-3454. $.

Zoës Kitchen Fast, casual meals with an emphasis on health-conscious ingredients.

Barracks Road Shopping Center. 955-5334. $.

Steaks and Seafood Aberdeen Barn More beef than you can shake a T-bone at, since 1965. Candlelit atmosphere and piano bar. 2018 Holiday Dr. 296-4630. $$$.

Bonefish Grill Sister to mega-popular Outback Steakhouse, but with seafood. Hollymead Town Center. 975-3474. $$.

Devils Grill Restaurant & Lounge Above Devils Knob Golf Course with 50-mile views.

Reservations required. Wintergreen Resort.

325-8100. $$$.

Downtown Grille Upscale steak and seafood with white-linen service and a chummy bar scene. 201 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 8177080. $$$.

Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ onions and giant steaks. Bar’s open late. 1101 Seminole Trail. 975-4329. $$.

Public Fish & Oyster Simply prepared, responsibly sourced seafood. 513 W. Main St. 995-5542; 1015 Heathercroft Cir. (Crozet), 8122909. $/$$.

Red Lobster Seafood with daily specials. 1648 E. Rio Rd. 973-0315. $$.

Rhett’s River Grill and Raw Bar She-crab soup, half-shell delicacies and steaks. 2335 Seminole Trail, Suite 100. 974-7818. $$.

Rocksalt Seafood-centric chain with an outdoor bar and patio. The Shops at Stonefield.

326-5665. $$.

Shadwell’s Seafood, steaks, burgers, pasta and salads made from fresh, local ingredients.

1791 Richmond Rd. 202-2568. $$.

Upscale Casual Bizou Upscale down-home cookin’ with fresh fish, pork and beef dishes. 119 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 977-1818. $$.

Brookville Restaurant Downtown restaurant with a rotating menu based on the availabile local produce. 225 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 202-2791. $$.

Burton’s Grill Contemporary American menu with stylish ambiance. Don’t skip out on the cocktails. The Shops at Stonefield. 977-1111. $$.

Clifton Inn Historic inn with a redone kitchen, dining room and bar. 1296 Clifton Inn Dr. 9711800. $$.

Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar Swanky restaurant with inventive entrées, late-night menu and rooftop bar. 422 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 202-7728. $$$.

Court Square Tavern English tavern with 130plus bottled beers. Hearty pub food. 500 Court Square. 296-6111. $$.

Duner’s Artful entrées and fine desserts on a rotating menu. 250W in Ivy. 293-8352. $$$.

Escafé Friendly spot with a seasonal menu and bumping dance floor at night. 215 W. Water St. 295-8668. $$.

Fig Bistro & Bar Mediterranean and New Orleans-inspired dishes with house-made ingredients like sausage and pork kielbasa. 1331 W. Main St. 995-5047. $.

Hamiltons’ at First & Main Imaginative American menu, award-winning wine list and superb vegetarian. 101 W. Main St., Downtown Mall.

295-6649. $$$.

Ivy Inn Daily menu of modern American cuisine in an 18th century tollhouse. Reservations recommended. 2244 Old Ivy Rd. 977-1222. $$$.

Maya Upscale Southern. Pleasant patio outside, sleek mod inside. Reservations encouraged. 633 W. Main St. 979-6292. $$.

Michael’s Bistro Mucho microbrews and an artful menu. Excellent drinking atmosphere.

1427 University Ave. 977-3697. $$.

Oakhart Social Seasonal Atlantic Coast food for sharing. 511 W. Main St. 995-5449. $$.

Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards The restaurant here is as big a draw as the beautiful setting.

5022 Plank Rd., North Garden. 202-8063. $$.

Restoration Indoor and outdoor dining at Old Trail Golf Course. 5494 Golf Dr., Crozet. 8231841. $$.

Tastings Wine shop with wood-grilled entrées and the biggest wine list in town. 502 E. Market St. 293-3663. $$.

The Alley Light Intimate small-plate spot above Revolutionary Soup. Look for the, ahem, alley light. 108 Second St. SW. 296-5003. $$.

The Local Belmont neighborhood spot with unusual twists on local, organic ingredients.

824 Hinton Ave. 984-9749. $$.

The Melting Pot It’s a fon-do! This meltedcheese franchise features warmers built into the tables. 501 E. Water St. 244-3463. $$$.

Zocalo Flavorful high-end, Latin-inspired cuisine with a full bar. 201 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 977-4944. $$.

Restaurant price ranges $/Under $10, $$/$10-25, $$$/$25+

Spring Knife&Fork 65

The Last Bite

Color me happy 66 Knife&Fork Spring

TOM MCGOVERN

Some things are almost too pretty to eat, like this raspberry tart from The Alley Light: bright red raspberries shoring up pistachio pastry cream atop sweet shortbread. It hums spring. Too pretty to eat? Somehow we’ll get over it.

22 local beers on draft Prosecco and wine on tap Happy Hour everyday from 3-7pm Half price wine bottles on Tuesdays and Thursdays Incredible Sunday brunch Happy Hour: $1 Oysters and Beer & Wine Specials 2075 Bond St, Ste. 180 - Charlottesville, VA 22901 - (434) 326-5665 Open 7 days - 11am – Close - Bar open late www.rocksaltrestaurants.com/cville

Owned by Travis Croxton of Rappahannock Oyster Company