Month: June 2009

Restaurantarama has been known to take a few jibes at the chains around town. It’s only because we are fiercely loyal to our local establishments. And yet, we’ve also offered a few plugs for Chipotle right here in this column. We give the fast food burrito chain special dispensation for having great design, fresh ingredients, many of which are local (e.g., Polyface Farm provides the pork for the carnitas), an eco-consciousness and the ability to somehow create vibe in a strip mall. For the same reasons, the owners of Rise PizzaWorks—John Spagnolo and Andrew Vaughn—are O.K. with calling their concept the “Chipotle of pizza parlors.”

“I actually ate there before I came here,” Vaughn tells us as we sit down with him and Spagnolo to discuss their new Barracks Road restaurant, which, if the duo reaches their ultimate dream, may be the first of many Rise PizzaWorks units across town, across the state and possibly across the country. “We’re big admirers of Chipotle. It was definitely an inspiration.” But Spagnolo adds, “No one has ever done the custom-slice concept before.”

When Rise opens in September, it will provide fresh, made-to-order pizzas by the slice (a whopping one-fourth of the pie), by the half or by the whole pizza. Customers will get to pick a type of crust (e.g., the signature thin and crispy; a thicker crust; gluten-free), more than 40 toppings, one of five sauces and one of eight types of cheese. After proceeding along the ordering bar, where Rise staff will assemble your custom pizza before your eyes, your personal masterpiece will be popped into a forced-air convection-type oven—the “Rise-O-Matic”—and come out hot in about two to three minutes. For the easily overwhelmed, Rise will also provide a list of specialty pizzas with all the options already chosen for you. For the carb-avoiders, there will be custom-made salads (sort of like the Burrito Bowl), for the kiddies, a smaller-sized pizza option and for the post-softball game types, beer and wine. The one-fourth slice likely will start in $3.25 range, with a full-loaded specialty slice coming out at around $6 or $7.

Similar to Chipotle, Vaughn and Spagnolo will focus as much as possible on local ingredients (recognizing that local salad greens in January are a bit harder to find), and yes, it will have a great modern design courtesy of the folks at Alloy Workshop, who are lending their triple threat of talents—architecture, carpentry and graphic design—to the project.

Vaughn and Spagnolo are veterans of the Charlottesville restaurant community. Vaughn  owned Orbit Billiards and Atomic Burrito (which he admits was itself a riff on Chipotle before it set up shop here) and currently has ownership stakes in Rapture and the Christian’s Pizza on the Corner. Spagnolo once oversaw the operations of Starr Hill Brewery, Blue Light Grill and Mas. 

With Casella’s Italian Restaurant at Barracks having been replaced by Tara Thai a few months back, there’s already pent-up demand for what Rise will sell at that location, but the goal is even larger than that. Spagnolo and Vaughn say they are working hard on creating consistency and efficiency so the concept can be replicated.

If Rise takes off, we’ll be more than a little proud to see our home grown folks—both the team of Spagnolo and Vaughn and the designers of Alloy—making good across America. Hey, some other town’s chain, our local heroes.

I can’t believe I’m writing an article on this topic and worse, I’m appalled by what I’m about to tell you. Women should let men phone first in early stages of dating. I’m in favor of modern gender roles and relationships but, as a dating coach, I’ve discovered that traditional “courting” norms still apply. They’re so ingrained in our subconscious; if a woman calls a man he’s apt to think she’s overeager, too available, and perhaps a bit desperate. In truth, his interest cools because there’s not the anticipation and anxiety that comes from harboring uncertainty about whether she’s really interested.

Any woman who has waited for a man to call knows her desire grows as the hours pass. And there’s research to back it up. Bruce Bower wrote about it in his article “The Dating Go Round” for Science News published this past Valentine’s Day. Thirty years ago, Dorothy Tennov interviewed thousands of people and found that passion grows from a mix of “hope and uncertainty” about how interested the object of affection really is. A speed dating study published in September 2008 by Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick confirms her research: worry about whether the other person is interested heightens the motivation to pursue the relationship.

We know we should not dial the phone, but this is one of the most nerve-wracking times in dating. The vulnerability of waiting and wondering becomes overwhelming. So how do you stay cool and calm? When you notice yourself going down a fear spiral, stop yourself, trust that if you’re meant to date him, he will call, and take action. Action is an antidote to fear. Get busy seeing friends, exercising, and going on more dates. There’s nothing like a date with someone else to shift the power dynamic. You’ll feel more desirable from the abundance of options and there’s the opportunity to get a little distance and perspective. 

What if he really is a shy guy who thinks you’re out of his league and needs a bit more encouragement to pursue you? Chances are as slim as a meteor landing on your home. But, if you seriously think he’s always pursued and never the pursuer, you may e-mail him if you don’t hear from him in a week. Say, “I was just thinking about you. How are you”? You’ll get your answer.

One last thing, no calling also means no texting, e-mailing, or Facebooking to “innocently” say thanks for a great date. It’s obvious you’re fishing for an invitation for a second date, which is like driving the final nail into your own coffin.

While the lineup for Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand has changed over the years, the band’s current lineup seems the closest to a stable, functional family—perhaps because every member has a second creative outlet. Guitarist Jon Bray, who arrived from the now-deceased Truman Sparks, also makes deadly jungle boogie with Drunk Tigers. Bassist Thomas Dean has Order of the Dying Orchid. (He also makes some of our city’s most distinctive album art.) Smith popped up in Sparks and Order, but the Hand’s songs are indisputably his.

That leaves drummer Adam Brock. Also a member of The Nice Jenkins, Brock’s non-Hand band has been on indefinite hiatus roughly since the release of last year’s Elephant Twisters album, and “indefinite hiatus” ain’t exactly “validating.” His drumming and singing is integral to the Invisible Hand sound—dig those “California Girls” harmonies!—but he didn’t join the Hand to be a melody maker, necessarily.

Yet Borrowed Beams of Light—Brock’s decidedly low-stress, high-quality solo project—proves that one of Charlottesville’s most gifted drummers may also write the curviest hooks. On Friday, July 3, Borrowed Beams of Light will release its first album, a self-titled EP, during a set at Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar with Birdlips ($5, 9:30pm).

Although both the album and gig place Brock in the frontman spot, his plans for Borrowed Beams of Light remain as humble as the project’s beginnings. “I’ve come to a period in my late 20s where I’m not concerned with ‘making it,’” said Brock during an interview last week. During the first years following his graduation from UVA in 2004, Brock felt that he might be wasting time if he wasn’t constantly networking for The Nice Jenkins. Borrowed Beams, however, is designed so that the music will pull its own weight. “Maybe it’s worse [now], but I feel better in my head,” he explained.

Save the arrangement for opening track “You Have a Sun!!!,” where he collaborated with former Jenkins member Nate Walsh, Brock penned the licks and lyrics. After he recorded drums on a four-track, he completed the rest in ProTools and hired Rod Coles to apply his particular brand of hot wax mastering; the final product splits the pocket symphony pop of bands like Destroyer with the Village Green-ery of The Kinks, two big influences for Brock.

The Invisible Hand is an influence, too, but a reconfigured one—as if Brock’s mixing board mind fuzzed the guitars and brought up the backing vocal volume. Fittingly, members of the Hand are recast as members of Brock’s band for the CD release gig: Adam Smith sits behind the drum kit, and Thomas Dean takes the keys. Seems like a happy family to me.

The kingdom of pop

It seems a sad irony that Charlottesville’s most reliable dance scene (and only gay nightclub), Club 216, would reopen at its new location only a day after the death of Michael Jackson. However, just as Feedback hopes that The Gloved One’s soul will find a new vessel to carry on his message of sparkling socks and moonwalks, so he hopes that the spirit of Club 216 will comfortably inhabit its new home in the Old Michie Building at 609 E. Market Street.

Club 216 opened the doors for business at its new spot last Friday, June 26. Did it rock with you all night? Was it a thriller? We sent photographer Ashley Twiggs to capture the scene. For more details on the new Club 216 location, visit club216.com or call 296-8783.