Star turns
West Main restaurant L’étoile welcomes a new chef this week. Jonathon Gariepy joins the restaurant from Florida, where he worked at The Rivers Inn and under the master chef at the Gasparilla Inn. The former Earlysville resident’s adventures down south, says L’etoile head chef and owner Mark Gresge, instilled in Gariepy a love of cooking seafood, but “he is excited about our relationships we have built…with the farmers, purveyors and citizens of Charlottesville.”
Brian Wilkinson, who held the reins in the kitchen for more than four years, will be moving to Charleston, South Carolina.
Fire update
Bell hoppers will love this news: Formerly crispy Taco Bell on 29N near Rio Road is open for business. The building accidentally burned down in early December 2010 after sparks turned to flames during a roof repair. Just shy of seven months later (and an estimated $1 million in damages), the Bell is back with a new “stone” facade and a bright, hot sauce-inspired exterior paint job. Chow down!