We’re always keeping our eyes and ears out for the latest news in Charlottesville’s food and drink scene, so pick up a paper and check c-ville.com/living each week for the latest Small Bites. Have a scoop for Small Bites? E-mail us at bites@c-ville.com.
It’s official—your favorite Charlottesville crepes are about to go mobile. The Flat: Takeaway Creperie will soon hit the streets and offer its menu of sweet and savory crepes from the window of a shiny red food truck. Flat founder and owner Lauren McRaven launched a Kickstarter campaign in November, and raised more than $10,000 to purchase a trailer and expand the creperie. According to the restaurant’s Facebook page, the truck will be available for events like weddings, sorority formals, and company parties.
Whodunnit? Devils Backbone Brewing Company is hosting a dinner theater night on Tuesday, December 17. Local company Clever By Half Productions will present an original interactive mystery, using the entire dining pub area as a stage. Sit back and enjoy a meal and flight of beers while the murder mystery unfolds around you, or get involved and participate in a live audience interrogation to help catch the killer. Call 361-1001 or e-mail manager@db brewingcompany.com to make a reservation, which includes the performance and selections from a three-course dinner menu. The event begins at 6:30pm.
’Tis the season
Want to brush up on your cooking skills now that it’s the holiday season? Check out these local events that will teach you what you need to know in order to impress your friends and family with everything from appetizers to desserts.
Even if you’re no architect, you can spend an afternoon building a house with your own two hands. Kids and parents alike are invited to enjoy hot chocolate and cookies while getting creative at the Monticello gingerbread house family workshop on Saturdays and Sundays, December 7-8, and 14-15. The two-hour class begins at 2pm each day, and advance reservations are required. Recommended for families with kids ages seven and up.
Join your fellow food lovers for a holiday celebration dinner at the Charlottesville Cooking School on Thursday, December 12. Charlottesville native and chef Ashley Clarke Brooks will lead the workshop and teach new ways to prepare holiday dishes like roasted carrot and fennel soup, beef wellington, triple potato and leek gratin with gruyere, and chocolate soufflé. The event begins at 5:30pm, is expected to last three-and-a-half hours, and costs $80. Register in advance at www.charlottesvillecooking school.com.
Try your hand at some gourmet cooking just in time for the holiday season. Charlottesville Wine and Culinary is offering a workshop at First Colony Winery on Sunday, December 8, that will allow you to both prepare and enjoy four courses for $65 per person. On the menu is a pear, goat cheese, and watercress salad, seafood and sausage gumbo, rice with red beans and peas, and poached pear raspberry sherbet sundaes. The event begins at 11am. Call 979-7105 to make reservations.