Set aside for a moment that eating out three times a week is perhaps excessively gluttonous, and come with me on a quick trip. It’ll be like a vacation, but you’ll get to stay right here in Charlottesville. Oh, hey, we could call it a STAYcation! Get it? No one’s ever thought of that before, right?
This staycation will be of the culinary variety, and the itinerary will take you to three restaurants in and around town over the course of one week. Crafting this luxurious tour will be you, yourself and this deluxe, easy-to-follow to guide.
Our guide breaks the restaurants participating in this year’s January edition of Restaurant Week—please travelers, do not forget that there are two of these per year—into eight categories: Ladies’ Night Out, Guys’ Night Out, Double Date, Romance, Hot and Spicy, Kid-friendly, Dinner and Fantasy Suite and Pairing Party. Take a little from column A, a little from column C and a little from column E, and voila! You’ve crafted yourself the perfect week of feasting on a budget.
Maybe you’re a man’s man who’s been hit by Cupid’s arrow. You might ease into the week with a night of romance, blow off some steam mid-week with a guy’s night out and finish up the seven-day stretch in the fantasy suite with your special someone.
Or maybe you’re a devoted parent and you want to take the kids somewhere nice on Sunday, before seeing if you can still eat the hottest vindaloo in the family on Wednesday and end the week with some romance sans kids on Friday. (That seems like enough time to recover from the vindaloo.)
Seriously, though. Give one of these itineraries a try, whoever you are. We’ve even provided you with a handy cut-out form you can use to plan at the end of this feature. And if you don’t find yourself returning once the meals aren’t all $16, $26 or $36, it’s still a chance to sample new spots, and of course, you’ll be giving back too, since some of the proceeds benefit the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.