How many breweries do we need in this town? At least one more, apparently. Last week the owners of Richmond’s Hardywood Park Craft Brewery (twice voted Virginia’s top brewery by ratebeer.com users) announced its plan to open a location in Charlottesville, and everyone’s already in a tizzy over it. Located at 1000 W. Main St. (about equidistant between the Downtown Mall and the Corner), the new brewery will include a 3.5-barrel brewery, a taproom and an outdoor beer garden.
According to the recent online announcement, 12 Hardywood beers will be on tap, “with a focus on experimental batches brewed on site.” The menu will also feature locally roasted coffee, locally brewed kombucha and snacks such as fresh-baked pretzels and charcuterie.
The Hardywood folks are aiming for a September opening.
Game on
Steak and cheese fries? Beer-battered artichokes? Fried mashed potatoes? Yes, please.
Introducing Hurley’s Tavern, a new sports bar off Route 29 with an extensive beer list and apps menu that has quietly made its debut just in time for baseball season. Located at 1000 Rivanna Plaza Dr., Hurley’s officially opened for business last Thursday afternoon.
“We wanted to be a local sports bar with homemade food,” says co-owner Janice Rossano.
The menu features classics such as crispy wings and burgers, of course, but also some of Rossano’s own creations inspired by late nights in the kitchen at Cheeseburger in Paradise (before the Charlottesville location closed a few years ago), like the steak fries smothered in melted provolone cheese, steak, grilled peppers and onions and bacon.
And there’s more to the menu than meat and cheese (though there’s plenty of that). A vegan herself, Rossano wanted to have something for everybody, not just the wing-eating crowd—the menu features meat-free options like the crispy, satisfying deep-fried cauliflower, smothered in the homemade wing sauce of your choice (hey, we said vegan, not low fat).
The daily rotating draft beer list is displayed on a chalkboard visible from the long wooden booths, each of which is equipped with its own TV and remote. No house cocktails, but the bar has just about anything other than frozen drinks.
For more information, check out the Hurley’s Tavern Cville Facebook page.
Tasty tidbits
Rise and shine…Now open at 7:30am on weekdays (11am on weekends), Roots Natural Kitchen on the Corner has added breakfast items such as chia yogurt, oatmeal, toast and coffee to its menu. And many more…Happy birthday, Littlejohn’s New York Delicatessen. The sandwich shop with an extensive menu and loyal following turns 40 this spring, and the original location on the Corner will hold an anniversary event later this summer—we don’t know all the details yet, but we hear it will involve giveaways like concert tickets and gift cards. Read it and eat…Volume 3 of Our Local Commons has just been released, and the 152-page book includes 16 feature stories, cooking tutorials, recipes and other pieces about the area’s food community.