Month: March 2018

When Gabriele Rausse was a boy in northern Italy, he had a Saturday routine. Along with his family, he’d visit two small local farms and pick up shares of vegetables, fruits, eggs and chickens. It was an experience of connection.

“There was a very precise schedule during the week on the use of everything that was brought home,” he remembers. For example, “On Monday was risotto with chicken liver.” After the chickens had been killed fresh on Saturday, he explains, “the liver wouldn’t wait too long.”

The artistry of farm and kitchen, weaving together the production of food and its intelligent use, impressed him early, as did the self-sufficiency of the little farms. “I fell in love with agriculture,” he says, “because on each one of the farms there was everything—cows, chickens, orchards, vineyards, vegetables.” And: “A small amount of wine was made on the farm.”

Fast-forward to his university years, when despite his father’s wish that he study law, he entered agricultural school. “At the time that was totally out of fashion,” he says. “Everybody said, ‘You will never find a wife.’”

The irony, of course, is that today Rausse is a beloved icon of the wine industry here in central Virginia, where growing and making wine and food is about the hippest thing going. He’s routinely referred to as the “father” of the Virginia wine industry, because not only was he involved in its birth at Barboursville in the late ’70s, he’s mentored a number of other budding winemakers since then. For the hundreds of vineyards and wineries now operating in the commonwealth, he is a guiding light.

But in 1976, when he arrived in Barboursville for what he thought would be a short sojourn, growing grapes in this region was seen as a foolish experiment. It took some real experimentation to figure out how to coax vinifera vines to survive and produce in the local climate, with its temperature swings and heavy humidity. The key went back to Rausse’s ag-school roots—he had to perfect the grafting process before he could grow grapes reliably.

He knew he was here to stay when he realized the freedom his life in Virginia offered. “I like to work all day, to be able to produce something,” he says. “[At Barboursville I thought,] I just work all day; I am in heaven. One heaven is enough.”

He still nurtures that ethic today, says Eleanor Gould, his colleague at Monticello, where Rausse is now the director of gardens and grounds. “Gabriele never assigns a job to anyone that he wouldn’t do himself,” she says. “His favorite Jefferson quote is ‘It is neither wealth nor splendor but tranquility and occupation which bring happiness,’ and he truly lives by that precept.”

Occupation, indeed. Rausse has kept busy. After launching Barboursville—now respected nationwide and named one of America’s top 50 vineyards by MSN.com—he went on to consult with and mentor dozens of other startup wineries, including White Hall, Blenheim, Afton Mountain and, notably, Kluge Estate. He’s been on staff at Monticello since 1995, and his own label, Gabriele Rausse Winery, entered the scene in 1997.

He’s relished his role as guide, which has sometimes bred long-term connections. Years ago, he remembers, a new grower named Jim Piggott approached Rausse at a grape growers’ meeting. “He said, ‘I planted cabernet sauvignon and I have some grapes this year for the first time. Are you willing to buy and process them?’ I said, ‘You know, I’ve already got enough cabernet sauvignon, but thank you for asking.’ A week later the guy came back and said, ‘I’m sorry, but my wife said nobody’s allowed to touch our grapes but you.’” Rausse relented, bought and processed the grapes, and was so impressed with the results that to this day, his Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is made exclusively with Piggott’s grapes.

Rausse’s current role at Monticello goes well beyond wine—he oversees vegetable gardens, orchards and woodlands in addition to the vineyards that replicate some of the varietals planted by Jefferson. It’s full circle, in a way—no one was a greater champion of the small, self-sufficient farm, the kind of place Rausse fell in love with as a child, than Jefferson.

Direct involvement of a grower with the final product, Rausse says, breeds quality, and he’s long believed that Americans were ready for a quality wine. “If a guy only makes the wine, of course he will do whatever he can with what he gets,” he says. “If he does both [growing and winemaking] he will want to grow the best possible grapes and then make the best possible wine.”

Gabriele’s favorite flavors

Sage
It is one of my favorite herbs because at home it was used in many recipes. My favorite recipe is sage fried in butter, used as a sauce for noodles.

Rosemary
My second favorite herb. In “potatoes as they go they go” (which means potatoes sliced with different thickness), rosemary is the most important herb.

Eggplant
I love it because it reminds me of Sicily. Now I found my favorite eggplants at Afghan Kabob on Emmet Street. I am not sure how they are cooked but I think they are baked first and then cooked again in a pan.

Roses
I like risotto with rose petals. Of course roses taste like roses. …How can you not like roses?

Risotto with red wine
I don’t use red wine on the roses risotto, but I love risotto with red wine, mainly because, despite cooking the rice for 18 minutes, the results will be beautiful if the wine is beautiful.

Nebbiolo
It is one of my favorite wines, especially when it is more than 25 years old. There is some oxidation but Nebbiolo is able to preserve its characteristics: tobacco and leather.

Viognier
I love this wine with a touch of apricot flavor. I love it because Jefferson discovered it in the Côtes du Rhône more than 200 years ago and he said it was wonderful. …But nobody paid any attention to what he said and, in the ’70s, when the variety of grapes was rediscovered, it was almost extinct.

“Food can affect you from a memory standpoint, like when smelling a red sauce reminds you of your grandma’s house,” says Red Pump Kitchen’s Kendall Moore. “We can do this with perfumed drinks, too.”    

Last fall, the downtown restaurant’s drink menu incorporated elements like sage-infused vodka and spritzes of cinnamon, clove and mint, and, says chief mixologist Moore, the seasonal trend will continue this spring with dried sunflower petal and dandelion infusions. Moore nibbles a viola leaf from the restaurant’s garden that “has a sugariness, almost like cotton candy,” and says he loves to incorporate the local terroir into his inventions.

For a bit of textural diversity, Moore is experimenting with herb-infused bobas—caviar-sized vodka gel balls that pop when bitten. “We can take a delicious cocktail like a daiquiri and add a little mint, lime or viola flower explosion to it,” he says.

Another idea of Moore’s is a Sazerac cocktail that substitutes the ice cube with a cold sphere of absinthe, bitters and brown sugar, stabilized with agar, that guests can eat with a spoon after finishing the drink. “Our focus is to use our own space and ingredients to make something that pays respect to the region and to the chef’s food—something unique and inspiring.”—Lisa Martin

Too tired to go food shopping, and bored with the same old take-out pizza? Home delivery options abound to make sure the cupboard is never bare.

Shenandoah Produce Farms

Lots of people subscribe to summertime CSAs and pick up their bags of produce each week, but Shenandoah Produce goes a step (or two) further. Available year-round via flexible subscription or single online orders, the Mt. Crawford-based company delivers fresh fruit and veggie boxes, locally raised beef, pork and chicken, plus a variety of organic bread, pantry and dairy items right to your Charlottesville, Crozet or Waynesboro doorstep. A $30 minimum order will fill your box with no delivery or membership fees.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats has arrived in Charlottesville—currently covering an area bounded by Carrsbrook, Pantops, Mill Creek and Ednam—allowing home bodies to order off the menu of over three dozen local eateries for a flat delivery fee of about $5. Whatever you’re craving, if the restaurant is open, it’s on its way with a few clicks from your Uber account. You’ll be given an estimated delivery time and can track your meal’s progress on the app’s map.

Hunter Gatherer Dinners

Nature-lovers Leslie and Eric Benz wanted to make it easy for busy families to create quick, healthy meals after a long day, and their favorite game and fish recipes provided the inspiration. Hunter Gatherer Dinner Kits provide unique seasonings, healthy grains and hearty bean side dishes to pair with the customer’s favorite cut of meat or fish (not included). Eleven different options ranging from $10-13 can include a cedar plank or fresh vegetables from local farms (in their new Farm to Table kit), or can be completely vegetarian to suit any taste. Find the kits at Foods of All Nations and Whole Foods Market or online for home delivery. 

Hunter Gatherer Dinners is a local take on Blue Apron: Owners Leslie and Eric Benz supply the ingredients for a healthy meal (minus a protein) and set you up to prepare it perfectly.

As the state’s economy invests heavily in animal farming, agriculture and wine and beer production—and as chefs take advantage of the new bounty around them—is a new Virginia cuisine emerging?

Local chefs say yes.

“When I first started here, you’d have to seek out your local produce and go to the vendor to get it,” says Bizou sous chef Brett Venditti. “Now, we have two or three people come by each week with fresh local products. It spurs so much creativity when you have local people bringing you this huge bounty of food all at once. It gets your brain going, and you start thinking about how you might prepare it, even days before it arrives.”

The state’s geography drives a big part of regional culinary identity. In Charlottesville, Bizou owners Vincent Derquenne and Tim Burgess pioneered a push toward local, high-quality ingredients with Metropolitain restaurant (now Bizou) on the Downtown Mall.

“We started working with local ingredients very early at Metropolitain,” says Derquenne. But in the early 1990s, he says, the produce was different. “People are much more organized now, and now they plant more things restaurants need.” There is a new synergy as local farmers and restaurants get on the same page.

What came first?

“Eggs were the first local product to make an impact,” says Derquenne. “Polyface Farm was the pioneer, and then many people moved toward a similar model.”

But chefs and farmers aren’t the only ones driving the change. “People are a lot more concerned about where their food is coming from,” says Rachel Gendreau, general manager and sommelier at Bizou. “Much of that has to do with Michael Pollan’s influence,” and in particular, the impact of his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which denounces industrialized food production and touts locally sourced cuisine.

“People are more savvy than ever before, and they are holding restaurants to a higher ethical standard,” says Gendreau. Locally farmed artisanal products can often cost more than mass-produced imported foods, thus in addition to a new demand for local products, customers are also “more willing to pay a premium for that experience.”

Show your local

The shift Venditti describes—from having to seek out local produce to the grower now bringing them to the restaurant—is mirrored in the wine world, too. Sommelier Elaine Futhey remembers driving to Virginia wineries to bring back bottles for the wine list in the early days at C&O Restaurant. Today, local wines are more easily obtainable through organized distribution.

That’s a good thing, because the savvier diners become as it pertains to the food menu, the more they ask for local wine. At Fleurie, for example, nearly 20 percent of wine bottle sales are local, which is an increase from about 5 percent a decade ago.

And restaurants are proud to feature local food and wine.

“Everybody’s got their chalkboard showing which menu items come from where,” says Venditti. And each chef has their favorite local product to work with.

“Trout from Rag Mountain,” says Derquenne. “We started with them at Metropolitain, and they’ve provided 28 years of a consistent product. And it’s delicious.”

Venditti pays homage to the mushrooms from Bear Dog Farms, and to the okra from Wayside Produce. “At the height of the season, they were bringing us okra, these baby eggplants that grilled up so light, patty pan squash and, of course, heirlooms [tomatoes].”

The Alley Light chef Robin McDaniel points to the unrelenting demand for prime ingredients as what defines Charlottesville’s culinary scene. “Charlottesville cuisine, as a whole, is much like its population: very diverse yet unified by a commitment to quality,” she says.

As this new Virginia cuisine emerges, unique pairings of local food, wine and beer help anchor regional culinary identity that will—hopefully—define this state for decades to come.

If the goal of Common House, the city’s private social club, is to help convene like-minded creatives, then it’s no wonder Antwon Brinson had been in its kitchen since the opening last spring.

“Food for me has always been something that brought people together,” says the club’s executive chef.

Originally from Niagara Falls, New York, Brinson can remember the smell of sweet potato pie, apple cobbler and pound cake hitting him as soon as he got to his grandmother’s house for the holidays (“The dessert table was right by the side door,” he says). It was those gatherings—bringing family together across the table—that he says made him want to become a chef, and what took him from the Culinary Institute of America to kitchens in the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Palm Springs, San Francisco and, eventually, Charlottesville.

At Common House, Brinson was able to showcase his penchant for farm to table cuisine, but recently shifted his focus to teaching. He’s currently working with the city of Charlottesville to start a microprogram to teach life skills through the disciplines learned in the kitchen.

“My goal is simple: to help people set a foundation in life and learn a trade while doing it,” he says. “If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, that has stood true with every new location, it is that sometimes people don’t need direction, they just need guidance.”

Always on the bar: Bulleit, rye or Pyrat Rum
Special-occasion drink: Moët & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot
Energy source: Family and positive people
Breakfast: Savory: sweet potato hash, smoked gouda, scrambled. Sweet: brioche French toast, salted caramel
Chinese restaurant order: Chicken lo mein, shrimp fried rice
Go-to comfort food: Buffalo wings
Sandwich: Fresh focaccia, Duke’s mayo, soppressata and smoked gouda
Unusual ingredient: Finger limes, jaboticaba
Healthy snack: Skin-on almonds
Unhealthy snack: Kettle-cooked salt and vinegar chips
First food memory: My grandmother’s 7UP pound cake (see below).
Condiment: Spicy mustard, calypso hot sauce
Chocolate: Valrhona or Lindt
Grocery-store cookie: Girl Scout cookies
Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding
Ice cream flavor: Brown butter vanilla
Brunch: sweet or savory? Savory all day
Beer: Not really a beer guy, but if I had to choose, I would say Kona Brewing Co. Hanalei Island IPA.
Kitchen aroma: Stocks!
Always in the home fridge: Banana peppers (hot)
Always in the pantry: Aged balsamic
Bodo’s order: Everything bagel, ham, bacon, pepper jack
Salad bar toppings: Tomato, olives, banana peppers, onions
Cut of meat: Bone-in ribeye
Fish: Swordfish (grilled)
Vegetable: Roasted cauliflower
Midnight snack: Chips. I love chips.
Knife: Damascus steel, Santoku style, Togiharu brand
Appliance: Gas range
Cookbooks: The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery, The Silver Spoon, The Soul of a New Cuisine
Mentors: Peter Timmins and Rich Rosendale
Dream trip: Ethiopia
Favorite food city: New York City, hands down
Cooking clothes: Hedley & Bennett aprons, Mozo shoes, Gramercy chef coat
Cooking music: Flamenco guitar or reggae
Best meal ever: Kihachi Japanese Restaurant in Ohio (15-course tasting).
Favorite cheesy dish: I’m lactose-intolerant, but if I had to choose, I would say Point Reyes blue cheese dip with salt and vinegar chips.

Mama’s 7UP Pound Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Using a mixer, cream together 1 cup shortening, 1 cup butter and 2 1/2 cups sugar. Add four eggs, one at a time, to the mixture. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract to the bowl and mix. Alternate mixing in 3 cups flour and 1/2 cup 7UP. Butter a bundt pan, then dust it with sugar and flour and pour in mixture. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, check with a toothpick to make sure it’s cooked. Then remove and cool.

Pork is passé. Beef used to be for dinner. And lamb is no longer exotic. Is goat the next frontier?

“It’s a wonderful product—delicious, healthy and a cultural centerpiece,” says Clay Trainum, co-owner of Autumn Olive Farms.

Indeed, Charlottesville foodies can find (or could find) goat in some delightful preparations around town—in the meatballs at Parallel 38, roasted whole for Ivy Inn’s exclusive Easter party and as a substitute for lamb in many Indian dishes at fan favorite Milan, from the gently curried Rogan Josh to the spicy Vin D’Alho.

“Goat adds an extreme amount of flavor without using a ton of product,” Parallel 38 owner Justin Ross says. “Gaminess is a term people are afraid of, but it has a place when you balance flavors with it.”

There is one thing keeping goat from overrunning area menus. It’s pricey on the retail side, according to Trainum. While Autumn Olive once traded heavily in the goat game, marketing its carefully raised Boer Bok animals as nutrient-dense and flavor-packed owing to their diet of invasive grasses and plants, the farm has since been priced out.

Trainum says years ago goat ran about $2 per pound on the hoof (aka per live animal), meaning restaurants could in turn sell a reasonably priced entrée and make a decent profit. That all changed when the price spiked. With the animals coming in at nearly $4 per pound these days, Trainum says they’d cost him another $6 to $7 per pound to process, plus more for labor and transportation.

“It’s priced out for restaurants unless they can charge in the $30 range for entrées, and that’s a tough sell,” he says.

According to Trainum, the market price is driven primarily by folks in the Northeast, where the cultural experience of eating goat is worth the high tag for special occasions. For now, that’s keeping local restaurateurs like Ross from serving goat regularly.

“It got too expensive,” Ross says. “The problem is now the farmers aren’t raising them and the market fell out. But if you put it out there, maybe it will come back.”

Milan’s Rogan Josh Curry

In a bowl, blend 1/4 teaspoon hing, 1 1/2 tablespoons red chili powder, 3/4 tablespoon ginger powder, 1 tablespoon fennel seed powder and water into a watery paste. Put it aside. In a blender, mix 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, six green cardamom pods, four small cinnamon sticks and two mace spice pods into a coarse powder. Add boiled onion paste in this mixture. Heat 2 tablespoons ghee or oil in a pan, then add four black cardamom pods and 500 grams of mutton and roast it. Now add masala watery paste, a pinch of saffron, water and salt, then cover with a lid and cook at 175 degrees for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes mix in masala powder and cook it for 30 minutes. Add fresh cilantro on top.

Can’t find the food that feeds your soul? These women took the tongs into their own hands.

Stephanie Murray of Ula Tortilla

People often ask what is the meaning of “Ula,” and for Stephanie Murray and her husband, James Price, it’s part of what inspired the family’s business to begin with: their children, Uriah, Lovissa and Asarum.

“We were basically homesteading—living off of our garden, hunting, raising sheep—and we needed a staple,” says Murray. They settled on corn, but weren’t satisfied with tortillas made from commercial masa (corn flour) stripped of nutrients by high-heat drying. A little research led Murray and Price to learn for themselves the ancient process of “nixtalamization,” which bathes the GMO-free field corn in a calcium hydroxide (limestone) water mixture to loosen the hulls and soften the corn. Using the fresh masa results in a more nutritious, whole-grain tortilla with an earthy flavor and toasty aroma.

“We made the tortillas just for us at first, with a hand grinder, a single press and a griddle,” says Murray. When they brought a few dozen to the City Market in 2014 and sold out instantly, word spread via local news outlets about the project and within six months, Ula Tortillas were being carried in Charlottesville’s Whole Foods Market as well as at Feast!, Greenwood Grocery and other stores farther afield.

Ula Tortillas are now available as far away as Wisconsin, though still made in small batches in Waynesboro by Price and two employees. “We never could have anticipated this,” says Murray, “but people really seem to love them.” Next off the press for Ula: natural corn chips.

Julie Vu Whitaker of Vu Noodles

Transplanted from Vietnam to Waynesboro when she was a young girl, Julie Vu Whitaker grew up isolated from kids her age for being “different,” and family and food were her solace. She cared for others as a social worker for more than 20 years in Charlottesville before turning to her own dreams five years ago. “I decided I needed to conquer my fears and make a change, but I didn’t know how,” says Whitaker.

She happened upon The Farm, a tiny grocery in the building where Lampo is now, and was enchanted. “It was this little, adorable place, and I realized how much I wanted to do something like that,” says Whitaker. “So I asked them, can I make noodles for you?” What began as a handful of noodle boxes sold at The Farm soon turned into a larger operation based out of her newly certified home kitchen, serving 13 vendors in town including Whole Foods Market and Martha Jefferson Hospital’s café.

“The idea was that, as an ethnic person, if I wanted to just grab something and go, I could never find vegetarian or vegan Vietnamese food,” says Whitaker. “I wanted to make it and to share it.” When The Spot (as it’s known now) on Second Street opened up, she jumped at the tiny space. “I had always walked by and kept my eye on that place. I love downtown, and it was perfect.”

There, Whitaker expanded her offerings to include a bahn mi, a Vietnamese sandwich she makes with tofu, along with the noodle bowls. The Spot has no kitchen, so she rents kitchen space at the nearby Jefferson School and ferries the food downtown. That arrangement has led to her newest venture, a sit-down place at the Jefferson School Café, where she’s added a vegetarian pho to the menu. “I really believe in growing organically, and it’s worked so far,” she says.

Barbie Brannock of Barbie’s Burrito Barn

“The food I cook is just like the Friday night meal at my house growing up,” says Barbie Brannock of her California-Mexican fare. In Redlands, California, a small orange grove town east of Los Angeles, neighbors would gather at Brannock’s adobe house to drink wine while the kids ate pomegranates and avocados from trees in the yard, and homemade tacos, tostadas and burritos were the ubiquitous main course. Young Barbie was in charge of frying up the chips and taco shells, which are a signature feature at her restaurant on Avon Street.

A local artist and teacher, Brannock finally heeded the encouragement of her friends to take the plunge and “open the Barn” as her own daughter prepared to head off to UVA. “I love doing this,” she says. “It makes me so happy when people eat fresh, delicious food.” Her menu includes all of her childhood mainstays (paired with pork, beef, chicken or simply vegetarian) plus a chopped bowl that blends the best of everything.

Though taco joints have gained in popularity in the past few years, Brannock believes her emphasis on crispy shells and lots of bright, contrasting ingredients makes hers stand out. “The California difference is that it’s not overly ‘saucy,’” she says. “I use lots of vegetables—jicama, radishes, cucumbers—along with guacamole, salsa and beans made fresh every day, so it’s not only about the meat and cheese. It’s a complete meal in your hand.”

With no plans to expand (beyond perhaps a delivery bike), Brannock is happy in Belmont. “I have my regulars, plus new people come in all the time, and we’re catering now, too,” she says. “I get to cook the food I love for everyone.”

It’s hard to choose the best thing about spring, but strawberries are certainly a strong contender. We asked Daniel Perry, the brains and hands behind Jam According to Daniel, to give us his two cents about this delectable fruit.

Are strawberries a relatively versatile fruit?

The great thing about strawberries is their juicy acidity. They’re just waiting to burst on the palate. Getting ripe strawberries to stand still as a tart topper, for any length of time, is a real challenge: As a pie filling they need a little help to thicken, but putting them over shortcake, pound cake, rice cakes or anything else dry and not over-sweet really lets strawberries shine.

I think strawberries are most versatile because their acidity tempers their sweetness, and keeps the flavor from becoming cloying and lingering on the palate.

What flavors pair best with strawberries?

Balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and sugar (classic!), arugula, prosciutto, yogurt, pound cake. Try them with ricotta, arugula and prosciutto on toast.

What kinds of cheese pair well with strawberries?

I tend to prefer milder cheeses with my fruit. Try ricotta or a milder triple-crème Brie (like St. Andre); or a chèvre or a soft-ripened/blooming rind goat cheese (whatever Caromont is making, most recently the Chabi).

A bowl of Twenty Paces ricotta is my secret superfood. Top it with strawberries, olive oil, salt and pepper—you’ll want to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

What’s your personal favorite way to eat strawberries when they’re in season?

Out of hand, warmed by the sun, straight off the plant. The right berry will be a consistent dark red color from skin to core, not mushy but never crunchy. The incredible aroma gets lost in refrigeration, but they’ll go bad instantly without it, so once the strawberries get picked by someone else, the best part of them goes right out the window.

Strawberry all day

Here are a few ways Daniel Perry says you can utilize spring’s bounty.

Start with a bowl of sliced strawberries, then add a tablespoon each of sugar and lemon juice to make a juicy dessert/breakfast addition, or just a great snack. Substitute balsamic vinegar for the lemon juice, and toss it with a salad. Use lime juice instead of lemon, a dash of salt instead of the sugar, some jalapeño, cilantro and onion, for fruit salsa, or use it as the base for a fruity caponata with grapefruit, melon and black olives.