Nacho mama’s taco joint
Can’t get enough of Brazos uniquely composed tacos? (We’re looking at you chimichurri steak and potatoes taco.) The hip Austin-style spot announced that a new location is coming to the Barracks Road Shopping Center this spring. The second shop will include all Brazos’ favorites alongside a full dinner and bar menu. The full-service restaurant will expand the friendly, fast-casual Brazos’ concept into a more traditional (but no less friendly) dining experience.
Sip away
Do the recent snowstorms have you dreaming of a beach vacation? The folks at DuCard Vineyards have taken those dreams a step further: They’re opening a satellite tasting room in Nassau, Bahamas, for the winter. “It’s only the first week of January, and frankly we’re already just sick and tired of the snow and cold,” says winery president Scott Elliff.
Customers can order home delivery of wines, and visit the tropical location from their living room by using the BeamMeUp app on their phones, or tough it out locally at the Madison County tasting room with firepits, blankets, patio tent heaters, and more.
Counting the Milli-seconds
Milli Coffee Roasters has a new spot on the Downtown Mall. Milli Second Cafe & Wine Bar, located in the recently opened CODE building, is serving both sides of the work day by offering coffee during the day and morphing into a wine bar at night. The chic spot is nestled in the CODE building’s furnished lounge area, and is a great way to check out the mall’s newest digs.
Champions of the craft
In December, Charlottesville-based Champion Brewing Company and Reason Beer merged into a juggernaut of specialty craft brews. And there’s no need to worry about your Shower Beer or Hoppy Blonde—both companies will still offer their individual lines, and all staff has been retained under the Champion brand. The new venture has Champion founder Hunter Smith at the helm with Jeff Raileanu, co- founder of Reason Beer, as chief financial officer. “It’s a great opportunity for Reason to leverage the reach of Champion’s distribution, and for both brands to streamline operations under a single roof,” says Raileanu. Until now, Reason Beer has been available only in Virginia, while Champion can be found all over the East Coast. Raileanu hopes the brand that he and his team have worked so hard to build will continue to see success and growth with this new partnership.
“Both brands are community-focused and philanthropic; it will be incredible to see our joint impact,” Smith says.
Can we place an order yet?
Next on our 2022 to-do list? Line up to get into Umma’s (start camping out now people), the new Korean/Japanese-inspired restaurant from the founders of Basan food truck in collab with Mama Bird/Sussex Farm. The super popular Basan food truck launched after Charlottesville’s Kelsey Naylor and Anna Gardner spent a year learning to cook at a small bar in rural Japan. “Basan in a lot of ways is shaped by the meals we cooked in our apartment in Miyakonojo, for ourselves and for our other friends,” says Naylor. The brick-and-mortar Umma’s is scheduled to open sometime this spring in the former Moe’s BBQ space on Water Street.