Leaving the country
Spring has sprung, and as the season turns, so does the Charlottesville foodscape. The Blue Ridge Country Store, an old-timey convenience store known for its extensive salad bar and homemade hot lunch offerings, is changing owners after more than 25 years. Dan and Patty Pribus say they are currently fielding offers, and plan to retire once they sell the business, but feel the transition will be seamless. “Our customers won’t notice a thing,” says Dan. The Pribuses are looking forward to a relaxing retirement filled with “hobbies and grandkids. We never missed a day in over 25 years,” Dan says, “so it will be nice to sleep past 6am for once.”
Out with the old, in with the new
Named after the birthplace of Thomas Jefferson, Shadwells Restaurant has served a cross section of upscale American cuisine since its debut in 2013. Now, the restaurant is doing a spring cleaning of sorts, by completely reimagining its concept. Under the same ownership, Shadwells relaunched as The Piedmont Bar and Kitchen on March 1 in the same location. The Piedmont’s casual, no-frills concept includes stacked burgers, shakes, and a variety of made-from-scratch pizzas, and is open daily from 11am to 9pm.
Fried chicken is a staple below the Mason-Dixon line, and obviously pretty popular here in C’ville, where we impede traffic to score tenders at drive-thrus along Emmet Street’s “Chicken Row.” While we’ll leave the “best” fried chicken to a vote, we can say that Brown’s makes some of it, so there was lots of clucking when the gas station fried-chicken favorite announced it had been sold to Skyline Enterprises. NBC29 reported that the new owners were getting trained on the chicken recipes, and increasing the station’s hours to seven days a week.
Vita Nova Pizza is spinning dough in a new home. The hot-slice fave has moved across the Downtown Mall from its previous location to a bright, roomy corner spot last occupied by The Impeccable Pig clothing store.
And a few stops down the mall, Red Pump Kitchen is getting pumped for its post-COVID reopening (in mid-April) with a new menu that includes a four-course tasting menu that changes weekly.
Healthy growth
It’s a good time to be vegan in Charlottesville. Botanical Fare, which recently opened in the former Java Java space on the Downtown Mall, offers a 100 percent vegan menu of sandwiches, desserts, and specialty coffees. Even our office meatheads took notice of its crunchy mac-n-cheese, made with miso cashew cheese and mushroom-based bacon.
Brew on it
Local breweries are raising awareness about sexual violence with Simcoe for SARA, a partnership that benefits the lifesaving services and prevention education programs at the Sexual Assault Resource Agency while celebrating local beer. This year, Three Notch’d Brewing Company, Decipher Brewing, Champion Brewing Company, Reason Beer, and Blue Mountain Barrel House & The Smokin’ Barrel Restaurant each created a signature Simcoe for SARA brew, including pale ales, a West Coast IPA, and a hopped hard seltzer, all using Simcoe hops.