Got a new store
It hasn’t been a good stretch for frozen yogurt joints. First Cups in the Barracks Road shopping center went tits up, now Berry Berry on the Corner is getting a makeover.
Fortunately the demise of Berry Berry comes with very very good news. The place turns out to be owned by the same folks who run the popular food truck Got Dumplings, and Phung Huynh said she and her husband Bo are planning to turn it into their first-ever brick and mortar dumplings restaurant while continuing to offer yogurt and bubble teas.
Judging by the typical lunch rush on the Got Dumplings trailer, which sits atop UVA’s McIntire Amphitheater when class is in session, this is a good move.
“Our business this year at the trailer was so busy, we had students saying they didn’t have time to wait in line,” said Huynh, herself a UVA graduate. “We thought, why not change Berry Berry into Got Dumplings?”
Huynh said the trailer will continue to serve up Got Dumplings’ signature chicken and pork treats, as well as its beloved cold noodle salad with peanut sauce, by the amphitheater and at the City Market. The new location will be open year-round and on weekends, and some expansion to the menu is in the works, with new dumpling fillings and side items likely. The yogurt side of the restaurant has been downsized from five machines to two, making room to double the number of seats in the dining room.
Huynh hopes the new store will not only shorten wait times for existing customers but also draw patrons from other areas of the University and give those who can’t get to Grounds on weekdays a chance to try the dumplings. She expects the new location to succeed based on Got Dumplings’ reputation for quality.
“Our dumplings are freshly made,” Huynh said. “We hand chop the vegetables, buy the whole chicken and freshly grind it, and our pork is never frozen. [The students] say you can taste the quality.”
The new Got Dumplings store opened on January 9 and will serve from 11am-10pm Sunday through Thursday and from 11am-11pm Friday and Saturday.
Winter Restaurant Week
So you didn’t take advantage of last summer’s Restaurant Week like you should have. No problem. It’s back.
Charlottesville Restaurant Week the winter edition will run January 24-31, which means now is the time to schedule your reservations and get your mouth watering. A record 40 restaurants will craft special prix fixe menus this year, with four offering three course meals for $16; 23 coming in at $26; and 13 restaurants serving up $36 meals. This is your chance to try newcomers like Oakhart Social, Red Pump Kitchen and Public Fish and Oyster. Or take the opportunity to visit old favorites like Brookville, C&O and Fleurie.
The event is also a chance to give a little back—$1 from every meal goes to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Last year’s summer Restaurant Week raised almost $17,000 for the food bank, a record level of participation.
A slice of the pie
Nothing says good ol’ American celebration like a buttery, flaky pie, right? Well now, thanks to two local food guys, you can incorporate personal pan pies into a four-course meal.
It’s been almost two years since The Pie Guy made its debut on the Downtown Mall. Justin Bagley started serving up traditional Australian-style, single-serving pies with savory and sweet fillings in the spring of 2013 after spending a year Down Under, and now he’s teamed up with an old buddy and fellow foodie to expand the mobile food cart to a full-service catering business.
Former C&O sous chef Joel Myers, who worked under both Dave Simpson and Dean Maupin, left his five-year gig to join Bagley in creating a comprehensive catering menu.
“We’ve always specialized in pies, but with JJ being a chef at C&O, he knew a lot more about the catering aspect of the business,” Bagley said. “We’re finding that people doing weddings and catering not only want pies, but they want to be able to put together a full menu for their guests.”
The new menu features pies (duh) like the bacon-egg-and-cheese breakfast pie and the vegetarian chili quinoa pie in two different sizes. Hors d’oeuvres include aioli-topped crab cakes, bacon-wrapped dates and cheddar leek tarts with tomato compote. Appetizers range from potato gratin and baked mac and cheese to seasonal salads, and let’s not forget the final course: dessert pies including apple crisp and seasonal berry tart with vanilla bean custard.
The catering menu is available at borrowed andblue.com/charlottesville/wedding-catering. And if you’re looking for more of a solo pie experience and can’t find the mobile cart, keep an eye out for The Pie Guy’s pies in the freezer sections and in hot holding display cases at several local stores like the Tiger Fuel Markets.