Soul food chef Angelic Jenkins checks on construction progress at the future Dairy Market food hall, where she and her husband, Charles, were the first tenants to sign a lease. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
Angelic Jenkins felt worried as she walked into the community meeting. A big development, Dairy Central, was getting started on Preston Avenue, and talk among folks in the adjoining, predominantly African-American neighborhood of 10th and Page had not been good. Charlottesville has a woeful history of displacing black residents, and this new place, they feared, would be just another chapter in that book.
“When the story first came out, there was a lot of backlash, especially on social media,” says Jenkins, 51, co-founder and -owner with her husband, Charles, of Angelic’s Kitchen and Catering. “A lot of my close friends who live there in the neighborhood were very negative. They said, ‘They’re going to come in here and take over the neighborhood, where there’s already nothing for us.’”
With a scheduled opening in early 2020, Dairy Market is poised to join the food hall trend, while also adding to Charlottesville’s growing reputation as a food and drink destination. Photo: Courtesy of Dairy Market
A lifelong Charlottesville resident, Jenkins felt differently, but she was afraid to express her opinion publicly. After years of operating her soul food business out of a truck, she was the first entrepreneur to sign a lease for the initial phase of the project, the Dairy Market food hall, an ambitious concept—and part of the larger Dairy Central development—led by Charlottesville’s Stony Point Design/Build. The Dairy Market is scheduled to open in the spring of 2020, with Starr Hill Brewery as an anchor tenant, according to the developer.
The Jenkins got in on the ground floor—609 square feet of it, to be precise—after hearing from Stony Point president Chris Henry, back in 2018. At the community meeting, Henry said that Dairy Central would be open to all, with a public space offering food from 18 vendors and live entertainment.
“Everyone is welcome—he made that very clear,” Jenkins says. “When I walked into that meeting and saw a lot of individuals who live in that neighborhood, it calmed my soul. When people saw me walk in, an African American woman who had the opportunity to open a restaurant there, I think it calmed their soul also.”
Jenkins has worked for 19 years as the head of HR for the DoubleTree by Hilton, but five years ago she and her husband bought a food truck and launched Angelic’s Kitchen. Her specialty is fried fish, a Southern staple she fell in love with as a child attending festivals with her mother.
“I was intrigued by all the tents and people selling food outdoors,” she says. “When I did my first festival, I got a head rush from it.”
She served some of the food left over from the event at a family gathering. “And they said, ‘Why don’t you sell some of these dinners?’ I did that for a couple of days and realized, oh my gosh, there’s a lot of money to be made. Then I decided, okay, I’m going to do this the legal way,” she says with a laugh.
She entered a program for entrepreneurs at the Community Investment Collaborative, received her catering license, and went on to rent a nearby commercial kitchen, Bread and Roses. At CIC she also found a manufacturer for her fish breading. She had it bagged so she could coat and cook fillets on the spot at festivals.
Those took place in the summer, but Jenkins wanted to extend her selling season, so in October 2018 she and Charles bought a food truck to make the rounds at local wineries and fall events. “Someone approached me at a festival and told me about some kind of building that would be opening on Preston Avenue in 2020,” Angelic says. “She gave me her card, but I thought nothing of it. But I saw the woman again, and she said, ‘We’re having a meeting about that project I mentioned.’”
She was heartened to see Chris Henry at the first meeting she attended. “He said, ‘Everyone in the neighborhood is welcome.’ That made me feel good. They want the local people involved.”
The Jenkins received a call from Henry’s office soon after the community meeting, and after hearing the details of the planned food hall, they signed a five-year lease.
Today, they’re awaiting approval of their architectural plans for their space in the Dairy Market, and Charles is speaking with retailers about selling Angelic’s Kitchen fish breading.
“The business is growing,” she says. “We’re just really excited about the opportunity to have our own place, so people have access to us every day, versus trying to catch us at the food truck.”
Jenkins’ fried fish will be the central menu item at the Dairy Market space, but other soul food—mac ‘n’ cheese, collard greens, barbecue chicken quarters, and more—will be offered.
What I like most about [the Dairy Market] is that they’re focused on local entrepreneurs,” she says. “I never expected to have a restaurant. It’s a chance I can’t resist.”
Ready, set, snarf! The Chris Long Special is made with rotisserie chicken, avocado, sprouts, tomato, cheddar cheese, and chipotle mayonnaise on a brioche bun. Photo: Tiger Fuel
With the UVA football team on an early winning streak this season, The Markets of Tiger Fuel—a favorite for game-day grub—look like marketing geniuses with the introduction of new sandwiches named for head coach Bronco Mendenhall and former University of Virginia and NFL star Chris Long. The service-station deli trend isn’t new in Charlottesville, but Tiger Fuel now works its made-to-order magic at five locations (tigerfuelmarkets.com). The Bronco Buster—turkey, pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and hot pepper relish on a seven-grain roll—is already on the menu, with a $1 game-day discount. Long’s eponymous sandwich—rotisserie chicken, avocado, sprouts, tomato, cheddar cheese, and chipotle mayonnaise on a brioche bun—debuted on Monday, October 7. A buck from each sale goes to Long’s charity, Waterboys, which works to deliver clean water to communities in need.
Artist Georgie Mackenzie’s work will be on display at Milli Coffee Roasters beginning with the exhibit opening, 5-7pm, October 12. Photo: Courtesy Milli Coffee Roasters
Cool beans
“Machines don’t make coffee, people do.” Those words of wisdom from Milli Coffee Roasters founder Nick Leichtentritt have guided new owner John Borgquist, who has carried on Milli’s tradition of building community with caffeine since Nick passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. A longtime customer and friend of Leichtentritt’s, Borgquist officially took the reigns June 1. Now, along with Leichtentritt’s sister, Sophia Milli Leichtentritt, Borgquist is taking things to the next level with a state-of-the-art new roaster that will enable Milli’s to expand its small-batch offerings. “It has a round drum and looks like an old-school locomotive, but in stainless steel,” Borgquist says. “I’ve kept with [Nick’s] philosophy, though it’s great to have the new tool.” The shop—which also offers Belgian waffles, panini, and wine—will use the roaster to produce an organic, fairly traded Guatemalan coffee grown at high altitude in Huehuetenango. (“It’s pronounced way way ten-ango, which I call ‘Hue-Hue All the Way,’” Borgquist says.) Another Milli’s tradition, displaying work by local artists, will carry on beginning October 12, from 5-7pm, with a show by UVA student/painter Georgie Mackenzie. The shop/gallery is at the corner of Preston Avenue and Ridge McIntire Road. millicoffeeroasters.com
Nuggets
In a run-up to National Vegan Day, on Friday, November 1, Charlottesville’s pizza-and-trivia haven Mellow Mushroom is celebrating with Meatless Mondays, on October 14, 21, and 28. Everyone likes a nice gooey pie, so the pizza joint has teamed up with innovative plant-based food producer Follow Your Heart to make its popular Veg Out Pizza fair game (oops, sorry) for vegans, using a non-GMO, soy-free mozz alternative. Prepared on a 10-inch platter of gluten-free dough, the pie is made with red sauce and fresh veggies like spinach, green peppers, mushrooms (not magic ones), sweet onions, black olives, and—oh, you get the picture. No pepperoni, capiche?! The price is $10.99, a savings of about $8, according to a press release. • Looking for a cool way to ease into the weekend? The Wine Guild of Charlottesville welcomes London-based writer Wink Lorch—author of Jura Wine and Wines of the French Alps: Savoie, Bugey and beyond—for a tasting and book signing from 5:30-8:30pm, Friday, October 11. In addition to having one of the best bylines ever, Lorch is a leading authority on wines of the French Alps and Jura, a little-known viticulture region on the border of France and Switzerland. Email wineguildcville@gmail.com to reserve a spot at the tasting, and indicate which book you’d like Lorch to inscribe for you. Book and tasting $40-45, tasting only $10-15. 221 Carlton Rd. wineguildcville.com • The UVA-developed technology that led to the launch of Ian Glomski’s Vitae Spirits is about to bear fruit again with the debut of another local boutique liquor producer, Monte Piccolo Farm and Distillery. The tech, which aids in identifying and quantifying flavor compounds in fruit brandy, has paved the way for Robin Felder, UVA professor of pathology and associate director of laboratory medicine in the School of Medicine, to produce an eau de vie-style pear brandy with his big copper still in Albemarle County. Monte Piccolo grows its own fruit to make the hooch, and Felder says he’s finalizing his bottling, labeling, and packaging for brandy that will be available soon. “With over 4,000 pounds of pears this year, I’ll certainly have enough pear eau de vie-style brandy to sell!” Felder says. montepiccolo.com
Redshaw split with partner chefs Loren Mendosa and Mitchell Bereens—C-VILLE Weekly’s Best Chef winners in 2015 and 2019, respectively—reportedly to spend more time with his family (he and his wife, Allie, have two children) and launch a private supper club. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
Renowned local chef Ian Redshaw has left the building—or rather, buildings, plural. Redshaw parted ways earlier this month with his fellow partners of two high-profile restaurants he helped put on the map: Lampo, the Neapolitan pizzeria in Belmont, and Prime 109, the upscale steakhouse on the Downtown Mall. Voted Best Chef in 2018 by C-VILLE Weekly readers, Redshaw also received major national recognition as a semifinalist for the 2019 James Beard Awards Best Rising Star Chef of the Year. The Charlottesville 29 food blog reported on Monday that Redshaw split with chefs Loren Mendosa and Mitchell Bereens—C-VILLE’s Best Chef winners in 2015 and 2019, respectively—to spend more time with his family (he and his wife, Allie, also a chef, have two children) and launch a private supper club.
Can craze
On the heels of the successful launch of Charlottesville’s Waterbird Spirits canned cocktails, which sold out hours after a shipment of 42 cases hit the shelves at Kroger, Richmond’s Belle Isle Moonshine announced September 24 that it would introduce a line of sparkling pop-top drinks. Flavors including grapefruit and blood orange will be spiked with Belle Isle’s moonshine.
Nibbles
Charlottesville’s famed Sandwich Lab, which started in Hamiltons’ at First & Main on the Downtown Mall, is making a comeback on Thursday, September 25, at Peloton Station, the new home of former Hamiltons’ chef Curtis Shaver. • Early Mountain Vineyards introduced chef Tim Moore last week at a tasting-menu dinner at the Madison winery. A seven-year veteran of The Inn at Little Washington, a three Michelin star restaurant, Moore will head up Early Mountain’s fine-dining program. • Grit Coffee is officially open in its new Pantops location, in the Riverside Village development on Stony Point Road. • Bonefish Grill in Hollymead Town Center is celebrating National Seafood Month with a three-course lobster meal for $19.99 every Thursday in October. • Over in Staunton, Blu Point Seafood Co., a venture by the fine folks behind Zynodoa restaurant, jumps into the deep end with a grand opening Friday, October 4. “The Chesapeake Bay meets the New England shore,” is Blu Point’s motto. We’re buying it! blupointseafoodco.com
Tavern & Grocery owner Ashley Sieg has rebooted the West Main Street restaurant with three new events spaces. Photo: Kristi Ellis
Tavern & Grocery is offering $100 toward a meal by chef Joe Wolfson and his team to the C-VILLE Weekly reader who suggests the best name for a newly refurbished room in the 1820 Federal-style brick building on West Main Street. Accessible through the restaurant as well as its own entrance marked by a lantern and a glass door, the room seats up to 40 people and is one of three renovated dining and event spaces at T&G. “We have been working tirelessly on them over the past six months,” owner Ashley Sieg says. “We’ve stripped them back to the original brick and horsehair plaster, redone the floors, and more.”
Another event space, The Marseilles Room, is named for the French city. It connects with the downstairs bar, Lost Saint, and seats up to 70 people. Upstairs, the Booker Room—so called because Booker T. Washington stayed in the historic building at the invitation of the owner, Charles Inge, a local teacher, grocer, and freed slave—accommodates 35 diners. It has a wood-burning fireplace, antique tables and chairs, and finishes including reclaimed barn siding.
Sieg wants the name of the third room to reflect the building’s rich past. Among the older structures in Charlottesville, it has served as a tavern, foundry, and grocery store specializing in fish, beef, and locally grown produce. “The grocery was opened by Mr. Inge in 1891 and was actually one of the first African American-owned businesses in town,” Sieg says. “Inge’s family continued to operate it as a grocery until 1979.” It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
For a chance at that $100 prize, email a proposed name to info@tavernandgrocery.com with “win100” in the subject line. The winner will be chosen on Oct. 15, and announced via Instagram @tavernandgrocery and @eatdrinkcville.
Maximum foodie
The mother of all food festivals is upon us. The 13th annual HeritageHarvest Festival at Monticello brings together national and local culinary luminaries for a day of food education, demonstrations, garden tours, and more grub than you could shake a kebab stick at. A marquee event features Will Richey of Charlottesville’s Ten Course Hospitality and Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters, the doyen of contemporary farm-to-table cuisine. We’ve also got our eyes on a session about food justice, at which Richard Morris of the local Urban Agriculture Collective will lead a discussion with Karen Washington, recipient of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, and Jovan Sage, director of Slow Food USA and chair of the nonprofit Seed Savers Exchange. You will not find a better informed convention of food experts anywhere else in the world. $15.95 adults, $10 kids 5-10; 10am-5pm, 931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy., heritageharvestfestival.com
Nibbles
With an impressively equipped new test kitchen, The Happy Cook in the Barracks Road Shopping Center is rolling out an expanded series of cooking classes. Hone your knife skills, master cast-iron cookery, learn to make South Indian food, and more. Sessions run $25 to $55 and are limited to 10 to 20 participants. thehappycook.com • Corner Juice—the health-conscious smoothie and sandwich shop—has added a second location at 200 E. Main St. on the Downtown Mall, directly opposite its nutritional antithesis, Citizen Burger Bar. (Chew on that one for a minute.) cornerjuice.com • Grit Coffee is about to give Pantops a caffeine jolt, moving toward completion of a sleek new space in the Riverside Village development on Stony Point Road. gritcoffee.com • Ivy-based Square One Organic Spirits, founded by UVA grad and Crozet resident Allison Evanow, has launched a line of vegan and gluten-free, low-sugar cocktail and mocktail mixers with tantalizing flavors like Lively Lemon, Luscious Lime, and Pink Daisy. They’re available for $10-$12 per 750ml bottle at shops including The Spice Diva, Market St. Market, and Foods of All Nations, and served at bars in Brasserie Saison, Orzo, Monsoon Siam, and The Fitzroy. Hell, the mixers are even in UVA sports hospitality suites at football, basketball, and baseball games. squareoneorganicmixers.com • Mark your calendar, bivalve gluttons! The Early Mountain Oyster Festival is set for 12-6pm, October 20, at Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison. Fifteen bucks will get you in to enjoy executive chef Tim Moore’s menu of crab cakes, fried oysters, clam chowder, and—mais oui!—Eastern Shore oysters on the half shell. The Currys will provide a rootsy soundtrack. Busy that day? Aw, shucks—more for us. earlymountain.com • King Family Vineyards has landed an accolade almost as prestigious as Best Winery in the 2019 Best of C-VILLE awards. USA Today has named the Crozet eonophile’s dream to its top 10 Best Winery Tours list, joining California establishments including Cline, Jordan, and Benziger. This is the big time, people! kingfamily vineyards.com • Fireflyis celebrating its fifth year in business this weekend, September 21-22, with a $5 food-and-drink menu and much more. Saturday is the big blowout, with a plant sale outside by Edgewood Gardens, as well as music by Mojo Pie (2pm), Jay Seals and the Shara Tones (9pm), and DJ Rum Cove (10pm).
Down on Water Street, Wilson Craig’s Waterbird Spirits production facility is cranking out tens of thousands of cans of premium cocktails. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
Under normal circumstances, having your jaw broken and reset in order to correct an underbite—and then being laid-up in recovery for two months—would be a bummer. But Wilson Craig was happy for the time on the couch. It gave him an opportunity to think. He took his meals through a straw, and wasn’t able to talk, so he spent a lot of time in his own head.
This was about a year ago, and he was living in Manhattan, where he worked in real-estate finance. In this regard, he was following in his father’s rather large footsteps. Hunter E. Craig is one of the biggest landowners and developers in town, a co-founder of Virginia National Bank, and a member of the board at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
But the younger Craig didn’t necessarily want to pick up the paternal mantle. Not long before the operation, he told his dad that he had an idea to create a canned-cocktail brand. He wanted to return from New York, settle down in Charlottesville, and launch the business in the city he knows and loves. His father liked the idea. He liked it so much that he helped his son get started. And now, after a whirlwind startup, Waterbird Spirits is cranking out tens of thousands of 12-ounce canned vodka-and-sodas and Moscow Mules from a sharp-looking shop on the corner of Water and West Second streets. If all goes as planned, four-packs of Waterbird cocktails priced at $13.99 will appear in local supermarkets by the end of September, and the space on Water Street will open for tours in 2020. (Waterbird does not have a license to offer tastings on-site.)
On a blistering-hot day in August, Craig tilts back in a chair in the Waterbird office and crosses his long legs. A woman knocks on the door. Craig uncrosses his legs, bolts upright, and hurries over to greet her.
“Hi,” says the woman.
“Hello,” Craig says, or rather, almost shouts.
“When are you guys opening?” she asks.
“Not for awhile, but we’re in production now,” Craig says.
“Great!” says the woman.
“Thanks so much for your interest,” Craig says. “Really—thank you!”
This is not an act. Craig relishes telling people about Waterbird. “We get a lot of that,” he says, bounding back to his chair. “I love it. People are curious, and we want them to see what’s going on here.”
He also wants you to know that the building, once The Clock Shop of Virginia, actually started as a Sears auto service center. “Sears used to be one of the biggest companies in the United States,” Craig says. “But what happens to a company when they don’t pay attention to their customers? They end up in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.”
His point: Waterbird will succeed by focusing relentlessly on what consumers want. In his opinion—shaped by months of conversations with his father and local winemakers, distillers, and brewers, including his official consultant, Hunter Smith of Champion Brewing Company, and some work with focus groups and taste-testers—consumers want high-quality canned cocktails. “We’re going to use potato vodka because it’s so much better than corn vodka” Craig says. “And we’re going to use cane sugar, because it’s infinitely better than high-fructose corn syrup.”
With many alternative canned beverages entering the market, including the aforementioned hard seltzer and non-alcoholic euphorics, some using CBD, Craig might have reason to temper his enthusiasm for his own product. But, um—not a chance.
“When I was living in New York, all my friends were drinking Bud Light, but not for the taste or any other redeeming factor—it was just convenient,” he says. “Convenience is king. So I thought, why isn’t there a better alternative for portable cocktails?”
As for marketing and branding, Craig sees Charlottesville, Virginia—which is clearly stamped on Waterbird’s label—as an asset.
“Charlottesville has received a lot of bad publicity,” he says. “But I just want to embrace the good. We want to be a product that people see and feel happy and proud that it’s made in Charlottesville. Excited, happy, upbeat, positive—that’s what this brand is.”
Brooklyn duo Charming Disaster is scheduled to play at the Blue Moon Diner on September 26—if it’s open by then. Photo: Publicity
The highly anticipated reopening of the Blue Moon Diner is still…highly anticipated. A call for applications to restaff the West Main Street restaurant, which closed in May 2017, went out a few weeks ago, noting that employees would be strapping on aprons sometime in August.
Now comes word that the Brooklyn-based duo, Charming Disaster, has been booked to play at the Blue Moon at 8pm September 26. We could not confirm the exact reopening date (the answering machine at the diner still says “hopefully this August”) but it better be before September 26!
Charming Disaster is a fitting act to kick off a new chapter for the quirky spot, where vinyl was always spinning behind the bar and musicians periodically played gigs. C-VILLE Weekly described the reopening band’s music as “folk tunes with a cabaret twist,” and a press release notes inspirations including “the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the noir fiction of Raymond Chandler, and the murder ballads of the Americana tradition.”
Cheerfully dark, a little theatrical… Just like the Blue Moon.
Open-and-shut cases
As C-VILLE Weekly first reported via Instagram and Twitter, a new Mexican restaurant run by Benos Bustamante, who recently left his post as front-of-house manager at Mas, will open at 816 Hinton Ave. No date has been set (we sense a theme), but Comal is currently testing recipes—and if the food tastes as good as it looks on Instagram, we’ll be there on opening night, whenever that is. Comal takes over the space recently vacated by the clearly misnamed No Limits Smokehouse. Also reaching its limit: Seafood at West Main, which has announced it will close up shop at the Main Street Market on August 31. Owner Chris Arseneault says he’s moving upstream to Jessup, Maryland, to join the sales team at Reliant Fish Company.
At the shop down on Cherry Street, you’ll find more popsicle flavors than you can shake a stick at. Photo: Morgan Salyer
Some of us, when we were younger, marveled at Baskin-Robbins’ “original 31 flavors.” It seemed impossible (31 flavors!) but also confirmed that summer—ice-cream season—was the best season of all. In Charlottesville, that reassurance comes from the popsicles at La Flor Michoacana. Like Baskin-Robbins, Michoacana boggles the mind with its variety—47 flavors, by informal count. The basics are covered: vanilla, chocolate, mint chocolate chip. But then the freezer case veers into the improbable: watermelon/cucumber, hibiscus flower, pineapple chili, cucumber/lime/spinach, mango yogurt, avocado/lime, piña colada, soursop, tequila, and the list goes on. If there were enough room on this page, we’d give La Flor Michoacana 1 million heart emojis.
Hunter Smith, founder of Champion Brewing Company, is growing and diversifying his role in the local food and drinks industry. Photo: Eze Amos
On a rainy night in early April, I joined a handful of other food-and-drink journalists in the glass-walled pavilion at Afton Mountain Vineyards to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tony and Elizabeth Smith’s ownership of the winery. About a minute into my conversation with Elizabeth during pre-dinner winetasting, I had a smacks-forehead-with-palm moment when she told me their son is Hunter Smith, founder of Champion Brewing Company.
“Of course,” I said, feeling doltish. “Well, he’s been busy lately.”
“That’s Hunter,” she said, “always up to something new!”
Ascendant beer mogul Hunter Smith has plenty of reasons to smile, including his collaboration in The Wool Factory, a food, drink, and events space (still under renovation) in the historic Woolen Mills. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
A month later, I’m sitting in the Champion taproom across a four-top from the Missile IPA man himself. Hunter Smith has the thick build of a football lineman, and he favors a ball cap, T-shirt, and loose-fitting shorts as a uniform. His soft, boyish facial features make him seem younger than his 33 years. In conversation, he’s straightforward and polite. Tony and Elizabeth evidently raised him well—and perhaps imbued in him some ambition and business acumen.
Smith opened Champion around Thanksgiving in 2012. Within a year, he announced plans to increase production to 10,000 barrels a year, and the brewery’s signature IPA debuted in the spring of 2014. Two years later, Champion planted a second tap room in Richmond, and now produces 15,000 barrels a year. His appetite for growth unsated, Smith helped to launch Brasserie Saison, on the Downtown Mall, in February 2017, and earlier this year assumed sole ownership of the gastropub.
Just a couple of weeks before I was at Afton Mountain, news broke that Smith had jumped into yet another venture—The Wool Factory. A scant two miles from the mall, the 12,000- square-foot facility in the historic Woolen Mills will feature an events space, fine dining restaurant by chef Tucker Yoder, coffee-and-wine shop by the Grit Coffee team, and Selvedge, a Champion spin-off brand and Smith’s second gastropub. As if that weren’t enough, Smith—co-chair of the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild government affairs committee—has signed on as a consultant to Waterbird Spirits, a micro-distillery due to open downtown in July.
In the quiet of the Champion tap room, a few hours before opening, Smith discussed his many projects, the possible saturation of Charlottesville’s restaurant industry, and how he balances family life with his pedal-to-the-metal business style.
Knife & Fork: Let’s start with The Wool Factory. When and how did you attach to that project?
Hunter Smith: About a year after we put our production brewery on Broadway, near the Woolen Mills, I met Brian Roy, the developer, and I learned about what he was doing down there. I had no idea that it existed, and to see it was just mind-blowing. It’s a gorgeous spot of land right there by the river. We stayed in touch, and then came the exciting news that [local tech company] WillowTree would move to the mills.
Eventually, Brian told me the project involved a brewpub, and he said, “Maybe they could use your advice.” After that, the conversation proceeded on two tracks. One was transactional: I had enough extra equipment to get a brewpub up and running, and wouldn’t mind selling it. And the other was, “How can I help? Can I become a partner?”
One day I ended up in a room with the Grit Coffee guys, Brad [Uhl], Brandon [Wooten], and Dan [FitzHenry], and Tucker Yoder, the chef I’d been collaborating with since starting Champion. It’s such a cool group project, and I wanted in. But it took a lot of ideation. What are we going to call this thing? It’s five guys and various operations that all need their own brands. How does that make sense as a business? How will people identify with it?
On the banks of the Rivanna River, the picturesque and historic Woolen Mills will house the local tech company WillowTree as well as The Wool Factory, a food, drink, and events space. Smith’s new brand, Selvedge, will anchor a brewpub there. Photo: 3north
There’s also the issue of competition. Was that part of the conversation?
Of course. My experience with Champion and with Brasserie taught me not to count on any sort of late traffic to drive business. I suggested to the group—and I think they knew this, too—that we weren’t going to pay the rent just because we were next to WillowTree. We needed to be smart about it. We are going to be a brewery, restaurant, coffee and wine shop, and events space, and there’s plenty of competition for those things in Charlottesville.
As for the brewery piece of it, I know what’s it’s like to go from home-brewing to commercial brewing. It’s a sharp and painful learning curve. I told the guys, “I don’t think you want to start this on your own.” We all needed to do our own thing, and do it well, and then work together on the bigger picture. And that’s what became The Wool Factory.
I had no idea that you and Tucker Yoder go back to the beginning of Champion. How did that come about?
It was born out of friendship. We were two guys really into the food-and-drink space. When we met, he was the executive chef at The Clifton Inn, and I was just getting the brewery going. He’s a big beer fan, and I’m a big fan of his food, and we both have enjoyed the idea of taking a chef-like approach to making beer.
With The Wool Factory project, you’re introducing a new brand, Selvedge. How will you distinguish
it from Champion?
We’re treating it sort of like a sister brand. With Selvedge, we want to be more cutting edge, no pun intended—experimental IPAs, beers with lots of fruit, and lots of stuff that we’ve done sporadically at Champion.
Another ambitious culinary project, the Dairy Market on Preston Avenue—which will also have market- rate housing—is due to open next year. Is Charlottesville’s food scene reaching a saturation point?
I read comments online about this and chuckle. They’re like, “Another restaurant? It’s pretty absurd.” But Charlottesville’s restaurants-per-capita number is not just about its resident population. Tourists and other transient traffic count for a lot of the clientele. I think that’s a sustaining factor.
At the same time, the city is going to grow. For me and a lot of other folks, affordable housing is a high priority. But from a strictly market perspective—especially, the five- or 10-year growth metrics—there are going to be more people here, and we need more market-rate housing.
It’s definitely not a Field of Dreams thing. It’s not, if you build it, they will come. We experienced that at the brewery. In the first couple of weeks you’re slammed, and then, crickets—because you’re not the new thing anymore. But I think we’ve gotten fairly good at keeping it fresh. If you’re not willing to come up with new specials, new ideas, new ways to engage the community—if you’re just propping up the shop—forget it.
Are the economics really right for a place like The Wool Factory?
That’s been part of our initial conversations. Having done the start-up thing a few times, I’ve emphasized that we’re going to have be loud. We’re not ignorant to the fact that people have a lot of options. There was a time not too long ago when you could stick a brewery anywhere, and people would show up. But now we’re opening in a 12,000-square-foot space. It needs to be busy. There will be 400 folks working at WillowTree, and I definitely think there’s going to be some spillover from there. But they’re also going to have their own in-house kitchen…. So, yeah, we’re going to have to be down there at the end of the street, like the guy waving the Liberty Tax sign, saying, “Get in here and try our stuff.”
And most customers will come from where?
Downtown. I think that’s what we want to illustrate: Hey, we’ve got this gorgeous amenity on the Rivanna River that’s super-close to downtown.
Let’s talk about Brasserie Saison. The plan for you to take over 100 percent was in the works for awhile, right?
Yeah. Will [Richey, of Ten Course Hospitality] and I always had an agreement that after two years I’d have the option to buy him out. Everything I thought he would bring to the table, he did. He’s got the elbow-grease magic. I’m grateful for the opportunity where we partnered and I was just the beer guy and he was the restaurateur. Somewhat to my surprise, I learned how to be part of operating and managing a restaurant, and that happened at the Champion taproom in Richmond.
What changes can people expect at Brasserie? Tangibly, what will your influence be?
With places like Lampo, C&O, Bizou, Petit Pois, and Fleurie in town, I thought the last thing we needed was another chef-driven, small-plate, precious restaurant. What I had in mind was a Western European-style restaurant: great food, great beer. But at Brasserie, beer is about 5 percent of sales now. A really cool restaurant with some niche brewing capacity is what it is. I joke about the fact that if we ever need to remember who our clientele is, there’s a vintage cocktail shaker with reading glasses at the host stand, and that tells me everything I need to know.
Do you have a collaboration with Afton Mountain Vineyards in mind, given your obvious connection there?
Tres Pittard, Brasserie’s executive chef, and I went out to Afton to take inventory of the space and think outside the box. Brasserie and our neighbors at Old Metropolitan Hall are affiliated with Stay Charlottesville, which has the vehicles to do wine tours. Tres and I are looking at the possibility of doing harvest dinners and perhaps cooking classes at the vineyard. We’ve got this gorgeous place that’s a half hour from town, but including transportation will be critical. Once we’ve gotten over that hurdle, we can start doing some really cool events.
Always into something new—that’s what your mom told me about you.
My wife asks what’s wrong with me when I keep considering new projects. But I come from a family of entrepreneurs. It’s nice to blame it a little bit on the previous generation: “Well, look, I got it from them. It’s not just that I’m Mr. Crazy Bananas.” But yeah, it’s always something.
How long have you been married?
It’ll be 10 years this week.
What does your wife do?
She had initially helped me with the books for the brewery, but we grew beyond a one-person-on-QuickBooks operation. At the same time, our kids got to the age where we had to consider whether they’d go to daycare, which is costly, or whether she could raise them herself. So we’ve been single-income since we started Champion. It’s been a team-oriented approach for us, a family affair.
How many kids do you have?
We have two. A daughter who’s 7 and a son who’s 5. They walk to school. It’s a very sweet life that they have.
What influence, if any, do your kids have on your business decisions?
Interesting that you ask. We’ve been speaking to the folks at Little Planets about potentially creating some areas of the patio at Champion specifically for kids. We learned a lot by showing the Virginia March Madness games outside. There’s an opportunity to make the most of this patio. It was initially a 12-space parking lot, but it has turned into an entirely different thing. Anytime we can skim off a nickel or a dime to improve the space, that’s what we’ll continue to do.
The name of the cocktail is Most Beautiful Words. Scroll down for the recipe—and prepare for delicious. Photo: Tom McGovern
Being a great bartender is the sort of thing your parents can lose track of. They know you work in a nice restaurant—one like Tavola, for instance. They glean from your calls home that the hours are long and the work is hard. But greatness? At making a gin and tonic? That’s tough for Mom and Dad to get their heads around.
But then you make it to the semifinals of the most prestigious cocktail competition in the world, and you’re among the top 50 mixologists in the country, and the light bulb switches on. “We looked it up last night,” Mom gushes on the phone. “This is a really big deal!”
A bigger deal: Edwards advanced to the finals. In early June, she went up against just 15 other great drink-slingers at the United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG) World Class contest, in Lexington, Kentucky.
The top prize went to a woman from Chicago. “I didn’t win overall,” Edwards says. “But considering there was only a one-in-15 chance, this wasn’t exactly a surprise. The competition was fierce!”
Edwards did finish among the top four in the speed competition, and—big picture—cemented her position among the nation’s elite bartenders. She’ll make a drink for you right there at the bar in Belmont. “I’m just happy to put Charlottesville a little bit more on the map in the craft-cocktail world,” she says. And also to make her parents proud, no doubt.
We asked Ewards to create a recipe for you, the readers of Knife & Fork. Here’s to you, and to summer, and to one great bartender.—Joe Bargmann
Using inventive ingredients and techniques, Rebecca Edwards approaches making cocktails like a chef creating an elaborate and refined dish. Photo: Tom McGovern
Most beautiful words: a cocktail for the summer
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz. basil and cucumber infused Tanqueray 10 gin
3/4 oz. Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
2 oz. watermelon juice
1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 oz. 1:1 simple syrup
1 oz. prosecco
Basil and cucumber infused Tanqueray 10
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1 750ml bottle Tanqueray 10
Combine ingredients in a tightly sealed container, such as a large jar with a screw-on lid, and let sit overnight at room temperature. Save gin bottle.
Fine-strain mixture to remove solids. Discard solids and use a funnel to return the liquid to the original bottle.
Watermelon juice
Blend 4 cups of chopped watermelon on high until liquified. Strain through cheesecloth. Pour liquid into sealed container and refrigerate.
The cocktail
Combine infused gin, Domaine de Canton, watermelon juice, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a metal shaker. Add ice cubes and shake thoroughly. Strain into a coupe glass, top with chilled prosecco, and garnish with fresh basil, a thin slice of cucumber, or a cube of watermelon—dealer’s choice!
Bartender’s notes
• Regular Tanqueray will work for this recipe. I just particularly enjoy the extra citrus notes of Tanqueray 10.
• If short on time, instead of infusing the gin, you can shake the cocktail with three slices of cucumber and four basil leaves for a similar effect. Just be sure to fine-strain the mixture when you pour the cocktail.
• The cocktail name comes from the Henry James quote: “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
True Heritage wines use grapes planted on historic estates in Keswick that are collaborating with Veritas on the new project. Photo: Veritas Vineyard & Winery
Afton’s Veritas Vineyard & Winery has announced the launch of a new label, True Heritage. Breaking away from the traditional Virginia winery model (mostly on-site and local sales), True Heritage will focus on wider distribution to both meet and increase demand for the Commonwealth’s reds and whites. The rollout targets retail outlets and restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. But Veritas CEO George Hodson and head winemaker Emily Pelton say the ultimate goal is to reach national and even international markets.
The brand name is a humblebrag
about Virginia’s place in U.S. winemaking history. As the True Heritage website notes, Jamestown settlers planted vines in 1609, and the first American vineyard—with 85 acres under cultivation—sprang up in Williamsburg in 1619, a full 160 years before missionaries put vines in the ground in California.
Today, Virginia bottles a fraction of the wine that industry-leading California does. But critics have noted a marked improvement in the quality of the vintages produced here, and True Heritage aims to capitalize on this. Planted on the historic Keswick estates Castalia and Ben Coolyn, 50 acres of vines currently produce grapes for True Heritage, and 150 more vineyard acres are planned.
United we eat
In October 2017, about 700 people attended the United Way’s first Community Table at the Jefferson School City Center, where they reflected on the violent white supremacist rallies of August 11 and 12. The third Community Table event—part of the city’s Unity Days—is a free event that takes place from 6-9pm on August 8 at IX Art Park. Attendees will gather for guided but casual conversation over a family-style meal by Harvest Moon Catering. “We all know that sharing a meal is one of the best ways to create new relationships,” says Caroline Emerson, United Way vice president for community engagement. “Getting to know each other can lead to greater awareness and understanding.” Register by emailing acommunitytable@unitedwaytja.org. Seating is limited, and attendance is determined by a lottery.
Just peachy
Nothing says summer quite like homemade ice cream, especially when it’s of the peach variety. For the past 35 years, Chiles Peach Orchard has donated peaches to the Crozet Lions Club, which then uses the freshly-picked fruit to make the creamy frozen stuff. Get a taste at the peach orchard from 9am-6pm on August 3, and 10am-6pm on August 4. All sales benefit the Crozet and Western Albemarle community. 1351 Greenwood Rd., 823-1583, chilesfamilyorchards.com.
