Author: Jenny Gardiner

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Culture Food & Drink Living

Jeanetha Brown-Douglas provides a kindness with Free Meal Friday

When JBD Event Catering & Soul Food owner Jeanetha Brown-Douglas saw a need in the community, she filled it with her own homecooked meals. As others witnessed her generosity, contributions came in to support her Free Meal Friday program. Photo by Tom Mcgovern

If times of hardship reveal the character of a person, then Jeanetha Brown-Douglas is a testament to kindness and charity. In the middle of the pandemic, facing a slowdown in her own business, the owner of JBD Event Catering & Soul Food teamed up with her family to feed community members in need.

Brown-Douglas, her daughter Dejua, and sister Ruth Turner created Free Meal Friday to provide gratis meals and desserts once a week at JBD’s new location in the former Wild Wolf Brewery spot at 313 Second St.

“When COVID hit, we had to shut down for months, and we had to find a space that was able to conform with all of the safety guidelines,” says Brown-Douglas. “We were fortunate to find that in our new location, our space is large enough for social distancing and also has a large patio for outside dining.”

This setup also allowed her to invite those who needed a hot meal to come in from the cold to eat, or grab some food to take away.

“The idea for Free Meal Friday was born out of the love for our community,” says Brown-Douglas, who had been delivering meals to the Salvation Army and UVA students in the early months of the pandemic through St. Paul’s church. When that stopped, she joined forces with Dejua and Turner, whose business, Hands of Favor, creates customized wigs and provides hair therapy for people in need. “We decided to continue feeding and protecting the community. We also offer masks and hand sanitizer for everyone who comes in to get our free meals.”

Since starting Free Meal Friday, the team has averaged 25 meals per event. Brown-Douglas says food options include baked spaghetti, cheesy mac, and sandwiches. She pairs these with desserts made by her daughter and a bottle of water.

As word got out, others have come forward to help make Free Meal Friday happen. “I am so thankful for the heartfelt donations that have been offered to our cause,” says Brown-Douglas.

She says they’re planning to continue the program at least until the end of March. “Hopefully we will be in a better place with the pandemic, but if not, we will continue offering our help to the community.”

As for her business, which Brown-Douglas says is a “concept of restaurant-event space and catering combined” it’s getting by. “Though business is up and down, we still manage to do okay,” she says.

“We have our regulars that stay with us, which is a blessing. We currently offer indoor dining and takeout.
And we’ll offer small events as the governor allows.”

JBD Event Catering & Soul Food is open 12:30-8pm every day but Monday and Wednesday. The donated meals are available at its storefront on Fridays from 2-4pm, with extended hours as needed. Brown-Douglas welcomes donations to defray the cost of the meals. Checks made out to JBD Event Catering can be dropped off at the restaurant.

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Culture Living

Circling back: Pearl Island’s Caribbean cuisine gets a boost from C’ville Builds

Pearl Island’s renovations will make it easier for customers to dig in to the Caribbean restaurant’s roast pork, chicken with gravy, and curry tofu. “The pandemic has been challenging in many ways, but it has forced us to update our processes and reimagine our business in a more sustainable way,” says co-founder Sober Pierre. Photo by John Robinson

If pigeon peas, plantains, and pikliz jumpstart a craving for you, you’re probably a fan of Pearl Island Foods. The Caribbean-centric food business launched with a booth at Charlottesville City Market in 2014, before moving into the Jefferson School City Center two years later. Sober Pierre, owner and operator of Pearl Island Foods, and Executive Chef Javier Figueroa-Ray operate a small café and catering company, and before the pandemic hit, things were going well.

“The pandemic significantly reduced our catering business, which was the majority of our business,” says Pierre. This meant they had to redirect their efforts toward the café. “The operating constraints required to safely operate amidst COVID-19 has unintentionally forced our café to become a more integral part of our revenue stream.”

The reframing of Pearl Island’s business also required some construction that seemed likely to debilitate the restaurant’s financials. But when the folks at Building Goodness Foundation’s C’ville Builds heard about Pearl Island’s plight, they stepped in.

“We work a lot in the Caribbean in Haiti, and this is the type of food culture we promote, so this circles back because this is the type of project we do internationally,” says Sophie Parson, Building Goodness Foundation’s development and communications manager. “We’re focusing on small businesses and Pearl Island has nine employees. …This is the type of food Pierre and his team are trying to raise cultural awareness of in the community, so it was easy for us to jump on.”

The project will come in two phases, Parson says. The first, which should be completed by the end of the year, will organize the kitchen and storage unit to make it more efficient, since delivery involves storing a large volume of packaging supplies, which take up considerable space.

Pierre says phase two will help to allow food service in the outdoor space at the Jefferson School, with a goal of using this new area to cope with COVID in the present, while keeping the future of the entire building in mind.

“The redesigned outdoor patio is geared more towards post-COVID dining activity,” says Pierre. “However, we are looking forward to creating an outdoor space that is inviting for our customers and for people who haven’t been to Jefferson School City Center, the ‘soul of the city.’ This historically black segregated school is a national landmark that serves as a community center with several nonprofits housed within it. We are happy to serve the community alongside them.”

In addition, Parson says the new area will help extend the outdoor Downtown Mall a bit further. “It makes the Jefferson School that much more attractive, and brings people to the space, so you can, say, drop your kid at the YMCA daycare and have a drink and eat at Pearl Island.”

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Culture Living

Zest for life: PVCC culinary director leaves behind a legacy of passion

Known as joyful, kind, and generous with his time, chef Eric Breckoff touched a lot of lives through his contributions to the local culinary community. Supplied Photo

Patient and fair. Loved teaching. Passion for life. Joyful partner. These virtues are extolled again and again as the Charlottesville food community mourns the passing of chef and food educator Eric Breckoff, who died unexpectedly on August 16 at age 60.

Breckoff was the much-beloved inaugural director of the culinary arts program at Piedmont Virginia Community College. John Donnelly, vice president of instruction and student services at PVCC, says Breckoff was an exceptional choice to run the program.

“He loved teaching and loved what he did and was a great program head and he was so passionate about the program, the students, and teaching,” says Donnelly, who also notes how far-reaching Breckoff’s efforts into the community were. The chef connected his PVCC culinary arts program students to the Monticello Harvest Days and CATEC, through cooking demos and helping place students in jobs in their area of interest. “It’s a significant loss for the college, for the program, and the culinary arts community,” says Donnelly. “He was well known and well respected, and we’ll miss him tremendously.”

Another PVCC colleague, Ridge Schuyler, worked alongside Breckoff at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, where the culinary arts program is located.

“He was larger than life with huge passions: a passion for food, a passion for politics, and a passion for people, especially those who saw food as a way of improving their lot in life,” Schuyler says. He jokes that his proximity to Breckoff also meant the threat of an expanding waistline.

“His students would produce meals, desserts, entrées, and appetizers, and he would bring [them] to our office and stand over us till we tried everything,” says Schuyler. “He was exuberant about both the food and the people who produced it.”

And his students carried his passion forward as they began their own careers. Alicia Simmons and Vinnie Falcone learned through Breckoff’s program before taking jobs at Belmont’s Tavola restaurant, where they each rose quickly through the kitchen ranks to become sous chefs (at different times). “They arrived well-prepared for the job, and became indispensable,” says Tavola chef/owner Michael Keaveny, who says Breckoff was his first call when staffing needs arose.

Simmons, now at Restoration in Crozet, mourns the treasured instructor. “He was such an inspiring instructor,” she says. “I always looked forward to cooking beside him in the kitchen…being able to create delicious dishes every day, and experimenting with flavor combinations, while also seeing the delight on customers’ faces, [something] many young chefs dream of achieving.”

Falcone, now at Michelin-starred Rose’s Luxury in Washington, D.C., says Breckoff “couldn’t have been more fair and accommodating to everyone around him. He had the patience of a saint. He knew when he could push people. His instruction absolutely helped me get to where I am today.”

Breckoff’s wife, Patty Carrubba, remembers her husband’s zest for living life large, which included extensive traveling overseas to visit friends and family.

“We laughed every single day and I could’ve spent the next hundred years with him and never grown tired of him,” she says. “We knew that every day is a gift and that’s totally how he lived his life—he didn’t count calories, but he did take care of himself, and he loved his family, his students.”

Breckoff worked as a commercial photographer for years, and decided in his mid-30s to attend Johnson & Wales’ culinary school in Charleston, South Carolina, and then in Rhode Island, earning an MBA. Prior to working at PVCC he taught culinary arts at Reynolds Community College in Richmond.

Carrubba was recently divorced and had four children when she met Breckoff at the Foods of All Nations cheese counter. “He was buying one slice of every piece of cheese for his students. I said ‘That’s a lot of cheese.’ He said he was a chef and I said ‘I love to cook! How lucky your wife must be!’ He said he’d never been married, and I said I wasn’t married, and within two weeks we were engaged.”

Breckoff had always wanted a big family and stepped in joyfully, doing Boy Scout camping trips and putting the kids through college, pampering Carrubba throughout their marriage, and bringing her coffee in bed every day.

“He’d been focusing on work his whole life and decided he was going to find a family and we just hit it off,” she says. “At first, I thought there was something terribly wrong with some guy willing to marry me with four kids. I made him go through counseling and I asked the counselor what was wrong, and she said ‘He just totally loves you and he is wonderful!’”

Carrubba says she has been overwhelmed by the tributes and messages she’s received, some from students who graduated 10 and 15 years ago. “Eric kept tabs on everyone from his childhood on, and he valued friendships and cherished and fostered them.” Breckoff was laid to rest on his 61st birthday.

Categories
Culture Living

Brasserie is back: Four-star GM reopens the popular downtown restaurant

Brasserie Saison is doing its best to quell coronavirus closing fears by reopening with a new manager—Stephen Kelly, formerly of Eleven Madison Park—and adding a takeout food and wine shop adjacent to the restaurant. Photo: John Robinson

As the coronavirus continues to keep people inside, local restaurant devotees have been on edge, fearing the worst for many establishments’ ability to survive the slowdown in traffic that has befallen all businesses.

One popular spot has some encouraging news: Rather than closing as planned, Brasserie Saison has cautiously reopened with a new general manager, and added an upscale carryout shop adjacent to the restaurant.

Stephen Kelly recently took over as GM after a decade at Manhattan’s globally acclaimed Eleven Madison Park (a chic establishment launched by Danny Meyer that received three Michelin stars, four stars from the New York Times, and is repeatedly listed as one of the top five restaurants in the world), where he worked his way up from kitchen server to dining room manager and then captain.

Kelly first fell in love with Charlottesville while on visits with his wife, who is a UVA grad. Brasserie Saison became a favorite destination for the couple, and the intimacy of the food community here was a big draw when deciding to make a move.

“We always knew that the time would come for us to leave New York City,” says Kelly. “I came to the realization that a restaurant’s greatest asset along with its team, is its place in the community. …At Eleven Madison Park I was part of a wonderful global community, but I wanted to move to a more intimate community like the one here.”

Like the rest of us, Kelly hadn’t planned for a pandemic. The surge of the virus threatened to thwart his goal while also confirming that he and his wife were making the right decision to uproot themselves.

“I started exploring moving to Charlottesville in early 2020, and COVID-19 stalled those efforts. It wasn’t until Virginia started to open its restaurants that I experienced a moment of serendipity,” he says. “I had emailed Hunter Smith out of the blue. It was shortly before that email that he decided to reopen Brasserie after publicly saying it was closing. It was the community’s reaction to that news that led Hunter to see how important to the community Brasserie was, and also reinforced my perception of the restaurant culture here. So, in so many ways, it was a no-brainer for the both of us.”

Kelly says his vision for the restaurant is a work in progress, due to the circumstances, and it’s hard to predict where we’ll be in the next 12 months, but opening was the first step. “We want to do this in the most responsible way possible so that the reopening of our restaurant is a sign of good things to come,” he says. “My vision for Brasserie Saison is to stay true to that name. While it literally translates to ‘brewery’ it is a name that indicates a casual neighborhood restaurant which can both be a place that is part of a local’s weekly routine, as well as a place for special occasions. Brasserie has such a strong reputation that changing this restaurant’s core values would be a huge mistake. I aim only to reinforce them.”

The restaurant reopened on July 20 with socially distanced dining, and seating inside and on the patio, and Kelly says so far it’s working out well. The staff is smaller, with Spencer Dunsmore, an opening team member and kitchen veteran who worked his way up the ranks, as chef de cuisine, and Wil Smith as bar manager.

“The cocktail program here has been a huge part of the identity of the restaurant up to this point, and [Wil] is the perfect person to continue that tradition in this post-COVID version of the restaurant,” Kelly says.

They’ve also launched Superette Saison next door, in the former Verdigris space, spearheaded by former Brasserie GM Reid Dougherty. It’s a “neighborhood convenience store” concept that features a curated selection of wine, beer, and food to go, and blends with the Saison brand.

“Over time we will be adding more to the Superette, as we find out how we can best serve Charlottesville,” Kelly says. “I would describe it as a different expression of the same Brasserie Saison identity.”

Categories
Culture Living

Veggie fest: Local markets manage an overstock of produce and more

Local farmers have worked closely with area markets to provide customers with safe access to the season’s bounty. Photo: Eze Amos

There is an unexpected silver lining to the current pandemic for those seeking locally farmed produce and meats in the Charlottesville area: Due to the radical change in business practices of area growers and restaurants, customers can now access an abundance of farmers’ offerings on an almost daily basis.

But this has also created a greater hardship for farmers, who’ve always relied heavily on wholesale sales to local restaurants, and have had to change how they do business.

“(Our) vendors were not too enamored with the drive-thru market model, having to list all products online,” says Market Central Chairperson Cile Gorham about City Market To-Go, a drive-thru market that started this spring in Pen Park, and is now held Saturday mornings at Darden Towe Park.

Elena Day, a small producer who sells vegetables, flowers, and homemade pies, didn’t have the time, computer savvy, or resources to get set up for online ordering, which required uploading images of products weekly, so she opted instead to sell at IX Art Park’s walk-up market.

Interaction with customers—even in these masked times—matters to Day. “I have good quality produce,” she says. “I like to see the people who buy, and have exchanges with them and that is the most important thing to me about a farmers’ market—the interpersonal exchanges: They educate me, and I educate them.”

Gorham says The Market at IX is currently the only local farmers’ market that accepts SNAP, where it matches benefits with coupons for free vegetables, fruits, and edible plants. Virginia has not come up with a method for allowing customers to use SNAP for online payments, so they must be used at a walk-up market where a wireless terminal is available to run the cards.

“The transition to a drive-thru market was sudden and quite difficult, says City Market Manager Justin McKenzie. “We limited the market to our year-round reserve vendors that were agricultural or sell value-added goods [such as bread, jams, pies, pastas, and such]. We are currently hosting roughly 50 vendors every week and have exceeded our expected weekly sales.”

Despite the challenging reconfiguring, vendors are learning to like the new way of doing business. “Sales have been pretty consistent and it’s nice to know how much you already sold, instead of hoping for a good market day,” says Crazy Farm’s Alicia Izaguirre. “The way the City Market is being run works well and keeps the health of everyone first and foremost.”

Portia Boggs, director of advancement and communications with The Local Food Hub, says the need for drive-thru markets will continue. “We saw the infrastructure that connects local food to its community crumbling, so we built a new infrastructure, and our growers and producers rose to the occasion, nimbly adapting their operations,” says Boggs.  “Our vendors want to continue for the foreseeable future, and customers—some are elderly and immunocompromised—who don’t feel safe with traditional markets or shopping, appreciate the ease and safety of our market.”

In addition to finding new ways to sell her cheese, Caromont Farm’s Gail Hobbs-Page is also organizing cheese shares, and she agrees that there has been a learning curve.

“It was hell at first,” she says. “…In the old days you packed your cooler, you went to the market, and people either gave you cash or a card. Now online inventory has to go in on Sunday evening the week before, and you have to have everything planned a week ahead. …The good news is that the local food community here is strong and our sales remain very good.”

Hobbs-Page says she’s grateful to the restaurants that have remained open, such as The Local, Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie, Fleurie, and Petit Pois, whose owner Brian Helleberg has been inventive in trying to help local farmers, who he views as family.

“I’ve been ordering from some of these folks for 18 years,” says Helleberg. “These are the best family farms, they’re humble, I just really like working with them—they have such care of what they’ve made, it makes you want to eat it and it’s what I want to feed to my family.”

When businesses shut down, Helleberg decided to sell purveyor’s products alongside his restaurants’ carryout items, and thus was born the Land by Hand Chef’s Share, a subscription food basket with local produce, meats, cheeses, and eggs.

Long a steward of the Charlottesville community, Helleberg says he’s just doing his part to try to help out. “If you keep your values in mind, you have a family you work with, and farms you work with, and let it happen naturally, everyone benefits.”

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Culture

Support system: Restaurants and agribusinesses share resources

Batesville Market’s Kristen Rabourdin immediately jumped in to help other businesses in her first days as the market’s new owner.

The tradition of neighbors helping neighbors has taken on new meaning during the time of coronavirus, pushing many of us to become creative in figuring out ways to help each other. There’s no better example of this than in the Charlottesville-area food community, where business as usual came to a screeching halt two months ago. To combat that, many food professionals turned to collaborations to help get their products to customers in a safe and efficient manner.

Responding early was the Local Food Hub, a nonprofit that partners with Virginia farmers to increase community access to local food by providing support services, infrastructure, and market opportunities. With farmers’ markets unable to open, LFH scrambled to launch two alternative low-contact markets.

“We developed the drive-through markets when we saw the traditional sales outlets our farmers rely on drying up,” says Portia Boggs, the Hub’s director of advancement and communications. “The old infrastructure that connected the two was just no longer functioning. Our markets are great for people who have the capacity [income, car, and time].”

For people who don’t? “Our Fresh Farmacy program is catered to those who don’t have those resources—for example, the homebound, elderly, unemployed, and low-food-access,” says Boggs. “This program provides 400-plus weekly shares of locally sourced products, either via home delivery or a centralized, accessible drop point.”

Wilfred Henry of Mount Alto Sungrown in Esmont recognized that his neighbors needed to get their products out, and organized a contact-free delivery of goods to Charlottesville and Albemarle and Nelson counties, including farmers’ market favorites such as cheeses from Caromont Farm, pork and lamb from Double H Farm to soaps and lotions from Grubby Girl, and Henry’s own full-spectrum hemp and CBD products.  

“The idea evolved naturally out of my friendship with each of these people,” he says. “We’re neighbors. This is our community. Working together and helping hold each other up is what we do.”  

Kristen Rabourdin hadn’t even signed the paperwork to purchase the Batesville Market when everything shut down. A volunteer with the Community Investment Collaborative, she’d planned to showcase local products. “We had anticipated the market being a local music venue [on weekends], and didn’t anticipate having to shift so quickly, but this pushed us…to be this great little country store for people to get their basics without having to go to a large grocery store,” Rabourdin says.

She’s already sourcing locally produced naan and samosas to sell in her market, and she enlisted area baker Maria Niechwiadowicz—herself about to open a bricks-and-mortar location for Bowerbird Bakeshop when everything shut down—to provide macarons.

When she heard that a nearby cannery had closed, Rabourdin applied to get her commercial kitchen approved for use by area purveyors such as Yvonne Cunningham, of Nona’s Italian Cucina tomato sauce, who hopes to shift her sauce production to the Batesville kitchen.  

Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen answered the call to provide food for those in need by offering free meals daily for anyone who wants them, and in another response to food insecurity, Pearl Island Café went from providing snacks at the Boys & Girls Club, to getting 400 meals (such as BBQ chicken, rice and beans, fruits and vegetables) per week into the hands of club and community members, an effort privately funded by Diane and Howie Long.

Whitney Matthews, proprietor of Spice Sea Gourmet food truck, was surprised when a friend from culinary school donated money to help her prepare meals for frontline workers. After contacting more alums, she’s been able to prepare 160 meals to date.

“I’ve [also] been reaching out to other female-owned businesses to help with things like desserts,” she says, such as Cocoa & Spice’s Jennifer Mowad, who’s prepared brownies. Maliha Creations’ Anita Gupta, who crafts boutique wedding cakes, donated other desserts; Kathryn Matthews of Iron Paffles & Coffee donated softshell crabs; and Cunningham contributed her sauce and time, preparing food and delivering it. In addition, Matthews has been collecting donations of food and supplies for immigrant families in need. 

Jessica Hogan and her husband Gabino Lino of Farmacy Food Truck joined the list of locals who are working with chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen to feed frontline workers, preparing 300 meals a week for area police departments. Fellini’s Chris Humphrey, who is also contributing to WCK, has been providing two meals a week to his restaurant’s furloughed staff, and is selling frozen meat from local farmers through Foods for Thought.

Junction Executive Chef Melissa Close-Hart says her place and The Local have contributed over 500 meals to various community members, including frontline workers, while also providing one meal a day to the restaurants’ staff. 

While the virus’ grip on the ability to operate as usual remains tight, local restaurants and food workers—including too many others to list here—have looked within their community to help where it is most needed, and to maintain each other’s businesses. Henry says the key to carrying on is staying loyal to the food and product sources that are closest to home. “We’re all committed to the sustainability of the local economy, and together we’re working to not only keep each other afloat but also expand access to and knowledge about all the great products we have on offer right here,” he says.

Categories
Culture

Keep on truckin’: Food trucks retool their approach to stay running

The Becerras are trying to make up for the loss of City Market business by serving Mexican tacos in their own neighborhood, and at IX Art Park on Saturdays. Photo by Sanjay Suchak

April in Charlottesville is when the food truck business kicks into high gear. For Ignacio and Maria Becerra, the warm weather typically signals the return of long lines of customers snaking around the perimeter of the Charlottesville City Market, waiting for their Mexican Tacos. But there’s nothing typical for the local food industry this spring. Mexican Tacos now operates Thursday evenings in the Becerra’s neighborhood, as well as at IX Art Park on Saturday mornings, says truck manager Luis Becerra.

Food truck proprietors have had to be inventive to keep serving customers who crave anything but another home-cooked meal while honoring Virginia’s distancing guidelines. Whitney Matthews runs the seafood truck SpiceSea Gourmet, and says the timing couldn’t be worse. “Spring is when wineries and breweries start to host events with food trucks and music,” she says. “All events have been canceled or postponed…and corporate lunch spots have also stopped food truck visits because workers are home.”

The Angelic’s Kitchen truck parks at the high-profile Freebridge area of Pantops, where 250 meets High Street, and it’s still bringing in customers. But owner Angelic Jenkins is scrambling to make up for other losses by adding new delivery options and increasing her marketing. “I had to sign up for DoorDash, GrubHub, and Uber Eats,” says the soul food chef. “I also put together a family meal plan special to pick up from the food truck, and did lots of advertising on social media.”

Sussex Farm food truck owner Jen Naylor ensures her customers can access her mobile food by sending regular emails to let everyone know about availability. All Sussex Farm items are preordered and paid for in advance to ensure less contact at pick-up.

Kelsey Naylor (Jen’s daughter)  and Anna Gardner opened the Pye Dog pizza truck last fall. “We’ve switched our business model from wood-fired pizzas to take-home Chicago deep-dish pizzas for now,” says Naylor. “And we’ve been donating all our profits from our sales to the Charlottesville Restaurant Community Fund to try to help out where we can.”

Despite food truck owners’ best efforts, sales have taken a huge hit, and coronavirus fears have transformed how business is conducted.

“My business has been cut by 80 percent,” Matthews says. “I’m also trying to be cautious about my own exposure to the virus. I’m working alone in my truck doing everything.  If I get sick, the business stops completely. So I try to limit my time and exposure to being around others.”

Farmacy food truck’s Jessica Hogan and her husband have lost their day jobs and are now solely reliant upon Farmacy’s income. They’ve adapted quickly to the new reality, creating family-sized meals and using the truck to deliver to people’s homes. Hogan looks at the ability to continue connecting with the community as a silver lining.

“We are having to adapt and flow with what the universe is telling us to do,” she says. “We have been wanting to do the food truck full-time for a while now and just couldn’t because of our other jobs. Now we are forced to, but in a way that’s kinda cool. I respect the change. And embrace it. Nothing wrong with getting creative.”

Truck stops 

Here’s how to track down your favorite food truck

Spice Sea Gourmet (seafood)

spiceseagourmet.com

@spiceseagourmet (Instagram)

TheSpiceSeaGourmet (Facebook)

 

Farmacy Food Truck (Mexican fusion)

@farmacy.cville (Instagram)

farmacy.guru (Facebook)

 

Pye Dog (pizza)

@pyedogpizza (Instagram)

pyedogpizza (Facebook)

 

Sussex Farm (Korean kimchi and prepared foods)

@themamabirdfarm (Instagram)

sussexfarmkimchi (Facebook)

 

Tacos Gomez  (tacos)

@tacogomez  (Instagram)

Or call 953-5408

 

Little Manila (Filipino food) 

@littlemanilacville (Instagram)

LittleManilaCville (Facebook)

 

Ignacio & Maria’s Mexican Tacos (tacos)

@mexicantacoscville (Instagram)

Mexicantacoscville (Facebook) 

 

Angelic’s Kitchen (soul food)

@angelicskitchen, (Instagram)

Angelics-Kitchen-CateringLLC (Facebook)

 

Devil’s Backbone Mobile Carryout (pub fare)

website

 

106 Street Food (gourmet sandwiches)

website

@106streetfoods (Instagram)

106streetfood (Facebook)

 

106 Grilled (pressed sandwiches/panini)

@106grilled (Instagram)

 

106 Eastview (traditional and fusion Japanese fare)

@106eastview (Instagram)

 

Catch the Chef  (burgers, cheesesteaks, chicken, fish, breakfast)

@cvillecatchthechef (Instagram)

cvillecatchthechef (Facebook) 

 

El Tako Nako (tacos)

2405 Hydraulic Rd., 305-8918

 

The Pie Guy (Australian-style savory pies)

website

@thepieguycville (Instagram)

 

Blue Ridge Pizza (wood-fired pizza)

website

@BlueRidgePizza (Instagram)

 

SANJAY SUCHAK

 

 

Categories
Culture

Ripple effect: Local restaurants connect creatively to survive the virus’ impact

Kate Ellwood, the former general manager at Citizen Burger Bar, has launched the Charlottesville Restaurant Community Fund to help raise money for area food service workers in need. Photo by Zack Wajsgras

As restaurants nationwide are forced to limit service in response to the coronavirus epidemic, workers and owners face economic as well as emotional uncertainty. Our gem of a food town is no exception. 

By the time Charlottesville announced its first case of COVID-19 on March 16, restaurants all over town were shutting down or moving to take-out only. At the City Council meeting that evening, several restaurant owners asked council to temporarily delay collection of the meals tax that came due on March 20. Councilors denied the request, but penalties for late payment have been suspended through May 31. 

While the city searches for other ways to support businesses in the months ahead, Charlottesville community members have already responded, swooping in to help provide some financial assistance and morale boosters, with the hope of spurring others to do the same.

Kate Ellwood, former general manager at Citizen Burger Bar, launched the Charlottesville Restaurant Community Fund with a GoFundMe site to help raise money for workers who rely on tips to survive and low-wage hourly workers. 

“I have a cousin who is a restaurateur in Boston, and seeing restaurants in these big cities shutting down, I figured it was only a matter of time before it happened to our community,” she says. “I reached out to [Citizen owner] Andy McClure, and ran it past him and he liked the idea, so I ran with it. 

Ellwood set an initial goal of $10,000, and at press time the fund was well over $20,000. She plans to keep running it, and either continue to donate to other restaurant workers or offer money to other area organizations, such as the food bank. She’ll distribute funds to workers with crucial needs—those who have chronic illnesses or children who need emergency food, or people who could use help paying for their medication or housing. “Any bit of money will help right now in their situation,” she says. The grants will top out at $200 per person, and Ellwood reached out to restaurant owners to determine the recipients. “I’ve had owners and managers contact me to nominate staff who they think could most use it, so that’s been really helpful,” she says. 

Beyond the financial support, Ellwood is also helping workers navigate daunting tasks like filing for unemployment. And, with the help of her training from the Community Investment Collaborative, she’s connecting other local businesses and organizations to create a large network that can help. Her efforts have earned her some national press attention, with Eater, Food & Wine, Imbibe, and Cherry Bombe magazines all spreading the word online.

Restaurants have scrambled to redefine themselves quickly in order to survive, many offering take-out and delivery services. And almost all eateries have expressed that the purchase of gift certificates is a great way to help them immediately.

Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria has carryout service through online ordering. The Local and Junction are offering online orders with a Ten for Ten menu of comfort food items costing $10 (all proceeds go to The Local’s staff and the community). Tavola (co-owned by C-VILLE’s Culture editor Tami Keaveny) has shifted to retail wine sales and delivery, which wine director Seth Maynard says, “allows me to make the world-class wines on our list more affordable.” Seeing it as an opportunity to be creative, Maynard is offering several different themes for curated, mixed cases, including: Italian antiques (from classic Italian wine regions); What your parents drank (recognizable varietals and blends like Bordeaux); Wine that your kids drink (modern “hipster” wines from lesser known regions); and a dealer’s choice matched to a customer’s flavor profile. 

Others have reluctantly shuttered their doors for now. Angelo Vangelopoulous, owner of The Ivy Inn, closed on March 15, and started a relief fund for his staff. “It became clear to me that people weren’t getting the message that social distancing is what we need right now, so I thought it best that The Ivy Inn family did its part to get the word out and show how important this is to our community and everyone worldwide,” he says. 

Ellwood, meanwhile, hopes to launch a nonprofit to support the restaurant community in a more sustained way. “Doing something like this makes other people want to help,” she says. “It has a ripple effect.”

Paying it forward

Kathryn Matthews

While our local restaurant community is struggling, it is also pitching in to help others. Kathryn Matthews, owner of Iron Paffles & Coffee (and who is herself recovering from a major car accident that left her unable to work until recently), is helping to organize essential donations to those in need through the community website supportcville.com. 

“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, businesses across Charlottesville have taken a hit, especially the restaurant industry,” says Matthews. “The result has been an abundance of surplus food from canceled catering orders and lower-than-usual sales, which I couldn’t bear to waste. When I heard of other restaurants in a similar situation, I rallied the restaurant community together to donate their leftovers to low-income families.”

She says SupportCville is also looking for donations from the public of kid-friendly non-perishables, including canned fruit, granola bars, cereal, rice, pasta, peanut butter, and juice boxes, as well as financial donations.

 

Categories
Culture

Deli-cious anniversary: Local organizations benefit from Modern Nosh’s success

Modern Nosh’s menu features popular deli standards like Reuben sandwiches (above), matzo ball soup, and latkes. “When I came back to town, I said I would really love to do this but who knows if they’ll support it, and it’s been a really positive experience" says owner Stephanie Levin. Photo by John Robinson

Has it already been a year since we touted the arrival of an authentic Jewish deli to the local food scene? At the time, Modern Nosh owner Stephanie Levin said her goal was to launch her new eatery with a philanthropic twist, by sharing profits with local charities. 

“Our tagline is ‘you dine, we donate’,” she says. And donate, they did. After enlisting suggestions from customers about prospective recipients, Modern Nosh recently cut checks for $2,500 each to both The Women’s Initiative, which provides mental health services for women in the area regardless of their ability to pay, and the Companion Animal Fund, an organization that gives financial grants to various local pet rescue organizations. 

That Levin had profits to donate bodes well for the deli, considering how hard it is to get a restaurant up and running. She says her first year in business was relatively painless.

“It’s been fun,” she says. “Some things were harder than I expected, some easier. I’d heard horror stories, and I don’t really have any horror stories, so that was really good.”

Levin, a UVA grad whose parents owned a restaurant in Norfolk, says that helping out locally was important to her. 

“When I came back to town, I said I would really love to do this, but who knows if they’ll support it, and it’s been a really positive experience,” she says. “I was keeping my fingers crossed at the end of the year that there would be money to donate because there are so many expenses.”

Levin enjoys working in the food business, even when the hard part of owning a restaurant rears its ugly head.

“The paperwork has taken a lot of time—there are not enough hours in the day to work the behind-the-scenes bookkeeping…and other office stuff,” she says. “But the hardest part has been exposure. I’m still surprised that to this day people walk in and ask ‘Did you just open?’”

While the Modern Nosh menu features popular lunchtime deli standards like Reuben sandwiches, matzo ball soup, and latkes, the shop now serves breakfast fare as well. Favorites include the innovative latke Benedict—two latkes (potato pancakes) with eggs on top and hollandaise sauce (you can add meats such as pastrami bacon)—and challah French toast, which comes three ways: with powdered sugar, chocolate chips, or golden raisins.

“The restaurant makes its corned beef and brisket in-house,” Levin says. “All ethnic things and salads and soups are also homemade,” and even though people in Charlottesville seem unaccustomed to toasted bagels, it’s how they’re served at Modern Nosh.

She’s also added a lunch special for the cost-conscious diner. “Lunchtime we have a couple of hours where it’s a special lunch menu in addition to the regular menu,” Levin says. “Nosh for Nine,” which changes every few months, features nine menu items for $9 from a set menu served between 11am and 1:30pm. 

Even with menu additions, Levin says it’s the customers’ word-of-mouth that makes Modern Nosh a success. “There’s no amount of money I could put into marketing to get [that level of] exposure and name recognition,” she says.

 

Categories
Living

Small Bites

A selection of Caromont Farm goat cheeses. Photo: Bill Parrish

Finally, a real Jewish deli in town

It’s about time, right? After a soft opening on January 26, Modern Nosh will be fully up and running at 111 Water St. on February 5. Owned by Stephanie Levin, a Norfolk native who graduated from UVA in 1990, the restaurant will serve corned beef and brisket cooked in-house, pastrami imported from New York, and other traditional Jewish fare, such as tongue, latkes, and homemade matzo ball soup. A specially selected marbled rye made in Baltimore will be trucked in every day the restaurant is open (Tuesday-Saturday, from 11am to 8pm).

Levin is pulling a Paul Newman, and donating 100 percent of Modern Nosh’s profits to local charities. “Our tagline is ‘you dine, we donate,’ and it’s combining two important things in my life—giving back to the community and food.”

Kidding around

Equally famous for its artisanal cheeses and baby goat-snuggling events, Caromont Farm will host a summer program bringing 8- to 12-year-olds together with their kid counterparts—you know, goats. The Field-to-Fork Day Camps will provide instruction on local food and sustainability, and include activities such as cheesemaking, vegetable gardening, foraging, and cooking.

“Kids should have an opportunity to see the whole picture,” says Caromont owner Gail Hobbs-Page, who will hold the four-day camps at the farm in Esmont, Virginia, this June. “There are so many teachable moments in farming.”

Hip-hop with your BBQ?

In what may be a first for a Charlottesville restaurant, Ace Biscuit & Barbecue has posted a parental warning. It’s for Wu-Tang Wednesday, a weekly event featuring classic hip-hop and rap. “Due to the nature of the music, there may be language which may offend you or your kids,” the posting says. “Unless, of course, you take parenting advice from Ol’ Dirty Bastard, in which case, WU-TANG IS FOR THE CHILDREN.” (That’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s declaration at the 1998 Grammy Awards.)

“Every Wednesday we play unedited hip-hop music, anything of lyrical value, nothing that’s ‘drug use, drug use, drug use,’” says Ace Biscuit manager Andrew Autry, who’s better known as Wolf. “We’re trying to get back to ground level—we want fun customers in here.”