Category: 2021 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

Like chocolate chip cookies and post-it notes, pickleball’s invention was a happy accident. One summer day in 1965, three dads were tasked with entertaining their desperately bored kids. Finding a nearby badminton court but no badminton rackets, they
scrounged up some ping-pong paddles and a plastic ball. Thus, an enduring sport was born. 

Pickleball can be described as a mix of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, but it has some quirky rules all to itself. Pickleball players serve underhand, with the paddle below the waist at the point of contact. And every self-respecting pickleball player knows you better stay out of the kitchen, aka the “no-volley zone,” where hitting the ball is off-limits. 

While pickleball players are drawn in by the game, they stay for the community, and you’ll find plenty of that in Charlottesville. The Central Virginia Pickleball Club estimates that around 300 locals are picking up the paddle, with more people joining all the time. An aspiring pickleball player has plenty of options. You can play in tennis courts throughout Charlottesville, or use the dedicated pickleball courts at Key Recreation Center, Piedmont Virginia Community College, Greencroft Club, or Boar’s Head Resort. For those who want expertise, there are classes hosted by ACAC, CVPC, or local pickleball coach Jason Grigg.

Picture a pair of people. One’s jonesing for coffee. The other’s ready to unwind with a glass of malbec. Where do they go?

The Workshop—a combo coffee shop/wine shop that’s part of The Wool Factory complex—wants to be the answer to that dilemma. It’s all things to all craving-afflicted people: a café serving locally roasted Grit coffee, a pastry shop with delectable bites made by Cou Cou Rachou, and a wine shop where you can pick up a bottle of Domaine Fino. There are beers on tap from Selvedge Brewing. 

It’s even, says The Wool Factory’s Claire Johnson, a “general store”—so if you need a jar of Cou Cou Rachou preserves or a Wool Factory hat, they’ve got you covered. Most wine selections run between $19 and $29, and many are side projects by noted winemakers from Virginia and beyond—like Early Mountain’s Ben Jordan, who sells his Lightwell Survey vintages here at The Workshop.

Folks tend to nurse their drinks of choice in the outside courtyard as often as they take them to go, says Johnson. As for us, we recommend the mystery box of day-old pastries: four goodies for $6. Now that’s worth the trip to Woolen Mills.

Eating vegan is great and all, but where’s the flavor? Lots of folks find it hard to let go of meat and dairy—or, rather, their taste buds find it hard. Since she opened Vu Noodles in 2013, Julie Whitaker has been trying to make it easier. Her Vietnamese noodle shop, serving almost totally vegan meals, earns points for hearty flavor, and that makes it a favorite among eaters of all stripes. 

Whitaker—Vu is her maiden name—isn’t vegan herself, but she’s always gravitated toward noodles and veggies more than meat. “I don’t eat beef or pork,” she says. “Looking at the future and how we eat is really important.” She and her husband Todd Whitaker started cooking vegan Vietnamese food in a grab-and-go format for Whole Foods and other stores, moved through a couple of retail spots, and finally landed, last May, in their current place on Water Street, right behind the Jefferson Theater.

As a Vietnamese-American kid, Whitaker always got most excited about noodle night at home—hence the glorious profusion of noodles on her menu. The vegan pho wins raves for good reason: The mushroom-based broth rivals any beef stock. “For a couple of years I was working on that recipe,” Whitaker says. “I feel like I got it down.” Folks also line up for the noodle bowl with tofu and caramelized onion. Even the crispy rolls have noodles inside.

The only non-vegan item on the menu: fish sauce. “I grew up with that,” Whitaker says. “I can’t let that go.”

Walk into Soul Food Joint and the first thing that hits you is the smell—tangy, greasy goodness fills the air. The menu features all the classic soul food favorites, from fried chicken to pulled pork to mac and cheese. And if the food didn’t tip you off, the decor screams “I’ve got soul:” A photo of James Brown smiles down from a collage of music posters on the wall.

It’s a family business, too. “Most of the recipes are my mother’s recipes, and my grandmother’s, from over 70 years ago,” says owner and chef Shaun Jenkins. “That lady in there is my mom; that’s Chef Honey. She taught me how to cook.”

Chicken aside, Soul Food Joint’s downtown space is also the kitchen for Jenkins’ catering business. The 22-year Charlottesville resident says that Soul Food Joint’s two dozen different types of catering appetizers are his favorite dishes to prepare, and many of the high-end catering items have Southern roots. “We make a garlic cheddar biscuit, punch a hole right in the middle and fill it with chutney, and put the Virginia ham right on top,” he says. “And one of our most popular [appetizers] are our deep-fried deviled eggs.” 

(You don’t have to get married to get your hands on a deep-fried deviled egg, either. Jenkins says they’ve become a popular part of the restaurant’s regular menu.) 

Jenkins began his career in hospitality. In 2017 he took an 18-week course with the Charlottesville Investment Collaborative, which he says was instrumental in giving him the knowledge he needed to grow his business. Soul Food Joint opened its physical location in the middle of the pandemic, but Jenkins says that, all things considered, he thinks the first year in business has gone “perfectly.” 

For him, the most satisfying part is connecting with customers. “If someone walks in that door, and we didn’t have anything to sell, I could still have them leave happy,” Jenkins says. “We have open doors and open arms to anyone that wants to come in and have a conversation on a bad day, or if they want a home cooked meal.”

Nothing ends the day like a cocktail at one of your favorite bars—especially if it comes with a spectacular view of Charlottesville. Here’s where you can grab a drink overlooking our beautiful city.

Quirk Charlottesville

You don’t have to be a hotel guest to enjoy the rooftop at the Quirk. Nested above the four-story West Main Street boutique hotel, which opened its doors last year, the bar offers a 360-degree view of Charlottesville’s major points of interest, from UVA to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Guests can sip on a variety of signature cocktails, as well as locally sourced craft beer and wine. They also can munch on the bar’s eccentric menu, including jerk chicken thin-crust pizza, chili-shrimp tacos, veggie kabobs, and spumoni and waffle bomba. When winter comes, no need to worry about the cold—guests can cozy up in an igloo lounge, relax near a toasty fire pit, or snag a seat indoors.

Crowd-favorite cocktails: Pink Breeze (Cirrus vodka, cucumber, raspberry, lime, prosecco), Commonwealth Spritz (Aperol, sweet vermouth, prosecco, peach vinegar), Q Quencher (gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon, cucumber), and Your Crushes’ Crush (orange or grapefruit vodka, triple sec, Sprite, orange or grapefruit juice)

Passiflora

Right on the Downtown Mall, Passiflora offers a variety of tropical rum- and tequila-based cocktails, as well as wines and beers from around the world. Its Baja-Mediterranean-inspired menu features Mexican favorites like tacos and fajitas, as well as fusion dishes like grilled pineapple and jerk wings. Its rooftop lounge will open this fall.

Common House

Located steps away from the Downtown Mall on West Market Street, Common House—a contemporary member-based social club for Charlottesville’s arts and business community founded in 2017—features a 2,000- square-foot rooftop terrace, in addition to a library, tea room, bridge room, kitchen, bar, lounge, and co-working spaces. Built in 1913, the building is the former home of Mentor Lodge, an influential social club for the majority African American neighborhood of Vinegar Hill, which was razed by the city in 1964 during urban renewal. The club’s third-floor rooftop offers a bird’s-eye view of the mall’s shops and restaurants, and looks out toward the University of Virginia and Monticello. While sipping on their favorite cocktail, wine, or beer, members can enjoy contemporary American dishes, like gourmet burgers and French fries. And on hot days, they can cool off under the terrace’s pergola, topped with a solar panel powering the building. “It’s just an easygoing, comfortable, home-away-from-home vibe—a nice place to hang out,” says co-founder Derek Sieg.

Crowd-favorite cocktails: Birds of Mexico (Vida mezcal, ancho verde chili, agave nectar, lime juice) and Common Sense (Rittenhouse rye, Cappelletti Americano, Cocchi Torino, orange bitters)

Graduate Charlottesville

In August, the Graduate reopened the Trophy Room, formerly known as Camp Ten Four. Like the rest of the school-themed West Main Street hotel, the rooftop bar’s decor is rooted in nostalgia for the good old school days, featuring classic American food and traditional cocktails. Guests have an expansive view of the Corner and downtown Charlottesville, as well as the Rotunda and the Lawn at UVA.

Sometimes it’s a side dish that makes a place special. That’s the case with Otto Turkish Street Food’s rosemary fries. The menu is loaded with good stuff, but it’s the long slim cut of yellow potato, fried to a crispy gold exterior and dusted with a palate-pleasing mixture of salt and minced fresh rosemary, that really got our attention. Go for the doner sandwich and get it stuffed with the “topping” choice of rosemary fries. And then eat it with a side of fries.

Those smoked tomatoes! If you’re a Charlottesville foodie, you know the ones. The Tomates Asados at Mas Tapas in Belmont are transcendent—warm, zesty, rich, drenched in salty oil. Mas has far more complicated items on its broad tapas menu, but no matter what else you order, the tomatoes are always a highlight.

Hearing Mas’ head chef Mike Ketola talk about his food philosophy these days, it’s not surprising that the restaurant’s more pared-down dishes are among those that shine brightest.

“I’ve found as I’ve grown older as a chef, I have more respect for the simplicity of things,” Ketola says. “Back when I was a 20-year-old line cook, it was like, if I can throw 20 ingredients into this dish then obviously that’s going to make it better. I’ve moved pretty far away from that.” 

“Taking five hours to make sure our smoked tomatoes are perfect, melt-in-your mouth delicious—those are the things that satisfy me most now,” he says. “I’m like a mellow old man now, and just try to stay in my zen spot all the time.”

Ketola’s spent much of his cooking career in Charlottesville. He’s got Bodo’s, BBQ Exchange, and Starr Hill on his resume, as well as now-closed spots Blue Light and Rococo’s. Mas, though, has been Ketola’s longest-lasting culinary home. He’s worked in the kitchen at the tapas joint for 15 years, most recently stepping into a new role as the kitchen’s top chef.

He says the restaurant’s “commitment to quality of product and integrity of preparation” attracted him in the first place, and that he’s tried to carry that torch forward in the years since. In his new role, he says he’s looking to preserve the “gregarious, community-slash-dinner party environment that we’ve tried to cultivate here.”

Since opening, Mas has carved out a niche for itself on the Charlottesville food scene. What’s been the key to the restaurant’s success? “Consistency first and foremost,” says Ketola. “The public can always rely on us for consistent preparation, consistent level of quality of our products, consistent variety of our menu, and variety of our wine list.”

Ketola doesn’t spend all his time in the kitchen, though. He has a wife, Jessica, and two young kids. Though working a chef’s hours are tricky for a family man, Ketola says his family is “incredibly supportive” of his work. 

He also plays lead guitar in Peen, a local Ween cover band. And on reflection, Ketola says his job and his hobby have certain subtle similarities.

“It’s this need for immediate approval or disapproval,” he says. “I send this dish out to a table, and they’re gonna let me know if they like it or not immediately. Same thing with playing music. We go into a song and the crowd’s gonna let us know if they’re not into it.”

That might be nerve-wracking for some, but for Ketola, the reward is well worth it. “Music and food can be so similar at times,” he says. “It’s all about bringing people together.”

February is the month of love, but forget the cards, flowers, and candy—we want hot chocolate. MarieBette feels that too, with its annual celebration of Hot Chocolate Month: a different flavor each of the month’s 28 days, from cheesecake to chipotle chili. Don’t forget the (housemade!) marshmallow.

Jennifer Naylor, affectionately known as Mama Bird to those who frequent her Sussex Farm stall at area farmers’ markets, serves up a wide variety of Korean kimchi. It changes with the season, from cabbage or cucumber to apple or radish (to name just a few), and Naylor swears by what she grows on her farm: local, fresh, and seasonal ingredients. When asked about the other secrets to her delicious success (check out the long line outside her stall if you doubt us), she says she makes her kimchi from an “authentic Korean recipe” that she learned from her mother.

The real secret, though, is “knowing the vegetable you are working with—the water content, taste, texture, etc.” And then there are the Korean chili peppers. “I grow my own to supplement, but the bulk of [the peppers] come from Korea, where my aunt has an organic farm,” Naylor says. “She sends them to my mom, hand-harvested, sundried, and milled the old-fashioned way. I’ve yet to find the same quality here in the U.S.”

Strawberry, peach, or classic lime, there’s nothing fancy about the margs at Guadalajara—and that’s what keeps us coming back (well that, and the half-price special on Mondays and Wednesdays). Frozen or on the rocks, we’ll grab the salt-rimmed goblet with both hands and never let go.