Tag: All You Can Eat

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Culture Food & Drink

A supper series and celebration of Southern foodways

As part of its ongoing supper series, Veritas invites chefs adept in Southern cuisine to create dinners paired with the vineyard’s award-winning wines. Photo by Tyler Darden.

When my husband and I arrived at Veritas Vineyards and Winery for the final Supper Series and Harvest Celebration in mid-October, I thought I’d prepared him for the evening. But as we approached a sea of round tables set for family-style dining, he was visibly horrified—visions of passing dishes and making small talk with strangers clearly dancing in his head.

As we mingled in the tasting room, the sun dipping behind the Blue Ridge Mountains, the mood began to shift. With each bite of Chef Andy Shipman’s hors d’oeuvres—a crispy buttermilk fried-chicken slider on a Martin’s roll, slathered with Duke’s mayonnaise and tangy smoked kraut—we began to feel at home.

“Family-style is the format that not only works the best, but I think people enjoy it more,” Shipman later explained. “It forces you to talk to your neighbor, talk to someone you don’t know. The communal nature of the dinner—I think people really enjoy that.”

And Shipman was right. By the time we reached our table and passed the first platter of aromatic garlicky green beans, all fears had dissolved. That sense of comfort isn’t accidental; it’s integral to the Veritas experience.

“When you’re here, you’re family” may be a slogan for a familiar Italian chain, but at Veritas, it’s literal. The winery, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2024, remains a true family-run operation. Founders Andrew and Patricia Hodson planted the vineyard’s first vines, and today, their children bring that vision to life: Emily Hodson is the head winemaker, George Hodson serves as CEO, and Chloe Watkins completes the family affair as project manager.

The familial spirit even extended to the menu, crafted by Shipman with his own family memories in mind. Drawing inspiration from his mother’s classic pot roast, Shipman elevated nostalgia by marinating Seven Hills short rib in Veritas claret and RC Cola—a nod to when his dad brought home the coveted soda. For an extra layer of influence, he credited his college friends’ study abroad experience in Spain—they were all drinking kalimotxos, a blend of cola and red wine. The result? A kalimotxo pot roast that was tender, savory, and bursting with flavor, paired perfectly with Veritas’ 2013 petit verdot. 

This year’s harvest, completed on the very day of our dinner, brought in 300 tons of grapes in just seven weeks—a record-breaking timeline. Winemaker Emily Hodson explained that the unusually compressed harvest was the result of a hot, dry growing season abruptly concluded by Hurricane Francine, which was followed closely by the catastrophic Hurricane Helene.

Veritas Vineyards and Winery doesn’t shy away from frank discussions about how climate change is reshaping the wine industry. In an August 2023 blog post, Andrew Hodson wrote, “Bottom line on climate change affecting our weather—it’s hot already, and it is going to get hotter and inevitably wetter.” His prediction rang true.

Such extremes have forced Veritas to adapt. Emily has been a driving force behind research initiatives to address these challenges, including a collaboration between the Virginia wine industry and the USDA. The winery’s work focuses on breeding disease-resistant grape varieties better suited to the region’s increasingly unpredictable climate. 

George, who serves as president of the Virginia Wineries Association and vice chair of the Virginia Wine Board, is passionate about strengthening the regional food system. While his sister specializes in the science, George focuses on fostering collaboration among producers, chefs, and wineries.

“I would love to get to a place where the food and wine community is almost inseparable,” George shared. “It’s about making sure our food producers, our chefs, and our wineries are all talking, growing, and collaborating. My mantra is always a rising tide floats all boats.”

Veritas’ 2025 Supper Series will bring this vision to life with a foodways focus, pairing regional chefs with local producers to celebrate the interplay of Southern food and wine. “There are so many people in our region doing innovative and interesting things in Southern food,” George said. “We want to bring in folks who are exactly that.” He hinted at future collaborations with the Trainum family of Autumn Olive Farms and their heritage pork, the Walker family of Smoke in Chimneys and their spring-raised trout, the team at Seven Hills Food, and others.

Each supper will reflect the unique personality of its chef or producer, from the menu to music. George recalled a memorable September dinner featuring Canadian chef Michael Hunter, where the culinary experience was paired with Wu-Tang Clan chamber music.

This creative approach invites diners to connect more deeply with the people and stories behind their meals. “We want to give chefs and producers the freedom to make each night their own,” George emphasized. “It’s about celebrating their craft, creativity, and the connections we all share.”

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Culture Food & Drink

Advice for dining at The Clifton’s 1799

1799 at The Clifton showcases local ingredients and the talent of chef Matthew Bousquet. Photo by Stephen Barling.

Included in the 2024 Michelin Green Guide USA East, The Clifton was built in 1799 as a home for Thomas Jefferson’s daughter Martha and her husband. The property currently houses a boutique hotel and restaurant helmed by Executive Chef Matthew Bousquet. On a crisp November evening, I decided to see what all the excitement was about. The experience inspired me to put together a guide of my own—a few tips to make the most of your meal.

Do arrive early and get a drink at the bar.

Located in the heart of 1799, The Copper Bar—named for the copper piping supporting shelves of alluringly illuminated bottles—sets the tone for the evening.

Try one of bartender Chris Wellen’s handcrafted cocktails. Leaning into autumn flavors, I ordered the Maple Walnut Manhattan, scented with black walnut bitters, sweetened with maple syrup, and served old-fashioned style on a single, sizable ice cube. My husband opted for The Harvest, a blend of local Ragged Branch bourbon, cinnamon apple syrup, and rhubarb bitters.

Don’t fill up on the bread. 

This might seem obvious to anyone who’s ever arrived pleasantly hungry to a restaurant and been tempted by a basket of rolls. But here, there are no baskets, and these are no ordinary rolls. Instead, a Staub cast-iron cocotte appeared, filled with steaming, buttered rolls studded with mustard seeds. Hearty wheat crackers ribboned with red onion offered a crisp contrast. A pat of softened butter completed the offering.

You may wonder what you’re meant to dip the crackers into. The answer? Nothing. And you’ll like it. This first offering stands entirely on its own. 

Don’t order the bone marrow escargot.

Unless, of course, you’re ready for the rest of your meal to live in its shadow. This appetizer has officially joined my “last supper” list. From the moment the server set down the marrow spoon, I knew I was in for an experience.

This dish is a balancing act in every sense. Narrow slices of crisp toast teeter against halved bones, interiors shimmering with luscious marrow. The entire dish is drizzled with Pernod butter, greened with parsley, and dotted with a generous scattering of tender escargot. The dish invites a perfect bite: Tear off a piece of toast, spread on the creamy marrow, top with buttery escargot, and dip into one of the artful dollops of tangy lemon gel scattered across the plate.

For my husband, the star of the show was his entrée: the Kunz short rib. Naturally, I stole a forkful. Resting in a silky pool of celery root purée, the tender beef was unexpectedly paired with ginger and mango, alongside familiar accompaniments of spinach and horseradish-dijon cream.

Be prepared to learn. 

Not from books, though you’ll see many filling the floor-to-ceiling shelves of the library room where we were seated. Instead, learn from the dishes, your server, and maybe even from your phone (hello, Google). 

I don’t pretend to know every ingredient and cooking technique. That’s the beauty of dining out: It challenges you. It teaches you how to taste, layer by layer. There’s meant to be some mystery, some velvet curtain between us and the alchemy of the kitchen.

I couldn’t help but wonder: Who is Kunz, whose name graces the short rib dish? Not the 1799’s Michelin-starred Bousquet, but Gray Kunz, the celebrated chef behind Manhattan’s now-closed Lespinasse. The recipe lives on, skillfully adapted by Bousquet into a dish that feels very at home on 1799’s menu. 

Do choose Virginia wine.

I opted for a glass of Lovingston’s 2022 Rotunda Red, vibrant with ripe red fruit, soft tannins, and a hint of black pepper on the finish. If that doesn’t suit your taste, the wine cellar features an array of award-winning Virginia vineyards alongside global vintages. Highlights were a viognier from Pollak Vineyards, and Barboursville Vineyards’ sauvignon blanc, Vermentino Reserve, and Octagon.

Ask about the ingredients.

Tucked among the grounds of The Clifton is a chef’s garden. The burrata, a first course that evolves throughout the year, showcases the garden’s ingredients. This version spotlighted Badger Flame beets, a unique variety tasting of honeyed sweet carrots. Nestled alongside burrata on a bed of tender lettuces, the salad was dressed with fennel pollen butter, a granola vanilla vinaigrette infused with Espelette pepper, and a white chocolate crumble. If a salad could flirt with being dessert, this one came deliciously close.

Let’s revisit the number four. I researched Espelette so you didn’t have to. It’s a pepper cultivated in the French town of the same name, with a flavor somewhere between sumac and Aleppo pepper. Sumac I know—its tart, lemony brightness grows wild in my backyard. But Espelette? It’s new to me, and I love that.

Do order dessert. 

The rhum savarin looked like a simple puff pastry but delighted us with its moist, tres leches-like interior. The chocolate lava cake, served in yet another charming Staub cocotte, delivered ooey-gooey bitter chocolate goodness, balanced by poached pears and toasted almonds. It was decadent, warm, and the perfect note to end the evening.

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Culture Food & Drink

Pi-Napo delivers the hot, crusty pride of Naples to Fry’s Spring

Pi-Napo’s Pomodori features fresh cherry Vesuvian tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil, and garlic. Photo by BJ Poss.

Naples, Italy, the pizza capital of the world, is sprinkled with more than 800 pizzerias, with styles varying from the thin ruota di carretto to a denser crust-forward a canotto. And all still uphold the Neapolitan spirit in the harmony of ripe tomato, fragrant basil, and the kneading of the dough. It was on a trip to Naples that Onur Basegmez found inspiration in a pie whose essence would become the dough that rose into Pi-Napo, Fry’s Spring’s slice of Napoli.

“We are not just selling pizza,” Basegmez insists, standing over buckets of spicy Italian salami and cherry Vesuvian tomatoes. “We are selling a cheap flight to Italy.” 

Pi-Napo has revitalized the old Fry’s Spring Station into an open-kitchen pizzeria of twirling dough, imported gelato, and handmade cannoli. It’s equipped with two Italian pizza ovens made of volcanic ash, which maintain a temperature of more than 800 degrees. These ovens, smoldering with local white oak and hickory, impart a crusty spice on artisan pizza delivered to the table in sold-by-the-slice time.

Basegmez’s philosophy is rooted in the idea that no matter how you dress it, pizza is a simple dish that leans on quality ingredients and attention to detail. “I don’t eat pizza every day, but I taste pizza every day,” he grins. 

Through several trips eating along the narrow streets of Italy, Basegmez and his Italian partner tinkered with the nuances of hand-crushed sauces to craft a menu that your Nonna would be proud of. “Pizza must be balanced,” he says, with a touch of spice, the subtle sweetness of a sauce, and not too loaded with toppings that it buries the delicacy of the crust.

Pi-Napo’s caprese. Photo by BJ Poss.

Pi-Napo’s menu offers a dozen pies, and a beautiful dollop of buffalo mozzarella drizzled with olive oil, basil, and cherry tomato. The pizzas range from mushroom with white truffle to spicy Italian salami and Calabrian peppers, with a nod to Basegmez’s choice—a classic margherita with a sprinkle of garlic and cherry tomato. The restaurant has 10-inch pizzas during the week as a lunch special and shifts to strictly 16-inch sheet pan pies on Saturdays and Sundays. 

Along with a wheel of Italian gelato, Pi-Napo leans on an in-house family recipe to stuff the cannoli that anchor the dessert window. “We’re bringing Italy to town,” says Basegmez. 

If you drove through the Fry’s Spring neighborhood in late August, you might have noticed Basegmez. On Pi-Napo’s opening weekend, he stood at the traffic lights between Pi-Napo and Dürty Nelly’s and handed out free slices to passersby. “We want to be a part of the neighborhood,” Basegmez says. He appreciates the history of Fry’s Spring Station, standing since 1933, and revels in customers who share that they used to get their oil changed right where the two-ton wood fired pizza ovens now sit.

Pi-Napo has hit its stride on weekdays and game days. Just a walk from Scott Stadium, it’s already served as a rain shelter for a stormy home game and routinely shows Euro-league soccer on screens throughout the restaurant. In the coming months, the kitchen team is looking to add pizza-making classes to spread the joy of 0/0 flour blanketed in ladles of Mutti crushed tomatoes.

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Culture Food & Drink

A reintroduction to Ace Biscuit & Barbecue

The Ol’ Dirty Biscuit is a crispy chicken, gravy, pickle, and pimento cheese combo that’s landed Ace Biscuit & Barbecue on the foodie swoon list. Photo by BJ Poss.

By BJ Poss

Barbecue is nestled as deep in Charlottesville’s roots as any homemade brine. You’d be hard-pressed to find a self-respecting plate of pork barbecue in Virginia that didn’t start out submerged in coarse salt dissolved in water full of sugar, spices, and citrus zest, a chef’s emulsion that absorbs into the meat and, when touched with smoke and fire, blooms into a succulent delight.

One player, noticeably absent on the smokin’ scene, returned last month after an unfortunate hiatus: Ace Biscuit & Barbecue is back to serving the heart of Virginia barbecue classics with a kiss of the South.

Ace shut its doors in late March 2024 after being vandalized beyond the point of recognition. The vandal (who was fittingly charged and sentenced on the day of the restaurant’s re-opening), did $50,000 of damages to wiring, fryers, and flooring—and even the toilets took a beating. To top it off, an eye got smashed out of a portrait of Hunter S. Thompson that, if we’re being honest, would likely earn a smirk from HST himself.

With the kitchen intact again and the dining room close behind, Ace is prepping out a full menu, showing that Southern gastronomy far exceeds crispy lard and baked buttermilk. “Southern food should pull out a memory,” says Ace manager Scott Hewitt. “It isn’t simple; it’s science.”

Ace’s kitchen culture relies on the creativity of the staff to treat the menu as a conversation rather than a rulebook. “We’re all chefs, and we’re all artists,” Hewitt declares. Art plays a role in layering flavor and texture in each dish. Look to Ace classics like the Ol’ Dirty Biscuit—southern fried chicken dripping in sauce gravy, cut with acidic, crisp pickles and smoke of house-made pimento cheese—and the Ace Dip, with jerk chicken sitting atop soft pepper jack to be dunked in Ace jus.

Ace’s housemade pastrami hits the biscuit with an over easy egg, pepper jack cheese, and brown mustard. Photo by BJ Poss.

With an influx of creativity lining its kitchen, Ace is ready to push the envelope on what it means to whip up some low and slow fixings. Charlottesville chef Chris Humphries of Bonny and Read brings an elevated eye to the table as he’s begun to oversee the kitchen in hand with staff who have been spritzing the smokers since Ace’s early years. 

Since the break-in, Ace has become resourceful in reconnecting with its customers by forking out brisket at pop-ups, rolling breakfast burritos at the Charlottesville City Market, and offering dinner pairings like Gochujang sticky ribs with a German riesling at The Wine Guild. 

“We just wanted to get the smokers rolling again,” explains Operations Manager Will Curley, who is downright giddy over how Charlottesville has welcomed back a parking lot of bellowing hickory smoke. “Hearing customer’s bits and pieces reminds you of the sort of community keystone Ace is … makes you really happy to be involved in a project like this.”

Ace used the closure as an opportunity to rethink its space. They’ve done everything from moving the waffle maker to plopping an elevated stage in the dining room, giving Charlottesville a new venue to let loose. “We can’t wait for the first Friday night concert in the dining room, where the band is rocking, the bar is cranking, and the barbecue is smokin’,” says Curley.

Hardcore metal pairs with barbecue as well as any acid-driven riesling. Like a crispy, smoky, protective bark that softens to a tender, melodic center-cut spare rib, hardcore shows have found their Charlottesville home among red brick and carbon steel. “Every time we have a hardcore or metal show, it’s like a dam break,” Curley says with a grin. 

“We’re listening to what Charlottesville wants from us. We’re excited to see where Charlottesville takes Ace in the future.” 

Ace Biscuit & Barbecue is serving its full menu from its barbecue window with outdoor seating. Stay tuned for the dining room’s official re-opening.

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Culture Food & Drink

Tall orders

Ralph Sampson’s American Tap Room is open six days a week at the Barracks Road Shopping Center. Images: Anna Kariel

It’s been more than 40 years since Ralph Sampson led the University of Virginia Cavaliers to a run of basketball glory that included an NIT title in 1980, an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1981, and a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight in 1983. The 7-foot, 4-inch Harrisonburg native was one of the most sought after college recruits of his generation, winning NBA Rookie of the Year and making the cover of Sports Illustrated six times during his college career. He retired from pro basketball in 1995, went into coaching for several years, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

For his latest rebound, Sampson returns to Charlottesville to lead a new team at Ralph Sampson’s American Tap Room, which held its grand opening at its Barracks Road location last month.

“The opening weekend was crazy,” says Sampson. “It happened to line up with alumni weekend, so the opening celebration with the teams tested us from the start.”

The stylish restaurant combines a traditional sports bar with upscale-casual dining, and it’s clear how much consideration went into every aspect, including the decor. Seated under a wall of signed basketballs, accented by a miniature statue of Sampson himself, the superstar baller takes care to emphasize that “this is not just a sports bar. We want it to be a place where people can have great experiences and great food. You’ll never see me hang my jersey on the wall.” 

The idea, says Sampson, is to bring together the community as a whole. “The world of UVA can feel very separate from the rest of the city,” he says. “Like when I was a student, I didn’t feel like I knew the rest of Charlottesville. So we hope that this can be a place for both communities.”

The menu follows the vibe of the restaurant with a mix of bar food and fine-dining options, intending to offer something for everyone. A bacon-wrapped filet mignon with lobster tail rings in at $54, with burger prices around $14. 

Supplied photos.

An order of the jumbo lump crab cake arrived softly composed, herby, and drizzled with grilled lemon accompanied by crispy, well-seasoned fries. A side of dijonnaise complemented the crab dish, as did the house IPA—Ralph’s Big Juicy, a mouthwatering citrusy beer developed in partnership with Three Notch’d Brewing Company. 

With plenty of room for dessert, Sampson personally recommended the Rockslide brownie sundae. “It’s one of my favorites on the whole menu,” he says. “The chocolate is so rich and soft, there’s nothing else like it.” 

Sampson approaches his foray into the restaurant business with a coach’s mentality.  “I want to win championships in the restaurant industry,” he says. He understands that success in this field, like sports, comes from building a team of talented, hard-working players.

Sampson partnered with Thompson Hospitality, the group behind The Ridley on West Main Street, to build his first original-concept restaurant. “I first met Warren [Thompson] back when we were both at UVA, but it wasn’t until recently that we connected again over this project,” he says. “There were so many moving parts and some setbacks when it came to opening this place up. It really showed us our strengths and our weaknesses, and I was lucky to have such an experienced and professional team on my side.”

Sampson says he has lots of plans for the space, everything from screenings of classic games to meet-and-greets with professional athletes and live recordings of his all-things-sports podcast, “Center Court.” With its community focus, and sports history foundation, his American Tap Room is a place where Sampson is sure to power forward once again.

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Culture Food & Drink

Sandwiched in

Morgan Hurt and Gabriel Garcia have created a cult following for their Kitchenette sandwiches, including the Hot Wet Beef (above), which “started it all.” Staff photo.

“It was the Hot Wet Beef that started it all,” says Morgan Hurt. 

Kitchenette, the lunchtime sandwich shop Hurt co-founded with her partner, Gabriel Garcia, boasts 22 different subs, hoagies, and rolls. But the Hot Wet Beef, a juicy roast beef hoagie with eggplant and pepper spread, is the OG. The inspiration came after a bite of a roast beef sandwich in Brooklyn, a sensory experience Hurt describes as beautiful. That’s when the couple realized Charlottesville needed a place that would “combine sandwiches with actual food.”

With 20 years of restaurant experience between them, Hurt and Garcia are well-prepared  to take on a casual, gourmet concept. “Dealing with food is fun!” says Hurt, a Charlottesville native who met Mexico City native Garcia while working at an Asheville, North Carolina, restaurant. In 2006, they moved to C’ville and worked at Vivace and The Whiskey Jar before opening Kitchen Catering and Events, in 2013.  

They hadn’t forgotten about that magical moment with the roast beef sandwich in Brooklyn, though. In their free time, they found themselves crafting subs for friends, and trying out new flavor combinations. Hurt gushes about the appeal of sandwiches. “They are just the perfect food! They’re portable and you can do anything with them,” she says. In 2017, the pair opened Kitchenette, intending the sandwich shop to be a side project to their catering business. But when the pandemic slowed the events business, Kitchenette became their focus.  

In June 2020, Kitchenette moved from a warehouse to a cozy Victorian home, tucked off of East High Street. The space is bright and has a familial feel. There’s a jar of dog treats for pups, and kids love the tables’ novelty salt-and-pepper shakers, which range from dinosaurs to kiwi birds. The new location came with a vintage clawfoot tub in the bathroom, and Hurt jokes that “the sandwiches are so messy, we offer a bath!”

A restaurant space gives Hurt and Garcia the opportunity to flex their culinary creativity and have some fun. Their stuffed sandwiches boast bold flavors and fresh ingredients, with quirky names to match. “Honestly,” says Hurt, “we have to restrain ourselves because we get very dorky with it.” Some, like Penny and Oliver’s Dream, are named after their dogs. Others, like The Ramona, are named after soccer moves. Even AC/DC’s Angus Young gets a shout-out with the Angus Yum. The Squeal is a slappin’ pork and bacon sammie with apple-ginger chutney, while The Jive Turkey’s blend of turkey, cranberry mayo, and crunchy onions elevates your average day-after-Thanksgiving concoction. The flavorful sides include curried chickpea salad, tangy kale salad, and soup of the day.

It’s guided by one goal: “We like to make it for our palates,” says Hurt, “It’s always something that we would want to eat.” Customers agree, say Hurt and Garcia, who love how regulars are always down to try the daily specials. “A lot of people are like, ‘I’ve never had anything bad here, so sure!’” says Hurt. “That’s really cool because they trust us to make it right.”

If Kitchenette is new to you, that’s part of the plan. The eatery’s founders purposely kept advertising to a minimum. “It’s given us the opportunity to learn as we grow,” says Garcia. “We feel lucky that we’ve grown more organically.” Yet it’s hard to keep good food a secret in Charlottesville, and their reputation has spread, well, through word of mouth. “We used to have slow days. There are no more slow days,” laughs Garcia. They’ve also noticed more and more customers ask about parking. “We’re like, this is cool!” says Hurt. “It means they’re not from the neighborhood, we’re spidering out.”

But Hurt and Garcia won’t let the growth change a thing. Their goal for Kitchenette is simple: “We just want it to taste good,” Hurt says. 

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Culture Food & Drink

Gettin’ full

Laura Foner, former executive chef at Duner’s Restaurant, opened Siren in the former Shebeen space, where she’s serving up Mediterranean cuisine with a seafood focus. Photo: Eze Amos

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Charlottesville has lost more than 20 restaurants. And while we mourn the losses, there’s plenty to be excited about, too. The year has seen 30 new restaurants and a bustling food court open. As we tally things up at the end of another tumultuous year, all signs point to a culinary comeback.

From well-established brands to visionary new ventures, there’s plenty to dig in to. But before we roll out the red carpet for our newcomers, let’s take a moment to thank the local spots that weren’t able to weather the slowdown, but still left a lasting impression on the culture and taste buds of our city.

Charlottesville staples Tokyo Rose and The Shebeen Pub & Braai closed their doors this year after a combined 29 years of service.

We lost some newbies in Kama, a modern Japanese venture, and Glaze Burgers and Donuts. And some hot spots have moved on in less permanent ways. Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria and Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen both offer online-only ordering, while hoping to get back to in-person service in the future. Moe’s Original BBQ closed its downtown branch, but continues serving Southern soul food at its Ivy Road location. Junction in Belmont has put its accessible Southwestern plates on pause. All these restaurants have been important cultural touchstones for the community over the years. (One, Tokyo Rose, even moonlighted as a goth nightclub).

The biggest foodie boon this year might be the opening of Dairy Market, a modern food hall that began serving hungry customers in December of 2020. With 16 eateries and two retailers, visitors can score a cone at Moo Thru, a burger at Citizen Burger Stand, lumpia at the food truck-turned-brick-and-mortar restaurant Manila Street, and mac ‘n’ cheese at Angelic’s Kitchen—or hit South and Central Latin Grill, an upscale, casual full-service restaurant. And across the street is Cou Cou Rachou, a new French bakery from pastry chef Rachel De Jong.

The Shops at Stonefield introduced Akira Ramen & Sushi and Torchy’s Tacos, and the “coming soon” Organic Krush Lifestyle Eatery.

The Downtown Mall welcomed Crush Pad Wines, an intimate location to sample fine wines from all over the globe, and Café Frank, a casual eatery with a classic French style by the notable chef Jose de Brito. In addition, a familiar place got a new look when a rebranded Citizen Bowl became Lucky Blue’s Bar, with a menu update that keeps customer favorites intact.

Some old favorites offered new options this year. The Monsoon Siam team expanded to two new locations—in Crozet, Coconut Thai Kitchen boasts many of Monsoon’s popular dishes, and Pineapples Thai Kitchen is a welcoming bright spot in the former Timbercreek Market space in the Coca Cola building. Al Carbón added a second location at 5th Street Station.

Laura Foner. Photo: Eze Amos

The debut of Laura Fonner’s first restaurant, Siren, had food followers buzzing, as Fonner, the former executive chef at Duner’s Restaurant, revealed her culinary vision of Mediterranean cuisine with a seafood focus. Next to Siren, Vision BBQ offers classic smoky goodness and comfort sides from former Maya cooks.

Students on the Corner are enjoying new options at Inka Grill Peruvian Cuisine and Sammy’s On The Corner. You’ll find upscale dining at The Ridley (modern Southern cuisine), Keswick Hall’s Marigold by Jean-Georges (“rustic chic”), and The Wool Factory’s Broadcloth (elegance in a historic textile mill).

Finally, we have hearty sandwiches from Taste Shack and good ol’ surf sammys and baskets from Skrimp Shack—and love it or hate it, the new Chick-Fil-A is now open at the Barracks Road Shopping Center.

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Living

Garden of eatin’: Local entrepreneurs develop a new way of growing greens

Babylon Micro-Farms’ cabinet-sized indoor farms can grow a variety of greens, herbs, edible flowers, fruits, and vegetables. The contraptions may be high tech, but they’re purposefully easy to use: Plug a pre-seeded tray into one of the beds, and technology does the rest.

Soon, you might not need a green thumb to farm continually fresh greens at home. For that matter, you might not need a garden, at least not in the traditional sense.

For that, you can thank Alexander Olesen and Graham Smith, two recent UVA graduates who have developed a series of hydroponic micro-farms that are already in use commercially here in Charlottesville.

Babylon Micro-Farms sprung from a challenge UVA professor Bevin Etienne posed in his social entrepreneurship class, in which students were asked to develop a product to help refugees, something with high impact and a low price tag. Something that people would be able to download an open-source design for and make on their own.

In the research process, Olesen says he got “very hooked” on the idea of hydroponics—a method of growing plants without soil—and how it has the potential to use significantly less water than conventional agriculture and grow crops twice as fast.

Olesen quickly realized that there was nothing available to the average consumer interested in trying this game-changing way of growing food. Hydroponics systems are largely limited to massive consumer operations, and worse still, inaccessible to people in developing countries and communities who could benefit greatly from such a product.

The initial micro-farm prototype—for which Olesen and Smith teamed up with Hack Cville—turned out to be low-tech and the size of a small car, and the entrepreneurs realized that if a community doesn’t have access to food, it’s not likely to have access to pH monitors, nutrients, and everything necessary to make the hydroponics system work, either. “Everything we’ve done since is figure out a way that we can make a platform that allows anyone to engage in hydroponic farming regardless of their background or expertise,” says Will Graham, Babylon Micro-Farms’ director of marketing and sales.

Olesen, who graduated this past spring, spent the summer with Darden School of Business’ iLab, refining the product and securing grants from the iLab and UVA Student Council’s Green Initiatives Funding Tomorrow program, as well as $600,000 from angel investors in order to grow the company from its two founding members to an eight-person operation with a Downtown Mall office. To better serve the customers the company has in mind, it has developed the technology to make the mini farms run themselves. “It’s plug-and-play,” says Graham—at least for the consumer.

“The farm grows crops from seed-to-harvest with no need for maintenance, bringing produce closer to…the consumer. Most of what you buy from grocery stores has been picked days ago and is leaching [nutrients], so you’re getting a more nutritious end-product this way.” – Will Graham

Babylon Micro-Farms provides pre-seeded trays to be placed into the farms, which are big, clear cabinets with four levels of shelving. Each shelf holds beds for seed trays, and each bed is lit from above with special bulbs that give crops a continually perfect sunny day. Once the pre-seeded trays are in the cabinet-farm, technology does the rest of the work.

“In this controlled environment, you’re giving [the crops] the concentrated nutrient profile they’d be taking from the ground, but in a solution form, and with optimized lighting” and more, says Graham. The conditions inside the cabinet are all monitored and regulated by the system, which assesses, among other things, the pH (acidity) of the water/nutrient solution, carbon dioxide levels, air temperature, and humidity, and adjusts accordingly, depending on what’s growing—micro-greens, leafy greens, herbs, edible flowers, fruits, or vegetables. The system will even stagger harvests so the crops ripen in waves, ensuring dozens of heads of lettuce won’t ripen at once, but a few at a time, just as they’d be eaten.

“The farm grows crops from seed-to-harvest with no need for maintenance,” says Graham, “bringing produce closer to the end goal, the consumer. Most of what you buy from grocery stores has been picked days ago and is leaching [nutrients], so you’re getting a more nutritious end-product this way.” Currently, there are a few Babylon Micro-Farms apparatuses installed in kitchens around town. There’s one at UVA’s O-Hill dining hall, and another at Three Notch’d brewery, where Executive Chef Patrick Carroll has been impressed with its output. “We love our micro farm from Babylon,” says Carroll of the unit, which is visible from most spots in the restaurant and brewery. “It always excites us to harvest creativity by truly growing local greens. It adds an extra wow factor as guests walk into the restaurant.”

Babylon Micro-Farms is also working on a self-sufficient hydroponic farm at Boar’s Head’s Trout House, one that will provide salad greens, herbs, peppers, and tomatoes, all “exclusive heirloom varieties from the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants” at Monticello, to help provide food for the resort, says Graham. They’ll be installing a micro farm in the new Cava location on Emmet Street in October as well.

All of this condensed growth in three short years is as impressive as the accelerated growth seen in Babylon Micro-Farms’ machines, says Olesen. But the company hasn’t forgotten its roots. Babylon Micro-Farms has teamed with Etienne’s climate resilience lab at UVA, working to develop concepts for low-cost and portable systems, such as a fold-out farm that collapses to the size of a rain barrel and can be sent to areas of food scarcity for disaster relief; places ravaged by increasingly disastrous hurricanes, for instance. They’ll test the system with UVA’s Morven Kitchen Garden as they work on pilot projects on Caribbean islands devastated by last year’s Hurricane Irma. And for the eager at-home farmer here in Charlottesville? Those systems could be available for order as soon as the end of this year, with a spring delivery, for an estimated cost of $3,500.

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Living

Raising the steaks: Downtown steakhouse is primed for launch

Prime 109, the Downtown Mall steakhouse that’s the brainchild of the team behind Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria, is slated to open later this month. Image: Signe Clayton

Prime 109, the much-anticipated local-farm-centered steakhouse located in the former Bank of America building on the Downtown Mall, opens this month after nearly two years of planning and design.

The restaurant is the brainchild of the Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria team of Ian Redshaw, Loren Mendosa, Andrew Cole, Shelly Robb, and Mitchell Beerens, and it will showcase the cooking of Bill Scatena, formerly of Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, as chef de cuisine.

What’s the number?

Prime 109 takes its name from steakhouse slang for prime rib. When a steakhouse orders “prime 109” from a butcher, the butcher knows to send over roast-ready prime rib of beef. Ian Redshaw, executive chef at Prime 109, is especially excited for the restaurant’s namesake item, a Virginia-raised, 109-day dry-aged 109 steak.

Sharing center stage with Prime 109’s locally grown and produced food will be the interior Beaux-Arts décor of its 100-year-old neoclassical building, an architectural gem from a bygone era.

Redshaw, Prime 109’s executive chef, says the intent behind the restaurant is to feature the bounty of central Virginia’s food while operating in the most sustainable way possible.

“Creating a sustainable cooking community is really hard in Charlottesville because a lot of people outsource everything,” says Redshaw. “We’re trying to keep everything local as much as possible, from our beef all the way down the line, so it’s really to walk the walk of a local restaurant. With Virginia being such a great place to [raise] livestock, it fits hand in hand. Through the community we can vertically integrate everything we have. It creates a language everyone understands—we can tell a farmer ‘I need to talk to you about a cow we need 24 months from now’—and they like that!”

Redshaw adds that we here in Charlottesville are fortunate to have such amazing food grown and sold right in our proverbial (and sometimes literal) backyards.

“We’re trying to feature the bounty of the Shenandoah Valley. It’s such a big bread basket that people forget about it—but it’s some of the best vegetables and livestock around.”

Redshaw reassures Lampo fans currently fretting about the team redirecting its focus to this much larger venture: “Because of our management structure, it’ll just run as Lampo has run; you’ll see the familiar faces, Mitch and Loren will be there. A lot of the partners are pulling double duty to make sure it’s the same experience for our customers.” Cole will be Prime 109’s wine director and Beerens its pastry chef.

Prime 109’s options run the gamut from, well, steak, naturally, to a meatless Bolognese that Redshaw says is particularly delicious.

And, of course, there’s the steak so exciting, they named the entire restaurant after it, the prime 109, which Redshaw says is local pastured beef meticulously dry-aged and cooked to the customer’s liking.

He says they have a dry-aging facility at Seven Hills Food Co. in Lynchburg, a wholesaler of premium pastured Virginia family-farm-raised beef, whose mission is to connect local meat producers with local meat consumers.

“We have a lot of stuff going on in-house, but they do the majority of the processing there [at Seven Hills]—we’re bringing the beef in to them, and we teamed up with them as the livestock producer to help us out in this way.”

Sharing center stage with the locally grown and produced food will be the interior Beaux-Arts décor of the 100-year-old neoclassical building, an architectural gem from a bygone era. Two rows of Corinthian columns, which repeat the design and grandeur of the columns that front the building’s façade, grace the cavernous open space inside of the building, and support gilded coffered ceilings that invite your gaze. Banquettes flanking either side of the restaurant—decorated by local design company Jaid—are showcased by burnished maple floors reclaimed from a mid-19th-century building.

Just past the main dining area on the left is a butchering area and the main production part of the kitchen, where diners can sit at the chef’s table in front of the custom-built, wood-fired grill created by Corry Blanc of Blanc Creatives. Directly across from this is the bar, which will be headed up by Abraham Hawkins, formerly of the C&O.

The polished Carrara white tile flooring leads to a marble staircase that ascends to the mezzanine-level private dining space, which seats 40, overlooks the restaurant below, and lends an up-close look at the space’s gorgeous architectural flourishes.

Redshaw is thrilled to see the Prime 109 team’s dream of a truly local restaurant come to fruition.

“It’s been a huge undertaking with local artisans to bring everything in—from beef producers to blacksmiths to all of our plates are handmade in North Carolina. This collaboration with all local and regional artisans lets us show off what Virginia and the region has to offer.”