Tag: Food & Drink

Little Star, the sophomore dining venture by Oakhart Social’s Ben Clore and Tristan Wraight, is slated to open its doors December 30, when its warm hearth and welcoming vibe should be a respite from the chill.

Joined by third partner and executive chef Ryan Collins, the team has put together a restaurant they hope will make patrons feel right at home, complete with bright, Spanish-style tiled walls, large but cozy booths, and warm lighting throughout.

“The theme we liked was more based upon being a kid, harkening back to a time when we didn’t have fears and worries,” Collins says. “It’s like what our hospitality is: Come in, we got you, we’ll take care of you…there’s good food, a little smoke, and a big hearth.”

Collins, who spent eight years working for renowned Spanish-American tapas chef and Nobel Peace Prize nominee José Andrés, says his menu will reflect his affinity for both Spanish- and Mexican-influenced fare, as well as some unexpected takes on barbecue.

Much of this food will come from the hearth, the centerpiece of the open-plan kitchen, where they’ll be burning through a good cord of oak hardwood each week.

“In the smoking oven, a lot of prep will get done in there—even desserts, like a smoked milk custard with charred orange,” he says. “We’ll have roasted vegetables for escalivada—which are roasted and charred, then steamed with their own heat, peeled, cleaned, and all the juices from being steamed go to make the dressing.”

Little Star will offer a shaved pork loin with a mole manchamanteles—a fruit mole with pasilla chilis, plantains, raisins, pineapples, onions, and nuts, topped with crispy sweet potatoes. Also featured: pork short ribs, marinated and slow-cooked in spices and herbs then pulled off the bone (reminiscent of barbecue but without the sweet sauce); hand-cut ham; patatas bravas in a ranchero sauce; and a sweet, tangy salad of barbecued sunchokes with caramelized onions, mojo picón, and shaved apples.

Collins says Andrés and his primarily Spanish team strongly influenced his cooking style, as did working with famous chefs whom his boss brought in as guests, including Diana Kennedy, a renowned authority on Mexican cooking.

More recently, Collins was the chef at Early Mountain Vineyards, and collaborated with Wraight and Clore on some side events, including a hugely popular taco pop-up at Oakhart in the summer of 2017. They’d discussed opening a restaurant, and happened into the former Threepenny Café site, just across the street from Oakhart, before the general public knew it was for rent, nabbing it before anyone else could get it.

They retrofitted the spot to showcase the oven, with greater visibility from outside to give it a high impact from the street. While the space at Oakhart is tighter and more intimate, they wanted Little Star to be more spacious and comfortable, Clore adds.

“We wanted an open kitchen—we want it to be a show,” he says. “When you’re walking down the street, we want you to say, ‘oh—there’s a fire in there! What’s going on?’”

Manning the bar will be bar director Joel (pronounced Ho-el) Cuellar, who’s spent the past 14 years as beverage director at Brandy Library in Tribeca. He’ll be taking over the bar at Oakhart as well, as long-time bar manager Albee Pedone departs for a dream job in Maui. While Pedone’s departure leaves big shoes to fill, Cuellar has the bona fides to do so.

“He’s the real deal,” Clore says. “It’s like Scotty Pippin came to play for a local high school team. He’s going to be an amazing addition to the local bar scene.”

Collins said Cuellar will be managing and developing the cocktail program as well as educating the staff about cocktails, while he and Clore curate the wine list. Bar patrons will be treated to a gratis tapa—a small bite of something special cooked up by the chef. “We want to provide exceptional hospitality,” Clore says.

The team hopes the new space will appeal to diners of all stripes. “We want to have options for people to get in and out of here for a reasonable price,” he says. “But if you choose to, you can celebrate, get the high-end fancy bottle of bubbles, and enjoy the caviar service, the large dishes, the special mezcals, and sherries. We will give you all the tools you need to celebrate, big time.”

Hours: 5-10pm, Sunday-Thursday; 5-11pm Fridays and Saturdays.

Reservations accepted.

Zocalo has undergone a number of major changes recently, with owner Ivan Rekosh buying out his longtime partner and then bringing in a new executive chef, Zynodoa’s Josh Hutter, who’s been shaking up the menu with a variety of surprising new offerings.

“I’ve been cooking the same food for 15 years, and it’s great to have another mind and set of skilled hands in there to collaborate with,” Rekosh says, adding that he plans to step away from regular kitchen duties except during peak times of the year. “For the most part, Josh can handle it–he’s a professional and I couldn’t be happier with him.”

Rekosh says he was long reluctant to revamp the menu, but the time was finally right for some modifications.

“The biggest complaint I get is that the menu never changes and is stagnant,” he says. “The problem was everything is somebody’s favorite.” So Zocalo is maintaining its core menu, but Hutter is adding an extensive specials list every week that will change frequently. “He really understands the flavor profile of Zocalo and has modernized it,” says Rekosh.

Hutter, an Albemarle High School graduate, spent 10 years at a succession of notable D.C. restaurants like Taco Bamba Taqueria, Sonoma Restaurant & Wine Bar, and The Riggsby, Michael Schlow’s restaurant in the Carlyle Hotel. But with a growing family, Hutter yearned to escape the crazy commutes and crowds and return to a place where he’d prefer to raise his children. He and his family settled in Staunton after he landed the job at Zynodoa. Now, he’s enjoying working back in Charlottesville, where he cooked at Downtown Grille, Blue Light, Bang, and Metropolitan earlier in his career.

“I really love the central Virginia area, especially Charlottesville, and the lifestyle,” he says. He’s pleased about the collaboration with Rekosh, and the chance to brainstorm new menu offerings that blend with Zocalo’s South American/Mexican style.

“We’ve kept the core entrées on the menu and now offer a different side menu with two to three appetizers and entrées, depending on seasonal availability,” he says. “I’ll come up with a dish and bounce it off Ivan, and if it’s really nice, we might keep it on for a few more days, but we’ll try to keep things moving and keep them fresh.”

Some recent specials included a grilled filet mignon with chipotle-roasted portobello mushrooms and roasted fingering potatoes with a black garlic crema, as well as a pan-seared rockfish with piquillo pepper and saffron risotto and roasted broccolini with chorizo vinaigrette. Last weekend, he offered a lobster empanada with aji amarillo crema and arugula salad.

“There’s been a lot of change with Ivan buying out his partner, then taking over the place for himself and realizing he wants to step back from the kitchen and take an owner role and see the bigger picture,” Hutter says. But he and Rekosh have hit upon a recipe of collaboration that works well, they say.

“Customer response has been awesome,” Rekosh says. “We’re selling a lot of specials.”

caption: Zocalo’s new executive chef, Josh Hutter, worked at a number of D.C. restaurants before returning to central Virginia.

Photo: Amy Jackson Smith

Angelic’s Kitchen On Wheels food truck has taken to the streets, a mere four years since owner Angelic Jenkins began cooking professionally, after her husband urged her to find a hobby other than shopping.

“I love cooking for people and always wanted to sell fried fish at a festival,” Jenkins says, “So I started off doing a tent set-up at Washington Park, at the African American Culture festival.” The event was so successful that before she knew it she was working festivals as far away as Virginia Beach, selling her fried fish, wings, hush puppies, and onion rings to a rabid fan base who love her exclusive fish fry breading, which she sells to customers interested in frying at home.

Cooking under a tent was too weather-dependent, hence the transition to a food truck, which Jenkins purchased in August. And as the Charlottesville native prepared for her restaurant-on-wheels, she attended two years of culinary classes at CATEC, even winning a bread contest while enrolled.

Jenkins has her hands full, working full-time as HR director at the Doubletree and operating her food truck on evenings and weekends. But she loves to keep busy.

“I’m the Energizer Bunny. I keep going. And I love to cook–my house is the come-to house for the holidays because everyone knows I’m going to cook up a feast,” she says. “I love bringing a smile to people’s faces when they try my food!”

No doubt her husband is smiling as well, now that her new hobby has become a business.

“My daughter said, ‘Mom, you haven’t shopped in a long time!’” Jenkins says. “Now we’re just shopping for fish and fries and hush puppies.”

Information on where to find the truck, which maintains a home base in Pantops at the intersection of Rt. 250 and Long Street, can be found at www.angelicskitchen.com

Souper stars

Just over a year ago we were touting our local connections to the highly-anticipated opening of (former TEN Japanese kitchen staff member) Douglas Kim’s Jeju Noodle Bar in Lower Manhattan.

Earlier this month, Kim landed a coveted Michelin star for his elevated Korean comfort food, making Jeju the first-ever Michelin-starred noodle bar in the U.S. and one of only 16 new restaurants added to NYC’s prestigious list.

The guide credits Jeju Noodle Bar as an approachable Korean restaurant in the West Village specializing in ramyum, the Korean version of ramen. Inspectors not only found Kim’s food fantastic to eat, but also backed by solid technique.

BBQ coming downtown

Moe’s Original BBQ is expanding to a second location at the old Mono Loco building, according to co-owner Ashleigh Abrams.

“We’ve been looking to expand in Charlottesville for a while, and the opportunity to take over such an iconic space in Charlottesville got us really excited,” she says. “We’ll be serving up the same made-from-scratch BBQ and sides, but will be staying open later for the bar crowd and have live music on a regular basis.”

Abrams and her husband Mike are partnering with Megan Abato and Riley Garvin, who’ve been with Moe’s Ivy Road location for two years. The soon-to-be newlyweds will run the downtown site, with doors slated to open by March.

Sometimes the good stuff is hiding right under your nose.

For decades, Mel’s Café has sat near the center of town on West Main Street, with a bright blue sign that is impossible to miss. Yet, even some of my most food-loving friends have never set foot in the place. As a longtime fan, this puzzles me. And many top chefs would share my view: They love it, too.

Take Junction’s Melissa Close-Hart, one of Charlottesville’s most decorated chefs. A native of Mobile, Alabama, Close-Hart calls Mel’s her “go-to place for a taste of home,” and has been eating there for 20 years. I recently tagged along with her at Mel’s to see what keeps her coming back.

Part of it is feel. Genuine Southern hospitality meets everyone who walks through the door. “No pomp and circumstance,” said Close-Hart. “Just go to the counter, order your food, get your own drink, wait for Mel to personally cook your order, and then enjoy.”

But the real hook is owner Mel Walker’s soul food.

Walker first learned to cook in the late 1960s, while working as a dishwasher at The Virginian. One evening, when the cook didn’t show, the owner asked Walker, who was only 14 years old at the time, to fill in. He must have been a quick study: when the owner returned the next day, Walker recalls, he said: “Mel, you’re the cook now.” Walker has been cooking ever since, and Mel’s is a showcase of the  homestyle Southern dishes he has honed over the years.

Close-Hart and I shared a feast of some of Walker’s best, starting with Close-Hart’s standard order, which she rattled off like a child reciting a rhyme: hamburger steak with gravy and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, two rolls, and sweet tea. For the steak, Walker grills a fresh eight ounce hamburger patty, which he smothers with grilled onions and gravy made from beef broth, his own blend of spices, and a roux. “Never underdone or overcooked,” Close-Hart said of the steak.

You can taste the love that goes into Walker’s food, Close-Hart said: “You have to love the food to give it soul.” For me, nowhere in great soul food cooking is the love felt more deeply than in the vegetables, cooked with patience and care, gently coaxing their flavor. Walker’s green beans, “nothing fancy,” he insisted, were “cooked properly”  for a Southerner like Close-Hart, she said: slowly, with onions and an end of country ham, until dark olive in color and nearly falling apart. “That’s the way my mom and granny cooked them,” Close-Hart said.

She assembled a bite of hamburger steak, gravy, onions, green beans, and mashed potatoes on her fork, held it in the air, and admired it. “Aside from Thanksgiving,” she said, “this is my favorite bite of food in the world.”

There was also love in our plate of fried chicken. Patience, too. “Many places cook chicken ahead,” says Walker, “but not here.” Once ordered, about 14-16 minutes is the time Walker needs to dip the chicken in egg wash and seasoned flour, and then deep-fry it. “No one minds waiting the extra time for properly cooked fried chicken,” said Close-Hart.   

We had to have a Meta’s burger, a Mel’s legend. Pronounced “meet-ah’s,” the burger is named for a customer who ordered the same thing almost every day at an Earlysville place where Walker once worked called Charlie’s Cafe: a burger with Swiss cheese and grilled onions on rye toast. A sum-is-greater-than-its-parts combination, it is one of the most crave-worthy foods in town.

Last but not least was sweet potato pie, which Close-Hart orders on every visit, and says she could eat every day. “I make a pretty good sweet potato pie,” said the four-time James Beard Award semifinalist, “but Mel blows mine out of the water.” The recipe comes from Walker’s grandmother, with sweet potatoes, milk, and just little bit of sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. “Sweet potatoes have a natural sweetness and complexity,” said Close-Hart, “and do not need to be doused in a ton of sugar and spice to taste good.” The result is a pie that has become so popular that, around the holidays, people order it by the dozen.

What Close-Hart likes best about Mel’s food is the comfort it brings. “My husband knows he could bring me my favorite Mel’s meal and it would cheer me up more than flowers and chocolates,” she said. But there is one thing about Mel’s she admits she does not like: the name. You see, Close-Hart, who sometimes goes by Mel, has always wanted to open a soul food restaurant of her own, and call it Mel’s.

She can’t do that in Charlottesville, though. There’s only one Mel’s.