Slow cookin’ to victory: As every child knows, there’s more than one way to eat your greens (or accidentally spill them to a pet under the table). Lucky for all of us, the chefs at the annual Greens Cookoff know how to tantalize taste buds with greens and two other ultimate homestyle comfort foods: mac ‘n’ cheese and pound cake. Cook along while you watch the pros from Angelic’s Kitchen, Pearl Island, Royalty Eats, Soul Food Joint, Chimm, Bizou, Blue Moon Diner, Maya, and The Whiskey Jar battle for the crown in a virtual competition.
The Pie Chest owner Rachel Pennington misses the days when customers would sit and relax in her shop, chatting with friends over coffee and a slice.
Photo by Amy and Jackson smith
By Julia Stumbaugh
In 2018, Charlottesville residents Jessica Niblo and Samuel Kane met for a first date at The Pie Chest. But they were both too nervous to eat the shop’s signature dish. Instead, they sipped coffee.
Three years later, in January 2021, Kane proposed to Niblo at the same spot where they’d first met. But like many of Charlottesville’s bakery/cafés, The Pie Chest had changed drastically. It was forced to pivot from the kind of community gathering spot where Kane and Niblo gazed at each other over cups of coffee to a purely commercial exchange of money for take-away boxes.
“I think a big part of The Pie Chest’s identity was the space we provided for people…it would get full pretty quickly, and a lot of people would end up talking to people they didn’t know,” says Rachel Pennington, baker and owner of the shop. “Losing that, going to fully carryout and takeout, it’s just heartbreaking. I think of it every time I’m up at the shop now. We’ve lost the buzz that can happen in the room, the connections that can happen…the whole social component is mostly gone.”
The Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville told NBC29 in December that COVID-19 had sliced business revenue in half through the 2020 holiday season. Even places that have been able to remain open have felt the sting, both from the loss of income and the loss of a place to gather.
In Charlottesville, a town defined by its love for food and drink, bakeries and coffee shops are a core part of the town’s social fabric.
“We’re able to stay open and survive, but it’s become more about commerce than community, which is kind of sad,” says Jason Becton, who opened MarieBette Café & Bakery with his husband, baker Patrick Evans. “Eventually, one day, we’ll come back to that.”
With the current closure of MarieBette’s dining room, what Becton misses most is the conversations and connections he used to find with regular customers. But like Pennington, he knows the changes are necessary to keep the business around.
“I think any business that’s been able to stay open is a comfort to people in our community, just because we crave that normalcy,” Becton said. “Even though it’s not quite normal, we try to be able to keep it as normal as possible.”
Thanks to an endless series of stay-at-home orders, home bakers across the United States have turned to their kitchens for comfort, trying viral recipes to make everything from sourdough bread to whipped coffee. But for bakers like Evans and Pennington, who have spent the last year baking to keep their shops afloat, the art is more about sustenance and less about fun.
Even so, their influence has led other local bakers to discover their own love of the craft. Pennington held a series of baking classes in 2019; now, she can turn to social media to see her students reap the benefits. One student displayed her fresh-made biscuits, still golden from the cast-iron skillet. Another posted an album featuring her Pie Chest-inspired veggie pot pie.
“Before I did it for a living, baking at home was absolutely comforting, not just in the process but in knowing that I was able to do something for other people and give them something that they would enjoy,” says Pennington. “So I still know what that feeling feels like.”
The search for that feeling helped spark a new addition to the Charlottesville bakery scene—Pear, a stall at the IX farmers’ market that opened in January 2021, is a local collaboration by two strangers whose only connection was that they both love to bake for people who love to eat.
Myo Quinn, co-founder of Pear, moved to Charlottesville from New York City this summer. Lonely and homesick, the Food Network test kitchen cook headed to the farmers’ market for a sense of normalcy. There she met Holly Hammond, who was working at the Whisper Hill Farm stall.
Quinn is a culinary school-trained chef, Hammond a farmer from Arizona. This winter, they opened their own bakery stall at the market where they met.
“We’ve had a lot of recurring customers, including friends of Holly’s and customers of Whisper Hill, that keep coming over and over again,” says Quinn. “We had our third weekend and the faces started looking familiar.”
Sharing her baking with newly familiar faces has allowed Quinn to weave herself into the fabric of the Charlottesville community. She and Hammond have learned through Pear what the owners of The Pie Chest and MarieBette know well: Even in a pandemic that forces people apart, baking can bring strangers together.
But for now, most of Charlottesville’s professional bakers are left dreaming of a time when their work involves more leisurely connections with customers.
“I long for the first day I can go into a coffee shop and just sit at a table and read the paper,” says Pennington. “I think about it at least once or twice a week. I just want to be part of the food community.”
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.”
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.
Many local grocery stores have taken steps to protect customers from contracting COVID-19, but some have been more aggressive than others. PC: Staff Photo
Shielding up
While many businesses have been forced to close due to the coronavirus, grocery stores are busier than ever—and their employees have had to continue showing up for work, potentially putting themselves at risk. On March 31, some Whole Foods workers stayed home in a nationwide “sick out” to protest a lack of protections, and call for benefits like paid leave and hazard pay.
In response, the company has made some changes, but conditions for both employees and shoppers still vary widely among grocery chains. We checked in over the weekend to see how Charlottesville’s stores stack up.
Plexiglass shields have been installed in front of the registers at most stores (Wegmans and Reid Super-Save Market say they are coming soon).
Cashiers wear masks and gloves at Whole Foods, while those at Trader Joe’s, the Barracks Road Kroger, and Reid’s currently wear only gloves. Employees at Wegmans and the Food Lion on Pantops have neither.
Social distancing markers have been installed to keep customers six feet apart in check-out lines in all stores, and most cashiers wipe down registers between transactions.
Of the places we visited, Trader Joe’s seemed to be taking the most stringent precautions, limiting customers to 20 at a time in the store. Employees wearing face masks and gloves sanitize each cart before handing it off to a customer, and cashiers have no physical contact with customers.
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For the record
As the virus has shuttered the economy, a record-breaking number of Americans and Virginians have filed unemployment claims. For one on-the-nose example of how bad things have gotten, head to the Virginia Employment Commission’s website—or don’t, because it has shut down, overwhelmed by the amount of new traffic.
Number of unemployment claims last week nationwide: 6.6 million
Number of unemployment claims last week in Virginia: 112,497
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Quote of the Week
“Voters should not be forced to choose between exercising their Constitutional rights and preserving their own health and that of their community.”
—Allison Robbins, president of the Voter Registrars Association of Virginia, in a letter urging the state to cancel in-person voting in favor of mail-in ballots for upcoming elections
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In Brief
Better late than never?
UVA announced on Monday that it will create a $2 million emergency fund for contract employees laid off during the university’s closure. The decision comes after student activists circulated a petition demanding action and C-VILLE Weekly published a cover story about workers laid off by Aramark, UVA’s dining services contractor. The article prompted two GoFundMe campaigns, which raised a combined $71,000 for the employees in a matter of days. UVA is also donating $1 million to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation.
Booze news
The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority has begun allowing Virginia-based distilleries to deliver their products directly to customers. The state claims the new rule is aimed at helping distilleries maintain some income during the current economic freeze. While the policy will surely help the distilleries, it’ll likely be even more beneficial for the thousands of Virginians currently trapped inside with their families.
Spring (break) into action
This week would have been spring break for Charlottesville City Schools, so the district didn’t plan to offer grab-and-go breakfast and lunch for its neediest students. But City Schoolyard Garden and The Chris Long Foundation have picked up the slack by partnering with local restaurants Pearl Island and Mochiko Cville to provide 4,000 meals throughout the week.
Moving out
UVA will clear out three student residential buildings to make space for temporary housing for health care workers, the university announced this week. Students who left belongings when they were told not to return to school will have their things shipped and stored off-site by UVA. Students objected to the plan because anyone who wants to retrieve items before the end of the Virginia-wide state of emergency will be charged up to $100.
Ira Wallace of the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange gives the classic Cobb salad a Southern twist with black-eyed peas and toasted pecans. Photo: Staff
Summer is the time to eat your colors. Yellow corn is at its sweetest, red tomatoes their juiciest, and the greens are just as green as could be. We’ve rounded up salad recipes from five local chefs that showcase the season’s leading stars along with some unexpected guest appearances: a piquant pinch of mint or sweet burst of watermelon. As with any great summer salad, these are best served outside, on a generous plate, and with your favorite cold beverage. Mangia!
1) Southern-style Cobb salad with black-eyed peas
From Ira Wallace, education and variety selection coordinator, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
A slight twist on the traditional Cobb salad, with toasted pecans and a Greek-yogurt blue-cheese dressing that you might want to slather on everything all summer.
Serves three to four
Ingredients
6 cups chopped romaine or mixed green lettuces
2 cups fresh black-eyed peas lightly simmered with 1/2 small onion, chopped, or 1 clove garlic, chopped
(Alternative: 1 15 oz. can seasoned black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed well)
3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
2 boneless chicken breasts, grilled and cubed (optional)
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (substitute sharp, dry cheddar,
if desired)
1/2 cup fresh steamed sweet corn, kernels cut from cob, or thawed frozen sweet corn
1 sweet red pepper, cored, deseeded, and julienned
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
Blue-cheese Greek-yogurt dressing
1/2 to 1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic
1 tbsp. white vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Add all dressing ingredients to large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Place in container, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.
Place lettuce on platter. In separate rows, arrange chicken, black-eyed peas, red pepper, tomatoes, pecans, avocado, cheese, corn, and eggs on top of lettuce. Pass around dressing.
Pair with: A nice glass of sweet tea
Peloton Station’s Curtis Shaver likes his beer—and knows how to turn a salad into a meal. Photo: Tom McGovern
2) Steak and onion rings salad
From Curtis Shaver, general manager and chef, Peloton Station
This savory mélange would satisfy even the hungriest salad-as-a-main-course skeptic.
Serves two to four
Salad ingredients
2 7 oz. Seven Hills Food Co. flat iron steaks (also called shoulder top blade steak)
6 oz. local arugula
2 ears fresh corn
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted,
and sliced
6 radishes, sliced thin
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 English cucumber, sliced thin
3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1 red onion, sliced into rings
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour, seasoned to taste (salt, pepper, paprika, and others as desired)
3 cups canola or other preferred oil for frying onion rings
Greek vinaigrette dressing ingredients
3 cups extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 1/2 tbsp. dried oregano
2 1/2 tbsp. dried basil
2 tbsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. onion powder
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
Instructions
Prepare grill. Oil, salt, and pepper steaks, and grill to medium rare. Set aside. Grill corn until charred and slice off kernels. Set aside. Heat frying oil to 375 degrees in deep skillet. Soak onion rings in buttermilk, remove from liquid, and toss in seasoned flour. Fry onions until golden brown, remove from oil, and drain.
Place all dressing ingredients except oil in blender and mix well. Slowly add oil to emulsify. Refrigerate until ready to serve salad.
In a large mixing bowl combine arugula, corn, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, and dressing. Divide mixture evenly among serving plates. Place avocado slices on salad. Slice steak on a bias and place on top of avocados. Finish by topping with onion rings.
Pair with: Champion Brewing Company True Love American Lager
Peppery arugula meets sweet roasted tomatoes in Forage chef Megan Kiernan’s creation. Photo: Tom McGovern
3) Roasted Sungold tomato and arugula orzo salad with pistachio pesto and blue cheese
From Megan Kiernan, product development chef and founder, Forage
Chef Kiernan calls this “the regular pasta salad’s more elegant cousin.” We agree that the recipe would impress guests at any picnic or dinner party.
Serves four
Ingredients
2 pints Sungold cherry tomatoes
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. orzo
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 1/2 cups chopped arugula or
baby arugula
Salt and pepper to taste
Grilled or roasted chicken (optional), boned, and cut up any way you prefer
Pistachio pesto dressing
1/2 cup packed basil leaves
1 handful mint leaves
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
2 small cloves (or one large clove) garlic
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil (or a bit more, to taste)
Salt to taste (at least 1/2 tsp.)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on sheet tray and roast for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 degrees and continue roasting for two hours, tossing occasionally.
Combine basil, mint, pistachios, garlic, lemon juice, and a big pinch of salt in a food processor. Blend well, periodically streaming in olive oil. Stop to taste. Add more salt and lemon juice as desired. If pesto is too thick, thin with additional olive oil.
Cook orzo following packaging instructions. Run under cool water while straining. Combine with pesto, adding heaping teaspoons to taste. Toss in arugula and red onions. Gently fold in tomatoes and blue cheese. Add more salt, pepper, or pesto as desired.
Pair with: Potter’s Craft Passion Fruit Mosaic cider
Unexpected bursts of flavor—fresh dill, fried sardines, hickory syrup—enliven this beauty from Oakhart Social’s Tristan Wraight. Photo: Tom McGovern
4) Sweet and salty summer salad
From Tristan Wraight, executive chef, Oakhart Social
“For me, I need a salad to have a sweet element, a salty element, and crunchy element,” says chef Tristan Wraight. Here, he rounds out the essentials with some soft herbs and an acidic dressing.
Serves four
Ingredients
2 cups watermelon, cubed (Wraight sources his from Pleasant Pasture Farms, in Virginia Beach.)
8 radishes, quartered (also from Pleasant Pasture)
1 cup Lunix (red oak-leaf) lettuce
1/4 cup shaved fennel
2 tbsp. sunflower seeds, sautéed until golden brown
1 tbsp. fried charales (or fried sardines) tossed in Old Bay Seasoning
Fresh Thai basil and dill to taste, chopped
Pinch of Maldon sea salt
Hickory-syrup vinaigrette
2 tbsp. shallots, minced
2 tbsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
2 tbsp. hickory syrup (can also use Grade-A maple syrup)
1 cup grape seed oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Soak minced shallots in lemon
and lime juice for 10 minutes. Add syrup and salt, and whisk in oil. Toss with salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Pair with: A dry white wine with mineral palate, like Albariño. Best local choice: Horton Vineyards 2017 Rkatsiteli
Pearl Island Catering chef Javier Figueroa-Ray balances the sweetness of watermelon and pineapple with the earthy flavors of kale and walnuts. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
5) Pearl Island summer salad
From Javier Figueroa-Ray, executive chef, Pearl Island Catering
Don’t forget the fruit! Pearl Island’s summer salad sweetens things up with tropical pineapple and the emblematic food of the season: fresh watermelon.
Serves four
Ingredients
8 oz. organic kale
8 oz. organic baby spinach
1 1/2 cups watermelon, cubed
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple, cubed
1 cup carrots, grated (reserve some for garnish)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Shallot vinaigrette dressing
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. fresh shallots, minced
1 cup brown sugar (or less, to taste)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Place walnuts on baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and roast at 350 degrees for five to ten minutes, or until fragrant.
In a large bowl combine kale, spinach, watermelon, pineapple, and carrots, and toss together.
Place dressing ingredients in blender and mix well, about one minute at high speed.
Transfer salad ingredients to platter, drizzle with dressing, and top with walnuts and carrots.
