Rocksalt

Dig in! It’s a full plate for Restaurant Week

Hope you’re hungry: Charlottesville Restaurant Week is upon us, that glorious, twice-a-year event, this time featuring 42 restaurants (including five new participants) offering three-course menus at different price points: $19, $29 and $39. With $1 of each meal donated to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, you have an extra incentive to eat out July 14 through 23. Need another reason to partake, other than helping those in need? Some of the restaurants dish on don’t-miss Restaurant Week menu items, as well as new favorites.

Paul Chinco, executive chef

Don’t miss: Tomato gazpacho with crab salad

Debut dish: The tuna tartare; there might be some changes, but they will be simple changes that will elevate the dish.

Orzo Kitchen and Wine Bar

Pete Evans, chef/partner

Don’t miss: The summer vegetable salad. It’s a mixture of grilled and raw summer veg with preserved lemon, feta and grilled fennel vinaigrette.

Debut dishes: There are a few dishes here that will be on our summer menu: the gazpacho, melon and cucumber salad, fish of the day, the salmon and the risotto.

Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar

Erica Vorhauer, wine director

Don’t miss: Our beet-infused risotto dish is a feast for vegetarians but can also be a delight to carnivores by adding steak.

Debut dish: Fresh, local peaches will be added to celebrate summer. We are the first restaurant to debut our friend Jake Busching’s beautiful viognier and cabernet franc, and Commonwealth will also launch its new wine list in time for Restaurant Week.

The Pub by Wegmans

Branden Cheney, manager

Don’t miss: Our chicken shawarma wrap. Our restaurant chefs spent some time perfecting the spices and ingredients to make them unique and as authentic as possible.

The Fitzroy

Richard Ridge, co-owner/operator

Don’t miss: The peach and cucumber salad. Cooling off by eating chilled fresh produce is my favorite way to begin a summer meal.

Fry’s Spring Station

Tommy Lasley, executive chef

Don’t miss: All of our pizzas. We get a five-day ferment on our dough, combined with our house cheese blend and all in-house made toppings make for great pies.

The Shebeen Pub & Braai

Walter Slawski, chef/owner

Don’t miss: A South African version of the Southern classic shrimp and grits, incorporating samp (cracked hominy), boerewors (our house-made South African sausage) and prawns in a prego sauce.

Timberwood Tap House

Brandon Masters, kitchen manager

Don’t miss: The chorizo fritters. Spanish Manchego cheese and Yukon gold potatoes are going to be the perfect vehicle to experience this traditional sausage.

Debut dish: Chocolate cheesecake bread pudding. We make a vanilla ice cream base as the binder, then fold in chocolate chips, crusty French bread and scoops of our house- made cheesecake with caramel and chocolate sauces, then more ice cream.

Jack’s Shop Kitchen

Eric Bein, chef/farmer

Don’t miss: Our pork belly dish, featuring pork and beets from Jack’s Shop Farm, potatoes from Edgewood Miller and watercress from Planet Earth Diversified.

Debut dish: Our fry pie, in hopes that it will become a mainstay. We would change the filling throughout the year to reflect the season.

The Bavarian Chef

Jerome Thalwitz, chef/owner

Don’t miss: The summer schnitzel. The traditional hand-breaded veal schnitzel is topped with grilled local tomatoes, buttery Gouda cheese and fresh pineapple. It is truly a taste of summer.

Debut dish: The Bavarian cream napoleon has a real shot at earning a permanent spot on our dessert menu. One guest called it “life changing.”

Tavern & Grocery

David Morgan, chef

Don’t miss: The pork shank. We are using a new farm, Buckingham Berkshires, and we are very excited to highlight them.

Debut dishes: Chicken wings and panzanella are late-summer favorites.

Caleb Warr leaves head chef post at Tavola; Dylan Allwood takes his place

After showcasing his mastery of Italian cooking at Tavola, Caleb Warr is leaving his post as head chef. Dylan Allwood, current chef de cuisine at C&O Restaurant, will take the spot.

Warr, a Louisiana native, arrived in Charlottesville seven years ago with a desire to cook. He didn’t attend culinary school, but with dedication and hard work, he won spots in some of Charlottesville’s best kitchens—Zinc, The Rock Barn and Mas among them—and is in the running for the coveted title of best chef in our 2017 Best Of C-VILLE poll.

Warr’s last day at Tavola (the restaurant is co-owned by C-VILLE’s arts editor Tami Keaveny) will be June 10, after which he’ll relocate to Cape Cod with his family and run the kitchen at an athletic center while getting to know New England food and culture before deciding what’s next. He says he’s proud of what he’s accomplished at Tavola, most of all passing knowledge along to other hard-working, aspiring cooks.

“I’ll miss my staff the most,” says Warr. “General manager Priscilla Martin and owner Michael Keaveny and I have developed something very special recently. Walking away from this was not easy, but I leave it in very great hands between them and my kitchen staff in conjunction with Dylan. I will also miss other chefs and cooks in this town—there are to many to name, but a few are very special to me.”

Allwood feels similarly about his departure from C&O. The restaurant “has an extremely talented team…some of the best in the business,” Allwood says, both in the front of the house and the kitchen and bar. “It’s very much like a family, and it will be difficult to leave—even for such a great opportunity.”

Allwood got his first kitchen job when he was 15, washing dishes at a local restaurant in his hometown of Locust Grove. He eventually worked his way up to line cook, then attended the Culinary Institute of America and worked at the Clifton Inn and at Lemaire in the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond before cooking at the now-shuttered Brookville Restaurant. After serving as sous chef to Brookville’s Harrison Keevil, Allwood was sous chef and later executive chef at Rocksalt Charlottesville before landing at C&O.

“I’ve always had a passion for Italian food but have never had the opportunity to explore that in any of the kitchens I’ve cooked in previously,” says Allwood. “This is my chance to explore that passion with some of the best in the business.” Plus, “Tavola has some of the best food in Charlottesville. I’m looking forward to being part of that tradition,” he says.