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The Alley Light, Chef Jose de Brito, Formerly at Ciboulette, at Charlottesville's Downtown Mall


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An approximately year old, very promising, locally loved, classic French restaurant receiving regional and national attention now as a 2015 Beard semi finalist.

Website

Local review here as neither WaPo or Washingtonian have reviewed it:

"Expert Approved: The Alley Light's Food Thrills Even The Toughest Critic" by C. Simon Davidson on c-ville.com

Has anyone been?

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Sheesh, nice connection right away! I click on the moderator's ID and see that one of his posts refers to a neighborhood eatery I like.

Yes, I have been to the Alleylight several times. It's one of three restaurants that Will (and Lisa) Richey have here in C'ville. The others are Revolutionary Soup (two locations, one just downstairs from the AL and one on 14th St near the U.Va. "Corner") and the Whiskey Jar (just about a block northeast of the AL, on the north end of the downtown mall). Will is also involved in the Charlottesville Wine Guild.

The Alleylight's entrance is, indeed, hidden in a little alley off 2nd St. that give it a feel of a speakeasy. Climbing the stairs and entering a door to the small dining area contribute to the sense. Some low, soft chairs form two seating areas looking out the second-floor windows on the left side of the room. On the right end, the bar has space for about a half dozen stools. In between there are tables (I'm guessing here): 3 or 4 2-tops and ~4 4-tops. It's not big.

The food is by Jose De Brito. Jose had his own place (Ciboulette) for a while, but he closed it years ago. Folks know he can prepare very distinctive dishes. I do not eat mammal or fowl, so I can't comment on those preparations, but I can say that his fishes and vegetables are outstanding. Wines are good. Cocktails are inventive. Prices are quite reasonable as one can see from the menu at the link provided by darkstar965.

Will and Lisa have a small farm outside of C'ville and raise some of the food that is served in their places. It's the real farm-to-table deal.

Plan ahead!

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This is an odd day. My anniversary is this weekend and my wife and I had no plans. The in-laws volunteered to take the kids and all of a sudden we had a free night. We quickly went through options: Baltimore? St. Michaels? Annapolis? Charlottesville? Charlottesville!

Hotel reservations were quickly made, theater tickets purchased,  and a friend of mine who is in the wine business in Charlottesville suggested THIS place for dinner. Not sure if I have a reservation there yet, or not - but if I do I will report back.

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This is an odd day. My anniversary is this weekend and my wife and I had no plans. The in-laws volunteered to take the kids and all of a sudden we had a free night. We quickly went through options: Baltimore? St. Michaels? Annapolis? Charlottesville? Charlottesville!

Hotel reservations were quickly made, theater tickets purchased,  and a friend of mine who is in the wine business in Charlottesville suggested THIS place for dinner. Not sure if I have a reservation there yet, or not - but if I do I will report back.

Hope you get a table. But, much more importantly, enjoy the weekend and Happy Anniversary!

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Went on Saturday night and had a very, very good meal. JohnL's comment above is fitting, as this is far more like (what I imagine) a speakeasy to be than anything else.

The entrance is absurd. There is no sign, simply a light above a door in an alley. I was standing right in front of it and had no idea. There were Microsoft Word signs posted in other businesses windows further encouraging you to search ...I'm guessing people ask where it is with regularity. It was snowing, and I noticed a person wearing a dishwasher uniform sweeping snow from in front of a door. "Is that the restaurant?" I asked? "Yes," he replied in broken English...."is clever?"  No. Is silly.

So that's where most of the quibbles end. The place is tiny. A massive bar fronted by 8 bar stools, maybe four hi-top tables of four, four dueces, and lounge seating for perhaps 16 more on very comfy sofas and armchairs. Next time, I will request seating in that area as it looked so comfortable and the deuces are right next to each other (you cannot walk through the space between tables), not allowing for much privacy.

For such a small place, the menu is quite large. There are perhaps 20-25 dishes on the "regular menu" and an additional 20-25 weekly specials. Much like the Red Hen, the menu was curated perfectly to my taste, and there was nothing I would not have ordered. Everything we had was good to great, the only miss being the pear dessert. Cocktail selections were fabulous and the beverage program here is impressive. Service was great as well. One thing I wish we would have ordered was a "Board". There are three selections: Meat, Cheese, and Vegetable, and each time one came out of the kitchen we wished we had ordered one. We were going to stop back after the play and grab a nightcap and a board, but by that time everything was coated in ice, so we headed to the hotel.

This was absolutely a delightful experience, and I'd recommend it to all.

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Went on Saturday night and had a very, very good meal. JohnL's comment above is fitting, as this is far more like (what I imagine) a speakeasy to be than anything else.

The entrance is absurd. There is no sign, simply a light above a door in an alley. I was standing right in front of it and had no idea. There were Microsoft Word signs posted in other businesses windows further encouraging you to search ...I'm guessing people ask where it is with regularity. It was snowing, and I noticed a person wearing a dishwasher uniform sweeping snow from in front of a door. "Is that the restaurant?" I asked? "Yes," he replied in broken English...."is clever?"  No. Is silly.

So that's where most of the quibbles end. The place is tiny. A massive bar fronted by 8 bar stools, maybe four hi-top tables of four, four dueces, and lounge seating for perhaps 16 more on very comfy sofas and armchairs. Next time, I will request seating in that area as it looked so comfortable and the deuces are right next to each other (you cannot walk through the space between tables), not allowing for much privacy.

For such a small place, the menu is quite large. There are perhaps 20-25 dishes on the "regular menu" and an additional 20-25 weekly specials. Much like the Red Hen, the menu was curated perfectly to my taste, and there was nothing I would not have ordered. Everything we had was good to great, the only miss being the pear dessert. Cocktail selections were fabulous and the beverage program here is impressive. Service was great as well. One thing I wish we would have ordered was a "Board". There are three selections: Meat, Cheese, and Vegetable, and each time one came out of the kitchen we wished we had ordered one. We were going to stop back after the play and grab a nightcap and a board, but by that time everything was coated in ice, so we headed to the hotel.

This was absolutely a delightful experience, and I'd recommend it to all.

Nice writeup; thank you! This will definitely go onto our lift.

FWIW, totally agree on the entrance being "silly." In the bigger picture, not a huge deal as you indicate but it is amusing what people sometimes think "clever." Bet that'll change (a sign!) as the restaurant grows even more in popularity but who knows?

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Pat, Corey, and I went to the AL in C'vllle tonight (8 March 2015). I followed Pat into the alley and, even though it was daylight and she's been there several times, she dang near walked into the kitchen entrance. Do not take the external stairs! Turn into the door to your left before you get to the external stairs.

We were seated at a high-top for four near the right-most end of the bar (#17, I think; numbering starts with the 2-tops nearest the chalkboard). The menu featured lots of interesting looking choices (oh, to eat animals of the land). Jose has pushed ham and bacon into a lot of the fish dishes, so I was a bit limited.

We had lots of good things, though I only sampled some of them. The carrot app was wonderful. My tablemates really liked their foie gras and the roasted marrow with escargot. I enjoyed the seafood board. One of us ordered the hazelnut macaron praline parfait for dessert (it was huge) and I shared a cheese board with our daughter.

No complaints. We were there for three hours and no one hustled us along.

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went to check this place out after seeing it on here. the entrance is dumb, but otherwise they created a very charming space without going too crazy with "prohibition era." warm and relaxed waitstaff. good cocktails and a handsome bar, the bartenders do a smashy smashy thing repeatedly (crushing ice?) that kinda harshes the vibe, and i hope it has a function instead of being the way the old timers did it or something? small draft list of mostly local standards.

the two-tops are too close together and may as well been a communal table, and led to a super awkward exchange with our neighbors that involved a swollen bare foot (not mine) and my wife's face but we worked it out. they did a good job with noise management, leaving the iron frame of an old suspended ceiling but insulating above it for sound absorption.

we ordered off the board and had an excellent meal and experience, looking forward to returning as soon as we have another reason to schlep out there.

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