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Charlottesville, VA


AMTHoya

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You can pick up a great sandwich and a few sides at Food of All Nations. Just a short walk from the UVA campus.

The University of Virginia does not have a campus. It has the grounds and a bunch of other (new) buildings. Foods of All nations is at Ivy Road and Alderman Rd. The closest part of the U would be the new dorms on Alderman or the old dorms on McCormick. Not really a easy hike but do-able if you were hungry enough and didn't have a car (which first year students do not). If you want someplace walkable, I'd suggest Anna's Pizza which is near Jefferson Park Ave (JPA to people who live there) and IS a short walk from the dorms.

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We're just going up for an evening and probably will pick Palladio for dinner, but no one has mentioned anything about Keswick Hall's Fossett's. Does anyone have any experiences or knowledge? Any more recent lunch recommendations (we'll be up there for two possibilities)? We're open to all ideas.

Pax,

Brian

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We're just going up for an evening and probably will pick Palladio for dinner, but no one has mentioned anything about Keswick Hall's Fossett's. Does anyone have any experiences or knowledge? Any more recent lunch recommendations (we'll be up there for two possibilities)? We're open to all ideas.

Pax,

Brian

Dinner at Palladio was quite possibly the single worst "fine dining" experience I have ever had. Food was just OK and the service was a complete disaster.

As just one minor example, Nutty Buddy was visibly pregnant. We told the waiter she was pregnant and would not be drinking alcohol. For something resembling an Intermezzo course they placed a Bellini in front of her.

I enjoyed Pomme in Gordonsville. It pretends to be nothing more than it is - (very) old school bistro

click

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We're just going up for an evening and probably will pick Palladio for dinner, but no one has mentioned anything about Keswick Hall's Fossett's. Does anyone have any experiences or knowledge? Any more recent lunch recommendations (we'll be up there for two possibilities)? We're open to all ideas.

Pax,

Brian

This isn't recent information, but we stayed at Keswick a year ago, and ate at Fossett's for dinner. The meal was good, but not memorable. We enjoyed Oxo and Fleurie more, both of which are downtown, as well as the restaurant at the Clifton Inn, which is close by.
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We're just going up for an evening and probably will pick Palladio for dinner, but no one has mentioned anything about Keswick Hall's Fossett's. Does anyone have any experiences or knowledge? Any more recent lunch recommendations (we'll be up there for two possibilities)? We're open to all ideas.0

I'd guess Fossett's would be a good choice for dinner more so than lunch but that's just my impression. My brother and sister-in-law stayed at Keswick for their honeymoon and absolutely loved the service and food at Fossett's.

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I have eaten at Fossett's and every other place named in this thread. My first choice for dining in C'ville is Mas - not fancy but excellent and fun tapas place. I will be there myself Monday night. For lunch I would go to Marco and Lucas for dumplings - a dive, but cheap and delicious dumplings. I will likely be stopping there on my way out of town Tuesday.

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This is belated and not very descriptive, but we had a very expensive but underwhelming lunch (i.e. $130 for 2, four courses each) at Palladio. The food was good, but not great and contrasted in price and execution to the $50 total I spent on 3 course lunches for 2 at Volt the day before. Dinner at Mas Tapas, however, was excellent. The most positive tapas experience I've had in a very long time. The Paleta de Jabugo with Spanish bread and Manchego cheese for $15 almost made the trip to Charlottesville worth it by itself. It was a great few days in a wonderful town.

Pax,

Brian

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Just wanted to comment on some good eats I had this weekend visiting the in laws:

Saturday morning we stopped by Breadworks to pick up sandwiches for our day out. I love their veggie sandwich, and their curried chicken sandwich. I also think they have really good molasses cookies- very soft with a good, but not overwhelming molasses flavor.

We went across the way to the little Italian Market- Oooh the pizza smelled so good, I might have to try it on the next visit. Bought some rosemary, garlic angel hair that I will cook tonight that smelled phenomenal. I really like their variety of fresh pastas. If I wasn't away for most of this week I would have also picked up some squid ink pasta. They also had some nice small portions of cheese in the back fridge- we got a soft creamy cheese with cranberry that I forget the name of, not a blue or gorgonzola or glouchestire as it was smooth and creamy... We also got a small piece of Reggiano Toscano and some sesame crackers for our day.

Next we headed to Carter Mountain to pick apples- JEEP AND CONVERTIBLE OWNERS please note that road is gravel and it was REALLY dusty, I saw a couple jeeps and convertibles go up with top down and I am sure they will have to either put in a lot of work to clean their car afterward or spend a pretty penny on some detailing. This place was packed. I got a variety of apples, we picked up some cider and fresh apple cake doughnuts. These doughnuts are really good! Make sure to get them warm from the bakery section (they have an express doughnut line). Hubby thought the cider was a little to sweet, I thought it was very appley and just made from a sweeter variety of apple (almost honey crispish, but they don't have honey crisps there).

We then headed up for Barboursville's special tasting day. They have two of these each year, and they not only have their normal tastings, but they also have vertical tastings of their Cabernet Franc and Barbera lines. You can also participate in Octagon Barrel tastings. And we nabbed the cville for the coupon for the 1999 Octagon tasting. It was such a nice day we pulled up and ate our sandwiches out on the grass. Then did the tasting. If you taste every singe wine offered you would have drank a whole bottle of wine. We did many, but not all of the tastings. I love Octagon, and they had one Chardonnay the Reserve that I liked, as well as some of the Cab Francs int he vertical tasting, but I was also shocked by their Rose- I hate Rose normally, but this one was surprisingly good.

Ended the night downtown at Zocalo. Hubby's steak was fantastic and my grouper with pea risotto was really good too. I have now had a couple nice meals here. I want to figure out how to make the ancho chille sauce that was on his steak.

I wanted to add that we ended at Splendora's and I highly recommend getting a half maple half pumpkin gelato.

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Just wanted to comment on some good eats I had this weekend visiting the in laws:

Saturday morning we stopped by Breadworks to pick up sandwiches for our day out. I love their veggie sandwich, and their curried chicken sandwich. I also think they have really good molasses cookies- very soft with a good, but not overwhelming molasses flavor.

We went across the way to the little Italian Market- Oooh the pizza smelled so good, I might have to try it on the next visit. Bought some rosemary, garlic angel hair that I will cook tonight that smelled phenomenal. I really like their variety of fresh pastas. If I wasn't away for most of this week I would have also picked up some squid ink pasta. They also had some nice small portions of cheese in the back fridge- we got a soft creamy cheese with cranberry that I forget the name of, not a blue or gorgonzola or glouchestire as it was smooth and creamy... We also got a small piece of Reggiano Toscano and some sesame crackers for our day.

Next we headed to Carter Mountain to pick apples- JEEP AND CONVERTIBLE OWNERS please note that road is gravel and it was REALLY dusty, I saw a couple jeeps and convertibles go up with top down and I am sure they will have to either put in a lot of work to clean their car afterward or spend a pretty penny on some detailing. This place was packed. I got a variety of apples, we picked up some cider and fresh apple cake doughnuts. These doughnuts are really good! Make sure to get them warm from the bakery section (they have an express doughnut line). Hubby thought the cider was a little to sweet, I thought it was very appley and just made from a sweeter variety of apple (almost honey crispish, but they don't have honey crisps there).

We then headed up for Barboursville's special tasting day. They have two of these each year, and they not only have their normal tastings, but they also have vertical tastings of their Cabernet Franc and Barbera lines. You can also participate in Octagon Barrel tastings. And we nabbed the cville for the coupon for the 1999 Octagon tasting. It was such a nice day we pulled up and ate our sandwiches out on the grass. Then did the tasting. If you taste every singe wine offered you would have drank a whole bottle of wine. We did many, but not all of the tastings. I love Octagon, and they had one Chardonnay the Reserve that I liked, as well as some of the Cab Francs int he vertical tasting, but I was also shocked by their Rose- I hate Rose normally, but this one was surprisingly good.

Ended the night downtown at Zocalo. Hubby's steak was fantastic and my grouper with pea risotto was really good too. I have now had a couple nice meals here. I want to figure out how to make the ancho chille sauce that was on his steak.

I wanted to add that we ended at Splendora's and I highly recommend getting a half maple half pumpkin gelato.

Just in case anyone tries to track down the Italian place, it's called Mona Lisa Pasta.

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Hi,

We're heading to exotic Charlottesville for Mem Day weekend.

Any tips for breakfast, lunch, and dinner places. Any kind of food and any price point would be appreciated.

TIA!

Go to The Tavern for pancakes (and pay the upcharge for real maple syrup).

The Tavern: "Where students, tourists, and townspeople meet."

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I should update that thread I go to Charlottesville all the time to see my inlaws. I seem to be posting a lot recently on Chowhound about Charlottesville though.

Places worth checking out:

Zocalo- dinner

Maya- brunch

The Local- dinner

Blue Mountain Brewery- lunch

Duners- dinner

Breadworks- (if you need picnic lunch for wineries) or The Greenwood Gourmet Grocery which is a fun stop anyway

I used to love ThreeNotchGrill in Crozet, but I heard it might be slipping.

Bodo's Bagel- breakfast

Crozet Pizza- pizza with great crust

Sheebeen- pretty good, but not as good as some of the others

Guadalajara- a small Mexican chain in Charlottesville that if you order more off the gringo path has some really good things, and on the gringo path the tacos al pastor are great too.

The Ivy Inn is pretty good for a nicer dinner, but I kind of like going more low key as they do mid-range very well in C-ville.

Splendora's- coffee and wonderful gelato

Places my in-laws like, but I haven't been:

L'etoile

Mas

Fellini's

Ten

Zinc

BTW: you might see if King Family Vineyards is doing anything special. They normally have events on holiday weekends like polo matches or etc.

Wineries I really like:

Flying Fox

White Hall

Barboursville

King Family

Veritas is ok, but I find a lot of their wines overly sweet

Jefferson Vineyards

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I should update that thread I go to Charlottesville all the time to see my inlaws. I seem to be posting a lot recently on Chowhound about Charlottesville though.

Places worth checking out:

Zocalo- dinner

Maya- brunch

The Local- dinner

Blue Mountain Brewery- lunch

Duners- dinner

Breadworks- (if you need picnic lunch for wineries) or The Greenwood Gourmet Grocery which is a fun stop anyway

I used to love ThreeNotchGrill in Crozet, but I heard it might be slipping.

Bodo's Bagel- breakfast

Crozet Pizza- pizza with great crust

Sheebeen- pretty good, but not as good as some of the others

Guadalajara- a small Mexican chain in Charlottesville that if you order more off the gringo path has some really good things, and on the gringo path the tacos al pastor are great too.

The Ivy Inn is pretty good for a nicer dinner, but I kind of like going more low key as they do mid-range very well in C-ville.

Splendora's- coffee and wonderful gelato

Places my in-laws like, but I haven't been:

L'etoile

Mas

Fellini's

Ten

Zinc

BTW: you might see if King Family Vineyards is doing anything special. They normally have events on holiday weekends like polo matches or etc.

Wineries I really like:

Flying Fox

White Hall

Barboursville

King Family

Veritas is ok, but I find a lot of their wines overly sweet

Jefferson Vineyards

Wow! Awesome list kt. Thanks and will report back.

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I would throw in Beer Run as a very nice lunch option and weekend breakfast (Sat)/brunch (Sunday) option. The food is better than it needs to be and is quite the Belmont neighborhood draw. The Horse and Hound is also very nice as a mid-level lunch and dinner option right next door to Maya on West Main Street.

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A big "Thank You" to ktmoomau for the great suggestions. We had two dinners and brunch off the list and we visited King Family and Jefferson Vineyards.

The Ivy Inn was great. We shared the beet salad (with blue cheese "fondue" and arugula) which struck the right balance of sweet earthy beets and the peppery, bitter greens.

She had the trout; I had the tenderloin. Both were excellent to superb, the short rib raviolo was perhaps a touch dry. For dessert, we had the sampler (chocolate torte, semilina cake, don't remember the third). Solid desserts but nothing I'd try to make a home. They had several extra courses including a salad with a basil dressing and shrimp and grits. Oh yeah, the amuse of pimento cheese was very nice. A great bargain here compared to DC prices.

We had brunch at Maya. She had the vegetable cakes with smoked salmon and creme fraiche; I had country ham and eggs on biscuit. Very solid dishes. Good Bloody Marys. I was sorta bummed that they didn't have any dessert.

Dinner after Monticello was at Fossets. Incredible room and view of the golf course and a wedding reception. Food was solid. I had my first Polyface pork chop which was very nicely cooked. We shared an angel food cake with strawberries and thyme for dessert. I thought there was too much thyme...the only meh dish.

Thanks kt!!!

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Thanks kt!!!

No problem! Sounds like you ate better than I did this past weekend. I had some bust meals, except for Duners which was good. Had the hanger steak with garlic reduction that was very tasty. Had a red wine from Pollack at Duners that was ok, a little fruity with not a huge amount of body, but much better than some of the wine I have drank at Pollack. Although rumor is they are getting better. We went to Flying Fox and I was once again impressed with the amount of wine I like there. Some of it needs a year or two of age to be really good, but that is why you pay less if you buy it at the winery and then you can hold it yourself. All the 2006 bottles are now sold out so I am glad I scooped some of them up while I still could. The wines of that year really benefited from the drought. But still some great wine (although prices have risen somewhat with their rise in popularity, I think there are still some very good bargains) and they have a really nice cheese plate if you want to sit on the patio and enjoy, I highly suggest getting the Viogner for that. And of course meals fixed at home were great.

Most of the bad eating was from other areas outside of Charlottesville in Waynesboro and a so-so meal in Staunton that I will post on their respective threads. Next time will stick to some more eating at places I want to go in c-ville.

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I would throw in Beer Run as a very nice lunch option and weekend breakfast (Sat)/brunch (Sunday) option. The food is better than it needs to be and is quite the Belmont neighborhood draw. The Horse and Hound is also very nice as a mid-level lunch and dinner option right next door to Maya on West Main Street.

Went there this past weekend. What a terrific place. Kind of like a Lost Dog Cafe--retail beer (and some wine), bar, dining, brunch, coffee. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but they quite pull it off. Extremely eclectic and unique draft selection, and a cask option as well. Didn't eat, but the menu looked pretty good. Truly got lost looking at the beer that they had for sale. Great service at the bar, especially patient with the fact that of the ten or so taps, I had not ever had or heard of a single one they were offering...

I would also recommend a trip to the Starr Hill Brewery. Housed in a converted ConAgra factory (apparently the former home of the Hungry Man dinner), the place has a very funky feel. Great little tasting bar set up in the middle of a vast space with all their beers to sample, including some that didn't make it to the stores (an 11% ABC Belgian Trippel. Tasty.). Brief, informative tour and lots of cool merchandise.

Blue Mountain Brewery, a bit farther out, is pretty much just a restaurant (no tours), but with really great beers--and their own hop vines! Sits on a hill in a beautiful valley. Drink fresh beer on a deck, look at mountains, order another beer. Whoops, have to drive back to town...

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Went to Charlottesville for a quick getaway recently. We had only one adults-only meal, about which we deliberated at length before finally picking Mas. On a Thursday night, the place was amazingly busy--it must be the hippest place in town. (It was certainly a young, loud crowd.) We had a great wine (sorry--I wasn't in charge of remembering what it was), the cheese plate, the warm artichoke spread, and the seared tuna. All quite delicious, though none so memorable as to make me want to go back. The one disappointment was some kind of okra thing, which--well, I think we were both trying to like okra, and I am now convinced that isn't possible.

Anyway, the real find of the trip was a little Mexican place called La Cucina del Sol, west of the city in Crozet (where we were staying). Crozet Pizza was well-recommended, but we took a chance and took the 2-year-old to this place instead and were not sorry. The menu is a bit upscale, though the decor (TVs showing Disney videos) is not. The house guacamole (they serve regular smooshed stuff as well as this sorta deconstructed version) was great, my fish tacos were good, and my dining companion's scallop special was awesome. The kiddo lapped up the rice and beans, too. I just Googled this place and saw that it got some pretty negative reviews, so I don't know. Maybe we just hit a good night. But it was reasonable and family-friendly, and I'd go there again if I were in the area again.

(Didn't have the time to do any beer or wine touring, alas, so maybe I will be in the area again.)

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Ate at one new and one place I have visited before:

Dinner at Hamilton's Friday night, and it was really good. Started out with some hand crafted cocktails. I had a homemade gin Tom Collins (no-mix) that was nice and refreshing. Then moved on to Jefferson Vineyards Chardonnay. We had the calamari with white bean salad appetizer. The calamari came with a nice citrus rosemary (I think?) sauce, but the white bean salad was really good with roasted red peppers and artichokes. We also had korean short ribs with kimchi. Those were good, but not like what you can get around here.

For an entree I had a polyface porkchop with mustard greens, whipped potatoes and maple bacon butter and some trumpet mushrooms. This dish was out of this world good. The greens had awesome flavor, the porkchop was cooked perfectly and had great flavor. The maple bacon butter made it rich, but not over the top, just good enough you couldn't stop eating it.

Hubby split the passionfruit cheesecake with hazelnut crust with me. Can I say how nice it was to find a dessert with a non-flour crust! The cheesecake itself was a little soft, I like my cheesecake a little firmer but the flavor was excellent, it tasted like fresh, ripe passionfruit and I love passionfruit.

All in all I really loved this place, hope to go back!

Second meal was at Cocina del Sol in Crozet. I had snapper tacos. There tortillas are homemade and good but so small you have to eat the tacos with a fork which I am not a huge fan of. But the flavors between the sauces and snapper were excellent. It all had nice texture. We also had their nachos which were pretty good too, I really liked the tomato, avocado dip. We go here now and then for lunch and compared to many of the options in our area I am always pretty impressed with this little place.

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Lunched at Petit Pois Friday. Very similar in style and pricing to Rue Cler in Durham, though the wine list is a little less esoteric. Welcome was charming, and the only even slight miss in the six dishes our party ordered were some undersalted snails. Bill for lunch for four with a $40 bottle of wine and two aperitifs was $120 before tip. Winning.

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Is there any place to get a good cup of coffee and a pastry mid-afternoonish, without driving too far off-course (will be heading south on US 29)? Thanks.

You can take the Barrack's Road exit and in the Barrack's Road shopping center is Hot Cakes which has good pastries. If you didn't mind a bagel instead, there is a Bodo's Bagels right off 29 before you hit the city too. I really like Bodo's bagels.

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Had a quick trip down to Cville for Friday and Saturday with the in laws. Friday we explored the Main Street Market, which is really nice. They have a little coffee place, a version of the Organic Butcher like the one in McLean, a little gourmet market where you can get sandwiches, fruits, meats, chocolates and other goodies, a flower shop and a nice Japanese/seafood shop with sushi grade fish, other fish and some Japanese and Chinese items. We ate at Orzo there and it was quite good. I had a delicious lamb stock tomato soup that tasted like extremely fresh good lamb and fresh chunky tomatoes. I also had a salad with their rotisserie chicken, grilled veggies- artichoke, sunchoke, green beans, parmigiana and a lemon vinaigrette. I had a bite of Hubby's meatballs which were really good too. All the sandwiches looked great, but I was happy to stay good because my salad was big and excellent. The whole menu looked good though, I would like to go back and peruse other items.

Stopped by Kluge to get a $45 case of wine. All they have left is the Simply Red, which is a little young and fruity, but for $4 a bottle will do for parties and paired correctly. Also may get a little better as it is in the bottle. That wine shop is a beautiful building and property in the middle of nowhere, which is too bad it would really be neat for something.

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Stopped by MAS for dinner on Friday. The place was slammed and we waited for over 30 minutes for a 2-top but it was worth it. The food was fantastic and well priced (several "tapas" portions were entree sized). The service was well paced and assured. Loved that they had both Mangelitsa and Iberico hams on the menu.

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Stopped by MAS for dinner on Friday. The place was slammed and we waited for over 30 minutes for a 2-top but it was worth it. The food was fantastic and well priced (several "tapas" portions were entree sized). The service was well paced and assured. Loved that they had both Mangelitsa and Iberico hams on the menu.

We had a similar experience on Sat. this past weekend. A nice change of pace from our tapas spots up here, with some different dishes. We especially liked our iberico plate and the flatbread. The servers were so busy and team-oriented (a different person delivered each dish), however, that no one ever told us that the kitchen was out of potatoes (?!) and our patatas bravas were never going to come out (we had to ask, and then she checked). Still, it's a great place to while away an evening.

Taste of China can definitely bring the numb tongue, for all you chile-peppercorn-seekers. There is a wonderful picture menu on the wall with some of the board favorites - the scallion fish in the basket, dry-fried everything, various casseroles. We had a lovely ma pao tofu with braised fish (numb tongue!) and the dry-fried eggplant (not quite numb tongue on its own, but with other hot stuff - POW!). The scallion "pancake" footballs were light and poofy and uniformly thin, but would be better with a sauce. The xiao long boa were necessary to counteract the heat, but not particularly soupy and with thick skins, so only okay. If I were a shrimp eater, the crystal shrimp is what we would have gotten to counterbalance all the heat. This place has a bit more selection than my beloved China Star, but the ordering is much easier because of the picture menu. We had very friendly service and plenty of water refills. Not quite a drive-worthy place from here, but it is really an excellent schezuan restaurant, no matter how long it's been since Chef Chang was in residence.

We had great pizza slices at Christian's and plenty of frozen yogurt from Sweet Frog. Also an abbreviated wine tasting at Barboursville (my husband is now officially allergic to wine B) ) that I quite enjoyed while it lasted. I love visiting C-ville!

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Had a wonderful trip to Ablemarle County and the surrounds.

Gordonsville seems to be in the Dining Guide under Virginia, but only Pomme is listed. If this part should be split off, please feel free. We made our way down to Gordonsville to the BBQ Exchange to pick up some to-go to take to Barboursville. One in our party who is a smoking enthusiast spent some time with their pit master, who also fabricated their smoker talking shop while we loaded up on Pork BBQ, pulled chicken (I thought I ordered a quarter BBQ chicken oh well), hush puppies, fries, coleslaw and pickles. This may be the best BBQ in the immediate area. The pulled pork was definitely carolina style, but had different sauces. It was meaty, but not too fatty and had excellent flavor and texture. The pulled chicken was good too actually, I really liked the smokey chicken with the sauce and coleslaw. There were multiple types of coleslaw and pickles to have. Everything looked fresh and homemade, I got traditional coleslaw and it was good. The hush puppies were great, if you like hushpuppies you need to try these. Fries were ok, they were seasoned fries. We didn't get potato salad or something that wouldn't travel well.

We then went to Barboursville and tried their 21 wines open for tasting. I have had a lot of their wine, and really enjoy a number of their selections. I like Octagon, but 2006 isn't my favorite year. I was very impressed with their Chardonnay Brut and Sangiovesse which are nice light wines for the summer. Their Pinot Grigio also had a lot more going on than I expected it to.

We also went to Keswick I didn't taste, I watched the dog, but we had a bottle of their dessert wine, Nectar latter that evening, it was extremely peachy, not coyingly sweet and pretty darn good for dessert wine (although I am really not a dessert wine person).

We had dinner at the Local. I really love the Local, the space is interesting and the food is really good. I started with a hive cocktail, which was good, but not as well balanced as some I have had here. We then switched to a King Family Cabernet which was good. I started with braised lamb and romesco sauce over polenta which was really good- spicy, gamey, rich and a nice dish to soak up some of the alcohol in my system. I also had bites of the empanada which was a real winner, and the bacon wrapped dates and salad another great dish. I then had the trout stuffed with chorizo with patatas bravas and fennel slaw. It sounds like a dish that hs too much going on and wouldn't be good, but it was fantastic. The fish was served fried, whole, but deboned. The chorizo wasn't as spicy as I had thought it would be and actually didn't overpower the fish, it was just a little interesting part of the center. The fish was crisp, but flaky and juicy on the inside, the potatoes were crisp and nicely soaked up all the extra juice and had a wonderful sauce that wasn't romesco, it was a blonde sauce. The fennel slaw, was really thinly sliced fennel that had been very very lightly dressed with vinagrette and added a nice crunchy texture to the dish. I really enjoyed this dish. I had a bite of Hubby's short ribs that was good, as well. I continue to really enjoy this place everytime we go.

Next day we ate some breakfast at the house, and then headed off to White Hall, I think White Hall is one of the most consistently good wineries in Charlottesville, but is often overlooked by people doing trips. I may enjoy tasting at White Hall even more than Barboursville (the 21 can get to be a little much). The only thing I don't like is that they have some wines I really like that aren't on their tasting. They gave us a taste of their reserve Chardonnay which I thought was oaky and buttery, but very well balanced. They also are now doing a port style wine which I really enjoyed. I think they have some well priced good finds, and their Cuvee Du Champs can really give Octagon a good run anytime. Overall I think they have the best quality in a range of grape varieties and blends.

We then went to Mountfair, and WOW this is my big new wine find in Charlottesville. They only do reds, but they were featuring Thibaut also as it doesn't have it's own tasting room. Their wine really was spectacular. I liked their Merlot and Cabernet, but their "Engagement" was smooth, with body and complexity and was really a top notch wine. We ended up joining their wine club, which we never thought we would do with a Virginia winery, but they focus on a few wines and really make them well. I was really impressed with this place, I think you will slowly start finding this on more restaurant wine lists, once they get more notoriety, the only problem is they have a really small production, and I don't know that they will expand, so that may pose a problem for that sort of thing. If you are near Mountfair this is a must-stop in my opinion.

We then had lunch at Blue Mountain Brewery which has expanded their menu and seating and parking lot. I am not a beer person, but the rest in our party are and liked Blue Mountain. I like their food, we had a veggie flatbread that was really good. They also had an Afton Mountain mustard that I loved, but couldn't find at Rockfish Gap or Greenwood Grocery and going to have to try to find that mustard it is good.

We then went to Flying Fox which had some good things, their table red was actually really good, I find their wines when tasting some tend to be a bit young, but if you are willing to let them sit a year they are really good. They have some of their really good wines available to purchase if you join their wine club (even just for one quarter $30, and then you get a discount too) that have been aged some, like their (I think it is a 2006 Petit Verdot) that won the Governor's Cup and was from the year of the drought and is really fantastic as I bought bottles of it back in 2009 and let them age a bit. But this winery has a lot of potential. This past year their white wine grapes were destroyed so they used White Hall and I didn't find any of the whites that I needed to have (White Hall did better with their grapes), but their reds weren't affected and some were good. They are also in a very convenient area between Veritas, Afton, Pollack and Cardinal so if you are in that area you should definitely stop.

Was a little surprised Greenwood Grocery didn't have as many of their great prepared items, but it still has a fantastic selection of gourmet items and VA wines from the area.

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Well we had a somewhat depressing trip to Charlottesville this past weekend. My husband's grandmother was there, and the family is trying to decide what to do in terms of her care because her health has really deteriorated, but she is still mentally very independent and defiant.

Highlights of the trip were a wonderful bottle of White Hall Cuvee Du Champs, which was rich and smooth with good complexity. Homemade lasagna. And sandwiches from the Piedmont Deli, which has fresh roast ham, turkey and other meats and really puts together a good sandwich. They also have gourmet chips and a good selection of homemade desserts and drinks and prepared items. They also had some general snack stuff too.

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So it appears that I will be in Charlottesville for a night later this week.

We've been thinking about trying one of the formerly Peter Chang Chinese places.

Any advice on this? One good, one better, don't bother any longer?

Thanks!

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So it appears that I will be in Charlottesville for a night later this week.

We've been thinking about trying one of the formerly Peter Chang Chinese places.

Any advice on this? One good, one better, don't bother any longer?

Thanks!

Peter Chang's China Grill on Barracks Road is still PC's. As a matter of fact if I am correct he is in C'ville right now working out the new menu which I believe starts tomorrow. I don't know whether he will still be in town when you are there, but if I learn more about his movements I'll post.

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Gordonsville seems to be in the Dining Guide under Virginia, but only Pomme is listed. If this part should be split off, please feel free. We made our way down to Gordonsville to the BBQ Exchange to pick up some to-go to take to Barboursville. One in our party who is a smoking enthusiast spent some time with their pit master, who also fabricated their smoker talking shop while we loaded up on Pork BBQ, pulled chicken (I thought I ordered a quarter BBQ chicken oh well), hush puppies, fries, coleslaw and pickles. This may be the best BBQ in the immediate area. The pulled pork was definitely carolina style, but had different sauces. It was meaty, but not too fatty and had excellent flavor and texture. The pulled chicken was good too actually, I really liked the smokey chicken with the sauce and coleslaw. There were multiple types of coleslaw and pickles to have. Everything looked fresh and homemade, I got traditional coleslaw and it was good. The hush puppies were great, if you like hushpuppies you need to try these. Fries were ok, they were seasoned fries. We didn't get potato salad or something that wouldn't travel well.

I hit BBQ Exchange this weekend with two friends of mine - both culinary school graduates, my buddy Ed (a chef in NYC, amongst other things) and his wife Francoise (who works for Star Chefs and does some freelance writing). They were doing some kind of write-up on it - she taking lots of pictures, and the owner (who is very friendly and talkative) just chatting with us about his methods, ideas, etc.

I had the Belly-Q sandwich - pork belly that's been barbecued, with sauteed peppers and collard greens on top, plus a bacon barbecue sauce (the owner said they use a pound of bacon per gallon sauce). Fantastic. The potato salad was kind of meh, I thought the hush puppies were great. I tried a bit of some other stuff including the pulled pork and enjoyed it all.

And definitely drank too much sweet tea!

(A funny note, for me: they have barbecued tofu! And it's called "Fu-Q" on the menu.)

FORGOT TO ADD: The highlight for my friends, I think, were the various pastries and such. I skipped out on most of them, but I really enjoyed the oreo bread pudding. The lemon bars were a huge hit.

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Thinking of planning a long weekend getaway for my mom and I in October. I have never been to Charlottesville and am looking for updated suggestions as to where to eat (we like wine, but are more interested in food) and where to stay. Will be driving down from DC so we will have a car. Any advice appreciated!

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On the higher end you have The Ivy Inn, Fleurie, and C&O with solid wine lists. Mid-range i would suggest Maya (Southern farm-to table), Orzo (Mediterrean wine bar) , Tavola (ingredient driven Italian), The Local (casual modern American) and Mas (Spanish tapas). On the less expensive end: The Whiskey Jar (Virginia roots food), Contintental Divide (southwestern) and Beer Run (eclectic American).

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Good suggestions above, in C-ville I tend to like the mid-range places better than the high end to add: Duners if you are out near Ivy (doesn't look like much from the outside but good food and pleasant on the inside normally pretty busy). Three Notch'd Grill (American) or Costa Del Sol (casual Mexican) if you are out in Crozet (there's a good coffee place out there now too forget the name). Downtown I also like Hamilton's, Bizou, I ate at Sips one night and it was pretty good small plates, Zocalo. If you are out by Barrack's Road for lunch Hot Cakes is good. For picnic things Breadworks and Mona Lisa Pasta is a great stop or the Greenwood Grocery (also has amazing VA wine selection). I also like the Deli sandwiches from the Bellair Market. We also like the pizza at Fry Spring Station for something casual.

My blog has a fair amount on c-ville, with some pictures if that is at all helpful: www.katelintaylor.com and a lot on wineries, since I have been to many, many of them thanks to my awesome in laws.

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Good suggestions above, in C-ville I tend to like the mid-range places better than the high end to add: Duners if you are out near Ivy (doesn't look like much from the outside but good food and pleasant on the inside normally pretty busy). Three Notch'd Grill (American) or Costa Del Sol (casual Mexican) if you are out in Crozet (there's a good coffee place out there now too forget the name). Downtown I also like Hamilton's, Bizou, I ate at Sips one night and it was pretty good small plates, Zocalo. If you are out by Barrack's Road for lunch Hot Cakes is good. For picnic things Breadworks and Mona Lisa Pasta is a great stop or the Greenwood Grocery (also has amazing VA wine selection). I also like the Deli sandwiches from the Bellair Market. We also like the pizza at Fry Spring Station for something casual.

My blog has a fair amount on c-ville, with some pictures if that is at all helpful: www.katelintaylor.com and a lot on wineries, since I have been to many, many of them thanks to my awesome in laws.

Lot of good suggestions there as well. One note; SSips (not a typo) on the Downtown Mall has closed and is being replaced as of next Friday by the Citizen Burger Bar, supposedly a gourmet, locavore burger place with lots of local beer/wine.

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The Glass Haus Inn just opened a couple of days ago: http://www.beyondtheflavor.com/home/2012/10/31/ian-boden-at-glass-haus-kitchen-the-making-of-a-menu.html

This is a huge deal: the chef is Ian Boden who formerly was the chef owner at Staunton's highly regarded Standard Grocery. He has cooked at a number of the best restaurants in New York. The sous chef is from Palladio at Barboursville.

A destination restaurant in Charlottesville.

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The Glass Haus Inn just opened a couple of days ago: http://www.beyondthe...-of-a-menu.html

This is a huge deal: the chef is Ian Boden who formerly was the chef owner at Staunton's highly regarded Standard Grocery. He has cooked at a number of the best restaurants in New York. The sous chef is from Palladio at Barboursville.

A destination restaurant in Charlottesville.

I will be there on Saturday night and we are looking forward to it as the menu looks very good.

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The Glass Haus Inn just opened a couple of days ago: http://www.beyondthe...-of-a-menu.html

This is a huge deal: the chef is Ian Boden who formerly was the chef owner at Staunton's highly regarded Standard Grocery. He has cooked at a number of the best restaurants in New York. The sous chef is from Palladio at Barboursville.

A destination restaurant in Charlottesville.

I will be there on Saturday night and we are looking forward to it as the menu looks very good.

Dined here on Saturday night with some friends and the place was, not surprisingly for the time of year, maybe 1/2 full when we arrived at around 8p.

The menu on the web site is not current and from what I remember most, if not all, of the selections were different. They do have a tasting menu option, 5 courses IIRC, that is not listed on the web site.

Appetizers were the warm roasted vegetables and duck liver mousse with crispy chicken skins. The veggies were a generous portion your standard winter selection with some fresh French breakfast radishes added to the mix. The duck liver was served a bit cold and was rather thick, think clay, in its consistency and a bit dry. Despite that it was tasty, but I guess I enjoy my liver mousse a bit lighter. The crispy chicken skins were good for added crunch, but nothing special.

My entree of guinea hen atop foie oatmeal was good and the the bird was juicy and flavorful. The skin was not crisp, but that did not hinder the dish. I was expecting more foie flavor in the oatmeal, but it just added an earthy undertone which went well with the dish. My wife had a dish of pork with boiled peanuts and potatoes that she thought was good.

Highlight of the desserts was the fried milk (breaded and fried pastry cream) served with ice cream (forget the flavor). I certainly don't put this place in the destination category considering our meal and what we have here in DC.

Overall a good meal, but not really any better than the meal we had at The Whiskey Jar the night before. The dixie plate special of fried pork chops served with Hominy Hoppin’ John, greens and a fried egg was excellent. The fried chicken and collards were good too. They are also sourcing as much as they can locally and they have their own farm.

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The plan was to ski at Wintergreen and then have dinner in Charlottesville. At the last second, I decided to go to Massanutten instead. I asked for the 4 hour lift ticket and the person said he was obligated to tell me that the 8 hour ticket is only $6. I did not upgrade - in fact, I was done in about 2 hours. I was getting queasy riding the lifts. The snow was all man-made but it was semi-powdery (much better than Whitetail). So I spent the afternoon putzing around the downtown Mall in Charlottesville.

Dinner was at the Glass Haus Kitchen. Their online menu is not updated. I don't believe there was a single item on last night's menu that was online. I started with a rabbit belly lettuce wrap with kimchi ($12). I've never heard of anyone serving rabbit belly before so I asked what's so special about it (as opposed to any other part of a rabbit). I was told the rabbit belly isn't very fatty - I knew that, still that doesn't make it special. When the dish arrived, I couldn't tell from looking at it that it was rabbit, much less fluffy's belly. When I tasted it, I still couldn't tell what it was, but it was tender and tasted like chicken. The kimchi turned out to be thinly sliced pickled cucumbers. I hope the chef didn't wrack his brain to come up with this dish. The duck rillette ($10) was, I believe, "twee." Three bite sized rillettes served with 2 sticks of cold corn bread. Why cold corn bread? Unfortunately I declined the free bread, so I ate the rillettes with the corn bread. The last dish was described as lobster tagliatelle with uni froth (or is it broth?). After I removed the top layer of "noodles," I discovered half a lobster tail and a claw. The pasta was not a tagliatelle, it was more like Chinese e-fu noodles. It was quite firm but that's not really an issue for me. I did not taste any uni in the sauce, which was quite salty. So after two apps and an entree - I was still kinda hungry but I did not stick around to order more food.

They have a 5 course tasting for $65.

An Yelper had this to say:

We ordered the rabbit lettuce wraps and the duck with cornbread for our "beginnings." On a scale of 1 to 10, the rabbit was a 5, but the duck was a 1. The duck looked like cat food and was cold; the corn bread was tasteless, grainy, and also cold.

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The Doubletree and Omni are supposed to be dog friendly?  (We always have dog friendly accommodations, thanks Mom and Dad!) They aren't off in the country, you might have to find a bed and breakfast if you want that.  I forget which wineries are dog friendly.  I think dogs are allowed outside Barboursville and Keswick.  I haven't tried to take Max to any others, well we might have taken Cooper to King Family, I forget.  None that I know let them inside like B.O.W. though just fyi.

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Any recs on dog-friendly lodging for a weekend in Charlottesville wine country?

It is pretty spartan, but the Red Roof Inn on the UVA Corner allows dogs.  But you have to stay with them in the room, and not go to bars leaving them in the room to bark and wake up other guests. (Sorry about that, whoever you are...)

If you need a doggie day care so you can go to wineries, I highly recommend Pampered Pets on Concord Avenue behind Preston.  Great folks and our dachshund is always super excited to go to the back and play.

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Trump winery had a sign up that dogs are allowed on the patio, since they have an outside tasting bar, that might be a good option.  They have made that tasting room even nicer than it was before.  In that area is also Jefferson and Blenheim, don't know about their dog policies.  You can also take your dog to Carter Mountain for apple picking and to walk the boardwalk to Monticello.  Didn't like Trump wine as much as say... Jefferson, Mountfair, Barboursville, White Hall or King Family, but wasn't bad.  They have small plates you can get, the curried chicken salad was good.  Even the large cheese plate was just a bit sparse though, so would skip on that.

Had GF pizza from Frye Station that was good, everyone else liked their regular pizzas.  We also ate at Sedona which is in Millbrook, that was really good, I liked their small plates, crabcakes, tacos and gorgonzola salad with steak were all good.  Very large beer list with lots of local beers on tap, multiple TVs at the bar make it a good place to go to watch a game if unlike my FIL and Hubby you don't want to sit in the rain at Scott stadium.  Looks so much better than the restaurant that was in that space previously.

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