Seanchai

Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville is my number one source for Virginia wines in the area. Greenwood is good, but they don't have quite the size that Wine Warehouse does.

The 250/151 area south from Crozet has an awful lot of restaurants now with people doing winery tours in the area. Blue Mountain, Rockfish 151, Wild Wolf, Bold Rock, Devil's Backbone... It's a lot to take in. Glad you had a good visit!

Pro tip  - Matt from Wine Warehouse provides the best selection and customer service in Cville on beer as well.

I made it to Bar Civita on one of my infrequent forays into DC out of curiosity.  I had spent untold hours working in the smoky dinginess  (word?) of Murphy's of DC back in the day and had also enjoyed the early incarnation of Liberty Tavern.  Eating in a window booth with my wife and sons was a weird juxtaposition of so many memories after last call when we ..., well, let's not go there.  Overall, as Tweaked described, we had a very good neighborhood restaurant experience.  The option to get half portions of most menu items was great as we were able to strategically order a variety of food without spending a boatload of money.  The charcuterie, grilled octopus, butcher block ragu with orreichiette, and spaghetti with clams and grilled shrimp were all very tasty if not life-transforming.  If we lived in the hood I could easily see this being a monthly treat for the family.  Whether that fits the demographics of that odd neighborhood remains to be seen.

The first time I read it, i frequently laughed so hard I had to put the book down until I got control of myself.  He has a gift for random, observed humor and you eventually get roped into his and the team's loony world.  I haven't read this book since the advent of tell-all sports media like Deadspin, but you definitely felt that you getting a picture of professional sports that you had never gotten before, except maybe in Slap Shot, which I think was a movie contemporary (I'm too lazy to Google it to verify).

Kwangsik moved back to Korea and tragically died suddenly of a aneurysm about 8 years ago.  Wonderful, wonderful man. To bring it back to food, he also introduced me and my family to the wonderful world of Korean food, cooking often for our family and showing me the delicious bbq places in Koreatown in midtown Manhattan.  I smell sesame oil, think of Kwangsik, and smile

I can't say it was the greatest sporting event, but one of the most memorable for me was attending the Mets-Astros game on July 3, 1986.  That was the magical summer for the Mets that ultimately resulted in the 7 game World Series win against Boston.  For that Astros game I went with my friend Kwangsik who was staying with my family the summer before our senior year in college.  His friend Lex was visiting NYC from the Netherlands for the first time and had never attended or seen a baseball game.  I remember taking the 7 train to Shea Stadium and watching the expressions of the other passengers as the Korean guy and Dutch guy talk in Spanish to each other, that being their shared language when they first met.

We got to the ballpark and I bought Lex a Mets ballcap and told him to put it on. He thought I was messing with him until he saw a large number of the other 50,000 plus fans wearing the same hat.  It was an intense, close game between the two teams that would ultimately meet in the NLCS and finally Darryl Strawberry and Ray Knight hit dramatic back to back home runs for a come-from-behind win in the 10th inning.  The big apple rose behind the wall and I saw Lex high-fiving the stranger next to him while jumping up and down.  Being July 3, the game was followed by a huge fireworks display.  You know, your average ballgame.  Sigh.  RIP Kwangsik.

Speaking of hockey, the one event that would have been amazing to have been part of was the Miracle on Ice game between USA and the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics.  The game was shown on tape delay on ABC but I couldn't wait; before the broadcast started I called a number I had called a hundred times before to get Mets scores: 976-1313, the infamous Sports Phone.  The recorded message told me that one of the greatest upsets in sports history had occurred.  I have to say it made watching the game that much more enoyable to my teenage self but still, to have been there, watching it unfold ...

Oddly enough, despite the fact that I hardly get to dine out much in Cville, I HAVE been to Lampo, Oakhart, and Public.  I've given some feedback about Lampo upthread (in short, awesome).  Oakhart and Public I've only been to once or twice and not always for full meals.

For me, those two restaurants are similar to Tavola in Belmont:  very good, but not superlative.  If any of them were in a major city, they would be solid to very good neighborhood options.  In Charlottesville, because no one is really doing what they are doing, they are more exceptional.  In my opnion, Lampo would be considered excellent no matter where it was located and we are very fortunate that they are in our little city/big town in central VA.

JM Stock is insanely expensive.  Mind bogglingly expensive. And I don't get why they have that huge space when most of it is just empty floor.

The first time I bought a 6 pound pork shoulder for smoking from them I was in a state of shock.  $60 plus for a freakin pork shoulder with a generous fat cap?!

I want to support local products/businesses but damn ...

There is another eatery planned there. There is a plan for a September launch of Kardinal, which is the newest project by the owners of the successful Beer Run.

I think that Timbercreek Market was attempting not to steal/compete with that business while still trying to get a niche in the area, as there is a lot of lunch traffic at Bodo's or Sticks across the street. Nobody else is trying the "take home your dinner" model that they eluded to on the site and I haven't seen in person yet.

Honestly it has taken me some time to get over there because my normal time downtown would be Saturday mornings while going to the market and I am usually long gone by the time they open their doors at 10am.

Ironically, it appears that Timbercreek's main competition is JM Stock, who once trumpeted the fact that they carried local meats from ... Timbercreek Farm.  Based on a small sample size, I would say the quality of retail meats and local food products is currently higher at JM Stock as is the service.  However, right now Timbercreek is signficantly less expensive than JM Stock while carrying comparable items.  Hopefully this means that in the near to mid future JM Stock will lower their prioces rather than Timbercreek raising theirs.

Mine being much more unrefined was what I was thinking, although being a beer malt-head is a little wacky to me .

Don, I love reading this recent run of restaurant/food musings by you although I have not and perhaps will not actually visit any of those places, living two hours away as I do. Your restaurant eating/drinking experiences help draw a map of what a lovely eating and drinking experience might be, despite the potential difference in our palates.  Thank you for the meals you paint.

Sam Cooke:  The Man and his Music was one of the first CDs I ever purchased. Not surprisingly, Nothing Can Change This Love was my wedding song:

I love cooking out of Donald Link's Real Cajun cookbook and the chicken and sausage jambalaya is a family favorite:

http://leitesculinaria.com/77092/recipes-chicken-and-sausage-jambalaya.html

in Betheny-Betheny Blues BBQ. Good food and perfect for families. Keep in mind most places at the beach don't take reservations. Rehoboth-Big Fish Grill, Salt Air, Lupos Italian Kitchen, Fins for oysters, food is mixed however.Henlopen Oyster House. EDIT: I guess I was too late but good for next trip.

Thanks for the suggestions.  We did fit FINS which we liked a lot, including the oysters.

We're heading out to Bethany Beach for a week this Saturday.  Any recommendations on low to mid range places in Bethany, Rehoboth, Fenwick Island?  Yes, we're travelling with two teenage boys and my MIL so high end places are out.      Thanks.

So, no "Likes" in the Dining Guide. *However*, for several years, I have thought of instituting our own award program - there are no more capable judges in all of Washington, DC than seasoned members of this community, and I've been kicking around the idea of "Best of" awards in various categories, awarded not by me (although I would have a vote), but by a committee of our most experienced, reliable members. This would necessarily start out small: a congratulatory post, bragging rights for the restaurant, and a certificate to hang on their wall - and it would evolve over the years and decades into who-knows-what. However, for it to evolve, I will need funding. The "James Beard-like Awards" won't be coming anytime soon, but I know that if you compare our experienced members with the judges on the RAMW committee, it is a no-contest, absolute joke as to who is more qualified, unbiased, and capable of awarding *true* "Best-of" awards to various restaurants If a volunteer would like to take the lead on this so we can commence this project, please write me; otherwise, it will continue to lie dormant, just as it has for several years.

The Chicago based LTH Forum has a similar restaurant appreciation award called Great Neighborhood Restaurants nominated and voted by members:

http://www.lthforum.com/2013/03/gnr/

Despite our extremely busy weekend schedules, the family (including 14 and 12 year old boys)  is finally getting to take a Saturday day trip to DC from Charlottesville.  Our three known stops are Politics and Prose bookstore, Right Proper Brewery for lunch, and my favorite DC museum, the Americam Museum of Art/National Portrait Gallery post-lunch.  Since we have our beagle/Jack Russell mix anxiously awaiting our return, we are not staying overnight but coming back to Charlottesville Saturday.

Where should we stop for an early dinner between Penn Quarter and Charlottesville?  We've done Pupatella, Pizzaria Orso, and Four Sisters in Falls Church to give the range/price limit of places we'd be looking at.  Suggestions?

Thanks!

No worries, the "why' was just a lead-in to the link explaining the word choice.  After starting the business with my wife, I did at times regret going with the traditional spelling in Irish of "seanchaI" as opposed to the more phonetic "shanachie".  I had a lot of people calling about books asking for Mr. Sean Chai.

How does "Seanchai" relate to a book store?

I have my Rick Steves "Ireland" book and copies of James Joyce's "Dubliners" and "Ulysses" you can have. In fact, I might even pay you to haul away Ulysses.

Well, that was the name of the business.  Why?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seancha%C3%AD

I like JM Stock a lot for the variety of sausages they make and the high level of service you get but yes, good lord is it expensive.  I think the quality is a little better at JM Stock but there are still some items I still go to Organic Butcher for like pork shoulder or beef roasts because of the price disparity for bigger amounts of meat.

I've loved my two visits to Lampo (I wrote the first one up above),  The sandwiches and sides are as good as the pizza.  As I said, it may not be completely at Pupatella quality but it's in the ballpark.

As someone who spent the late 90s and early 2000s having a little storefront/Internet book business on the side (in fact, that's where my user name comes from), I can say The Hersch's advice is spot on.  As a dealer you were looking for that sweet spot of an undervalued book to buy, especially if you specialized.  Conversely, you wanted to be pricing the book enough to give you a profit margin but not so high that it will never sell.  In those early days of the Internet it was easy to poach things off eBay in my speciality area (books of and about Ireland), but much harder now.  One reason is the websites cited above are today much more widely known and the other is that places like Amazon have aggressively gotten rid of the middleman like the book dealer I used to be and gone into business themselves.

David Lebovitz is one of the old school food bloggers who's been doing his American in Paris thing for a long time (at least in the parameters of Internet blogging).  He recently visited Charlottesville for a UVA/French studies presentation and wrote a wonderful post about his food adventures there.  Included in there were words and pictures about new and old favorites such as Wayside Chicken, Lampo, JM Stock and Provisions, Milli and Joe coffee, and Albemarle Baking Company among others.  Well worth a look.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2015/04/dining-travel-charlottesville-virginia/

Do we know if there are plans to keep the Murphyburger on the Menu?  Seriously, I will need to come to this place just to revisit the place I spent so much of my 20s "working".  Combine that with my like of the early Liberty Tavern, it should be an interesting experience.

Born in Queens, NY, grew up in an Irish/Italian/Jewish neighborhood where I followed the 5 major NYC sports:  pro football, baseball, basketball, hockey and the Mafia.  I could swear that Henry Hill's last house was located in my neighborhood.  Went to a preppy college in upstate NY (located in Hamilton, not at Hamilton) where I met for the first time people that didn't ethnic identify.  They were just ... American.  Weird.

Came to DC after college for an ill-fated couple of years at GW law before dropping out.  My first waiting job was the American Cafe in Georgetown but my restaurant home was the recently shuttered Murphy's of DC where I worked off and on for about 6 years.  Met my future wife to be at a Sunday afternoon St. Patrick's Day parade fundraiser at Ireland's Four Provinces.  Lived in Adams Morgan twice (17th and Euclid and Summit Place), Woodley Park (stumble home distance from Murphy's), and Arlington twice (near Courthouse and Westover).   Taught special education in northern VA at various schools and after marrying, moved to Charlottesville in 1995 where, aside from about 6 weeks in two different Februarys living in Khabarovsk, Russia before bringing home my two sons, I've been ever since.

As an NYC native who loves cooking from Donald Link's Real Cajun cookbook, this has been a most informative and enjoyable thread.