Dish recently got a hot tip from a reader about a new Japanese fusion restaurant in Waynesboro called Osaka III. Apparently, it’s a little tricky to find as it’s tucked away on the tire-changing side of the Waynesboro Walmart shopping center on Lucy Lane, but according to local foodie Dori Hoffman-Latter the place has “phenomenal food at great prices.”

“If you go at night, the sign you will see is not the right sign,” says Hoffman-Latter. “It’s a sign for the restaurant that was there for a month before this one opened up, but if you go when it’s light you will see the Osaka sign.”

Unfortunately, Dish wasn’t able to find a listing for Osaka III, but Hoffman-Latter says that the family that owns the place has two other restaurants in different states, but says it isn’t a “chain” per se.

“The food was really fantastically fresh and definitely worth the trip,” she says.

Anyone for a Waynesboro road trip?

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That little space on 29 North beside Pizza Hut, the former home to two Middle Eastern restaurants, Zandi’s, and more recently, Zam Zam Kabob, has yet another international tenant.

Hint: “Börk, börk, dee doo!”

However, unlike the Muppet’s Swedish chef, Little Sweden Café owner Eva Elm doesn’t speak gibberish, wear a toque blanche, or fling utensils. Plus, she really knows how to cook!

Originally from Mölndal, Sweden, and a graduate of one of the country’s top cooking schools, Elm moved to the States in 1992 and began work catering in Maryland. In 2003, she and her husband moved their family to Charlottesville and (more)

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Chef Tony Bonanno fires it up at Tony G’s Grill in Ruckersville.
PHOTO BY COURTESY TONY G’S

Former Northern Exposure chef Tony Bonanno and Carmello’s George Hatzigeorgio have teamed up to create Tony G’s Grill in Ruckersville, which opened right next to Boot’vil in the old 29 Truck Stop space on June 27. Hence the “Tony” and the “G.”

“Tony has always been a good friend of ours,” says Hatzigeorgio, “so we decided to go into business together. It will be like a more affordable sister restaurant of Carmello’s.”

Hatzigeorgio says they’ll be open for lunch and dinner, serving up burgers, steaks, seafood, Italian dishes, and cuisine from the rest of the European continent as well.

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Harry the Hot Dog caught in the act of condimenting himself at The Downtown Hotdog Company.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Harry the Hotdog has a new home on the Downtown Mall. Who’s Harry the Hotdog? you ask. As you may recall, some teenage pranksters stole the anthropomorphic wiener man from All Good Groceries in Earlysville two years ago. Police eventually found the bruised and beaten statue buried in a trailer park. The local media covered the event with mock seriousness, using headlines like “Hot dug-up dog: Harry found, but a little wurst for the wear,” “Giant Earlysville hot dog returned after kidnapping,” and “Hot dog begins rehab.” There was even a fundraiser to repair the statue.

Now Harry stands gleaming in the depths of York Place at the newly opened Downtown Hotdog Company that materialized Thursday, July 8. With striking yellow and red décor, illuminated menu board, and Harry greeting guests at the front door, the place is hard to miss.

Owner Eric Saunders, a restaurant biz veteran who did stints at Starr Hill and Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery, says he took about two years to dream up and refine his (more)

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Last week we told you that a place called the Mykonos Café was opening up in the Seminole Square Shopping Center in the old Old Grounds Café space near Cici’s Pizza. Today, we can confirm that the café is being opened by Dimitrios Tavampis, owner of the Corner hotspot the White Spot. Mykonos Café will serve authentic Greek dishes as well as Greek-American food, including souvlaki, gyros, moussaka, an assortment of Greek salads, as well as hamburgers and subs. Mykonos Café will also offer a full breakfast menu. The café is expected to open in April.

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The Java Depot in Nellyford, which happens to be a restored train depot, opened in June last year.
PHOTO COURTESY JAVA DEPOT

In our yearly round-up of openings and closings, Dish missed one opening on the road to Wintergreen—the Java Depot and Café. As co-owner Nancy Kern, who runs the place with her husband, Richard Boyd, wants to remind folks, the Java Depot opened in June last year.

“Our place is unique with terrific coffee and homemade food,” says Kern.

Boyd, an architect, actually designed the Java Depot in 2007 using the old Arrington railroad depot, which was built in 1870 to replace the old depot which was burned down during the Civil War. Before being dismantled and moved to its current location along Route 151 in Beach Grove, it housed the Arrington Post Office from 1961 to 1982. Originally, the restored building opened as Sparrow’s Cafe a little over a year ago, but that business only lasted about five months. Kern, a lawyer, says she and Boyd, who only live about a mile away, kept driving by the building and were struck with the restaurant bug.

“We decided I could keep my job to put my salary into the Depot and work mornings and weekends,” says Kern. “Richard is in charge of the kitchen, me the barista and coffee. It’s so much fun. It’s not lucrative yet, but there is no better way to spend my salary.”

Kern says Nellysford needed a coffee shop, and that she loves the idea of making people happy with homemade food and coffee.

“I’m a coffee snob,” admits Kern, “so I shopped around and settled on Shenandoah Joe roasters— more expensive but better than others I found.”

The Depot is opened for breakfast and lunch from 6:30am to 2:30pm every day except Tuesdays, and on Friday nights from 6pm to 9pm they feature live music, dessert, and light dinner fare.

As for the food, look for treats like roasted tomato soup, butternut squash and shrimp bisque, smoked turkey and bacon club, homemade applesauce, sweet potato pancakes, and chocolate almond pie.

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The Southern’s Andy Gems and Lauren McRaven hope the music hall will also be known for its cuisine.
FILE PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

Back in 2005, when Lauren McRaven opened The Flat on Water Street, she quipped that she might not have opened the little crêperie if she’d known beforehand how difficult it was going to be. Nearly fours years later, with The Flat having become a Water Street landmark, crepe lovers can be glad that no one warned her. Fans of new music venue The Southern should be glad as well, as McRaven is behind the “Café” in the joint’s tag line “Café and Music Hall.” Initially, McRaven was hired by the owners of Gravity Lounge to head up the kitchen, but when Gravity closed, she took over the space with Andy Gems.

Those early worries about taking on too much seem to have subsided for McRaven, as she says the new gig at The Southern has been a “step up” from The Flat, which she’ll continue to run. “It’s been nice to branch out a little bit,” she says.

McRaven also has ambitions to turn The Southern’s café into a real Downtown restaurant destination, not just a food option during music shows. As she points out, in addition to a late night show menu for concert goers, folks can also eat at the café without buying a ticket to a show. The café is open from 11am to 3pm Tuesday through Sunday, with a brunch on Saturday and Sunday that features live music.

The biggest challenge now, says McRaven, (more)

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Camino opened recently on Market Street, serving up locally-sourced Mediterranean cuisine.
PHOTO COURTESY SEAN THOMAS

Camino, which took over the Il Cani Pazzo space next to the Vinegar Hill Theater on Market Street, has, to borrow from its Spanish meaning, traversed the “long road” from concept to reality, quietly opening last week. While they are still waiting on their ABC license, co-owner Sean Thomas says the Mediterranean-inspired restaurant is now serving locally-sourced dinner cuisine Wednesday through Sunday.

Thomas, an aspiring filmmaker who planned on doing a documentary on the local food movement called Dirt to Dinner, says he decided to bring some of the same ideas for his film to a real live restaurant venture, serving up locally-sourced food inspired by the rustic style of cooking in Southern France, Italy, and Spain. At first, he says, he planned on operating a food cart on the Downtown Mall, but when he tossed the idea around with (more)

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There’s a new Mexican place in the old Amigos space in the Willoughby Square Shopping Center on 5th Street SW named La Joya. They opened about three weeks ago, according to Isael Alvarez, son to owner Eva Alvarez. It’s the first restaurant the family has opened.

“It’s something my Mom has always wanted to do,” says Isael, “So when she got the chance, she took it.”

Basically, it’s food Eva has been cooking in her own kitchen for years. The Dish hasn’t checked it out yet, but Isael says they have a $4.40 lunch combo special that has been mighty popular.

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Rise Pizzaworks General Manager Justin Billcheck and owners Andrew Vaughan and John Spagnolo.
PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART

Over the last month or so, Dish heard whispers about Rise Pizzaworks in Barracks Road, with several pizza lovers wondering if it was a chain kind of like Chipotle. Nope. The newest addition to Charlottesville’s gourmet pizza scene, which opened Sunday, September 27 in the former Glassner Jewelers space in Barracks Road Shopping Center, is a one-of-a-kind, locally owned and operated.

But it may not be one of a kind for long.

“This is a proving ground,” says co-owner John Spagnolo, who along with partner Andrew Vaughan– a longtime fixture on the Charlottesville restaurant scene– hopes to open (more)

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