The Dish


Made to order: Eat out by eating in Published on Nov 27th, 2012 1 comments Relay Foods, the local online grocery, has partnered with three local restaurants to offer their customers, well, essentially "dinner kits" that will allow them to cook meals served at the C&O,...
Cozy drinks: Downtown fireplaces stoke the season Published on Nov 20th, 2012 4 comments When you're chilly and tired from shopping or checking out the big Christmas tree at Central Place on the Downtown Mall, there are at least five fireplaces within footsteps. On a recent Thursday...
Rivertown redux: Scottsville's Bocce reappears in C'ville Published on Nov 16th, 2012 18 comments Remember Caffe Bocce, the first of the upscale restaurants to start putting the little river town of Scottsville on the maps de cuisine? After a near decade-long hiatus, this upscale nouvelle Italian...
Saturation point: Too many restaurants on the Downtown Mall? Published on Nov 13th, 2012 35 comments Seventeen years ago, when Bill Hamilton and his wife, Kate, opened Hamilton's at First & Main on the Downtown Mall, it was a big risk. "At that time, a seasoned local restauranteur advised us...
Seed-ville: Grow-local op grows Carpe Donut Published on Nov 13th, 2012 12 comments What if you take the concept of the local food movement, add a grassroots element, and apply it to the world of finance? It might look something like Seed-ville, which just launched a campaign to...
Good-bye, Carmello's; Hello Mex... and meals tax hike? Published on Nov 5th, 2012 25 comments Last February, Carmello's, the venerable Italian restaurant that was located for 19 years at its familiar Emmet Street location next to the EconoLodge, moved to Fontaine Avenue into the former site...
Food explosion: Stonefield's six restaurants aim to draw diners Published on Oct 31st, 2012 42 comments "It looks like it's almost open!" squeals a caller to the Hook office this week, and without asking, we knew she could only be referring to one thing: Trader Joe's at The Shops at Stonefield, the...
'Hard' sell: Virginia cider gets a week of its own Published on Oct 26th, 2012 3 comments Hard cider has become big business. How big? Vermont based Woodchuck Cider, the country's biggest producer, was purchased this week by Dublin-based cider giant C&C Group for a whopping $305...
From Russia with love: New restaurant/nightclub comes to Preston Published on Oct 23rd, 2012 7 comments Attempts to revive the former Outback Lodge location on Preston Avenue seem to have been going on ever since the former roadhouse/restaurant closed in 2009. For a brief time, it was a place called...
Separate checks? UVA students create Foodio app Published on Oct 19th, 2012 2 comments Okay, so maybe this new food ordering app that a couple of twenty-something UVA students came up with doesn't address a major issue, but it does eliminate one annoying thing about eating with friends...
Business is good: new Mex, cheap sushi, and a Glass Haus Published on Oct 12th, 2012 8 comments In the last few months, we haven't been able to turn a corner without finding a new eatery opening. Since August, we've counted 16 places that opened, recently opened, or are about to open, so it was...
Blackballed Moto: Did 'biker bar' hunches doom Saloon? Published on Oct 9th, 2012 88 comments Across the street from one of the more quiet businesses in town, tombstone retailer W. A. Hartman Memorials on East Market Street, a neighborhood kerfuffle over music came to an end recently when...
Iconic slices: Crozet Pizza comes to the Corner Published on Sep 27th, 2012 22 comments Crozet Pizza is coming to the Corner on Elliewood Avenue sometime before Halloween. Now, that's pretty exciting news. The pizza is legendary, and students on the Corner are going to go nuts for it....
Moo-vin' on: Kirt's Ice Cream makes it local Published on Sep 27th, 2012 7 comments Kirt and Ivy Gray used to own the Maggie Moo's ice cream and treatery franchise in the Hollymead Town Center, but they got tired of the corporate ball and chain attached to their creativity. So they...
Cville Oriental: Asian supermarket opens on U.S. 29 Published on Sep 27th, 2012 12 comments For about 15 years, the Charlottesville Oriental Food Market, a little place located on Carlton Road next to the Cville Market, offered an assortment of Asian foods, produce, and specialty items....
Southern revival: Sam's Kitchen returns... unchanged Published on Sep 27th, 2012 10 comments Sam Jean is proof you can't keep a good restaurant man down. After opening in 1994 in the old Howard Johnson on The Corner (now the Red Roof Inn) and then moving to the old Hoo's Kitchen spot on...
Chef's return: Langhorne wows Clifton crowd Published on Sep 21st, 2012 0 comments In the first installment of its Chef in the Garden series, the folks at Clifton Inn welcomed rising star chef Jeremiah Langhorne, the 26-year old Albemarle High School graduate who went from...
Acing it: New BBQ comes to Henry Avenue Published on Sep 21st, 2012 13 comments Chef Brian Ashworth has a bit of advice for "hoity-toity" chefs who might think that leaving a fancy restaurant job to open a BBQ joint would be easy. "No way, making good barbecue is hard," says...
Tacos to go: Whole Foods hits the road Published on Sep 19th, 2012 4 comments Possibly you've seen the leafy-greens-and-giant-corn-emblazoned truck at Fridays After Five. Or perhaps in the Whole Foods parking lot. Or maybe near Lee Park on West Market Street every Thursday at...
Tacos to go: Whole Foods hits the road Published on Sep 19th, 2012 4 comments Possibly you've seen the leafy-greens-and-giant-corn-emblazoned truck at Fridays After Five. Or perhaps in the Whole Foods parking lot. Or maybe near Lee Park on West Market Street every Thursday at...
Sweet space: Sweethaus cupcakery moves west on Main Published on Sep 11th, 2012 2 comments Tara Koenig and her husband Billy recall feeling uninspired when they first explored the new space their business Sweethaus would occupy. Nonetheless, about a week ago, the popular cupcake and candy...
Fit for grazing: Pasture readies to moo-ve into Stonefield Published on Sep 11th, 2012 25 comments Ever since Trader Joe's signed a lease in the under-construction Shops at Stonefield, food lovers have been salivating, and now there's even more reason to work up an appetite: one of Richmond's top...
Las Cavañas: Mexican food hides in Crozet gas station Published on Sep 7th, 2012 12 comments Charlottesville is no stranger to gourmet gas stations. What's more of a surprise: finding killer auténtico Mexican food hidden behind the facade of a rural gas station with a Citgo sign on U.S. 250...
Las Cavañas: Mexican food hides in Crozet gas station Published on Sep 7th, 2012 12 comments Charlottesville is no stranger to gourmet gas stations. What's more of a surprise: finding killer auténtico Mexican food hidden behind the facade of a rural gas station with a Citgo sign on U.S. 250...
More savory changes in Seminole Square Published on Sep 3rd, 2012 18 comments A worker cuts metal studs as part of the ongoing effort to move Charlottesville's Outback Steakhouse from Albemarle Square to Seminole Square. The popular chain steakery will take the place of...
New port: Mexican restaurant seeks downtown harbor Published on Sep 1st, 2012 14 comments A popular Mexican eatery in the Meadowbrook Shopping Center, El Puerto's, is opening a new location on the Downtown Mall, replacing Reflections salon. El Puerto, which means "the port," is a...
New port: Mexican restaurant seeks downtown harbor Published on Sep 1st, 2012 14 comments A popular Mexican eatery in the Meadowbrook Shopping Center, El Puerto's, is opening a new location on the Downtown Mall, replacing Reflections salon. El Puerto, which means "the port," is a...
With a whimper: Giant closes at 6pm Thursday Published on Aug 30th, 2012 1 comments A few seconds after ordering a Hook journalist off the premises, the manager warned customers– both of them– over the public address system that it was now 5:55pm and time to bring all...
Play ball: One Meatball Place gears up Published on Aug 27th, 2012 9 comments Most of the time we leave the weather forecasting up to the meteorologists, but this week, Dish feels pretty comfortable issuing a prediction for West Main Street only: Cloudy with a near 100 percent...
Degrees of cheese: Nook featured in cookbook Published on Aug 27th, 2012 0 comments If you think mac and cheese is toddler food that comes in a blue box, a new book has a surprise for you. With 80 sophisticated mac and cheese recipes borrowed from restaurants across the country,...