There’s a new place in the McIntire Business Park, just beyond Saigon Café and Kathy’s Hair, to get homemade BBQ and breakfast burritos made with local organic ingredients. WahooRidge Company(home of WahooQ BBQ Sauce), described as a “hole in the wall” by owner Mike McBlair, just recently began opening up its whole sale frozen food business to walk-ins. No, the food isn’t frozen, as McBlair has a working kitchen on the premises. In several weeks, McBlair will be offering his frozen homemade food at Whole Foods, but for now he’s offering up some of his specialties to anyone who wants to stop by. “The breakfast burritos are to die for,” he says.
Crozet’s only music venue shut its door February 22 on the corner location whose longest-running business in our memory was a drugstore. Next to try that spot: Mudhouse has a lease, according to an Uncle Charlie’s owner.
The best-known son of Swoope and the star of Michael Pollan’s diet-changing book The Omnivore’s Dilemma will speak at PVCC in Charlottesville on the topic of starting your own farm. He is Joel Salatin, an outspoken thorn in the side of the industrial agricultural complex who practices what he preaches at his Polyface Farm. (Other speakers on the bill; pre-registration required.)
Then, at 7pm on Saturday, March 14, he comes back to Charlottesville to speak at the Montessori Community School on Pantops Mountain.
Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em, because after December 1, that won’t be happening in most of the restaurants and bars that still allow smoking in Virginia. The General Assembly passed today the ban that Governor Tim Kaine has sought since he was took office in 2005. Lighting up will be allowed in private clubs and restaurants with a separately ventilated room.
Six-course Bells Brewery Ale Dinner at Maya on West Main on Monday, March 2 at 6:30pm. Enjoy six different beers with six different dish, including shrimp cakes, brunswick stew, roasted stuff quail, braised lamb shank, and other treats. To make reservation call 434-979-6292 or send an email to
This is Red, the mascot of Red Robin, the “gourmet burger” chain with an outpost at Charlottesville Fashion Square mall, as he (or she?) silently but effusively greeted a reporter’s table Tuesday night around 6:30.
Following up on rumors that the Downtown and Ivy Road Java Java coffee houses were closing, Dish decided to give downtown owner/manager Ervin Santiago a call. In 2007, Santiago cut a local franchising deal of sorts with Ivy location owner and former McIntire School of Commerce business prof John Leschke after the space downtown next to the Nook was lavishly renovated. So what was going on?
“Hello, this is Masood,” a man said after we’d asked to speak to the owner.
Masood?
“I bought the Java Java downtown in the beginning of February,” Masood Ayat explained.
And the Ivy Road location?
“Yes, it is closed; it was something they just did overnight,” said Ayat. “They sold it to Shenandoah Joe.”
This was getting interesting. Just a few weeks ago Leschke was identified and quoted as the co-owner of the Downtown Java Java in a C-Ville Weekly story about the Java Java rumors.
The Hook’s attempts to reach Leschke were unsuccessful, as the phone at the Ivy location was out of service. Update 2/19/09: Dish finally did reach Leschke’s wife and partner, Susan. “It was time to get out of the coffee business and have some new adventures,” she explained. And she’s happy the Ivy Road shop will open again as a coffee shop “so those folks on the west end of town can still look forward to a great cup of coffee.”
The Iranian-born Ayat explained that he owned an Italian restaurant in Virginia Beach for 21 years before moving here three years ago to be with his daughter and her children. “I wanted to do something that didn’t have anything to do with food,” admits Ayat, “but I couldn’t really find anything. And this opportunity came up.”
Ayat says he plans to modify the name, calling it Java Java Café, because he eventually wants to start serving sandwiches, soups, and salads.
Ayat admits it hasn’t been an ideal time (more)
It looks like the Virginia legislature is doing the smoking ban dance again. Gov. Tim Kaine (D) and House Speaker William Howell (R) announced last week that they had struck a deal on legislation that would turn the bill into law, but on Monday the senate rejected the particulars of that deal. After fighting over the substance of the bill between anti-smoking and tobacco lobbies, it isn’t much of a ban anyway. For starters, the fine for smokers and restaurants who defied the law is akin to getting a parking ticket, just $25.
Gov. Kaine revealed his desire for a smoking ban in restaurants in 2007, amending a watered down bill designed to affix what amounted to a Surgeon General’s Warning on restaurant windows with an all out ban on smoking in restaurants. Needless to say, like so many smoking ban bills introduced in the home of Richmond-based tobacco company Philip Morris, the bill joined the legislative scrap heap.
This new brand of bill allows restaurants to create “separate ventilated rooms” for smokers without saying exactly what such a room should contain. Private clubs and outdoor patios were exempt from the ban, and smoking would be allowed in places that are technically off-limit to minors, or in any restaurant rented for a private function.
Advocates of these bill have argued that it’s all about worker’s rights, about restaurant employees not having to breathe in secondhand smoke. Some bartenders Dish knows might find that (more)
The Preston Avenue Bodo’s has replaced all its chairs, so the bagel bakery is selling the old ones (shown here) for $20 each, with the proceeds going to charity. According to manager Mike Overend, one of the food banks will get the proceeds from the 50 chairs which went on sale Sunday, February 15. As of Tuesday morning, only 36 are left. “So far, it’s been very positive,” says Overend.
Join Chef Emeril Le Horton and his fellow gumbo lovers at Horton’s Mardi Gras Celebration. Traditional Mardi Gras games and prizes. 11am – 5pm. $10/person includes glass. Info: 540-832-7440.
Orzo Kitchen and Wine Bar in the Main Street Ma...
Chef Angelo Vangelopoulos munches on his ̶...
This student favorite offers a variety of freshly prepared healthy sandwiches in addition to a large variety of fine wines, gourmet sides, and an impressive selection of chips.
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