Last Call Dogs hopes to satisfy your post-partying cravings…well, at least some of them..
PHOTO FROM LAST CALL DOGS WEBSITE

Starting next weekend, expect to see a giant yellow truck going back and forth between the Corner and Downtown after 10pm, serving up hot-dogs, nachos, pretzels, Big Jim’s BBQ, and Slawski’s Sweet Sausage on the cheap to folks with the late munchies. The owners of said yellow hot-dog truck appear to enjoy anonymity, as their website has no contact information. All it says is: Thursday-Saturday, 10pm-2am. Downtown/Corner district, every Fridays After Five.

Apparently, the owners of Last Call Dogs are also aiming to be Charlottesville’s first Twitter and Facebook-centric business.

Indeed, Last Call Dogs Twitter page was the only place where Dish could find out anything about the big yellow truck with a hot-dog on the side. Apparently, they had a little trouble getting started–literally–as they went through three starters in the truck in one month. They also have 39 followers already, including 106.1 The Corner’s Brad Savage, and call themselves the “best mobile late-night food in Cville.” (more)

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“Our new people have been here for six or seven years, that’s ‘new people,’” Duner’s owner Bob Caldwell tells me over the phone. “Most nights, I know almost everybody in the room.”.
PHOTO BY RYAN HOOVER

When I find myself explaining my city to outsiders, I’m not just recalling the cosmopolitan restaurant scene, the organic locavore movement, or even the community’s infatuation with grocery stores.

I think of institutions, a handful of local restaurants where the cooks flatten hamburger buns, the cashier does magic tricks with spare change, and the owner visits tables to make sure customers are happy– after all, he started out as a line cook when his restaurant opened in 1983.

“Our new people have been here for six or seven years, that’s ‘new people,’” Duner’s owner Bob Caldwell tells me over the phone. “Most nights, I know almost everybody in the room.”

He estimates that his Ivy restaurant has served more than a million meals. He calls it a “neighborhood bistro,” I call it an institution.

An old friend and I met at Duner’s one Monday evening in February. It was early when we arrived, and the two small dining rooms and bar soon swelled with salt-and-pepper couples and ripe families around us. Our waitress appeared to sense that we were catching up after two years and slowed our meal to a leisurely gait. (more)

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Tuesday, April 28th from 4pm to 7pm. Learn more here.

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Under new management: Andy Gems and Lauren McRaven take over the space formerly known as Gravity Lounge.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

The popular Gravity Lounge is gone, but the acoustic/indie-friendly space remains and will continue as a musical venue under the management of a duo who met working at Gravity last year. When they heard the space might be available, Andy Gems and Lauren McRaven jumped on it.

Gems also has worked at another defunct music venue, the Satellite Ballrooom, and McRaven is the proprietress of downtown creperie The Flat who last year planned a menu for Gravity.

“It just didn’t work out,” says McRaven, declining to reveal what cuisine will be offered at the space that was long run by Bill Baldwin. “It’s what can be done in a minimal kitchen.”

The new establishment will not be called Gravity Lounge. “That belongs to Bill,” explains Gems, and the partners say they are still working on a new name.

The other biggest difference: “Having a cafe and bar that’s open regular hours regardless of what’s going on in the venue,” says Gems. The space is actually two separate buildings and addresses. “We plan to use that more,” explains Gems. “We’ll close the space off so we can have a bar scene going on.”

While Gravity has always seemed like a spacious venue, its nooks and crannies held an abundance of odds and ends that were left when landlord Ludwig Kuttner changed the locks following two years of alleged nonpayment of rent capped by fire marshal safety violations.

Boxes now cram the space waiting for dispersal. Gems predicts a late June, early July opening.

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On Friday, April 17 the new online retail store Retail Relay will be celebrating it’s relationship with Martha Jefferson Hospital. Basically, they’ve built a special online grocery store, with the help of online local food site Virginia Bounty, for MJH employees, who’ll be able to pick up their goodies on Friday afternoons outside the building after ordering online. They’ll even carry your groceries to your car, and it doesn’t cost anymore than it would if you went to the store yourself. Their service is available for the rest of us, too, on Retail Relay’s main site, with pick available at the MJH location or on Route 250 near the Boar’s Head Inn. 

Now folks can get their online purchases from 14 local stores delivered right to where they work on Fridays,” says marketing director Ted Corcoran. “The idea is to get grocery shopping done during the week and have more time on the weekend.”

The stores and farms around town include Reid’s, Rebecca’s Natural Food, Fisherville Farm, The Cheese Shop, and Hotcakes to name a few. MJH employees will also be able to get some stuff from Trader Joe’s, even though the closest one is about 50 miles away. (more)

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