Bel Trio: Jim Baldi, Dave Simpson, and Gareth Weldon bring “Munsch” and the “Window on the Belmont Riviera” to Downtown Belmont.
FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

C&O Restaurant owner Dave Simpson and the folks at Bel Rio appear to have invented a word. The word is “munsch,” and besides being a surname, we could find no other uses for it. Simpson, though, is using it to describe a new dining concept  (a combination of lunch and brunch, he says) at Bel Rio, the Belmont eatery and music joint he opened with two partners last November. Basically, Munsch will be a family music and food event held on Saturdays from 11:30am to 1:30pm, the first of which will begin on July 11.

“We want to make it affordable for families to bring kids, ” says Simpson. “There will be latin bands, stuff for kids to do…and hopefully it will give adults a chance to talk.”

Simpson says the series is being organized by Estela Knott, a singer and director of Blue Ridge Music Together, a music program designed for kids and adults. (more)

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Scottsville has a case of porcine pilfering on its hands. According to the Newsplex, Wilber, the 18″ pig mascot outside Pee Wee’s Pit Barbecue has gone missing. He was last seen on Sunday, June 28. Wilbur has been previously featured in the Hook during the 2008 presidential campaign, when he donned lipstick in light of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin taking offense at then-Senator Barack Obama making the comment, “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.”

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Artist Sharon Shapiro’s provacative promotional artwork for the first Artini event in 2006 gave new meaning to the term “nursing a drink.” Will this year’s event be just as thrilling as it was in ‘06?
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Once again, Second Street Gallery’s Artini fundraising dance party is happening in the Ix building this weekend. This is the third annual Artini event, named for the specialty martinis that are served at local restaurants leading up to the event, the first having been what some described as “the party to end all parties.” There was a thunder and lightening storm that night, sending torrential rains through the gaps in the roof of the old textile mill, which made it feel like an “end of the world” party.

But the folks at Second Street cued up the event the next year, adding slick features like a VIP section, bikini-clad painted dancers serving drinks, circus performers spinning fire and whirling hoola-hoops, and a harem-like white gossamer tent with a small pool and fountains where party goers lounged on colored pillows. There were no torrential rains that (more)

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Attention Mall mavens: In September, this could be your corner grocer.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

For years now, we’ve heard rumors about a grocery store coming to the Downtown Mall area. In November 2007, it was reported that a grocery store was opening up in the still unoccupied  A & N store/Obama headquarters space on the corner of East Main and Fifth Streets, but it was not to be. In fact, sources at the time told Dish that there was never any plan for a grocery store there. After all, what grocer would operate in just 2,400 square feet of space without drive-up parking?

Well, now it appears a grocer has decided to operate at the corner of 4th and East Market Street, in the familiar building that has been home to Cadogan Square Antiques, currently advertising a closing sale.

“We were lucky enough to find a space large enough for this purpose in a beautiful old building,” says soon-to-be grocer Raphael Strumlauf. “We’re looking forward to making this a convenient, enjoyable place for the people that live and work in the downtown area.”

Strumlauf says they will carry a full range of grocery items, as well as fresh seafood, locally grown meats, and produce. “We’re also planning an extensive selection of prepared foods made in our own kitchen, that include roasted meats and a wide range of ethnic dishes,” he says.

Strumlauf says he and his partners plan on opening the grocery/deli, tentatively named the Market Street Market, sometime in early  September.

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A Restaurant Week banner graces the front of the Hook booth at Fridays After Five on June 19.
PHOTO BY ANNA HARRISON

The menus of the seven upscale restaurants participating in Charlottesville’s first-ever Restaurant Week will be published in the July 9 edition of the Hook, according to newspaper sales manager Anna Harrison.

“They do need to make reservations,” Harrison advises eager eaters who wish to take advantage of the deal which allows diners to enjoy a three-course meal for $25 at such restaurants as the C&O, Fossett’s, and the Boar’s Head, all of which offer may normally charge more than that just an entree.

Harrison said she hopes foodies will make reservations based on the menus they find most appealing— though she hopes that with seven restaurants in a seven-night event, super-avid diners can try all seven.

Already, the Omni hotel, which recently underwent a $5 million renovation that included upgrading all its guestrooms, has agreed to offer a special rate for Restaurant Week visitors of $125 per night.

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