The Hook - The Dish » 2010

Wild Wing recovering from blaze

by Dave McNair 12:37 am July 31st

Flames leaping into the air during the early morning blaze.
FILE PHOTO BY JESSICA WILKINS

An early morning fire at Wild Wing Café on July 27 was fortunately extinguished within 10 minutes, but it will take a little more time for the popular eatery to recover. According to general manager Kiersten Kaufman, they were hoping to open the downstairs seating area this weekend.

“Unfortunately, there was more damage than we had anticipated, so we are having to push that back for a few days,” says Kaufman. “We’re still completely unsure when we’ll officially reopen, but we are hoping by next weekend.”

Kaufman says the majority of the damage was actually caused by smoke and water from the building’s sprinkler system and hose-wielding Charlottesville firefighters as they fought the blaze. Upstairs, where the fire started, planters, a chair, and a small portion of the restaurant’s decking were burned.

“We’re still not completely sure how the fire started,” says Kaufman, “but it’s suspected that it started with a cigarette that was put out in one of our planters.”

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Yogurt taps: Sweet Frog leaps into town

by Dave McNair 4:41 pm July 30th

Sweet Frog owners Robert Lupica and Giovanni Sestito on opening day.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Sweet Frog, the new frozen yogurt place beside the Mudhouse on the Downtown Mall, officially opened today just in time for Fridays after Five.

Owners Giovanni Sestito and Robert Lupica were out pinning up the “now open” sign on the awning and fretting a bit about having to open on such a busy evening.

However, Dish had a chance to sample the goods yesterday and we don’t think the duo has much to worry about.

The blueberry, peanut butter, and mango yogurts we sampled tasted remarkably fresh, plus there’s an impressive array of toppings to choose from. It’s also self-serve. Grab a cup, belly up to one of the yogurt machines (which look like those soft-serve ice cream machines ) dispensing your chosen flavor, place your cup under the nozzle, and pull the tap down. Then go over to the toppings bar and add what you like. At checkout they’ll weight your cup and charge you 39 cents an ounce.

As Lupica emphasizes, all the yogurt is non-fat, rich in calcium, high in vitamin B12, and gluten free.

Ironically, there wouldn’t be a Sweet Frog if it weren’t for Joe Gieck, the Downtown property owner who (more)

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Baldi watch: Bel Rio owner’s absence prompts media scramble

by Dave McNair 6:13 pm July 27th

Bel Rio owner Jim Baldi
FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Since the Hook first reported last week on the mysterious disappearance of Bel Rio owner James K. Baldi, local reporters have busily dug up new information that suggests the debonair 47-year-old freelance accountant and restaurateur’s impromptu vacation could become permanent.

It also appears that his 25-year-old traveling companion, Kristian Throckmorton, a former Bel Rio bartender, was indeed the subject of a missing persons report. While Throckmorton’s mother, Wendy Ellis, declined media comment when the story first broke July 20, a story in the Daily Progress reveals that the family filed a missing persons report, an action that appears to have launched a brief police investigation.

However, when the Hook spoke with Charlottesville City spokesperson Ric Barrick on July 27, he said that Throckmorton was no longer missing and had communicated with her family and friends. Barrick said police did not communicate with Baldi.

Ellis, an author who recently penned a book about being the wife of local pastor Lindsay Ellis entitled His Calling–My Purpose, held a reading and book-signing at Bel Rio last December. When contacted most recently, Ellis declined to comment on the missing person report or the nature of her daughter’s temporary disappearance.

The Progress also reported that Gareth Weldon, who, along with the C&O’s Dave Simpson, opened Bel Rio with Baldi in 2008, filed a $300,000 lawsuit against Baldi on July 7, accusing him of using business funds for his own purposes, withholding information on Bel Rio’s financial condition, and failing to pay an agreed-upon capital investment of $50,000 when the three-person partnership was formed. His lawyer, Daniel J. Meador Jr., tells the Hook that Baldi has until August 2 to respond to the lawsuit— or he’ll lose by default.

Baldi was evicted in February from a Downtown Mall office he leased for alleged failure to pay more than $2,200 in rent, and on March 15 a tax lien was filed against Bel Rio LLC by the Internal Revenue Service for about $13,000 in (more)

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Wild fire: Blaze chars Wild Wing Café

by Courteney Stuart 8:03 am July 27th

Flames tear through the Café’s porch.
PHOTO BY JESSICA WILKINS

An early morning fire at Wild Wing Café on West Main Street has been extinguished with no injuries, but there may be water and smoke damage, as sprinklers inside the restaurant activated and hose-wielding crews extinguished the blaze, according to Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner.

Units responded within five minutes of the 6:34am call to 911, and the fire, which was limited to the porch but spread smoke throughout the interior, was knocked down within 10 minutes, according to Chief Werner.

By early afternoon, the Fire Marshal had completed his investigation, according to Deputy Chief Britt Grimm, who says investigators were able to pinpoint the location of origin on the porch close to the building, but were unable to determine the cause. Grimm says investigators found no sign of arson. No estimate of damages was available.

Amtrak, which shares the building with Wild Wing, was cleared to resume operations this morning. Calls to the restaurant went unanswered.

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Feast fresh, feast local

by Dave McNair 12:53 am July 26th

August 7, 2010 6:00 pm

Mark your calendar, foodies. On Saturday, August 7 the Piedmont Environmental Council is having a fundraising feast for its Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign at Whole Foods Market on Route 29 North. Guests will dine on a menu featuring products from many local and regional farmers and producers including Barboursville Vineyard, Blue Mountain Brewery, Blue Ridge Dairy, Caromont Farms, Green Hill Farms, Henley’s Orchard, Meadow Creek Farm, Porcello Farm, Shenandoah Valley Family Farms, Shenandoah Joe Coffee and Wade’s Mill. Many of the farmers and producers will also be on hand for the event.

The feast begins at 6pm and tickets, which are said to be completely tax-deductible, are $50. Tickets can be purchased online or by giving Melissa Wiley at the PEC a call at 434-977-2033.

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Have a yen for Ten past ten?

by Dave McNair 12:38 am July 26th

Okay, so it’s midnight on a Friday and you have a craving for chilled udon noodles or a crispy rock shrimp tempura. What do you do? Head over to Ten, of course. The fancy Japanese joint above the Blue Light Grill on the Downtown Mall is now serving up a late night menu until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights. What’s more, says TEN’s manager Tanya Yerkovich, if there’s enough interest they want to have a live DJ both nights. Now that could be a happening scene!

Here’s the menu for you to check out: (more)

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100-mile chef: Brookville’s lunch a taste of things to come

by Dave McNair 5:42 pm July 23rd

Chef Harrison Keevil hard at work in Brookville’s kitchen today.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

If you like locally sourced food cooked exquisitely, Dish suggests you wander down to Brookville Restaurant on the Downtown Mall (above Escafe) and check out their lunch menu. Chef/owner Harrison Keevil says he’ll start serving dinner around mid-August, when he hopes to get his ABC license, but a visit for lunch now is a great way to get a taste of what this passionate chef has in store for us.

“Ingredients are everything,” says Keevil. “I buy great local food, and just try not to screw it up.”

Of course, you’ll pay for this lunch—about $13 or $20 per person if you get a starter—but you’ll get what you pay for: a seductive zucchini fritter that’s both smooth and lightly-crispy, bold thin-cut house-made potato chips, and a frittata with goat cheese, greens, and grated carrots doing a slow dance on your palate you don’t want to end. They also have a tangy house mixed burger blended with hanger steak and bacon. They even bake their own buns for those burger. Dish wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a cow and goat in the kitchen.

Sure, plenty of local restaurants source local food, but none that Dish knows of are going at it like Keevil wants to.

If he can keep up this kind of quality control, locals foodies could be in for a treat. What’s more, Keevil appears willing to do what it takes.

“I consider myself a 100-mile chef,” he says, meaning the emphasis is on using ingredients grown or raised within a 100-mile radius of Charlottesville. So don’t expect to see the same thing on the menu every week, as Keevil only plans to cook what he can source.

Indeed, during the winter months, when local farms aren’t producing anything, Keevil says he’ll turn to jamming, pickling, salt-curing, and smoking to create many of his dishes—the same thing folks did in Mr. Jefferson’s day during the winter months. Using more modern technology, Kevil says he plans to work with local producers who use polytunnels, a system used to grow plants in the off-season.

“I’m hoping Cville will accept the fact that they will see new things on the menu they didn’t see the week before,” he says. “It’s time to revert our eating habits to the way they used to be, because it’s the right way to do things.”

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Where’s Baldi? Bel Rio closes, owner vanishes

by Dave McNair 5:15 pm July 20th

Bel Rio owner Jim Baldi.
FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

Bel Rio, the Downtown Belmont restaurant and music venue that has sparked a passionate debate over noise-levels at night spots—which led to an amended City noise ordinance—appears to have disappeared, along with its owner, without a sound.

A sign on Bel Rio’s door last week announced that the venue would be closed for two weeks for vacation and kitchen renovations, but that was news to building owner Jeff Easter.

“I still haven’t heard from him,” says Easter of Bel Rio owner Jim Baldi. “I think he’s gone.”

Easter, a critic of the proposed 55db noise ordinance, which he believes is too low, nonetheless asked Baldi to tone it down following a July 3 incident after a private party at the restaurant during which there were altercations in the street, the police were called, and several people resisted arrest. Indeed, Tomas Rahal at MAS says that customers of his were afraid to leave the restaurant to go to their cars that night.

“When you have people screaming and yelling at 2:30 in the morning,” says Easter, “that’s a nuisance.”

Indeed, while musicians, Belmont residents, and City officials earnestly debated the noise ordinance, and whether or not Bel Rio’s late night music scene was a boon or bust for the neighborhood, Baldi seemed to be staking his success, at least in part, on late night parties.

“Jim said he couldn’t make it without the private parties,” says Easter. “I told him that’s not my problem.”

Baldi partnered with C&O’s Dave Simpson and Gareth Weldon to open Bel Rio in November 2008, but Simpson sold his interest in the restaurant to Baldi in October of last year after having second thoughts about the partnership.

Weldon, too, parted ways with Baldi, but he did not immediately respond to Dish’s call for comment by press time.

Meanwhile, no one seems to know where Baldi is— or when he’ll be back. Indeed, Dish spent most of last week trying to locate him with no success.

Local realtor Roger Voisinet, whom Baldi hired to sell his house at 900 Elliott Avenue, says Baldi contacted him last Tuesday via text message, saying he was going to Chicago and giving him his ex-wife’s phone number if anything came up concerning the house.

“I texted him back,” says Voisinet, “but I haven’t heard from him.”

When Dish called Baldi’s ex-wife, a family member answered (more)

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Landlord gives Bel Rio a thumping of its own

by Hawes Spencer 9:10 am July 16th

The view from inside Bel Rio.
FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

After a persistent controversy over its musical volume and allegations of late-night rock-and-roll bass thumping disturbing the sleep of Belmont neighborhood residents, embattled Bel Rio restaurant has received a thumping of its own: the landlord insists that Bel Rio stick to jazz. The Daily Progress has the scoop.

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Get hoppin’

by Dave McNair 10:43 am July 15th

August 2, 2010 12:00 am

Like beer? Why not help make it. The folks at the Blue Mountain Brewery are inviting people to come out on August 2 from 10am to 7pm for their annual Hop Picking. If you volunteer you get a free sandwich and a side. They’ll be brewing 1,000 gallons of Cascade Tribute pale ale with the hops you pick, and the rest will be tried and used in their Full Nelson.