The Dish

Monsoon, switched: Friends season Market Street with Siam
Published on Jan 11th, 2012
4 comments How did two Thai art students wind up taking over Monsoon, Charlottesville's oldest Asian fusion restaurant? Well, to hear 31-year-old "Kitty" Ashi tell the story, it began in Bangkok. Kitty hails...
Escafé readies: Grand reopening before month's end
Published on Jan 11th, 2012
4 comments Escafé's coming back, baby. As first reported in the Hook, the venerable Downtown Mall restaurant with the hip nightlife recently packed its bags from its longtime home in the shadow of the Omni...
Escafé readies: Grand reopening before month's end
Published on Jan 11th, 2012
4 comments Escafé's coming back, baby. As first reported in the Hook, the venerable Downtown Mall restaurant with the hip nightlife recently packed its bags from its longtime home in the shadow of the Omni...
Rapture: Rare & Ancient Ale Dinner
Published on Jan 9th, 2012
0 comments Rapture on the Downtown Mall pairs up with Maryland-based Dogfish Head Craft Brewery to bring you a dinner highlighting the brewery's Rare Ales (rare because of their extremely small production...
Healthy Chinese: Song Song's Zhou & Bing
Published on Jan 9th, 2012
11 comments Right across from the "Skybar" on 5th Street NE, you may or may not have noticed that a placed called Song Song's Zhou & Bing opened on the Downtown Mall with little fanfare around the first of...
Healthy Chinese: Song Song's Zhou & Bing
Published on Jan 9th, 2012
11 comments Right across from the "Skybar" on 5th Street NE, you may or may not have noticed that a placed called Song Song's Zhou & Bing opened on the Downtown Mall with little fanfare around the first of...
Cook-Out: Popular fastfoodery heading to Charlottesville
Published on Jan 9th, 2012
25 comments A drive-through franchise that speedily serves up grilled barbecue meats and more than 40 kinds of milkshakes is coming to Charlottesville. It's a fast-growing fastfoodery from North Carolina called...
Third cidery planned for Central Virginia
Published on Jan 6th, 2012
3 comments If you've recently taken the tour at Monticello, you've learned that it was hard cider– not beer, wine, or water– that was most likely accompanying Mr. Jefferson's meals. Back in 2009, it...
Concrete move: Market Annex work begins on Main St.
Published on Jan 5th, 2012
1 comments Workers ready the former site of C&R Auto, whose painted signs used to grace 513 West Main Street with promises of "specializing in automatic transmissions," for an expansion of the purple-hued...
Expansion: Peter Chang readies for Richmond
Published on Jan 4th, 2012
3 comments America's most sought-after Chinese chef is moving forward on a plan to open a restaurant near Richmond in the Short Pump area. "We've already started construction," says Gen Lee, business partner to...
No more Long John Silver's in Charlottesville
Published on Jan 3rd, 2012
27 comments Fried fish aficionados have one fewer place to dock their appetites in the new year, as Charlottesville's Long John Silver's has gone out of business. The signs were painted over before the last day...
Shoppers exodus: China King moves to Hibachi Grill
Published on Jan 3rd, 2012
15 comments The gigantic China King Buffet is the latest tenant to vacate the increasingly empty store-fronted Shoppers World, moving down the road to the Hibachi Grill on Seminole Trail. China King owner Gui...
Hungry for stories: The 2011 food round-up
Published on Dec 18th, 2011
6 comments The past year was a rough one economically, but that didn't stop some brave souls from opening up restaurants and eateries. We counted 28 new places that opened this past year, while 15 places closed...
Saturday sadness: Staff and diners prepare for Tavern closing
Published on Dec 11th, 2011
23 comments We sent photographer Tom Daly to the Tavern, the Emmet Street breakfast place where "students, tourists, and townpeople meet," to try to capture some flavor as the venerable diner prepares to close...
Breaking food news: Staunton Grocery call it quits
Published on Dec 6th, 2011
3 comments Dish was sad to learn that Staunton Grocery, the farm-to-table inspired eatery in the Queen City created by chef/owner Ian Boden, is closing its doors after five years. Dish never heard anything but...
Market & Meade district? Lunchbox the latest star
Published on Dec 6th, 2011
13 comments At first sight, Market Street and Meade Avenue would seem an unlikely location for a growing restaurant district, flanked as they are by a cemetery headstone shop, a auto junkyard, and an industrial...
City Market: Survey says...
Published on Nov 28th, 2011
0 comments A team of UVA students questioned nearly 400 Charlottesville City Market goers over the course of the summer, and the results are in. Earlier this year, a task force was formed to explore the idea of...
City Market: Survey says...
Published on Nov 28th, 2011
0 comments A team of UVA students questioned nearly 400 Charlottesville City Market goers over the course of the summer, and the results are in. Earlier this year, a task force was formed to explore the idea of...
Spice of life: Dressing destiny for local woman
Published on Nov 28th, 2011
0 comments About 17 years ago, Eileen Park left a successful TV graphics design career in New York City and followed her husband, a successful plastic surgeon at UVA, to Charlottesville to raise a family. "Just...
Spice of life: Dressing destiny for local woman
Published on Nov 28th, 2011
0 comments About 17 years ago, Eileen Park left a successful TV graphics design career in New York City and followed her husband, a successful plastic surgeon at UVA, to Charlottesville to raise a family. "Just...
Mac back at the Nook
Published on Nov 22nd, 2011
0 comments The Nook mac and cheese menu is back and as the weather cools down, you might want to drop in for some warm and cheesy goodness. "People were asking all summer for it," says the Nook's GM Jeff Hale...
Mac back at the Nook
Published on Nov 22nd, 2011
0 comments The Nook mac and cheese menu is back and as the weather cools down, you might want to drop in for some warm and cheesy goodness. "People were asking all summer for it," says the Nook's GM Jeff Hale...
Spice trade on West Main
Published on Nov 22nd, 2011
0 comments The Main Street Market, more commonly known at the "purple building" on West Main Street (Hey, what about just calling it the Purple Market?), welcomed a new shop recently: The Spice Diva. Your...
Spice trade on West Main
Published on Nov 22nd, 2011
0 comments The Main Street Market, more commonly known at the "purple building" on West Main Street (Hey, what about just calling it the Purple Market?), welcomed a new shop recently: The Spice Diva. Your...
Pigs & Whiskey at Rapture
Published on Nov 21st, 2011
1 comments What's a pig and whiskey dinner? Well, at Rapture on the Downtown Mall it means chef Chris Humphrey will be putting his own special spin on ham hocks, smoked pork, and braised pork belly, while...
Pigs & Whiskey at Rapture
Published on Nov 21st, 2011
1 comments What's a pig and whiskey dinner? Well, at Rapture on the Downtown Mall it means chef Chris Humphrey will be putting his own special spin on ham hocks, smoked pork, and braised pork belly, while...
Pho-nomenon: Pop-up to Handsome Boy Noodles (Ten)
Published on Nov 21st, 2011
4 comments Looks like Ten, the fancy Japanese restaurant on the Downtown Mall, is coming down in the world. Down in price, that is, for at least one night in December. On the first Sunday of the month it...
Pho-nomenon: Pop-up to Handsome Boy Noodles (Ten)
Published on Nov 21st, 2011
4 comments Looks like Ten, the fancy Japanese restaurant on the Downtown Mall, is coming down in the world. Down in price, that is, for at least one night in December. On the first Sunday of the month it...
Tavern sets closing date as Dec. 24
Published on Nov 18th, 2011
27 comments The Tavern, that venerable Emmet Street breakfast place where "students, tourists, and townpeople meet," has set its departure date: Saturday, December 24. The Christmas Eve closing has been revealed...
Doused in Rioja: Welcome to Little Spain at Mas
Published on Nov 14th, 2011
5 comments Dish had a chance recently to explore Spanish Rioja wines at Mas, which is fast becoming our "little Spain" in Downtown Belmont. Indeed, chef Tomas Rahal has made a habit of touring the "mother"...