The Hook - The Dish

Good-bye kabobs, hello meatballs

by Dave McNair 4:34 pm September 01st

That little space on 29 North beside Pizza Hut, the former home to two Middle Eastern restaurants, Zandi’s, and more recently, Zam Zam Kabob, has yet another international tenant.

Hint: “Börk, börk, dee doo!”

However, unlike the Muppet’s Swedish chef, Little Sweden Café owner Eva Elm doesn’t speak gibberish, wear a toque blanche, or fling utensils. Plus, she really knows how to cook!

Originally from Mölndal, Sweden, and a graduate of one of the country’s top cooking schools, Elm moved to the States in 1992 and began work catering in Maryland. In 2003, she and her husband moved their family to Charlottesville and (more)

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Seniors go back to their roots

by Dave McNair 1:10 pm August 31st

On September 1 a group of seniors from JABA’s Scottsville Community Center hopped on JAUNT buses and headed out to Maple Hill Farm, the 75-acre certified organic farm operated by the nonprofit Local Food Hub and owned by Dave Matthews.

The new program, underwritten by a $10,925 grant to JAUNT by Virginia Senior Transportation, plus $575 in matching funds from the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA), hopes to give older folks better access to fresh local food. The program will allow seniors in Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa, and Nelson counties to shop at local farms, grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

In addition to promoting healthy aging and supporting the local food movement, JABA officials also say the program will give seniors the opportunity to “exercise, socialize and, for the many who grew up on farms, reminisce about raising their own food when they were young.”

Indeed, while foodies crow about the local food movement, many seniors, who grew up around World War II, remember growing and raising their own food as a way of life, first to survive the Great Depression, then as a way to aid the war effort, as “Victory Gardens” were promoted to boost morale and increase the nation’s food supply.

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New ‘A Team’ on West Main

by Dave McNair 12:38 pm August 31st

“His lemon curd is tremendous,” says Gresge.
FILE PHOTO BY WILL WALKER

Mark Gresge, chef/owner of l’étoile on West Main, tells us that they now have a new sous chef who’s baking his own bread for the restaurant and revamping the dessert list.

“Now we have two ‘A Team’ members,” says Gresge, referring to head chef Brian Wilkinson and new hire Brendan Cowley, a CIA grad who comes to us by way of Michigan.

“At lunches our catfish Po Boy is on one of his betards”— a small roll— says Gresge, “and for dinner we are using his bread for our guests when they arrive. Desserts are another specialty of his; his lemon curd is tremendous.”

In other l’étoile news, Gresge says they are now getting their chickens from Timber Creek Organics, a small Joel Salatin-inspired farm near Foxfield.

“They are fed with organic feed, which makes all the difference,” says Gresge. “It’s in our tarragon chicken salad.”

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Chang watch: Might the elusive chef be back?

by Dave McNair 5:04 pm August 24th

Where are you Peter Chang?
FILE PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO

Back in April, chef Peter Chang’s “consultant and translator,” Gen Lee, told Dish that the famous Chinese chef had found a place of his own near Short Pump that would be open in three or four months. Now Lee reports that the Short Pump deal fell through, and that Chang is within weeks of securing a location in Charlottesville.

We know, we know…

Since Chang wooed us and made us weep, we’ve lost track of the number of wistful food writers who’ve reported similar Chang plans, only to watch the quixotic chef slip away. Indeed, while Lee tells us Chang wants a place in Charlottesville, a blogger in Atlanta says he was told the Chang was returning to a restaurant called Tasty China.

But we can hope, can’t we?

While Dish won’t be convinced that Chang has decided to stay until he sees him in the kitchen of his own place in town, Lee makes a convincing case.

“We want something really bad in Charlottesville,” he says, “but there are always delays. But we have the money, everything is ready, we just need to sign the papers.”

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