Personally, this comparison has never been as obvious to me as when we went recently to a pop-up restaurant – all the rage these days! – at the Jefferson Theater, where the food was on the stage, and the band played up to it from the stands. It was as if music itself was bowing to the new king, bathing all that flank steak and mahi-mahi in melodic applause.

And worthy of applause it was. Budding rock star chefs and sous chefs from Mas, Tavola, and Palladio put together an appealing three-course menu that managed to be both familiar and adventurous. My lamb skewer could have used a little more seasoning (though the salad/garnish it came with comprised a few of my favorite bites of the evening – always a good sign), and the olive oil rosemary cake was only good, but everything else was top notch. The potato poppers and spice-rubbed flank steak with blue cheese mayo and wickedly good fried smashed potatoes was not the boldest of dishes but hit all the right comfort notes, while the unusual Boer Bok – a kind of African goat – mingled with pork belly and cabbage in a zesty tomato-bell pepper sauce to evoke BBQ as fine dining. Vegetarians were in luck, too, with a crispy tofu and honey-chipotle glaze that melted in your mouth after a satisfying crunch. Add a rich grappa brownie to the end of the meal and you have a stunning performance.

The servers were attentive and the band – The New Best Recipe – offered up a tight, mellow performance at just the right volume. You could easily talk over dinner or go down and sit on the hay bales to enjoy the music more deliberately. Overall, it was a charming experience and a very unusual Sunday night. Red Light and The Jefferson Theater are planning four pop-up restaurants a year, and we’re extremely curious to see what they do next. Rock & Rolls, maybe?

The space is almost but not quite unrecognizable. The bar has been pared back, woodified, and polished, giving it a great saloon feel. There are old-fashioned touches here and there, like barrels and pitchforks and burlap sacs, drinks in jars, and a menu choc full o’ your grandpappy’s favorite brown liquors. The effect overall is decent, but my main complaint is that the beige plastic tables look really cheap and ugly. If you’re a party of one or two, consider eating at the bar. Either way, the service is excellent!

As I said, my experience with the food has been mixed, but the worst times were early, amidst a packed house. We’re trying to be better about not writing reviews until the restaurant has had a chance to get into a groove. Now, it seems they have. The boiled peanut hummus, with garlic and tahini and jalapeño skin, is like a heartier and more complex chickpea hummus, at the expense of being mildly grittier. The cravable roasted chicken sandwich, which couldn’t sound less interesting in name, is a sandwich fit for man-work: a thick slice of chicken with crisp bacon, hard-boiled egg, cheddar, and mayo. Oh, and watercress. The mayo, egg, and bacon mush together to create a kind of smoky, crispy egg salad. My favorite dinner item is definitely the sweet potato dumplings – like large sweet potato gnocchi – a contender for best new dish in town (and possibly best vegetarian dish in the area?).

One of the most noteworthy aspects of The Whiskey Jar, however, is the recession-proof pricing. Appetizers from $5-7, Entrees from $8-17. There’s also a late night menu that includes fried chicken with collards for $12, and hush puppies with sweet potato biscuits for $6. Now that’s food at prices worth dancing on the bar about!

~

Dave says: “The Charlottesville restaurant scene is upscale- especially on the Downtown Mall. Don’t get me wrong there are places to find value, but more often than not some sticker shock accompanies perusal of a menu. Not so at The Whiskey Jar. They’ve done an excellent job offering affordable food and drink in an atmosphere every bit as polished as pricier restaurants. The bar area alone merits a visit – it may well be one of the more comfortable places to have a drink on the mall. Additionally, it was particularly nice to see a flight of Virginia bourbon offered.

As with most new restaurants the menu needs time to develop, but Whiskey Jar is no doubt headed in the right direction. On both of my visits I felt that the dishes were ¾ of the way there – a little tweaking to each and they could become a force to be reckoned with. I’m excited to see how they will integrate local produce once we get into the heart of spring and summer – perhaps this will take things to the next level. Given the value oriented approach, I’m happy to return and see how things progress.”

Menu: See here.

Rating: Dave: [rating=3] Jed: [rating=3.5]

Pros: Cheap, tasty food with a late night menu. Extensive whiskey menu.

Cons: Hit-or-miss atmosphere with ugly tables. May be inconsistent in its early days of operation.

Price: Appetizers $5-7, Entrees $8-17.

Parking: The usual mall spots.

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• The Hook: Southern, uncapped: Whiskey Jar strips down walls…and recipes
• UrbanSpoon: The Whiskey Jar – Charlottesville, VA
• Yelp: The Whiskey Jar – Charlottesville, VA

For the main course we tried fried rice noodles with mixed veggies. I asked them to hold the water chestnuts, which seem like a waste of an ingredient to me. The delicious sauce was slightly sweet and a bit smokey, not at all greasy, as is too often the case with comparable Chinese dishes. It was heavily stocked with lots of veggies and not a lot of noodles, however. I would have liked a little more noodle and a little less veggie (especially those baby corns…way too many). It was also strange that a noodle dish would come with a large bowl of rice, of which I ate very little. We also tried the Bun Rau, which was rice noodles and steamed veggies in the same peanut red pepper sauce that came with rolls.

As for the rest, chardonnay at $2.75 a glass? Yes please! And filled right to the brim, thanks ladies. Not an award-winning chard by any means but it tasted great. The decor of the restaurant is nothing fancy. You can certainly go in any attire, and in fact the hubs says it has looked exactly the same for years. The waitstaff is friendly, helpful, and extremely attentive. Overall, a very reasonably priced and satisfying vegan meal!

Note: If you haven’t been to The Flat for a lunch crepe, you’re missing out. More info can be found on The Flat website or The Flat on Yelp.

Charlottesville’s newest and arguably “only real” Italian restaurant opens its doors in just a few weeks on March 23rd. I recently chatted at the construction site of what is soon to be Bella’s Restaurant with Chefi Austin Robbins, Valeria “Bella” Bisenti, and general manager Justin Heilbrun-Toft. Lucia Sallese, Bella’s mother, also joined us. She doesn’t speak English but gave us all a lesson in pronouncing a la parmigiana. “Mama” as she is affectionately known, is visiting from Rome to train Chef Austin.

ICEBREAKER

Bella, what is the concept of your eponymous restaurant?

There is nothing like Bella’s Restaurant in the current culinary scene here in Charlottesville. For us, it was very important to have something that is really traditional, really authentic. We had the brilliant idea to bring my mom here from Italy to train Chefi in classic Roman cuisine.

In Italy, when you sit down at the kitchen table, it’s the whole atmosphere.  We are bringing that here: “Food, Family and Happiness.” We want people to come in, have a feast, not pay a lot for it, and take home some leftovers.

My husband [Douglas Muir], is the real visionary behind Bella’s. We were really inspired by Carmine’s in DC. That was the spike that got me and Douglas to come up with the idea.

Chef, how has your culinary background prepared you for la cucina italiana?

I am a classically trained French chef. I went to Penn Foster Vocational and then the school of hard knocks. I was lucky to really work with some of the greatest chefs like Charlottesville’s own Craig Hartman. My first foray into cooking was the front of house at Applebee’s.  I basically brought myself up from there. I never thought I’d be the executive chef of a restaurant like this. I just came from X-Lounge which was a lot of fun.

But, working with Mama was the best training I could ever ask for. It’s been really cool to be in the test kitchen with Mama and take her recipes and adapt them to be able to execute on a larger scale for the restaurant. We all have difference tastes and palates, but Mamie and I are merging our skills. I focus more on the procedures and techniques behind the recipes and enjoy the plating and the fine dining presentation.

So, Justin, how does it feel to open a restaurant in your home town?

Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to have my own restaurant, so this is a dream come true. We are all from here – Chefi and I went to Charlottesville High School together, and Bella has been in the states since she was 21.  Charlottesville is home for all of us. It’s our family, and we want to create something to share with our family. When you walk into the door, we want it to feel like you’re walking into your own home.

Chef, what can we expect on the menu?

Pappardelle pasta, homemade meatball and sausages, carbonara, eggplant. We aren’t making our own pastas or breads, but perhaps we’ll start with foccaccia. We’ll have lots of gluten-free and vegetarian options. As for dessert, we’ll have flourless cake, cannolis, lemoncello, tiramisu, cheesecake, and something we made up that you have to come to find out what it is.

The food is served family style, and the price range is $25 per person including an alcoholic beverage. There are two pricings on the menu – a two person pricing and a 4-5 person pricing. Regardless, you will still go home with leftovers!

Justin, what are the main goals for the restaurant this year?

We want to venture off into catering. You don’t find much Italian catering. We want to perfect the art. We want to still be here in ten years. And, we see Bella’s expanding beyond Charlottesville in ten years.

QUICKFIRE

LAST SUPPER

First introduced in 2001, the Malvaxia Passito is a labor of love.  Unlike the process for making ice wines, grapes for this style of wine are never frozen.  Instead, following Italian tradition, the choicest Moscato Ottonel and Vidal grapes are hand-picked and harvested before the first frost, then air-dried on open racks for 100 days before pressing and subsequent aging in small oak barrels for 18-24 months…none of which I knew while standing at the Barboursville wine bar.  It’s fascinating stuff, winemaking, but for me it’s backstory.  My litmus test for wine tasting is simple:  Do I like it?  If the answer is yes, as it was with the Malvaxia Passito, then I’m curious to know why and set out to learn what I can.

As a full-bodied, intense dessert wine, the Malvaxia Passito came last in the day’s tasting, and for me it was an unexpected pleasure.  Colored like honey, this wine offers layers of flavor, reminding me mildly of apricots and nut.   Think fruit and honey when you sip, and it’s not a far reach to sense them.  Sauvignon Blanc lovers, don’t let the tag “dessert wine” scare you: its sweetness (12% residual sugar, for those who were wondering) is counterbalanced both by depth of flavor and a bit of acidity.  The flavors, and fragrant aroma, linger long after the first sip.  Heady.  The wine makes a happy companion on its own, but to those of you who are curious but care to curb your sweet tooth, it would be fun to pair with some nice cheeses and see which combinations pop.

Unfortunately, the tasting room doesn’t offer comfortable space for lingering inside with a glass or bottle.  Foodies might opt to check out the attached Palladio Restaurant; I opted for a stroll up the lane to visit the Barboursville Ruins, impressive remnants of a 19^th century plantation house designed by someone with whom you may be familiar, who tended to favor octagonal shapes and domes.

At $29.95 a bottle, the Malvaxia Passito is a bit of an investment, but if you have more willpower than this girl, hang on to it for up to eight more years.  If you’d rather enjoy it now, a nip at a time, my opened bottle kept for a good week in the fridge.  Just be sure to re-cork it.  Salute!

It’s the sandwich Elvis would have eaten every day had he been more a nutella guy than a peanut butter guy. Nutella, bananas, and bacon mingle on a canvas of toasted sourdough in this gluttonous masterpiece that appears all the more wicked against a healthy backdrop of naked fruits.

I did have a couple of complaints – I wanted the toast to be a touch softer and the bacon a touch crispier to give the sandwich a little crunch and to prevent the whole strip from coming out with the first bite – but they were mostly drowned out by the harps of bacony brunch bliss strumming in my head.

Hazelnut Heaven is on the specials menu so be sure to get it while you can!

Brookville‘s BFP’s (Big Bleeping Pancakes) are enormous, fluffy, and spectacularly delicious. Pre-dressed with just the right amount of maple syrup, they flake off with your fork like a fine pastry, and taste like one too. If you’re lucky, they’ll have lemon butter that day and your cakes will sing a whole new song. Any visit to Brookville would be remiss without a pork dish, however, and to this end Chef Keevil serves up many a fine plate. Thick cut bacon, Surrey sausage in a pool of dijonnaise and maple syrup, and the holy grail of hangover cures, appropriately called “The Hangover Cure” – a biscuit sandwich with fried egg, sausage, pork belly or fried chicken thigh, gouda, and a hint of maple syrup, among other things.

There is also a delicious local white grape juice to wash it all down, should you feel you’re not getting enough calories from the main dishes.

I’ve spoken to a few people in the last year or two who claim they don’t like Brookville. I’ve done my best to try to understand where you people are coming from, but this brunch officially takes me to a place of no return. Hopefully we can salvage our relationship in other ways…

It wasn’t my first Virginia love, but it’s my most luxurious. It’s no secret that our little corner of American viticulture – namely the Monticello AVA – is gaining recognition of late, with area wineries producing some notable, if not always consistent, wines. The most famous Old Dominion duo may indeed be Viognier (white) and Cabernet Franc (red), but it’s the unpretentious Petit Verdot that has stolen my wine loving heart and made me a devoted drinker of Virginia reds.

A traditionally lesser-known Bordeaux varietal, Petit Verdot is often used as a blending grape, to add body and depth to other reds. Such was the intention at Veritas Vineyard and Winery, where only an acre of Petit Verdot was originally planted. The varietal grew particularly and surprisingly well here, so much so that winemakers tried bottling it as a single varietal. Fast forward a few years, and the wine has become one of Veritas’ most award-winning.

The 2009 Petit Verdot is Veritas’ most recent release, but I’d miraculously managed to hold on to a bottle I’d bought during one of my early visits to the winery, vintage 2005, and uncorked it last night. If a wine produced during a wet season is this good (’05 was unusually rainy in these parts), then subsequent vintages hold high promise. The ’05 Petit Verdot is big for a Virginia red. It is dark, smoky, and rich – and this just in the nose. What I love best is its smoothness – how, upon first sip, it doesn’t curdle my saliva and curl my tongue. For me, the wine drinks like velvet. Soft without a trace of bitterness. Younger iterations tend to be more fruit forward; though dry, the young wine hints at dark cherry or plum. I get that in the 2009. But, if allowed to mature for a few years, the flavors become more integrated and robust, richly organic without reminding me of dirt. Exactly what you’d expect from a quality red. Top that with a long finish to remind me of what I’d just tasted: Monticello wine ecstasy.

Petit Verdot isn’t your mama’s porch-sipping red. You don’t add ice cubes or make sangria with it. In fact, unless you’re naturally wired for hearty reds, you might not opt to drink it solo; this wine holds up equally well whether paired with red meat or dark chocolate, depending on your fancy. But, if it’s possible for a local red to be simultaneously bold and subtle, this one hits the mark.

Note: While the winery itself is sold out of Petit Verdot, you can track down Veritas wines sold locally through the Veritas wine locator or look forward to the next release, expected in May.

Goodbye Orange Crush. We had heard rumors of Escafé shutting its doors and recently C-ville confirmed it. The good news? Rev Soup Owner Will Richey will take over the space and plans to open The Whiskey Jar in the new year. The bad news? Where in the world will we go for Red Bull-fueled bar dancing? Head to Escafé TONIGHT (Saturday) for what promises to be a bittersweet and debaucherous farewell bash.

Choppers on Meade? In an unlikely and awesome combo, The Dish reports a rumor that the creator of the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar will be opening a motorcycle-themed restaurant called Vintage Brews on Meade Avenue, but couldn’t confirm the news. Anyone have the scoop?

More on Meade. The growing restaurant strip also just welcomed The Lunchbox Express and Market & Meade. Serving the same food as the original food cart, it will be open until 11 pm on weeknights and 3 am on Friday and Saturday. Hooray for late night eating!

Staunton Sorrow. The area is losing another good one as farm to fork restaurant The Staunton Grocery will serve it last dinner on December 23. If you’re looking for some wine bargains, they’re offering a 50% discount on all wine served in the restaurant or to go until the doors close.

More than Dogs. If you lamented the closing of the Downtown Hot Dog Company, take a ride to Ruckersville to eat at the owners’ new venture, Ericson’s Eatery & Pub. They still serve up gourmet hot dogs but have expanded the menu to include burgers, steak, and a fried thick-cut bologna sandwich. Woah.

The Best and the Worst. We’ve already written about the happiest and saddest news of the year: pho is coming but The Tavern is saying goodbye.

What other big news have we missed?