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Mas to Millers

Charlottesville restaurant reviews and food news

Food Events

2nd Annual Midtown Street Fair: BBQ Cook-off

Sep 12

Posted by Jed in Food Events | 1 Comment

Maya's smokily delicious pulled pork with peach mustard sauce at the 2nd Annual Midtown Street Fair in Charlottesville, VASaturday was the perfect day for the 2nd Annual Midtown Street Fair. Amidst live music, thumb wrestling contests, face painting, and the Derby Dames, was an intense BBQ Cookoff. We had the pleasure of being judges, alongside Police Chief Longo, City Manager Maurice Jones, and Director of Neighborhood Development Services Jim Tolbert.

Blue Moon Diner, Horse & Hound Gastropub, Maya, Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar, and Zinc offered up their best pork plates for West Main BBQ bragging rights. Orzo’s rich saucy Q was the winner, followed by runner-up Maya’s pulled pork with peach mustard sauce… Read More

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On the Market, Part 4: Season of the Goat

Jun 5

Posted by Kip in Food Events | No Comments

Caromont cheeseAccording to Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont farm, “seasonality is everything” in cheese making. The flavors of the goat milk go from lemony and creamy in the new-grass spring flush following birth, to a nutty and “goat-y” flavor coming from caproic, caprylic, and capric acids during the hot central VA heat in the middle of the lactation cycle. Spring goats’ milk makes for an explosion of activity for Caromont, and Gail says it’s absolutely the best time to be making and eating fresh chevre.

But I want fresh chevre in February! You can, says Gail, but “fresh chevre in February is like a tomato in February” – it’s cheating nature. In order to get that February chevre, Gail reckons some cheese maker has… Read More

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On the Market, Part 3: In a Pretty Pickle

May 27

Posted by Kip in Food Events | 2 Comments

pickles-3Fresh Crunch was located last week on the Western side of the market, next to the road across from South Street. Matt Brass’s father is the Culinary Arts director at CATEC and while he’s 5 years deep into pickling (sold at his short-lived deli), the canning is as recent as the public pickle selling. While his ambitions drive him towards larger scale production and product growth, we are lucky to have him around at least for now with ingredients sourced from NOVA and seasonally rotated. Right now try his Sweet Hots, which I’ve been putting on sandwiches to a great tangy effect, but he also has beets, standard pickles, carrots and others.

The most important thing about his flavors is the… Read More

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On the Market, Part 2: Seasonings, Early Summer 2011

May 20

Posted by Kip in Food Events | No Comments

Berries - 1Sandwich greens for lunch, cooked greens and salad for dinner, strawberry jam for breakfast. Strawberries will be in season until early June, which is about when blueberries will be coming into season, closely followed by raspberries and cherries (super short season, 10 days! really!).

I recently went strawberry picking with some good friends; truly brilliant idea on their part, pick a crap-ton and make half-pints of jam as wedding favors! While you can have a good time out there in the patch leisurely picking, chatting and snacking (it really must be in their business plan… right?), strawberrying is not the easiest of pickings. There is a lot of bending over, lots of dirt, and in the end you… Read More

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On the Market, Part 1: Jamming Out

May 15

Posted by Kip in Food Events | 3 Comments

jam-1This is the first in a series of City Market profiles by Kip, a new writer here at Mas to Millers.

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Full disclosure: Every year I buy a case of jam and glorify in it as long as possible, and my raving is actually featured on his website.

The point here is that the jam you get at the supermarket is super sweet and somehow lacking in fruit pieces and intense flavor. This stuff that we’re used to is a product of the large industrial food chain we’ve built around ourselves, blah blah blah . You know the spiel. We’ve screwed ourselves by communizing our food chain, conglomerating producers, equitizing but reducing average quality, increasing the… Read More

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Bacon Night at Blue Moon Diner

Feb 16

Posted by Stephanie in Food Events | 5 Comments

Bacon Bloody MaryLove, Thy Name is Bacon…

This was my first time trying Blue Moon Diner’s Annual Bacon Lover’s Menu on Valentine’s Day. And to hell with my cardiologist, I’m planning to do it again next year.

We started off with the bacon bloody mary. The horseradish overshadowed the bacon by a long stretch, but whatever the olives were stuffed with was a hit at the table. I admit I hadn’t noticed the BLT Martini on the menu and I think I may have preferred that. I’m planning to try it when it reappears on their menu during the summer months.

The first course was a little vague on the menu, but the plate contained spicy batter dipped… Read More

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Albemarle County Fair

Aug 5

Posted by Erin in Food Events | 2 Comments

Funnel fat.It’s time for funnel cakes, roosters, the scrambler, dart games, and the saddest “Fun House” ever at the annual Albemarle Fair. We headed there on opening night to get our fix of fried food and family fun. Everything was as we remembered it: the bottle top game was impossible, the kids sugar-hopped and excited, and the setting beautiful. Unfortunately, the food also remained sadly uninspiring.

For a fair that highlights what’s great about our community – agriculture, crafts, music – why doesn’t it highlight local food? With the exception of Pantheon Popsicles, the Charlottesville Mennonite Church’s Funnel Cake Booth, and Richmond’s Famous Dave’s BBQ chain, all the food seemed to be generic stands that travel across the country… Read More

Charlottesville Restaurant Week is Here!

Jul 12

Posted by Jed in Food Events | 7 Comments

The first reports are coming in. Orzo gets a “thumbs up” despite being “slammed,” Bang was “fantastic“, and more.

Email us, comment here, post your experiences to our Facebook page, tweet* them. (Okay, things are admittedly getting a little out of hand with the social media options.) We want to hear all about it!

Other places where people are commenting:

• CvilleYum.com – The official Restaurant Week website. Also, their Facebook page.

• The Hook – For now, it’s mostly people debating whether $26 is a good deal or not, but stay tuned.

* Thanks to Kari Rippetoe for suggesting we track our Restaurant… Read More

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Cooking Class with Mark Gresge of l’etoile

Jul 1

Posted by Jed in Food Events | 3 Comments

I love this town. Where else can you have an intimate cooking lesson, over the course of two-and-a-half hours, with the head chef and founder of one of the best restaurants in the area, for the price of a meal at said restaurant?

The Seasonal Cook‘s evening classes generally follow the same format: You and seven other people sit around the chef’s table, close enough that you can practically feel the heat from the burners, and watch as he or she prepares dishes according to the theme for that evening. There is no imposed structure. Ask questions along the way, chat about restaurants and farms, follow the recipe exactly or not, have some wine… Read More

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Restaurant Week

Jan 27

Posted by Jed in Food Events | 8 Comments

(Image from http://cvilleyum.com)

As we receive reports from diners about restaurant week experiences, we will post them here. Send your thoughts to food@mastomillers.com, or post them in the comments. If you send them via email, be sure to say if you want to be anonymous.

Boar’s Head

“Lunch was just okay, though the fried green tomatoes were excellent. I’ll definitely stick with the buffet in the future.”

“My palate was ecstatic…The restaurant was packed, had a delightful atmosphere, and paid attention to the details. Our waitress and the other wait staff were top-notch!” Read the full review here.

“It was amazing…We went after the lunch crowd at 1 pm and it was still… Read More

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