Food Finds

Food Find: Enoteca’s Fig, Ricotta, and Honey Bruschette

enotecaEnoteca is made for girls nights out and men in need of a first date destination. The wine bar’s sleek communal tables and slim servings on small plates definitely draw in more of the ladies than the men. My favorite menu item, however, should appeal to all types and genders – or at least provide an added lure for the men.

The Fig, Ricotta, and Honey Bruschette perfects a sweet and salty flavor combo. Enoteca starts with a crunchy bread base covered with the creamiest ricotta cheese you can imagine. Next they pile on sweetly soaked sliced figs that are drizzled with honey. But the best touch is the spicy sprinkle of black pepper on top. It’s creamy decadent goodness with an unexpected bite. It’s a perfect after work snack with a glass of cool white wine and a lovely dessert at the end of evening with a bottle of red. Or go ahead and order 3 at $2 a pop and make it a dinner.

Food Find: Duck with Sweet Potato Hash at Camino

Fig-balsamic-glazed duck with sweet potato hashEvery now and then we encounter a dish so flavorful and harmonious that it is as if the ingredients were separated at birth, only to be reunited at long last on the plate. In the case of Camino’s duck dish, the earthy sweetness of figs is balanced by tangy stripes of balsamic vinegar, with a body of salty-sweet potato hash underneath. The duck meat itself is appealingly mild, with a subtle note of gaminess giving it character.

Our overall experience at Camino was mixed, but this masterful dish will make regulars of us… Read More

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Food Find: Aqui es Mexico’s Chori-Pollo Burrito

Chori-Pollo BurritoFor our last 2009 gorge before the cold reality of New Year’s resolutions set in, we headed to an old gorge favorite: Aqui es Mexico, which competes for the best Mexican in town yet still reminds me how much I miss Mexican food from the west coast.

My recent discovery at Aqui, which makes me pine for west coast taquerias a little less, is the Chori-Pollo burrito. It’s the perfect solution for those who don’t know whether they love chicken or chorizo more. The star of the enormously stuffed burrito is the chorizo: it’s seasoned with a hint of cinnamon and contains so little fat I’m suspicious it’s actually soy meat. But there are other hidden delights… Read More

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Food Find: Asia Specialty Late Night Food

Pork dumplings: yummy and cheap.One of my longstanding weekend traditions after leaving a bar late in the evening is to spend the rest of the night bemoaning the lack of downtown late night food, in addition to general whining that my feet hurt and I’m cold. Good times for Jed. So I’m not sure who was more excited when we recently heard there was a restaurant a mere block away from the downtown mall serving food until 5:00 am.

Last weekend, we headed to Asia Speciality on Market Street (the old Bohéme spot) to confirm this rumor. And it’s true – there has been late night downtown food right under our noses this whole time!… Read More

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Food Find: Ten’s Tasting Menu

Ten - 10While Ten is undeniably one of the tastier restaurants in town, it doesn’t scream “bargain dining.” You can eat sushi flown in from the Pacific while sitting at a swank bar that feels more New York than Charlottesville, but you’re going to pay a premium to do so. Or so I thought, until a recent visit to Ten when we discovered their tasting menu.

As we were debating the eight-course tasting menu, our server (bless her heart) told us it was enough food for us to share. She was right: if we had each ordered the tasting menu, it would have been a painful roll home. But splitting the tasting was more than enough food for two (unless you’re… Read More

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Food Find: Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt at Arch’s

Arch's Pumpkin Frozen YogurtPumpkin flavored stuff rules. Especially in the harvest season, on a dramatic autumn night, with the moon shining bright and dry leaf carcasses clacking about.

I’ve already talked about the pumpkin pancakes to be had on Emmet Street. But did you know about the pumpkin frozen yogurt a few doors down?

Take cinnamony pumpkin sweetness, freeze it, pipe it into a 5 oz. cup, sprinkle with graham crackers, smear with Arch’s famous gooey brownies, repeat. Delicious!

Note: This was at the Emmet St. Arch’s. There are different flavors from day to day and from location to location, so be sure to call the flavor hotline before going to see what they… Read More

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Food Find: Eppie’s Turkey Chili

IMG_0360If it’s Tuesday and the weather is brisk, there are few better lunch options than Eppie’s fabulous turkey chili. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Eppie’s, the downtown lunch staple offers up consistently good comfort food: the portions are large, the prices are low, and the menu appeals to kids and office workers alike. There’s a different lunch special every day, but for my lunch Tuesdays are king. The made-from-scratch turkey chili is tomato tangy but still has a good kick. It comes with a delicious cornbread wedge (filled with real corn pieces) and a healthy serving of cheese or sour cream on the side. This is no puny soup cup but an enormous bowl that will… Read More

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Food Find: The Tavern’s Pumpkin Pancakes

tavern pumpkin pancakesThough I have a bias for all things pumpkin flavored, I think I’m being objective when I say that the pumpkin pancakes currently featured at The Tavern are the best food in the history of cooking. Thick but delicate, rich but balanced, and threaded through with cinnamony ginger pumpkin deliciousness, they have enough body to satisfy a hearty breakfast appetite, the edibility of a light pumpkin bread, and the fun of a holiday cookie. Even if you don’t add a whisper of whipped butter and a few ribbons of syrup as I do, you’ll be amazed by the flavor. Whether you’re a Tavern fan or not, a pancake eater or omelette eater, consider swinging by… Read More

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Food Find: Ni Hao’s Ma Po Tofu

Ni Hao - 10The sign of a truly authentic Chinese dish is when the tofu comes with meat sauce. We recently hit up Ni Hao on the corner (the new Chinese with some Thai restaurant in the old Ethopian Messob space) and asked the waitress about the Ma Po Tofu. “Very healthy choice,” she assured us. Which we felt good about. And then when it arrived in a thick gravy of meat bits drowning those healthy chunks of tofu, we felt even better about it. The tofu, pork, hot peppers, and scallions dish was beyond delicious. The tangy hot flavor was perfectly punctuated with szechuan pepper. If you haven’t had szechuan peppers before, they’re fascinating. They look like harmless peppercorns but actually… Read More

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Food Find: Mona Lisa Fresh Pasta

mona lisaThis isn’t exactly a dining-out food find, but it’s so good we had to talk about it. For those of you who are self-proclaimed honorary Italians like my wife Erin, who is freakishly obsessed with meatballs and mob movies and James Gandolfini, and even for the rest of us who enjoy but don’t go nuts over Italian food, Mona Lisa on Preston is an amazing resource. They have all kinds of Italian imports and local goodies but the crown jewels in their Italian arsenal are the many varieties of fresh raw pasta that they’ll hand-cut for you in whatever quantity you want. If you think you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between fresh and… Read More

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