For those of you who have been here awhile, you may remember Monsoon Café’s origins as an artsy second-story Thai restaurant above the current Downtown Grille.* There were funkily painted chairs and wall-hangings, a couple of intimately capacious seating areas, and an appealing and unusual menu. I don’t know exactly when it moved from that privileged evening-on-the-town location to the decidedly less savory house on the corner of 2nd and Market (@Echangy?), but I thought I heard the death knell approaching. Fortunately, I was wrong. Not only has Monsoon survived, it recently spruced up its menu and interior space, and has got it going on pretty much for… Read More
Posts Tagged Rating: 3 stars
Monsoon Siam 
Dec 10
Tempo Restaurant & Bar
Oct 26
Newcomer restaurant Tempo (in the challenged 5th Street space that was home to Ventana) was much anticipated as we watched renovations and preparations for months. While its opening may have been overshadowed by the Commonwealth phenom, our initial meals suggest it’s a promising addition to the downtown dining scene and worth a visit.
You’ll first notice the decor, which people seem to love or hate. It’s like upscale Parisian bordello meets nouveau riche in the mountains. There’s paisley silk and cow print and even an enormous water buffalo head reigning over the bar. It’s a little too busy for my tastes, but I can appreciate that it doesn’t look like most other minimal brick interiors these days.
Balkan Bistro and Bar
Oct 8
I was a pretty big fan of The Balkan Bakery. Rich sausages, thick breads, and spicy baklava, served up by a personable family who told you what you should order based on how you looked. “For you,” the matronly woman behind the counter said, pointing at me, “a big sandwich with lots of meat. Sausage. And onions.” Pointing now at Erin, “For you, our vegetarian sandwich with fresh roasted peppers and cheese.” Unfortunately, the ambitious upgrade in size and scope at The Balkan Bistro has meant a slight downgrade in the overall experience, even if the food is roughly the same.
For me, the main problem is that the rustic food and family… Read More
Blue Ridge Pig
Aug 10
Sometimes a restaurant just calls to you. It whispers sweet oinks in your ear while you’re sleeping and sculpts pig shapes in the clouds overhead. “Come, my child,” it says. “Come and sit for a spell. Take a load off. Let us fatten you up with some tender morsels of hearty saltpork.” After reading that a carefully judged BBQ competition resulted in a tie between BBQ Exchange and Blue Ridge Pig, a friend asked us what we thought about going to the latter for a small birthday party. After the oinks and clouds, it was the last sign. Just the… Read More
Mykonos Cafe
Jun 16
It’s curious that the only reason I knew Mykonos Cafe existed was from walking past it from time to time. Regardless of their advertising shortcomings, the Greek-born owners know how to make tasty Greek food. This is not a restaurant with any conspicuously trendy leanings towards organic or local food, and the chefs certainly have no formal training in texture, contrast, or artful arrangement. However, I’d like to imagine that if I had a Greek family, this is exactly the food they would make for me. Just don’t tell Michael Pollan.
The spanakopita “spinach pie” was crispy, flavorful, and huge, while my gyro… Read More
Buttz BBQ
Feb 28
When considering the range of late-night food options on the Corner, one could wonder what more they could ask for. Between pizza, sandwiches, and burritos, it seemed that any eater could get their fill after midnight. Now, Buttz BBQ has stumbled onto the scene, and is serving delicious barbeque from 11:30 pm – 3 am. What’s even better than barbeque that tastes great at 2 am? Barbeque that tastes just as good at 7 pm. That’s exactly what Buttz delivers.
Buttz offers several types of meat and many different accompanying sides. After hearing rumors that this joint was serving up worthwhile barbeque on… Read More
Fry’s Spring Station
Sep 26
It’s hard to screw up pizza. We can debate the virtues of thick vs. thin, doughy vs. crispy, but the baseline pizza experience is almost always positive. Many a restaurant has ridden on the greasetrails of crappy baseline pies to mild success, whether by virtue of their proximity to drunken people, good delivery options, or a location free from better food options. But if you’re a start-up in the saturated (fat) Charlottesville pizza market, you’ve got to aim above the baseline to make it work, and Fry’s Spring Station isn’t doing that.
The restaurant space itself is fun. Charlottesville loves its gourmet and converted service… Read More
The Downtown Hotdog Company
Aug 15
Ah, the hot dog. Baseball and barbecue staple, street minute-meal for the suddenly starved. Proud poster child of American no-nonsense-ness, butt of mystery meat and wiener jokes.
Or so it was. The arrival of The Downtown Hotdog Company, along with such international crazes as Japadog, heralds a new era of thinking about and eating hot dogs. No longer content to be monopolized by Oscar Meyer or confined to white buns, Heinz ketchup, French’s mustard, and maybe some diced onions or pickle relish, the noble wiener is going gourmet.
At the Downtown Hotdog Company, you can pick from a dozen arrangements – including such stand-outs as “The Dragon” with… Read More
Camino
Jun 16
I remember when Erin and I discovered Il Cane Pazzo. It was a cold autumn night, and we had decided to see a movie at Vinegar Hill. In the ticket line, Erin craned her neck to take in the warm glow of the restaurant next door. “Why have we never noticed this place?” she said. I shrugged and went over to look at the menu. Just a few items, classic Italian with a twist here and there, not cheap. As it turns out, it was also fantastically delicious. Some of the best Italian either of us had ever had. When it went away and Camino took… Read More
The Local
Jan 13
The local food movement has come a long way in two years. When we heard, in February of 2008, that there would soon be a restaurant in Belmont serving dishes made from Virginia farm ingredients, we thought it was a novel and brilliant idea. The Local opened a month later, and we were one of the first in line. That first meal was everything we hoped it would be – rustic and fresh, simple but whimsical. Unfortunately, all of the meals we’ve had there since have failed to live up to the promise of that first one, and… Read More
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