FRESH! From Julio Quispe’s farm to the table
NEW! Add these spots to your list of must-trys
CURRENT! A closer look at Square One vodka WINTER 2021
Taste is everything. Chimm’s stir fry
Give us the
good stuff Our picks for the healthiest (-ish) ways to start the new year
An old standby satisfies our sweet teeth
What is co-fermentation? Area winemakers (and brewers!) are giving it a go.
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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S The Dish 7 Farm fresh Pachamama Peru’s Julio Quispe talks shop.
8 New chews Passiflora, The Pink Grouse, Milkman’s Bar join the scene.
The number of perfume and flavor companies Square One worked with to perfect its cucumber vodka recipe. PAGE 14
10 In the family A brief history of the Ivy Inn.
13 Plenty good
EZE AMOS
Six
...And good for you Two (or more!) In 2020, there were no rules. Which is why, when we’re talking about “health” food in this issue, we’re using that term somewhat lightly. Either way, the fare in these pages is nothing short of restorative. PAGE 19
Della Bennett’s to-go orders.
Co-fermentation, the winemaking practice of combining multiple grape varieties before (rather than after) fermentation, is having a resurgence— and bringing some exciting developments to our local drink scene. PAGE 28
THE LAST BITE Like a warm hug after playing in the snow. PAGE 30
2
How many weeks it takes the Mountain Culture team to make a batch of kombucha.
Square One disrupts the industry.
EZE AMOS
14 Drink up
JOHN ROBINSON
PAGE 20
COVER: Photo by Eze Amos. COMMENTS? Email us at editor@c-ville.com.
KNIFE & FORK, a supplement to C-VILLE Weekly, is distributed in Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the Shenandoah Valley. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Knife & Fork Editor Caite Hamilton. Copy Editor Susan Sorensen.
308 E. Main St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 817-2749 n c-ville.com c-ville.com/knife-fork
Graphic Designer Tracy Federico.
Art Director Max March.
Account Executives Lisa C. Hurdle, Gabby Kirk, Stephanie Vogtman,
Beth Wood. Production Coordinator Faith Gibson.
Publisher Anna Harrison. Chief Financial Officer
Debbie Miller. A/R Specialist Nanci Winter. Circulation Manager Billy Dempsey. ©2020 C-VILLE Weekly.
Winter Knife&Fork 5
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The Dish TRENDS, TASTEMAKERS, AND FOODS WE LOVE
Farm and fleet JOHN ROBINSON
Julio Quispe is more than just proprietor of the popular food truck Pachamama Peru By Shea Gibbs
Winter Knife&Fork 7
The Dish City Market-goers know where they oughta get empanadas. Julio Quispe’s Pachamama Peru offers some of the market’s best prepared eats, and his baked and fried Peruvian pies, filled with local meats and veggies, are the standout. But empanadas are only the beginning—not only of the menu at Pachamama, but of what Quispe does for the local food community. In addition to operating his food truck, he runs Earlysville-based Pachamama Farm, which recently received a mid-Atlantic Food Resilience & Access Coalition grant to give food to those in need. Knife & Fork: How did you get into farming? Julio Quispe: I used to work at Sylvanaqua Farms in Earlysville. It all started with me farming, and then I started the food truck. When I was working with Sylvanaqua Farms, we were trying to make local food more accessible to the community. When I started the food truck, I thought another way to do that would be to prepare food using the meat we raised, and try to source local ingredients, as well. How do you cook with quality ingredients while keeping prices down? That is the struggle, but empanadas are a great fit. I try to use cuts that are a little bit cheaper and at the same time make it tasty. We use a lot of ground meats. And it’s the same thing when we make special dishes. But it’s not easy, and I’m still figuring it out. It seems like you get some help from your family. Yeah—so, we all come from Lima in Peru. And I mostly grew up in New York, so it has always been a learning experience, trying to do a lot of the things we are doing. I never expected to be farming and doing these things with animals. My grandma and grandpa came from the Andes, and they had a background in farming. They would keep animals in the back space of their house in Lima. So, I did grow up with some of that. How does your background influence the menu at Pachamama Peru? A lot of the recipes are traditional Peruvian, and some are a mix. One of the things that’s been a hit is our pulled pork, which I season with Peruvian ingredients. Pulled pork is not something you get in Peru. My favorite empanada is the beef, egg, and olive. That’s the traditional empanada. But there are so many options. On the veggie side, I like the mushroom.
JOHN ROBINSON
How have you been getting through the pandemic? It has been good, and I can’t really complain. I have been working with Local Food Hub, and that’s been really helping. We’re looking into frozen empanadas, getting them into retail. We’re still figuring out the details. Being able to sell our own meats—ducks and chickens—has been really helpful, and we’re doing a few markets and small catering events. We’re hoping to do a pig roast sometime before Christmas.
8 Knife&Fork Winter
New to chew
Surveying the latest arrivals to our culinary scene
Charlottesville loves good food, and even a pandemic can’t blunt our appetite for delicious dining. Here are a few recent arrivals to the Charlottesville culinary circuit.— Nathan Alderman
The Pink Grouse Located within the recently opened Quirk boutique hotel, The Pink Grouse offers six- and 10-course tasting options to escort diners through its expansive, pleasantly unconventional menu. The locally sourced fare changes with the seasons, with non-traditional offerings like fettuccine and duck, crab, and arugula, or skate and octopus.
Passiflora The former Commonwealth may be no more, but Baja-Mediterranean restaurant Passiflora has taken its place at the eastern end of the Downtown Mall. Enjoy tacos, fajitas, and a zesty selection of small plates while you sip on tropical beers and house cocktails (plus a sturdy wine list). Particularly pleased diners can
Happy return Among the many eateries that closed this year due to COVID-19, Bluegrass Grill & Bakery was a particularly stinging loss. But, good news: The popular weekend brunch spot, which announced via Facebook in May that it was closing, has re-opened as a weekend pop-up at The Summit at Devils Backbone Brewery. The rotating monthly menu features some old favorites like The Hungry Norman and the Smokey Joe, as well as a few seasonal creations, like The Giving Train, a burrito packed with turkey sausage, sweet potatoes, smoked cheddar, and stuffing, topped with gravy and an egg. Glad to have you back.—Caite Hamilton
The Dish
PHOTOS: EZE AMOS
The Pink Grouse
The Milkman’s Bar
even thank the folks who made their meal by ordering the Kitchen Shifty, a $10 round of beers for Passiflora’s kitchen staff. Champion Hospitality Group’s Stephen Kelly recommends that adventurous customers try the grilled shrimp bravas: “Bravas is a classic Spanish sauce that is traditionally served with potatoes, but the combination with grilled shrimp adds a sweet and smoky element that helps complement the flavor from the smoked paprika in the sauce.”
Passiflora
The Milkman’s Bar and MooThru The forthcoming Dairy Market development continues to add new tenants, most recently this thematically apt duo. MooThru began as a way for a group of local dairy farmers to turn their excess milk into very tasty ice cream. It’ll soon open its fourth location (after Remington, Lake Anna, and Hillsboro) here in Charlottesville.
On the adult side of the refreshment spectrum, River Hawkins and Mike Stewart will sling cocktails of both the boozy and non-alcoholic variety at The Milkman’s Bar. “We’re doing a house Bourbon Egg Cream,” Hawkins says. “It’s normally non-alcoholic, but it lends itself well to a few good liquors.” The cocktails won’t be exclusively dairy-based—too limiting, says Hawkins— though he’s open to a collaboration with MooThru or any of the other shops in the space. “I want to use ingredients from all of them.”
Winter Knife&Fork 9
The Dish
Room at the inn
The Vangelopouloses welcome everyone as family By Will Ham
his grandmother, and carrying water from the village center every day to make bread. In 1965, Tom immigrated to the U.S. to take a job with his brother in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the aptly named Brother’s Pizza. Over the next decade, Tom and his wife moved around the country, working at a phyllo dough factory in Cleveland, a pizzeria in northern Virginia, and a vertical gyro rotisserie in D.C. Finally, they settled at Victor’s, a Greek-Italian pizza parlor in Springfield, Virginia, where they served homestyle classics for another 18 years. “It’s the restaurant I grew up in, though I have memories of most of them,” explains Angelo. “I learned by watching [my father] and his dedicated work ethic.” Today, Angelo works closely with his dad in the kitchen. His wife, Farrell, is general manager and his brother-in-law is his sous chef. But it’s not just DNA that keeps the Ivy Inn afloat. The Vangelopoulos team works hard to make its staff feel as close as family. Most famously, Angelo likes to thank his staff and their families each year with an Easter feast. After the pandemonium of the inn’s Sunday brunch, a gyro of roast goat, served in the property’s
10 Knife&Fork Winter
JOHN ROBINSON
T
he Ivy Inn, an acclaimed local fine-dining staple, rests comfortably in the shady greenery of Old Ivy Road. Once a tollhouse and tavern for travelers on the road to Virginia’s capital city, the historic property blends perfectly into the architectural chic of Charlottesville. The original structure was built in 1715 and was partially destroyed by a fire in the early 1800s. Reconstruction of the property was funded by Jesse Pittman Lewis, a soldier and close confidant of Thomas Jefferson. The land changed hands several times, at one point purchased by the University of Virginia as part of the larger Faulkner Estate, named for William Faulkner, the esteemed author and writer-in-residence at the university. The building that houses the Ivy Inn Restaurant, as it is known today, is just over 200 years old, with most of the original construction still intact. The restaurant recently celebrated its 25th anniversary under owner and head chef Angelo Vangelopoulos, who purchased the inn with his father, Tom, in 1995. After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America in 1990 and gaining experience beyond the pizza kitchens in which he grew up, Angelo was ready to find a restaurant he could call his own. He says he “spent almost a year looking at available properties in D.C., NoVa, and suburban Maryland with no luck. We expanded our search to central Virginia and quickly came upon the Ivy Inn for sale. A month later, we were moving to C’ville.” Descended from a long line of restaurateurs, Angelo knew early on that he was bound for food service. “I was 12 years old, we went to Blackie’s House of Beef in D.C.,” he recalls. “I had filet mignon and lobster tail and thought it was the greatest thing ever. I remember looking up at this ornate chandelier and saying out loud, ‘This is the kind of restaurant I want to own!’” The Vangelopoulos’ culinary legacy stretches back over 80 years to the Greek village of Velventos, less than 20 miles from the real Mount Olympus. Here, Angelo’s grandfather, who he is named after, opened a bakery that became a central hub of commerce. Angelo says his father, the youngest of seven children, worked in the bakery, learning to cook from
garden, transitions to a center of enjoyment and relaxation for the restaurant’s crew. As word of the paschal celebration has spread, the event has grown in popularity. Angelo’s most recent dinner boasted a crowd of almost 250 people, attracting renowned chefs from the area’s fine-dining juggernauts. “The restaurant business is a high stress environment. Good people naturally come together to help one another get through the tough parts,” Angelo says. “The chef might have been hard on you, your customers maybe not as friendly as usual. You come out the other side a little closer and you learn to lean on one another…family, in the restaurant, includes everyone.” Tom lists his education on Facebook as coming from the School of Hard Knocks, exactly what you would expect from a hard-working family man who started several successful restaurants from the ground up. Yet, his successor had grander intentions. With a desire to broaden his mindset and encouragement from his favorite cousin, Angelo opted for a more formal education. “Once I learned that I could spend all day every day doing nothing but learning about food and cooking, it was an easy decision. The advantage I have going to CIA is my exposure to so many different cuisines and their respective techniques. That’s where my dad can grow, and he’s still, at age 81, asking me questions all the time. He loves to learn new things.” Angelo admits, though, that the difference in perspectives can lead to butting heads with his father in the kitchen. He is more willing to tweak and experiment with classic recipe, while Tom is a purist, committed to doing things exactly the way he learned them from his mother, brothers, and sisters. Tom no longer co-owns the restaurant, but he still bakes the inn’s breads and prepares a personal selection of takeout dishes (moussaka, pastitsio, flaky spanakopita) via Mr. V’s Pantry. Family has been a cornerstone of the Ivy Inn over the past quarter century, and a tenet of the Vangelopoulos name for longer. And even during this volatile time for local businesses, the father-son relationship remains at the heart of the restaurant, and an essential part of Charlottesville’s culinary community.
The Dish
JOHN ROBINSON
Ivy Inn chef and owner Angelo Vangelopoulos and his father Tom celebrate a culinary legacy that’s brought decades of success.
Winter Knife&Fork 11
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The Dish
Love in every dish PLENTY Cville serves up more than prepared meals By Laura Drummond
D
Della Bennett’s prepared-meal delivery service, PLENTY, was conceived as a way to address families’ dinnertime needs.
SUPPLIED POHTOS
ella Bennett has seen the effect that a home-cooked meal can have. She worked as a nanny for several years, assisting as many as four families at a time, and on the occasions when she made meals, she noticed the positive impact it had on her clients. “PLENTY Cville was born as a solution to a problem,” says Bennett, the owner and chef of the prepared-meal delivery service. “I learned that folks value the idea of a homecooked meal, but they don’t necessarily have the time, patience, skills, or even sometimes the desire to pull it off every single week.” Initially created to address the needs of families with small children, PLENTY has grown from a single-person, in-home operation to a small team with a commercial kitchen that supplies meals to busy professionals, students, and others. Unlike other meal delivery services, these dishes are made right here in Charlottesville, from local farm-sourced fruits and vegetables, with other area small businesses, including The Pie Chest and Lone Light Coffee providing products. PLENTY also differs from the competition through its commitment to reducing wasteful packaging. Prior to the pandemic, meals were delivered in reusable glass containers, but now single-use, recyclable plastic is used, with a post-COVID goal of moving exclusively to biodegradable packaging. “We want to maintain that integrity as part of our business going forward,” Bennett says. Each week, clients receive a new menu via email on Wednesday, place orders on Friday, and get their meals on Monday. Contactless delivery is available within a 20-mile radius of downtown Charlottesville, with a pickup option coming soon. “The menu is inspired by what I’m craving, but also by what people have really enjoyed,” Bennett says. The service offers creative breakfast, lunch, and main courses at various price points. There’s something for everyone—entrées include cauliflower piccata and ginger chicken meatballs. The team is working on a
customization option to better serve those with dietary restrictions. And what does Bennett crave? “Anything with buffalo sauce is my favorite,” she says, noting her roasted cauliflower tossed in buffalo sauce. “We either serve it up as tacos with homemade ranch and pickled onions, or we
serve it as a grain bowl with quinoa and crunchy vegetables.” Bennett and her team plan to host socially distanced workshops in PLENTY’s large kitchen space—build-your-own cheese board workshops and meal prep classes are coming soon. “The feeling we want to invoke is that food is self-care. We also want to show we care about the community through food,” Bennett says. PLENTY donates a portion of its proceeds to area nonprofits, and provides meals to people who have lost their job or are recovering from COVID-19. Whether it’s offering food or experiences, Bennett says PLENTY’s mission is ultimately to take care of people. “PLENTY started with a certain group of people who were able to afford the luxury of a stocked fridge,” she says. “I think our audience has actually grown because of the care and love that we put into each and every dish.”
Say cheese One of our favorite things on the PLENTY menu? Bennett’s abundance boards. Enough nosh for one, the “mini mini” comes stacked with cheese, nuts, fruit, and (if you want) charcuterie. We recommend ordering one to tote along on your next winery visit.—Caite Hamilton
Winter Knife&Fork 13
The Dish Allison Evanow used her marketing savvy to launch Square One Organic Spirits. Her eco-conscious, 100 percent American rye vodkas.put some heat on a lackluster vodka industry.
EZE AMOS
14 Knife&Fork Winter
The Dish
Spirit guidance
The catch is in the rye for Square One vodka’s Allison Evanow By Tami Keaveny
I
t was the middle of the night in 2004 when Square One organic vodka founder Allison Evanow saw her future. Evanow’s career, marketing fine beverages, had taken the Waynesboro native to Spain, Mexico, and California, working for the Jose Cuervo family before entering the wine industry in Napa. Maybe it was insomnia, maybe it was the over-exhaustion that stems from new parenthood—or maybe it was a spirit guide. But Evanow, then the mother of 6-month-old twins, describes waking with a bolt of inspiration that caused her to start planning a new business, her mind flashing back to an advertising campaign she’d come across in Food & Wine magazine earlier that day. “There was an ad for an American vodka with an old farmer that touted ‘all natural’ and I remember thinking, if it’s all natural why wouldn’t they just go all the way to organic?” says Evanow. “You can cheat all natural.” She was living in northern California at the time, immersed in the movement toward organic, green, and eco-friendly consumption. Evanow describes the realization that no one was distilling organic spirits as “going off like a bell.” That bell sounded an idea that would alter the spirits business and define her as an innovator in a niche industry. “I wrote down the name Square One,” says Evanow. “The idea that if you start at square one you’re doing it the right way. No herbicides, no pesticides, no fake stuff. You’re telling the truth in your marketing—and no sexy bikini marketing!” Initially, she thought she’d run the table and produce organic vodka, rum, and gin. After writing the business plan, she says reality set in, and the challenges of building her own distillery caused her to focus solely on vodka. “People ask if I started a vodka company because I like vodka and I say, ‘No I started it because I hated vodka,’” laughs Evanow. Vodka’s bad image on the cocktail scene at the time stemmed from using less expensive, synthetic ingredients, and Evanow says she decided to “focus on the category that needs the most help because they’ve done the most fake stuff.”
Sixteen years after that fitful night, the Square One brand operates from Evanow’s home office in Ivy and features five labels of vodka: clear, cucumber, bergamot, botanical, and basil, plus a line of mixers and ready-todrink canned cocktails—all of them organic. Evanow’s farming, fermentation, and distillation processes are certified organic, and use 100 percent organic American rye. This is far more difficult to pull off than the conventional distilling process, but Evanow never deviated from her goal. “That was the idea, all organic, all real botanicals, plant-based infusions,” she says. “Deriving the extracts or essences from the real plant instead of some guy in a lab coat pretending he made strawberry out of chemicals.” She chose rye because she didn’t want a sweet style like you get with corn, or an “uber neutral” vodka, typical when using wheat or potato. “What I love about rye is it’s got character,” she says, also quick to note that working with rye is not easy, due to its lower yield and a tougher process to make it certified organic. After getting her formula down, the next step was to expand the product’s flavor profile. Square One’s real cucumber-flavored vodka was another industry first and it became a bestseller. “That was a beast to make,” says Evanow. “It tasted like pickles, it was so bad.” The flavor solution came from the world of fine perfumes. “My distiller had been in the perfume biz before…and went out and worked with six different perfume and flavor compa-
nies to find stable extraction essences.” The result tastes fresh from the garden. At first, the bartending community was lukewarm about putting a new vodka into the lineup. But the use of rye, and the authenticity of Square One’s mission, made it a valid addition to the craft cocktail movement. Now the vodka is a fixture on cocktail lists at high-end restaurants like Morton’s The Steakhouse and boutique hot spot Goose & Gander in Napa Valley. Jason McKechnie at The Ivy Inn tries to feature a new cocktail with Square One vodka seasonally “because the flavors are unique, bold yet balanced, and it’s a product I can trust through and through,” he says. As with the ingredients and process she uses in her Square One spirits, integrity and authenticity are important to Evanow personally. She’s one of the first women to start her own distilled spirits company, and it’s an industry in which the glass ceiling is still very high. “I’m asked, ‘Did you do this with your husband?’ and I say, ‘No, I started the company and he does not work for me,’” says Evanow. More women in leadership roles can expand the industry creatively, says Evanow. She makes sure her brand and marketing is never “dumbed down” and that people know Square One is founded by a woman. “Because, I don’t think a bro would do this,” she says as she carefully inhales the essence of a basil vodka. “I don’t think a bro would care about the quality in this way.”
FRO M T HE I VY I NN
Perfect pear 1 oz. Square One Organic vodka 1.25 oz. spiced pear liqueur (preferably St. George Distillery Spiced Pear Liqueur or Rothman & Winter Orchard Pear, infused with 2 cinnamon sticks and 14 clove pods for 36-48 hours) .25 oz. elderflower liqueur .25 oz. maple syrup .5 oz. lemon juice
Shake with ice for 20 seconds and strain into a chilled coupe/martini glass. Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon or a pear wheel, or both!
Winter Knife&Fork 15
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To our
health! We’re fudging (mmm, fudge!) things a little here, no doubt. But like a lot of you, we always feel our porkiest (mmm, pork!) at the end of the year, which necessitates a real shake-up (mmm, shakes!) of our diet. So in this issue, we’re focusing on healthy (er, healthy-ish) foods we won’t feel quite as guilty about indulging in, from tacos to brownies. ...Just trust us.* By Nathan Alderman, Laura Drummond, Shea Gibbs, and Caite Hamilton
Chimm’s drunken noodles
EZE AMOS
*Please consult your doctor before taking any diet advice from a magazine. We can only vouch for the deliciousness— not nutritiousness—featured in the following pages.
Winter Knife&Fork 19
S T A F F PI C K:
Health in a bottle
Chimm’s drunken noodles
Mountain Culture Kombucha makes fresh, flavorful kombucha that keeps your taste buds happy and your gut healthy.
We’re stretching the definition of “health food” just a little here, but it’s worth it for a taste of Chimm’s drunken noodles. So named because, after a night of tippling, plenty of folks crave something spicy and filling, and this Thai street food dish, with its glutinous wide noodles stir-fried in a savory brown sauce with (here come the veggies!) red and green peppers, onions, and beef, hits the spot. Says co-owner Jay Pun, “A lot of people in Thailand get things quick on the street, so it’s a quick way to cook up something delicious and comforting.”
By Laura Drummond
20 Knife&Fork Winter
“I
t’s delicious, it makes you feel good, and it’s good for you—what’s not to love?” Mountain Culture Kombucha brand ambassador Jonathan Dickinson makes a strong case for arguably the purest, tastiest local kombucha in the area. Led by owner Peter Roderick, Mountain Culture started brewing and bottling kombucha in White Hall in 2012. As the story goes, Roderick began making his own kombucha and sharing it with friends. It was so well-received that the endeavor organically grew into a full-fledged business. Mountain Culture has continued to expand since then, recently moving to a larger space near Crabtree Falls in Nelson County. While the move was precipitated by a need to increase production, Mountain Culture ultimately chose the location for one main reason—the fresh mountain water. “The water quality was paramount,” says Dickinson. As the name suggests, Mountain Culture starts the process of making kombucha (or fermented tea) with pure mountain water. They pride themselves on using the cleanest ingredients, including fair-trade, certified organic tea and raw sugar. To add flavor, they fresh-press organic fruits and veggies into juice. The tea is fermented with a mother culture that has been passed down through generations in the area. “We really want to honor the generations that grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the spirit of Appalachia,” says bottling associate Alanna Mahon. It takes about two weeks for the team of six to make a batch of kombucha. They bottle it in specially made amber glass bottles to protect the live organisms in the kombucha from UV light. Dickinson describes their group as farmers of bacteria. As Mahon says, there’s a complexity to creating kombucha. “It’s a combination of a pet and a plant—with organisms inside that you have to cultivate.” It’s those organisms that make kombucha so good for you: Organic acids and probiotics strengthen the immune system and aid in digestion and metabolism, among other health benefits. “Seventy percent of the immune system is housed in the gut,” says Mahon. “Kombucha is one of those allies to your gut that keeps your immune system balanced.” The company’s staples are lavender lemon, blueberry lemongrass, ginger, apple carrot ginger, and grapefruit hop. They debut additional options seasonally, including mint, watermelon pink salt, and the unflavored original. They also have a line of alcoholic kombucha in the works. In the meantime, if you’d like a kombucha cocktail, Mahon recommends mixing the ginger flavor with bourbon for “a little warmth in your belly in the wintertime.” (Dickinson adds that lavender lemon pairs well with tequila.)
JOHN ROBINSON
To OUR HEALTH!
Where to find it Mountain Culture is available by the bottle at several locations in our area, including Foods of All Nations, Food Lion, Integral Yoga, Market Street Market, Rebecca’s Natural Foods, and Whole Foods. You can find it at the Local Food Hub drive-through market and the IX Art Park in-person market. Mountain Culture is also on draft at Beer Run, Kardinal Hall, and Potter’s Craft Cider.
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To OUR HEALTH!
Eat yer greens
S T A F F PI C K:
Peloton Station Rivanna Trail Curtis Shaver’s beer, bikes, and pub grub spot earns high marks for the kind of over-the-top sandwiches he invented for Hamiltons’ “sandwich lab,” back when he was running the kitchen there. The Rivanna Trail—a baguette with green-pea kofta, cucumber-radish salad, pickled carrots, and green harissa and feta-yogurt sauces— is no exception. Get it with the charred broccoli salad side to feel extra healthy. 22 Knife&Fork Winter
Brasserie Saison Fonner, who recently joined Brasserie Saison’s parent company, Champion Hospitality Group, says the restaurant’s Brussels sprouts dish is one of a kind. With raw and fried sprouts, shallots, fresh herbs, and sundried tomato, it is finished with tonnato vinaigrette, an emulsification of tuna and anchovies.
Champion Grill On the other side of the spectrum, Fonner says it’s the simplicity that makes Champion Grill’s sprouts shout. There, the pint-sized cabbages are halved, cored, fried naked until light brown and crisp, and served with pepper jelly. “You see a lot of fried food at [sports bars], but you don’t see Brussels sprouts,” Fonner says. “They’re the perfect little bar snack.”
Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria If you don’t know about Lampo’s small plates by now, you must live under a rock shrimp. The pizza-and-more joint’s “cavoletti di Bruxelles” treats diners to shaved Brussels tossed with chives, fennel, hazelnuts, a maple garum vinaigrette, and pecorino cheese.
Tavola Brussels and bacon are a classic combo, and Tavola fittingly goes Italian on ’em with pancetta. “We render it a little bit, and the Brussels sprouts are blanched whole, peeled, and cut in half,” owner Michael Keaveny says. The sprouts then go in the pan cold with olive oil and are “caramelized to the point where they are almost burnt.” How popular are the sprouts? They’ve been a mainstay on Tavola’s menu for 11 years, Keaveny says.—SG
PHOTOS: EZE AMOS
AMY JACKSON
A
cclaimed restaurateur Tom Colicchio writes in Think Like a Chef that the best way to cook Brussels sprouts—the only way to cook them perfectly, even—is to break the cabbage-like vegetable down into its individual leaves. It’s painstaking work the average home chef would be insane to undertake. Local celebrity chef Laura Fonner’s on it. “Oh yeah. It’s called petaling,” she says. “That’s how we did it at Duner’s.” If you want to leave the petaling to the pros, check out these spots for sprouts.
S T AF F P I C K :
Tilman’s tuna niçoise salad
EZE AMOS
A hot spot for robust salads, Tilman’s puts its spin on the classic French dish with Italian tinned tuna packed in olive oil (hello, omega-3s!). But that’s just the beginning. Haricots verts, red potatoes, tomatoes, amd crisp Picholine olives join the plate with the wine bar’s house-pickled onions. Says owner Courtenay Tyler, “Salads are a huge part of our everyday menu, so we were eager to add this one.” And if you’re in the mood for a beverage, she advises you “go for light, bright white wines or rosé for the best pairing.”
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Iron Paffles VeggieIron
EZE AMOS
Paffles? As health food? Look, it’s all about balance. The Veggie-Iron loads the restaurant’s signature puff pastry “bread” with Twin Oaks tofu and vegetables (think braised turmericand coconut-braised cauliflower with toasted almonds, or toasted squash and pepitas). The recipe changes with the seasons, so check back often. Plus, it’s available vegan and gluten-free. Says owner Kathryn Matthews, “It’s quite a flexible sandwich.”
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Jennifer Cho Naylor champions fresh, seasonal, authentic food—and explains why apple kimchi is your next great food discovery By Nathan Alderman
I
t’s 9am at Sussex Farm in Esmont, and Jennifer Cho Naylor is already tired. “I usually work about 14 to 16 hours a day,” she says. But there’s Napa cabbage to pick, and pampered, free-ranging chickens to feed—“They literally eat better than some of the human beings out there,” she says—and kimchi to make. Since 2013, Naylor’s built a reputation for high-quality food at the Charlottesville City Market, selling farm-fresh eggs, her coveted kimchi, and homemade Korean food inspired by her mother’s cooking. “My mom is probably—I can’t put numbers on it—I would say a thousand times better than [me at] cooking,” she says. “When she was making food…she always included me to taste, as if she wanted my approval.” To this day, says Naylor, “the way I make food is by taste and smell. I don’t have measurements of anything.” After moving to Sussex Farm from Baltimore in 2012, her family was soon growing more than they could eat. Naylor’s nieces offered to help her start selling eggs at the City Market, and from there she branched out to kimchi—a traditional Korean blend of spicy fermented vegetables and fruits—and other Korean dishes. “Some people would come by and say, ‘I hate kimchi, I don’t ever want to eat kimchi,’” Naylor says. “And I would just shove it in their mouth. I did! I literally did.” Most Americans associate kimchi with Napa cabbage, but Naylor explains that Korea boasts roughly 150 different types of kimchi. She’s introduced many of her favorite varieties at the City Market—including a relatively recent discovery, apple kimchi. (Naylor learned about it from her mom, of course, who discovered it on one of the Korean TV dramas she watches.)
“Apples already have the sweet-and-tartness,” Naylor says, “and you add all the other ingredients—like the ginger, garlic, onions, and salt and pepper—that just brings out the sweet-and-sourness of the apple, the fragrance of the apple, the taste, the crunchiness. It’s amazing.” Naylor has made locally grown, seasonal ingredients such as apples the cornerstone of her cooking. “I want people to know that you need to go ahead and eat what’s seasonal, and you need to eat what’s local, so that you are healthy. You get so many health benefits from eating locally grown and raised food.” She says her City Market customers find joy in waiting for their favorite offerings to cycle back into availability. “It’s just like Christmas presents, you know?” Doma and Maru can rest easy, though: For now, at least, Naylor’s too busy—and too tired—to think about starting a restaurant of her own. “I want to share my passion, and not work tirelessly to a point where I don’t want to do it.” Right now, she says, “profit isn’t my priority. Sharing is my priority, so I share what is good for people. I share what I feed my people, feed my family, with people out there.”
“Some people would come by and say, ‘I hate kimchi, I don’t ever want to eat kimchi,’ and I would just shove it in their mouth. I did! I literally did.” JENNIFER CHO NAYLOR
EZE AMOS
S T A F F PI C K :
A cook for all seasons
SUPPLIED PHOTO
To OUR HEALTH!
Food in bowls Salads? That’s just lettuce. Bowls? You got options. So, what’s in a bowl? Pick a grain, pick a protein, top it. Oh, you can probably throw some lettuce in there, too. “You can get so many different flavor profiles and accommodate so many dietary restrictions,” says Patrick McClure, owner of Citizen Bowl Shop. “The bowl is the new sandwich.” Here’s a look at a few of the best bowlers in the ’ville.
CAVA Mediterranean restaurants have been offering customiza-bowls since way back, and CAVA has the recipe down. You start with a base—salad, grains, salad-and-grains, or even pita—top with a dip or spread, heap with a hearty protein, and cap with zingers like pickles, cheese, and nuts. Try the RightRice for a carb-conscious option, and you’d be insane to miss the Crazy Feta, a jalepeño-infused mousse of imported Greek cheese.
Citizen Bowl Shop From Mediterranean to Mexican, Citizen Bowl Shop brings influences from around the world. And while Citizen sells more Mex-bowls than anything else, McClure favors the Far East with the Spicy Thai Bowl: quinoa, marinated tofu, red cabbage, carrot, basil, fresno chili, green onion, and thai chili sauce. “You can make it as spicy as you want,” he says. Go spicy, your taste buds say.
Roots Natural Kitchen Like Citizen, Roots Natural Kitchen lets you travel the globe for flavor, from Asia to the good old Southern USofA. And sure, you can be like everyone and order El Jefe. With brown rice, kale, black beans, charred corn, red onions, avocado, pita chips, cheese, cilantro lime dressing, and chicken, it’s by far the bowl shop’s top seller. Or, you can go adventurous with the Roots Bowl, which heaps sweet potatoes, spinach, and cranberries on Roots Rice, a blend built around sticky purple grains. “I love it,” says spokesperson Eleanor VonAchen. “I put it on everything.”
At Lebanese spot Thyme & Co., the bowls are all about getting freaky with freekeh. Have your signature green durum wheat base mounded with beef shawarma, hummus, Lebanese pickles, parsley, onion, tomato, turnips, and tahini sauce, and you’ll be ready to let your freekeh flag fly.—SG
STEPHEN BARLING
Thyme & Co.
Roots Natural Kitchen’s El Jefe
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826 Hinton Ave • tavolavino.com please call 434.972.9463 to reserve in advance
Distanced Dining • Takeout Catering • Wine Delivery
now accepting reservations Neighborhood drops in Crozet & Keswick on every other Wednesday for holiday parties in our new new private private dining dining room room
WINE WINE WAREHOUSE WAREHOUSE
for holiday parties in our now accepting reservations
EST. 1994 • CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA
Reservations and info at tavolavino.com 434.972.9643 826 Hinton Ave • tavolavino.com please call 434.972.9463 to reserve in advance
826 Hinton Ave • tavolavino.com
WINE & CRAFT BEER STORE EST. 1994 • CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA WINE & CRAFT BEER STORE
Mon.-Sat. 9:30-7:30 • Sun. 12:30-5:30 Mon.-Sat. 9:30-7:30 • Sun. 12:30-5:30 1804 Hydraulic Road 434.296.1727 1804 Hydraulic Road wineinc@aol.com 434.296.1727 Normal In-Store Shopping or YOUR BEER andwineinc@aol.com WINE WEDDING HEADQUARTERS. Optional Curbside Pickup YOUR BEER and WINE WEDDING HEADQUARTERS.
The Local’s Shopping Destination Since 1994
Thibaut-Janisson was born from a long friendship that began in a Grand Cru village in the Champagne region of France and continues today in Blue Ridge Mountains of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Thibaut-Janisson Winery | Charlottesville, Virginia | (434) 996-3307 | claude@tjwinery.com
26 Knife&Fork Winter
Sweet SOMEthings
To OUR HEALTH! S T A F F PI C K :
TOM MCGOVERN
CORBETT SMITHSON
JOHN ROBINSON
Nearly 20 years into the “food on sticks” biz, and this kebob shop is still a go-to for a quick, healthy meal. Go with a platter: one kebob over basmati rice and grilled flatbread, with a sauce and a side. It’s the kind of place where everyone has their favorite combo, but if you need help choosing, chicken is a no-brainer. Pair it with cilantro-lime sauce and a side of cucumber, tomato, and red onion salad on the side.
JOHN ROBINSON
Sticks Kebob Shop’s chicken kebobs
If you’re one of those people with a “Desserts spelled backward is stressed” magnet hanging on your fridge, we’re here to remind you that just because you’re trying to be healthy doesn’t mean you can’t indulge. These three treats take away some of the guilt.
A hefty slice of Tea Bazaar’s vegan spice cake might count as a dessert and a half. Two moist layers of cake, which owner Gwendolyn Hall says is made with gluten-free flour, molasses, vanilla, and almond milk (among other yummy, good-for-you ingredients), is slathered with a vegan buttercream for a delicious (filling!) treat. Goji berries, dried figs, walnuts, and pepitas take Moon Maiden Bakery’s bejeweled brownie—made with organic cocoa powder, coconut sugar, and sprouted buckwheat flour—to the next level. Order one or, our recommendation, a whole tray (for sharing, since it’s healthier). Just four ingredients—almond flour, butter, sugar, and eggs—go into Paradox Pastry’s almond pave cake, which is at once dense and light. Paradox owner Jenny Peterson got the recipe from a French grandmother, so you know it’s authentic and—bonus!—it’s gluten-free.—CH
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BETTER TOGETHER By Paul H. Ting
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JOHN ROBINSON
o-fermentation, a winemaking technique with roots in Old World regions (think France’s Rhône, Spain’s Rioja, Italy’s Tuscany), is the combination of different grape varieties before fermentation. Historically, the reason for co-fermenting was largely practical: Vineyards were often planted with multiple varieties and, not only was it sometimes difficult to tell one type from another, it was also easier to harvest all at one time rather than in multiple passes. Similarly, it was often necessary to ferment in one large vessel rather than use additional time, energy, space, and equipment to make multiple small lots. The result, known as a “field blend,” resulted in unique wines available only in a small area and dependent on what was growing in local vineyards. As wine evolved from small, local production to a worldwide industry requiring more investment, vineyards were carefully
Ben Jordan
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planned and grape varieties were largely grown separately. Winemakers often prefer to produce multiple, smaller lots of wine, which gives more control over the final product. Co-fermentation largely fell out of favor and blending (combining different wines after they have completed fermentation) has become standard practice. But co-fermentation is having a bit of a resurgence. Collaborative projects are percolating between our wineries, cideries, and breweries—a potentially very exciting development for those who choose to drink local. Some winemakers are utilizing the co-fermentation technique not only for practical reasons or as a nod to historical precedent, but rather motivated by creativity, philosophy, and a desire to produce something unique and delicious. Cidermakers are expressing their craft by incorporating grapes, and local breweries are planning beer-wine hybrids through the use of co-fermentation. Take, for example, the 2019 Green from Cardinal Point Winery, which combines chardonnay and petit manseng in equal portions before co-fermenting them in a single tank. Winemaker Tim Gorman conceived of the idea as a way to balance the acidity and higher alcohol of petit manseng. “[The process] allows me to forget blending trials and just work one tank at a time,” he says. The resulting wine is released early as an expression of the freshness of the vintage. Gorman explains co-fermentation makes something “different” compared to a blend of wines, a sentiment echoed by winemaker Ben Jordan, who also believes that co-fermentation is different than blending. He says that, much like cooking a stew, the ingredients combine and “marry” flavors with a result different from
JOHN ROBINSON
A RESURGENCE OF CO-FERMENTATION MAKES FOR SOME SURPRISING (EXCITING!) ADDITIONS TO OUR DRINK SCENE
Lightwell Survey 2018 Los Idiots
ingredients cooked individually and served together. Science backs this up; it’s been shown that interactions between color and flavor molecules occur throughout the winemaking process and long after the wine is bottled. Ben Jordan also has philosophical reasons for pursuing co-fermentation. “It’s a more intuition-based approach,” he says. “It contributes to the style and feel of a wine.” In addition to making wine at Early Mountain Vineyard, Jordan is the winemaker for Lightwell Survey and his family’s Midland Construction Wine. At Lightwell, his expressed intent is to create wines that respect tradition while also being less familiar. He’s willing to give up the precision that comes with blending.
“Co-fermentation contributes to a wine’s personality.” BE N JORDAN
Quick look
JOHN ROBINSON
What is co-fermentation? It’s the winemaking practice of combining two or more grape varieties (and even sometimes fruit) prior to fermentation.
Patois Cider’s Patrick Collins co-ferments equal parts vidal blanc grapes and Harrison apples for his 2019 Vidal/Harrison.
thinking of this orchard much like the historical concept of the field blend. “Why not
JOHN ROBINSON
“Co-fermentation contributes to a wine’s personality,” Jordan says. The result is “more a product of yeast/grape magic than the hand of the maker.” Last year, the Jordan family collaborated with Domestique, a wine shop in Washington, D.C., to produce a co-fermentation of grapes combined with pears, all grown on their family farm in the Shenandoah Valley. The 2019 Poire du Soif can truly lay claim to the concept of flavor expressing the place and environment where it comes from, an idea that the French term “terroir.” Patrick Collins of Patois Cider also co-ferments mixed fruits. His 2019 Vidal/Harrison combines equal parts vidal blanc grapes and Harrison apples. Collins’ practical motivation is to use grapes to naturally increase acidity, decreasing the chance of microbial spoilage and allowing him to use low-intervention production techniques. Similar to Jordan, who helped Collins source grapes, Collins also sees co-fermentation as a way to express specific sites. He describes an orchard with pears and apples interplanted, along with several beehives. It’s clear he’s
Patois Cider Co. 2019 Vidal/Harrison.
ferment all of that together to focus on site over a given variety?” he asks. This confluence of creativity among local beverage producers should excite those that want to drink local. New combinations of grape varieties, mixed fruit co-fermentations, and a focus on place promise new beverage options and unique flavors. There are already more mixed fruit co-fermentations in the works for Lightwell Survey, Patois Cider, Midland Construction Wine, and Troddenvale Cider, located in nearby Bath County. Many of these producers are also actively sharing ideas and collaborating. Recently opened Selvedge Brewing at The Wool Factory is brainstorming about co-fermenting beer with wine grapes. Creative Director Brandon Wooten says it’s “only natural” that a brewery in a wine region should look to collaborate with wineries. Indeed, similar projects are happening in other wine regions such as California and Oregon. To date, such collaboration has been relatively rare locally, and it’s a promising sign of how far our local beverage industries have come and an intriguing glimpse of where they are going.
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The Last Bite Bread and butter After the year we’ve had, it’ll be nice to get back to a little normalcy. And while Bizou’s grilled banana bread is anything but “normal,” it’s definitely a familiar comfort. To make it, chef and co-owner Tim Burgess cooks a slice in a skillet with unsalted butter that, as it browns, nearly brulées the outside. Topped with two scoops of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with warm caramel sauce, it’s the best thing that’s happened to sliced bread since, well, sliced bread.
MORGAN SALYER
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a Slice of the Pie
Supporting the organizations that support our community
Free Kindness with Every Order!
Special Olympics • JABA • Blue Ridge Area Food Bank • Salvation Army • Music Resource Center • Toy Lift • Goodwill Industries • Thomas Jefferson Food Bank • SARA • Make A Wish Foundation • St. Jude Children’s Research Hosiptal • Habitat for Humanity • Ronald McDonald House • Mosby Foundation • Shelter for Help in Emergency • ARC of the Piedmont • Albemarle Fire & Rescue • Virginia Wounded Warrior Program • Caring for Creatures • SPCA • SOCA • Wildlife Center of Virginia Dogs Deserve Better-Blue Ridge If your group or organization is interested in fundraising with Domino’s, please contact your local store and ask to speak with a manager.