Continental Divide - Charlottesville

Too crowded, too noisy, too small, too bad. That's the tag line at Continental Divide, though I think they should add "too tasty" to the end personally. This small restaurant is Charlottesville's version of big Mexican flavors in a small space.

First, when you go to Continental Divide, expect a wait. Luckily this isn't necessarily a bad thing as they make delicious and reasonable (read dangerous) margaritas. So, go early or go patient and thirsty.

The menu at Continental Divide is not your standard Mexican restaurant menu. You see nachos, but complete with goat cheese or bison chili. There is fresh (and perfectly medium-rare) tuna over crispy fresh tortilla chips. And there tacos filled with slow cooked pork. This is pretty much what we had when we went to Continental Divide last weekend, and all of it was excellent.

Perhaps the best thing about all this delicious food I'm making myself hungry for again right now is that it is easy on the wallet. A lot of places I review are a little pricier because I like to treat myself when we do go out to eat. You don't have to worry about that here. Two drinks, an appetizer and two entrees all for about $40 (including tip). You can't beat these prices, especially not with this quality of food.

Lastly, in case you need some awesome new tunes, check out the link above for Rodrigo y Gabriela, a great acoustic duo from Mexico!

Shebeen - Charlottesville

With the holidays and threat of snow, I have to say we haven't been out to eat much recently. Luckily January is forcing us back out into the world of wonderful Charlottesville dining, first with just a random Friday night dinner and soon with Restaurant Week! So, here we are with my first restaurant review of 2011, and it's a great one!

Shebeen is your standard pub, except that it's not Irish or English, it's South African. You'll find fish and chips and sandwiches on the menu, but you'll also find things from the braai (grill) and wonderfully seasoned and delicious dishes unique to Africa. The location is nothing special (a strip mall on the backside of Staples, facing MacDonald's near the downtown mall) but they did a lot with the decor inside.

The menu should keep most people happy with the variety on it. For starters we decided to go with the brinjal fries, also known as fried eggplant wedges and a banana "ketchup." The "ketchup" was amazing...a nice cooling effect on a piping hot fry.

For entrees, I opted for something from the braai while my husband went for a slow cooked dish in a
small iron pot. I had the peri-peri shrimp (pepper basted shrimp on skewers...9 of them!) with sides of mealie pap and mixed vegetables. I was a bit worried by the description of the peri-peri sauce, so I asked for the kitchen to go light on it. It was perfect. The mealie pap is described as South African cheese grits. Let's just say that this Southern girl loved the stuff. I would eat it everyday if I could! The vegetabeles were pretty standard but very good. My husband had the lamb curry potjie which was full of spices and flavors. It had a corn muffin with it that seemed to have a creamed-corn effect going on in the middle. Yum!


Overall I would definitely recommend Shebeen if you're looking for something different. Expect it to be crowded, so be open to getting a pint of one of their delicious pints before hand. But mostly, go to try some new flavors and relax!

Charlottesville Restaurant Week!

It's that season again...Restaurant Week! This is a great way to get out and try a new place or 7 at a great price! Here's the deal, 3 courses, $26. There are some really great restaurants ... it continues to grow each iteration (January and July). For a full list of restaurants and a few with their menus up, check out cvilleyum. 

If you're looking for recommendations, I would say Fossett's but they are all booked! What about Ten for some great seafood with a Japanese twist or Brookville, the newest locavore place in town! I've been to both (but not blogged, eek!) and they are awesome! If you can't seem to find the time for this round, check back in the next 2 weeks for my reviews!

Tavola - Charlottesville

This past summer my husband and I had the pleasure to spend 11 days in central Italy. Needless to say we ate more pasta, truffles and pecorino and drank more wine than I thought possible. Enter my renewed love for pasta. So of course we've both been reluctant yet excited to try an Italian restaurant. Enter Tavola. I decided that the night before Thanksgiving was the perfect night to finally try one from Charlottesville's Italian scene.

We headed to Tavola at 6pm and thought surely we'd be ahead of the rush. They don't take reservations and I had been warned they fill up quick. Well that was certainly true. There are only about 10 tables and about 6 more seats along the bar. Unfortuantely 6pm wasn't early enough to get a table straight away, but we did get one relatively quick.

Having spent a week in Umbria, I decided the table needed a bottle of Umbrian wine so I opted for the Col Santo Rosso (Sagrantino-Sangiovese blend) and it was excellent, especially at a mere $33/bottle. Everyone else agreed too. Considering it's $21/bottle at Market Street wine shop, that's not a bad buy at all.

After getting our wine, we decided to all get soup or salad to start which was great, except for the teaser "salad of the day" which was sold out by the time we ordered (circa 6:30pm). I still went for a salad but did one off the menu instead. The salad was a great start of things to come.

For entrees we all went for something different. I chose the red beet and leek risotto with sea scallops. It was excellent and perfectly cooked, plus a beautiful color (see picture at right). My husband went for a classic carbonara and it was delicious while not quite as heavy as I have traditionally prepared it. Others at the table had the pork saltimboca special of the day and the garganelli alla zucca (butternut squash, kale, cream and garganelli pasta). Overall everyone was quite happy with the meal (though we all agreed the garganelli was the least favorite), and I was happy to have a real Italian dinner.

In short I look forward to a return visit and to trying more of the pasta and wine at Tavola!

Maya - Charlottesville

Maya is one of the restaurants in Charlottesville that I feel like everyone has heard about and should make it to. Instead of being one of the many restaurants focused just on "eat local," it is a "eat local and southern" restaurant.

Just like every good Southern meal, the sides here are really key. So amazing in fact that you can easily do a "sides only" plate and leave full and happy (a great option for vegetarians!). Though I wasn't too impressed with the whipped potatoes (they seemed too prepared, and therefore gluten-y), the collards, butternut squash and biscuits were all amazing. The entree choices are great of course. On the night we went I decided to try the Ragged Mountain trout which came with skin on and was very lightly prepared. My husband had the pork tenderloin with bbq slaw that was so tender and delicious.

I have to say my complaint about our experience at Maya definitely wasn't the food, but it was the service. I am happy that Maya is one of the few places in town that will take reservations. We were sat promptly at 7:30 which was great. However, for some reason our waitress decided we weren't special because we weren't one of the many UVA parent-child-child's friends tables and therefore wouldn't give the money. Too bad for her. Anyways, when I asked if we could have a side of 4 rather than 3 biscuits I was told "Tonight is not the night to bother the kitchen." I was not too happy. In fact I think that she couldn't be bothered. She also mistakenly gave me the wrong side (whipped potatoes vice macaroni and cheese) and was slow to bring our water, wine and take our order. Sadly for Maya I think they need to replace this waitress, because everything that involved other staff was excellent.

In short, I will definitely make a return trip, but I think I will make sure I don't have the same server. For that reason, I'll give it a 3+ star (out of 5), hoping they can take it to a 4 after next time.

Blue Talon - Williamsburg, VA

Having spent 4 wonderful years of College in Williamsburg, going back is like going home. And what better than a cozy French bistro with true comfort food and warm colors to welcome you home? I've eaten at Blue Talon several times for brunch and lunch, but somehow had never made it for dinner. So, on a recent trip to Williamsburg we decided to go for dinner and found we were just as pleased as we had been by their daytime offerings.

For starters, there are several great options, including those for the more adventurous like frog legs, which may I say were delicious. They are lightly pan-fried and served with an incredible version of a sweet-hot sauce. I decided to go for something a little less exotic called raclette, which actually refers to the name of the cheese not the dish. Raclette is a semi-firm cows milk cheese that is good for melting. At the Blue Talon they melt it and serve it over potato wedges. It wasn't the best thing I've had a Blue Talon, and it wasn't really unique either. Next time I'll opt for trying the ever favorite escargot.

For entrees I decided to go with the true comfort French food: crepes. These were a grown-up version with a creamy mushroom-chicken filling, flavored with herbs-de-Provence and finished with asparagus and parmesan. They were so rich, creamy and full of flavor. My husband had a gnocchi topped with clams, shrimp and scallops that had a nice light sauce. The gnocchi were so light and delicate, which is perfect next to mild shellfish and seafood. Another great option they serve as a side and at lunch, is the mac and cheese. I didn't have it on this visit, but have before and it is so delicious!

If you're heading down to Williamsburg over the holidays (great shopping at the outlets, great culture along Duke of Gloucester aka DOG Street), be sure to check out Blue Talon for a cozy and delicious meal! Oh and make your free reservation at OpenTable.com ... a favorite website of mine that Charlottesville eateries have yet to tap!

Bluegrass Grill and Bakery - Charlottesville

I usually like what Cville Best has to offer, but this time it has led me astray. For some reason everyone in Charlottesville picks this as the best breakfast in town. Now I haven't been to many breakfast places in town, but if this is the best out there, then this town is in desperate need of help.

To start, let's talk about the size, set-up and service. There are about 12 tables and a few at a bar in here, two servers and a busboy for Saturday morning. The wait list is done by the waitresses, so they only seat people when they have time, and that is only after the one bus boy finally clears off a table. I could give several examples from just this past Saturday morning for how inefficient this system is, but it would just be tedious. Instead I'll just say that we waited 45 minutes for a "just okay" meal. The food did come out fairly promptly, but this was only after the server "threw" our coffee on the table ever so roughly and neglected to refill my water (despite the fact that I had clearly just run a 10k).

The food itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special in my, my husband or my brother's opinion. The most unique thing they had to offer was a potato dish that was basically roasted potatoes topped with vegetables, cheese or meat. It was something different, but I can't say it was all that original. I ordered mine with a biscuit that I was quite looking forward to, but it was quite dense and more like a oll than a biscuit.

The total bill came to about $30 for three entrees and two drinks which I won't complain about. However, for a 45 minute wait and all the hype, I was expecting something phenomenal and Bluegrass Grill & Bakery didn't provide that. I truly enjoy cooking so for me, going out for a meal is a treat because I have someone to wait on me, clean the dishes and prepare something I wouldn't normally prepare at home, so not hitting any of these notes really disappoints me at a restaurant. Sorry Cville Best, but I'll keep looking for the best breakfast restaurant in town.