The restaurants are now wide open – no masks, no social distancing and no restrictions, except for the lack of enough good employees due to our government paying people more to stay home than to go back to work. With service “iffy” at many understaffed restaurants, Nancy and I decided to give Outback another try. Our experience there about 6 weeks ago was phenomenal – excellent … [Read more...]

  My sister Johanna was in town to visit this week and when Wanch (family nickname) comes to Charlottesville, there are two places she eats lunch – Jack’n Jill and Bellair Market on Ivy Road. When our Mom was recuperating at Morningside Assisted Living, both Wanch and I would stop by Bellair Market before our visits. Mom loved their homemade brownies and cookies as well as their unique … [Read more...]

  People are starting to go back to restaurants as the Covid Panic subsides. They may be in for a surprise. Restaurants took a major hit, many didn’t make it, and most lost employees, good employees and they may be slow to return. Expect slow service when you visit a restaurant. We ate at Vivace’s on Ivy Road this week, a great Italian Restaurant. The food was out of sight, but the … [Read more...]

  We recently enjoyed a perfect dining experience at The Outback Restaurant on 29 North. It was not just perfectly good, it was perfect. Food, service, everything. Just perfect. Our server was Betty. She greeted us with water almost immediately and there was none of this, “How are you guys, tonight?” She was most professional, introduced herself, offered to get us drinks and in short … [Read more...]

We went out to dinner at Bonefish Grill, but instead of ordering a regular dinner with an entrée, we had a dinner of appetizers  and they were great. Nancy and I started off with an order of Bang Bang Shrimp – a perfect appetizer and I love the sauce they use and the bed of lettuce beneath. I ate the lettuce as a salad along with my meal. After the Bang Bang Shrimp, we ordered another appetizer – … [Read more...]

Good food is where you find it, and often, some of the best fried chicken comes from the most unlikely places. Road food, it’s called. Like at a filling station or a country market. Like Brownsville Market near Old Trail. Far and wide, Brownsville Market has developed a reputation as one of the best fried chicken joints in Central Virginia. The chicken is fried perfectly, and because of the … [Read more...]

We have some good restaurants in Charlottesville, but if someone asked me my top recommendation, it would have to be the Ivy Inn. It is consistently Charlottesville’s finest. It’s the kind of a restaurant you would take a special client or the place where college grads gather for an historic reunion. It’s also a place you take your wife of 53 years out to dinner for our anniversary, and I did just … [Read more...]

It was a typical Sunday night for the Brewers. We couldn’t decide whether to eat leftovers, toss some burgers on the grill or maybe order a pizza. That’s when Nancy said, “How about fried chicken? That’s not fair. If anybody ever mentions fried chicken during a conversation about food, all bets are off. Nothing, absolutely nothing will ever be able satisfy an appetite after “fried chicken” comes … [Read more...]