C'Ville Food Kick-Off

Diana and I have only been in Charlottesville for about two weeks now, but we have already managed to eat our way through the town (offset by a few runs, hikes, and squash sessions). Armed with some recommendations from friends and our own eagerness to explore, we set out to find some favorites. As per usual, I have posted the running list of the 10 most recent restaurants on the righthand side of the blog, but here are a few of the highlights:

The Local

This was our first dinner out in Charlottesville. Located in the Belmont neighborhood, this place features fresh, farm-to-table regional fare. The highlights included $3 bud lights (this will never get old), the burratta appetizer with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, and crostinis, and a bacon wrapped meatloaf entree (how can that be bad?).

Mas

Also located in Belmont, Mas is a spanish tapas restaurant with a huge menu. Each dish can be

ordered as a tapas or full entree size and are great for sharing. The bacon wrapped dates (notice a theme here?), roasted and salted pequillo peppers, and roast pork loin were my favorites.

Peter Chang's China Grill

This is the #1 restaurant I wanted to try in Charlottesville. I had read about the chef, Peter Chang, in the following article. The guy is thought to be the best Schezuan chef in the U.S. and hops from city to city pretty quickly so you need to catch him while you can. We went with a large group and got a table with a lazy susan, so sharing was plentiful. Pretty much everything at this restaurant was a highlight, so I will just list out what we had ranked by how good they were:

1. Crispy pork belly

2. Hot and numbing beef

3. Garlic shrimp pot

4. Scallion pancake balloons

5. Twice cooked pork

6. Spicy fragrant duck

7. Hot and Sour Soup

8. Dan Dan noodles

Bluegrass Grill and Bakery

This is the best breakfast place I've ever been to. Located just off the downtown mall, Bluegrass is extremely casual and boasts a hearty country breakfast menu with a foodie twist. I kept things fairly simple with my order- two over easy eggs, virginia ham, cheese grits, and a whole wheat biscuit, and it was incredible. We also had an order of pig candy, which is essentially crispy bacon covered in syrup and cayenne pepper, served cold. I love bacon.

BBQ Exchange

BBQ Exchange is located about 30 minutes north of Charlottesville in a town called Gordonsville. It was a mix of wet and dry BBQ, and had an incredible selection. The meats by far outweighed the side dishes, but that is the way good BBQ should be. We tried all five meats (chicken, pork, brisket, ribs, and pork belly), and all were terrific but the pork belly was the best. For the sides, I would recommend the pickled green tomatoes and spicy pickles.

All in all, Charlottesville food has been excellent. I will continue to review some more favorite places as I identify them. A few on the list that I want to try are Duners, Continental Divide, and Mono Loco.