stay in the shallow end

…to be young and wild and free.

I love Stars.

Monday: Dinner at Millmont Grille: We’re slowly making our way through our coupons expiring at the end of this year. We had a BOGOF to Millmont Grille, so we decided to head over there for dinner. Their patio was full, so we sat inside, and it was cold. I was hunched over with my arms crossed trying to keep warm. We mentioned it to our server, and he was very responsive. Someone turned up the thermostat, and it was much more comfortable within minutes. With service like that, I had high hopes for the food, and they didn’t disappoint. We ordered a crab dip appetizer, and it was creamy, cheesy, and had huge chunks of crab in it. I ordered the French Dip, which was not the traditional version. It came out on a kaiser roll and included grilled onions, peppers, and mushrooms. This is a stellar sandwich, and I’m excited to go back and have it again.

Tuesday: Dinner at Five Guys and South Street: I had two groups of friends meeting at South Street this night in addition to the cVillain meetup. I decided I’d have a Five Guys burger followed by a salad at South Street. I ordered a single patty hamburger with grilled onions, mushroom, jalapenos, and mustard. As always, Five Guys delivered a solid burger. At South Street I ordered the house salad, and on a whim, I asked for it with tuna. I’m glad I did. South Street’s tuna is just salt, pepper, and a light searing on each side, so the flavor of the tuna itself comes through. It’s an excellent complement to their ginger soy dressing.

Wednesday: Lunch at El Paso: A huge barbacoa burrito. I wrote up a full review here.

Wednesday: Chocolate Malt from Timberlake’s: Either the chocolate malt at Timberlake’s or the mint chocolate chip shake at Chaps is my favorite shake in Charlottesville. This time around, I tried to have the best of both worlds at Timberlake’s and asked them to put a scoop of mint chocolate chip into my chocolate malt when they made it. I made a mistake. In the future, it’ll be mint or chocolate, not both.

Thursday: Lunch at Lee’s Grill: Chicken Teriyaki. Blah blah blah. Is there anybody that reads this that hasn’t tried it yet?

Friday: Lunch at Bizou: Absolutely incredible. Bizou is right outside the window of my new office. I’ve heard good things about their lunch, but until now, I never went. I’m an idiot. Anyway, Erica and Tara came downtown to have lunch with me. Based on Rob’s constant raving about the meatloaf, I ordered it. It was $7.95, which is a bit pricey for lunch, but seemed inexpensive to me for Bizou. I received three substantial pieces of meatloaf on top of some mashed potatoes with some greens on the side. I judge the goodness of meatloaf based on how little it tastes like a burger, and Bizou’s meatloaf tastes nothing like a burger. It is well-seasoned, has excellent texture, and melted in my mouth. I’m in love.

Dinner at Christian’s Pizza: One slice of spicy chicken and another of pepperoni and sausage. Both of them were excellent. It may be time to take Christian’s (and Lee’s Grill) out of the rotation here. There’s not much more I can say about them.

I have a special place in my heart (and stomach) for hole-in-the-wall Mexican food. I don’t feel this way about any other cuisines, except maybe barbecue. A great example in Charlottesville is Aqui es Mexico. After reading this post on cVillain, there’s a new hole-in-the-wall king, and this one is almost actually a hole-in-the-wall.

At the corner of Market and Meade sits El Paso Grocery Store. It actually reminds me a lot of the Indian grocery stores I used to go to as a kid. They’re pretty dingy and dimly lit inside with unlabeled bags of food stacked up on the shelves. When you make your way to the back, you’ll find a small door tucked behind the left corner. Through the door, and you’re presented with a small kitchen with a window and this menu:

The man in the kitchen was immediately concerned when I took this picture. He doesn’t speak English, but I think he understood me when I told him it was for my friends. For lunch, I immediately was drawn to the carnitas due to my love of all things pork. When I ordered, the man conveyed that they did not have them today. I then ordered the barbacoa. He proceeds to very slowly and methodically make the burrito. First he takes an enormous tortilla and lays it out on the grill. Then he pulls a huge chunk of beef out of a pot stewing on the stove and shreds off enough for the burrito. The beans and rice are not your Qdoba/Chipotle fare. They were so well seasoned I could’ve easily paid for and eaten a plate of them and been satisfied. He then added a handful of cilantro and onion. The first half of the burrito was excellent, and I was loving every bite. The meat, beans, and rice all complimented each other perfectly. Unfortunately, as I got further into the burrito, the cilantro and onion started overpowering everything else. I wasn’t able to finish the burrito. Luckily this is an easy problem to resolve. Next time I’ll remember to ask for less cilantro and onion.

I’ve been trying to figure out the rest of the menu. For example, under Burritos, they list Regular, Super, and Platillos. Also, Papas sound intriguing, but I have no idea what they are. Finally, does anyone know what their Quesadillas are like?

Mmmmm, now I’m hungry. Maybe I’ll head over there right now.

Monday: Lunch at Guadalajara: Kate came downtown for lunch, and we decided we’d like Mexican. The only walking option is Guadalajara, so we tried it out. I ordered the lunch carnitas. They were not very good, which is too bad, because I really wanted them to be. If I ever go back, I will be trying something else.

Tuesday: Lunch at Marco and Luca: It was a sad day for me when I saw Marco and Luca dump frozen dumplings out of a big cardboard box. I just haven’t been as excited to go there as I used to be. The hot and sour soup, however, still has no such stigma attached to it. I’m doing my best to maintain my ignorance of it’s origin. Add a little Tabasco, and it is perfect on a cold day. Mmmm, I may have to go get some now.

Wednesday: Lamb Souvlaki at Rapture: Our 2007 Dining and Value guide coupons expire at the end of the year, so we’re trying to use them up ASAP. Today we used the BOGOF from Rapture. I got the Lamb Souvlaki and it was really, really good. I couldn’t tell the difference between it and a Gyro though. The small side salad included a very tart vinaigrette that I loved. All in all, I was very pleased with this meal.

Thursday: Lunch at Baggby’s: Oy over at cVillain started an excellent thread on people’s top ten meals in Charlottesville. The first dish that caught my eye was the Pueblo Chicken sub at Baggby’s. Oy described it as “chicken, bacon, american and provolone cheese, marinated peppers grilled on a roll.” That’s an accurate description and it is an excellent sandwich. Next time I’ll get some jalapenos to spice it up a bit.

Friday: Lunch at Take It Away: The usual: corned beef on onion rye with sprouts and massive amounts of mustard. I’ll talk about my drink instead. I always get the Grown Up Soda Dry Pomegranate. It is crisp, tart, and extremely refreshing. (Refreshingness is probably my most important quality in a cold beverage).

Saturday: Lunch at Christian’s: I love it when my parents come to town and we go to Christian’s. We order a whole bunch of slices and then just pass them around. Today I sampled the spicy chicken, chicken parmesan, spinach calzone, and steak calzone. As usual, they were all delicious. While I’ve heard mixed reports about Christian’s new locations, I can’t say that I’ve noticed any differences downtown.

Almost caught up! Next week I will write about El Paso’s burrito.

Wednesday: Lunch at Cafe Europa: Surprise, surprise, I didn’t order the Majorca! They started selling paninis, and I had one with basil pesto, roasted red pepper, feta, roasted eggplant. It was actually really good, and the bread didn’t tear up the roof of my mouth like the Majorca does. The Majorca is still the better sandwich, and I’ll be ordering it again on my next visit.

Thursday: Lunch at Himalayan Fusion: Himalayan Fusion is very inconsistent. Some visits I go there, and I have a solid meal. And then there are other visits like this one. The naan was stale and greasy. The chicken tikka masala tasted like tomato soup and lacked its signature creamy flavor. Everything else ranged from bad to forgettable. I have a feeling they don’t have set recipes and they don’t enact any quality control on what leaves the kitchen. I need to try them at night and see if these problems are only specific to the buffet.

Thursday: Dinner at South Street: I just had their house salad. Their ginger soy salad dressing is probably my favorite in town.

Friday: Lunch at Chaps: After Splendora opened on the downtown mall, I felt kind of sorry for Chaps. The ice cream at Chaps is really good, but it’s hard to escape the novelty of Splendora. The saddest moment for me was a couple of years ago, I walked by chaps and there was a hand written sign in the window that said, “Now Serving Gelato!” They seem to be promoting their food menu more now, so I thought I’d check it out. I ordered a Philly cheesesteak, onion rings, and an egg cream. The cheesesteak should’ve been called a roast beef. It was boring. On a positive note, the onion rings were really, really good. Finally, the egg cream was not good. Way too much syrup and milk and not enough soda. It was apparent that no thought had been put into it’s creation. I’ve heard good things about the BLT, so I may try that next, but I’m not too eager to go back.

Friday: Dinner at Continental Divide: My favorite restaurant in Charlottesville! Kate was distraught that they know longer offer the Barbecue Salmon on their menu. We ordered the usual Red Hot Blues for our appetizer, and they were excellent. Once again, I went for the Santa Fe Enchilada, and it was as good as it always is, but I think after four years, I’m finally ready to start trying new things there. I think a lot of it has to do with me making my own enchiladas at home these days, and they are pretty comparable, although I still can’t figure out how they get their sauce so rich. We also had a few margaritas, and theirs are some of the best in town.

A new restaurant this week! Kyoto in Rio Hill Shopping Center.

Monday: Dinner at Kyoto: I’ve seen this place for the last four years I’ve been in Charlottesville and heard excellent things. As soon as we walked in, I was beginning to be disappointed. It was completely empty. We chalked it up to a Monday and persevered. I ordered a Teriyaki Steak and Tempura Shrimp combo. The shrimp did not much like tempura and much more like Captain D’s. It was the only truly disappointing part of the meal. The steak was well cooked and the teriyaki sauce was rich without being overly sweet like most places. For an appetizer we had the dumplings, which were excellent.

Thursday: Lunch at Eppie’s: I ordered the usual: quarter dark of jerk chicken, sweet potato, and mac & cheese. They’ve really nailed the jerk chicken. When they first opened, I was underwhelmed, but for the last few visits, they have been consistently good. The seasoning is fresh and spicy and the chicken is juicy and tender. They have a unique mac & cheese, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. As for desert, their cornbread is so sweet and moist, it qualifies.

Thursday: Dinner at St. Maarten’s: Michael and Elizabeth came to town for Girl Talk. I felt lucky because they had the frizzled onion special again today, which I loved last time I was here. Elizabeth ordered the buffalo shrimp, and I had a few of those too. Maarten’s is damn good at frying stuff.

Friday: Lunch at Lee’s Grill: I have something negative to say! The delicious chicken teriyaki lunch special has gone up from $4.95 to $5.95. It is still delicious, though.

Friday: Dinner at Amigo’s (on Seminole): We usually go to the Amigo’s on 5th, but we were headed up 29 for a party, so we stopped by the Seminole location. The Chili Verde is not the same. It has much less verde sauce resulting in much weaker flavor. I was disappointed. Amigo’s on 5th FTW!

This was an exciting last week in food! Michael and Elizabeth joined me for a behind the scenes look at last week in food. His post even got picked up by cvillenews.com.

Thursday: Lunch at Riverside: Elizabeth and I have very similar palates. Actually, we both just agree that everything tastes better deep fried. Given that, Riverside seemed like a pretty natural choice. Michael and Elizabeth had burgers, and I had a chili dog. We got some cheese balls (batter fried pepper jack) and some onion rings. I loved my chili dog, but Michael and Elizabeth were pretty “meh” about their burgers. They were all Carytown Burgers and Fries-this and Carytown Burgers and Fries-that. I guess I need to head down to Richmond soon and try Carytown Burgers and Fries.

Thursday: Desert at Splendora: They’d never been to Splendora, so we went and had a sampler. We enjoyed Mango, Passion Fruit, Black Currant, Lavender, Cookies & Cream, Mexican Coffee, Coffee Heath Bar, and Chocolate Hazelnut. All delicious, although Lavender tasted kind of like air freshener. Here’s a picture:

Thursday: Beer at Ludwig’s Schnitzelhouse: Next I decided we should go to Ludwig’s and have a liter of the Cambonator, a lighter doppleback with a staggering 8% ABV (alcohol by volume). It did the job. While we drank, we ordered some Schnitzel Bites and Homemade Spatzle. Gross. So gross. I have no words for the grossness. Here is a picture of Kate and I being grossed out:

Thursday: Dinner at Wayside: To get the bad taste of Ludwig’s out of our mouth, we headed over to Wayside. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese. Absolutely delicious. Although after Ludwig’s, I could’ve eaten my shoe and enjoyed it.

Friday: Lunch at Thai 99: I had the stir fried basil leaves with chicken. I have a weird relationship with Thai 99. I have a really low opinion of their food. The meat is always overcooked, and everything is generally watery. The weird part is that I never mind eating there, and after I’m done eating, I’m pretty satisfied. It’s inexplicable.

Friday: Late Night at C&O: I’ve heard so much about C&O’s late night menu, but I’ve never remembered to go. Tonight, I did. We swung by C&O after seeing Ryan Adams at the Paramount. He was at C&O also. Kate and I shared a panini and the macaroni and cheese. It was pretty damn good, but it felt weird eating “good” food that late at night.