The Charlottesville 29

Where to eat in Charlottesville

Category: Uncategorized

04/08/2024

The 2024 Charlottesville 29: This Year’s List of Charlottesville’s Essential Restaurants

The 2024 Charlottesville 29 is here.

Each year, The Charlottesville 29 answers: if there were just 29 restaurants in Charlottesville, what would be the ideal 29? Background here and here. Annual cuts become ever more difficult, as openings outpace closings. As in prior years, this year’s Charlottesville 29 includes a description of why each restaurant was selected, as well as an ordering guide, with recommendations from each restaurant’s chef/owner and appearances in Five Finds on Friday.

With that: The 2024 Charlottesville 29.

04/08/2024

Mockingbird

421 Monticello Road . Charlottesville, VA . (434) 465-6131
https://www.mockingbird-cville.com/

The career of chef Melissa Close-Har has pulled her in many directions: from New American cuisine, to French, to Southwestern, to Italian. And, it has been full of accolades, too. The former chef of Palladio at Barboursville Vineyards is on the Mount Rushmore of Charlottesville Chefs, and earned four James Beard semifinalist nods for Best Chef Midatlantic. But, in 2022, after decades in the industry, she finally opened a restaurant that serves the food she was put on earth to cook.

An Alabama native, Close-Hart’s lifetime passion is Southern cuisine. At Mockingbird, she applies her classical culinary training to the food she loves most.  The results are every bit as delicious as you might expect. And, the Belmont setting could hardly suit them any better: a historic brick building, brightened and beautified by Close-Hart and her team. A fixture for refined Southern food, Mockingbird carves a spot in The Charlottesville 29.

What to Order

The menu changes seasonally, so don’t fall too in love with any of the options. One mainstay, however, is a basket of Close-Hart’s fluffy buttermilk biscuits. No visit to Mockingbird is complete without them. Below are our picks and recommendations from Chef Close-Hart.

Our Picks

  • Biscuit Basket
  • Fried Green Tomatoes
  • Open Face Crawfish Po’Boy
  • Fried Okra
  • Alabama White BBQ Chicken

Chef’s Picks

  • Biscuit Basket
  • Fried Green Tomatoes
  • Double H Farms Pork Belly
  • Shrimp & Grits
  • Bison Hanger Steak
  • Banana Pudding
  • Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie
  • Daily Specials

04/08/2024

Umma’s

200 W. Water Street . Charlottesville, VA . (434) 326-0406
https://www.ummasfood.com/

In 2022, the winners of the two prior years’ best Charlottesville food truck/stand joined forces to open a brick-and-mortar. It was hardly a coincidence. The owner of one, Sussex Farm‘s Jen Naylor, is the mother of co-owner of the other, Basan‘s Kelsey Naylor.

Named in honor of Jen’s mother, Umma’s means “mother’s” in Korean, and the restaurant is as worthy a tribute as any mother could hope for. Born in Korea, Jen is a longtime apostle of her native cuisine and has been spreading the love with ingredients from her farm for more than a decade, originally at farmer’s markets and now at her restaurant. Her daughter Kelsey and Basan co-founder Anna Gardner, meanwhile, have a passion for the food of Japan, where they once moved just to immerse themselves in the country’s cuisine. While Jen veers towards classics like kimchi and banchan, Kelsey and Anna can have a flair for the inventive. The result is the best of both worlds: traditional Korean and Japanese dishes, alongside inspired new creations — a worthy addition to The Charlottesville 29.

What to Order

Feel like something traditional and reliable? Umma’s always delivers, with dishes like ramen, kimchi, bibimbap, and more. Feeling more daring? Kelsey’s and Anna’s latest inspirations offer options for adventurous diners. Below are our picks.

Our Picks

  • Kimchi
  • Banchan
  • Spicy Miso Paitan
  • Classic Karaage
  • Dolsot Bibimbap
  • Big Mac Dolsot Bokkeumbap
  • Specials