Palladio Restaurant
17655 Winery Rd, Barboursville, VA . (540) 832-7848
www.palladiorestaurant.com
Why Palladio?
Among all of the restaurants in the Charlottesville area, none has received more national acclaim than Palladio, the Italian fine dining destination at Barboursville Vineyards. Four times Chef Melissa Close-Hart has been named a James Beard award semi-finalist for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic. Five times, Palladio has been invited to cook at New York’s James Beard House. And countless times, top national chefs have visited Palladio for guest chef dinners, including Patrick O’Connell (Inn at Little Washington) and Michel Richard (Citronelle), among others.
And, it’s not just good public relations that has led to all of this success. Close-Hart’s cooking is magnificent, the setting beautiful, and the service professional, with many servers having been there more than a decade. Roberto Donna, who was Esquire’s 2012 national chef of the year, once gave Hart one of the biggest compliments an Italian chef can give. “Her cuisine is very Italian,” he said. “It’s the simplicity of recipes and the painstaking willingness to keep looking for the freshest ingredients.”
What to Order
Below are our suggestions, as well as Chef Close-Hart’s favorites, and Palladio’s appearances in Five Finds on Friday, where area chefs and personalities have named a Palladio dish one of the best in the area. At both lunch and dinner, there is prix fixe multi-course menu, with optional wine pairings. But, the menu changes with the seasons, so the suggested dishes below might not always be available.
Our Picks
- House-made Charcuterie
- Grilled Zucchini with Fresh Mozzarella
- Stuffed pastas
- Frittelle
Chef’s Picks
- House-made Charcuterie
- Ravioli di Zucca
- Braised Goat over Polenta
- Frittelle
Five Finds on Friday Picks
- Salumi – Todd Grieger (formerly, Red Pump Tuscan Kitchen)
- Sunday Lunch – Matthew Hart (The Local)
- Tasting Menu – Hannah Moster (Hamiltons’)