The Charlottesville 29

Where to eat in Charlottesville

Tag: Five Finds on Friday

10/24/2025

Five Finds on Friday: Amanda Wood

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Amanda Wood, Bar Manager of Tavola, and an entrant in Malt Masters, where top bartenders are vying to create the best cocktail from Virginia Distillery Company’s whisky tribute to Charlottesville. There are 29 herbs, flowers, fruits, and roots in Vecchio Amaro del Capo, which is why it came to mind for Wood as a pairing for The Charlottesville 29 Single Barrel whisky. The pairing worked beautifully and made the base of a fall cocktail available at Tavola throughout the Malt Masters competition: Golden Hour, VDC 29, Vecchio Amaro del Capo, Orchard pear liqueur, butter pecan brown sugar syrup, lemon, Angostura bitters. Wood’s picks:

1) Ham, Egg, and Cheddar on Everything at Bodo’s. “Including my Bodo’s order on Five Finds makes me feel like a true Charlottesville native. No, it wasn’t my great-grandparents on both sides of my family settling down in Belmont and helping to shape the community. It is this breakfast sandwich, posted here, which has sealed my fate. This bagel is a delicious, filling classic and will set your day up for success.”

2)  Bulgogi Stew at Maru. “This dish is the epitome of comfort food. It is a rich beef stew with veggies, rice cakes, and glass noodles served boiling hot. The rice cakes are dense and chewy. and possibly my favorite part. Pair this, or any of their food, with a small jug of makgeolli, which is a sweet, milky, lightly sparkling rice wine. And don’t sleep on the little side dishes served with every entree.”

3) Pupusas at Nuestra Cocina. “Tucked away inside the Marathon on Gasoline Alley – IYKYK – three ladies are cooking up traditional Latin dishes to go. The Salvadoran pupusas are my fave. It’s a thick masa dough stuffed with beans, cheese, and pork, then fried on a griddle. Each one is handmade to order, served with curtido and a thin tomato salsa. Get there early, as they are busy for lunch and close at 2:00.”

4) Margaritas at Continental Divide. “My husband and I had our first date here almost twenty years ago. Maybe it’s the nostalgia, or it could be the vibe, or the amazing staff. I’m looking at you, Jenny!. But, this is my go-to spot for a pre-dinner marg. And yes, that is a thing. I get mine with Vida mezcal and salt.”

5) Shaved Salad at Oakhart Social. “I could not possibly leave this restaurant off my list. I worked here for almost five years, and it is still one of my all-time favorites. But the shaved salad. She is fresh, she is crunchy, she is bright, creamy, and flavorful. This salad is so good that there were riots in the streets when it temporarily came off the menu. Go to Oakhart. Try all of the things. Get the shaved salad. The End.”

10/17/2025

Five Finds on Friday: Natalie Blazer

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Natalie Blazer, Assistant Dean and Chief Admissions Officer at UVa School of Law, and host of the podcast Admissible, on Apple and Spotify. You can follow it on Instagram. It’s Natalie’s anniversary next week, so she shares the spotlight with husband Michael Peloquin. Blazer’s picks:

1) Red Hot Blues and a Mezcal Special with Salt at the bar at Continental Divide. “This is a Friday night tradition that holds a sacred spot in our lives. Catching up with Matt and taking that first sip of margarita marks the end of a usually stressful week and the beginning of 48 hours of family togetherness. Fun fact: we both discovered the Divide around the same time: I was a first-year law student, back then we just called it Get In Here. Michael was a high school student in Arizona, visiting his older sister who was an undergrad at UVa. So it is very possible we crossed paths 20 years ago at the Divide, 13 years before actually meeting in D.C.”

2) Cabbage & Scallion Pancake and Roasted Broccoli at Oakhart Social. “Look, I’ve been reading the FFF long enough to know that practically everyone mentions Oakhart, so I almost didn’t want to include these dishes, but a list without them would not even remotely accurately capture our consumption habits. Another spot where sitting at the bar makes all the difference, as the food at Oakhart is matched only by the incredible hospitality. I don’t know how they get all their veggie dishes to be so dang good but they are positively craveable.”

3) Abruzzo Pizza, a Midnight Stinger (hers) and Spaghett (his) at Lampo. “I’m not a huge meat-eater, but the Abruzzo has me positively addicted. Everything at Lampo tends to be phenomenal, from the warm bread to the salads to the sandwiches. We always get a little of everything, but the Abruzzo is a staple. And we have to mention our love for waiting at Bar Baleno next door for Lampo bar seats to open up. Clearly, a recurring theme of our answers here is we love to sit at a bar and we love to be regulars. Beware if you sit next to us that we — Michael —  will instigate chitchat.”

4) Drip Coffee at Atlas Coffee. “How boring is this pick? But the centrality of coffee in our lives means we could not leave this one off the list. A true neighborhood spot, Atlas’s coffee is consistently perfect. Our dog Jerry loves it too because the barista never lets us leave without a treat for him.”

5) The Melrose at Greenwood Gourmet Grocery. “The vibes, as the kids would say, are immaculate at Greenwood Grocery, but I would not keep coming back were it not for the Melrose sandwich. Again, not being a huge meat-eater, this portobello mushroom sandwich with red onion, pimento cheese, and arugula on country bread hits the spot every single time. Michael has usually already eaten by the time we get to Greenwood, because he simply cannot start his weekend morning without a breakfast burrito from Polly’s Folly, but he’s always good to add on an Araucana or an Italian. Throw in some chips from their tasty selection, maybe one or two of the MarieBette treats they stock at the register, and our Saturday afternoon is made.”

09/26/2025

Five Finds on Friday: Darcey Lacy

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Darcey Lacy of Watermark Design. A fixture of the Charlottesville community, Lacy has done work for clients like Hark Vineyards, Ankida Ridge, King Family Vineyards, Thistlerock Mead, and Jake Busching. A generous supporter of Charlottesville, she has also donated her services to projects like The Charlottesville 29 Restaurant Auctions, Five Pillars Ale, and Living the Dream, and even created the logo for The Charlottesville 29 of Sandwiches. As much as she loves local beverages, she said she couldn’t pick just one. “I would be remiss not to mention Virginia wine, mead, and spirits, but since I cannot pick, I would just say support our local, nationally recognized industry with a beautiful bottle of deliciousness.” Follow her work here. Lacy’s picks:

1) Popover with Honey Butter at Cake Bloom. “Growing up in the Northeast, I was raised on popovers, so when I found out that Cake Bloom has the largest popovers ever — seriously huge and so hard to do —  I was over the moon. And not just regular butter to melt inside, but honey butter, so it adds just a touch of sweetness. And if you want a bit more sustenance, they have sandwiches on popovers as well. Pair with the Lavender lemonade.”

2) Tuna Carpaccio at The Alley Light. “The Alley Light is a place I love to experiment with food and cocktails, as you can not go wrong. But, before experimentation must come the tuna carpaccio. I don’t know if it’s the shallots or the sheep’s milk cheese, but it has a slight tartness that just melts in your mouth when layered on the crostini.”

3) The Roma at Foods of All Nations or The Giaconda at Mona Lisa Pasta. “The Market once had a shirt that said ‘life is a good sandwich.’ I regret not having bought it, as I believe this to be true. The Montpelier at the Market is the co-winner here, but I love a ball of fresh mozzarella, and at Foods or Mona Lisa, you can get a huge amount of mozz, fresh tomato, fresh basil, and some olive oil on ciabatta or focaccia. I prefer it not grilled so you can enjoy the mozzarella cold and fresh.”

4) Joel’s Choice at Speakeasy + Whiskey Bar. “The cocktail that kickstarted my Mezcal obsession. Joel created a masterpiece with this one: Mezcal, green Chartreuse, Campari and egg whites.”

5) Crab Potstickers at Bang!.  “A long favorite place from when I first moved to Charlottesville over twenty years ago. I love to sit outside with friends, a crisp glass of sauvignon blanc and cover your table with little plates of yum. The crab potstickers are a go-to but there is a long list of faves at Bang.”