The Charlottesville 29

Where to eat in Charlottesville

Tag: Potter’s Craft Cider

07/03/2014

Five Finds on Friday: Sara Adduci

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Photo by Justin Ide.

On Fridays, we feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities.  This week’s picks come from Sara Adduci, cheesemonger of Feast!.  Last weekend, Adduci helped make Charlottesville proud at The Cheesemonger Invitational, in New York City, where top cheesemongers from around the country competed against one another in cutting, selling, tasting, wrapping, and proving their cheese knowledge.  Adduci finished in 4th place while fellow Charlottesville monger Nadjeeb Chouaf took 2nd place.  A great showing for Charlottesville.  Adduci’s picks:

1)  Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit at Ace Biscuit & Barbecue.  “I just adore breakfast and brunch foods and these are simply fantastic! It’s truly hard for me to pick a single item in this category, because I also have a big crush on the ginger scones from Albemarle Baking Company and the BFP (big f****ing pancake) with bacon from Brookville.”

2)  Spanish Tuna Salad and White Bean Salad from Feast! with Pea Shoots from Manakintowne Specialty Growers. “Mix these three items together in a bowl and you get my ever-so-lazy, non-cooking, dinner or lunch more often than I care to admit.”

3)  African Curry Powder from The Spice Diva.  “Simply saute any gorgeous, local veggies that suit your fancy with garlic, onions, and this flavorful, not too hot, green curry, top with toasted pine nuts and serve over the nutty, Kagayaki 6 Grain Rice blend from Seafood @ West Main. Delish.”

4)  Farmhouse Dry Cider from Potter’s Craft Cider.  “I love this stuff, in all its bone dry, bubbly, apple-y glory. It is great on its own and also great as a cocktail mixer. I like it with the brown liquors, but I seriously think you could use it wherever club soda is called for with great success. I have some mulberry gin steeping and I look forward to trying them together.”

5)  Linguica Sausage from The Rock Barn. “I just can’t get over my deep affection for this Portuguese style sausage. I make a simple marinara with a couple of links of this sausage pulled from the casing, add fresh sheep and goat milk ricotta from Twenty Paces, some fresh spinach or basil and serve it over pasta. Then, the next day I take the leftover sauce, add black beans, and serve an over-easy egg on top. So good.”

06/07/2013

Five Finds on Friday: Steve Monson

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On Fridays, we feature five finds from local chefs and personalities.  This week’s picks come from Steve Monson, winemaker at Early Mountain Vineyards.  On Father’s Day, June 16, is the Early Mountain Vineyards BBQ Festival, with wine, barbecue, and even a cornhole tournament.  Monson’s picks:

1)  Black Smoke Kolsch at Champion Brewing Company, in collaboration with Glass Haus Kitchen.  “Anyone can hide bad brewing with a bunch of hops (I do it all the time) but this beer shows off a mastering of malts which give this medium bodied beer layers of complex flavors from caramel to toasted sesame seeds.”

2)  Pulpo on Parrilla at Mas Tapas.  “I like to pick this dish apart so I can enjoy the perfectly cooked octopus on its own, leaving a pile of pork to face on my own terms.”

3)  Everything Bagel with Lox Spread at Bodo’s.  “They serve other things? Maybe next year.”

4)  Margarita at Continental Divide.  “The simple, fresh ingredients really complement blanco tequila for a clean cocktail.  But, I might go for aged tequila if I’m feeling swarthy.”

5)  Fried Oysters and a Potter’s Craft Cider at The Whiskey Jar.  “The cider really cuts through the fried batter.  It’s like every oyster is the first.”

04/23/2013

Two for Tuesday: Hill & Holler and KimKim Sauce

Food 245

1)  Dinner with Hill & Holler.  Hill & Holler founder Tracey Love describes it best:  “a roving farm dinner event company bringing farmers, chefs, winemakers, and the community together with the goal of enjoying a farm crafted dinner while raising funds for local food and agricultural organizations.”  The dinners she puts together several times a year have quickly become legendary in the Charlottesville food community.  We had the pleasure of enjoying the most recent one – a four course family-style dinner (menu pictured) at the newly opened Old Metropolitain Hall, prepared by one of the most accomplished chefs in Charlottesville, Dean Maupin of C&O.  A benefit for Beyond the Flavor, the meal featured products from a bevy of outstanding local purveyors, including Potter’s Craft Cider, Pollak Vineyards, Sausage Craft, Border Springs Farm, Free Union Grass Farm, Silky Cow, Rare Lynx, Albemarle Baking Co., and Shenandoah Joe.  One in our group remarked that it was some of the best food they could ever remember eating.  Hill & Holler is a Charlottesville treasure.  For updates on upcoming dinners, follow along on their Facebook page.

Food 246

2)  KimKim Sauce and Coco Pop.  Watch out, this Virginia-made sauce is addictive, based on the habit-forming Korean paste gochujang, made of fermented chilis, rice, and soy beans.  After first discovering it at Feast!, we have been wolfing it down with almost anything – bulgogi, pork, chicken, rice, eggs, etc.  It complements all of these things beautifully.  But, the sauce is so good that it can even play a starring roll.  To wit, it is great on Coco Pop, the airy cakes made from popped wheat flour, rice flour, and corn flour.  The neutral, nutty flavor of the cakes allows the delicious KimKim Sauce to shine.  KimKim Sauce is available at Feast! and Whole Foods;  Coco Pop is available at Whole Foods.  This would be a very healthy snack if it were possible to stop eating.