The Charlottesville 29

Where to eat in Charlottesville

Tag: Tavern & Grocery

09/29/2017

Five Finds on Friday: Steve Yang

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Steve Yang, bar manager of Tavola Cicchetti Bar, which now offers a late-night menu, Thursday-Saturday at 10 pm. Tavola after Ten’s menu will change each month to showcase favorites of a different Tavola staff member. Last month it was New England clam shack food from chef-owner Michael Keaveny, and this month it’s Yang, himself, with pork dumplings based on his mother’s recipe. Yang’s picks:

1) Torta Al Pastor at Tacos Gomez.”If you’ve ever talked tacos with me you’ve probably heard me rave about the cabeza tacos. But if you haven’t tried their tortas, you’re really missing out. They are probably the best sandwich in Charlottesville. Shout out to the late Luke Smith for introducing me not only to this place, but to a deep love for tacos.”

2) Steak and Fromage at Tavern & Grocery. “If you need any more indication of my opinions on this sandwich, I had two of them for brunch last Sunday. The staff upstairs at Tavern & Grocery and downstairs at Lost Saint are all fantastic and can always guarantee a good time. I also seem to have a reputation as a giant eater there. When I asked for a box last time I had dinner there, I could hear cheering from the kitchen.”

3) Chicken Philly at Beer Run. “This has to be my most eaten item on this list. I live right around the corner from Beer Run, and it’s an easy and delicious item to grab before I head into work. Plus, it was my first restaurant job in town and I can always see people I know when I go there. As a bartender, I know I have many bars I frequent but sitting at the Beer Run bar always feels like home.”

4) Milanesa Cemitas at Al Carbon. “People rave about the chicken and for very good reason, but the cemitas (a specific type of torta) are fantastic, especially when papalo is in season. Also, don’t miss out on their two styles of street corn. They just moved into their new location next door and everything about an already great experience is now even better.”

5) Polpettine Panuozzo at Lampo. “The beauty of a place that serves food until midnight is that I get off work before then in the early half of the week. If I haven’t had enough staff meal or am just particularly hungry after a shift, the meatball sandwich always hits the spot. My girlfriend and assistant bar manager Rebecca Edwards is particularly attached to the Margherita Pizza with a side of calabrian chili oil.”

Yang: “I just realized I accidentally did entirely sandwiches and I’m pretty okay with that.”

 

01/28/2016

Introducing Tavern & Grocery

Tavern

At 5 pm today,  Tavern & Grocery will open its doors in the former home of West Main Restaurant.  It is the latest project of restaurateur Andy McClure, who also owns Citizen Burger Bar, The Biltmore, and The Virginian.  At Tavern & Grocery, McClure says to expect “classic tavern dishes” in a comfortable setting – the type of food you’d want “when you return home from a long trip.”

A sneak peek at the menu reveals familiar favorites, gussied up, like a crispy chicken sandwich with Swiss, bacon, and sriracha mayo, and a “steak and fromage” sandwich, with cold smoked grass-fed rib-eye, sliced thin to order, creamy brie, caramelized red onion, on crusty bread.  But, there’s more adventurous stuff too, like veal sweetbreads with dill sauce, and a banh mi sandwich, with smoked pork belly and house pork pate, cucumber, pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, jalapeno, and miso mayo.  As for the “grocery,” a section of the menu called “The Store” offers house-made items to-go like cured ham and smoked sausage.

Running the kitchen is David Morgan, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who has been sous chef to Tucker Yoder at Clifton Inn and Ian Boden at Staunton Grocery, and also worked for Reed Anderson at Blue Light Grill during what he calls its “glory days.”  The dish that Morgan lights up about is “Squid and Eggs.” Baby squid, braised in red wine and smoked pork stock, is topped with a 62 degree egg.  “When broke and stirred in,” says Morgan,  “it becomes something magical. Perfect to mop up with a hand-torn chunk of bread.”

Downstairs is a bar called Lost Saint, a promising addition to our cocktail scene, which McClure describes as a “modern cocktail lab in a historic setting.”  Managing and co-owning Lost Saint is McClure’s brother Patrick, a Certified Cicerone who has worked at and even managed some great Washington D.C. bars like Birch & Barley, Eat the Rich, and Barrel. Patrick plans “modern classics” using house-made tinctures, bitters, shrubs, and infusions. “Our guests can expect a classic cocktail customized to their preferences or a new flavor combination from our house cocktail menu,” says Patrick.  For food, there will even be some Lost Saint-only items from the Tavern & Grocery kitchen.

Lost Saint