The Charlottesville 29

Where to eat in Charlottesville

Tag: The Alley Light

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.”

 

 

07/25/2025

Five Finds on Friday: Caite Hamilton

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Caite Hamilton, Editor in Chief of C-VILLE. Few have contributed more to Charlottesville local news over the last two decades. Last week her tenure at C-VILLE became old enough to vote, with eighteen years spanning from part-time proofreader to Editor. Hamilton’s picks:

1) The Rhodie at Ivy Provisions. “I once ran back into my high school during an active bomb threat to rescue my packed lunch—a chicken salad sandwich prepared by my grandmother, who made the best I’ve ever tasted—so I’m pretty serious about chicken salad. Ivy Provisions’ version is a very close second, with the notable upgrade of a baguette.”

2) Pappardelle Ragu at Tavola. “Tavola has been the backdrop of so many special occasions for me—my 30th birthday, the night I got engaged. I even hosted my mom’s celebration of life in the cicchetti bar. And for just about every one of those occasions, I’ve ordered the pappardelle. It’s comfort food at its finest—the ribbons of pasta, the tender pork, the dusting of salty-nutty grana padano. Perfection.”

3) Cheeseburger with LTM and Fries at Riverside Lunch. “Not only was the Riverside burger the subject of one of my favorite cover stories so far this year – shameless plug — it’s also perennially the answer to all ‘Is there just a quick, cheap lunch we could get on the way home?’ conversations with my husband. Riverside is akin to a burger place we frequented as kids — RIP Jess’ Quick Lunch — but the burgers are better. You heard it here first.”

4) Mr. Rech at The Alley Light. “I can conjure the taste of this chocolate-drenched XL macaron as I type, I’ve ordered it so many times: the hot-cold mix of chocolate sauce over ice cream, the crunchy-creamy combo of delicate hazelnut macaron and semifreddo, the feel of the plate against your tongue as you drag it through those final dark ribbons — just me? It’s a dessert that’s probably best shared, but I’ve never had an easy time of that.”

5) Princess Cake at Albemarle Baking Co. “It’s fair to say I have a bit of a sweet tooth. See above: bathing in Mr. Rech. But even those who don’t share my embarrassingly high tolerance for sugar can enjoy ABC’s princess cake: vanilla sponge cake layered with Bavarian cream and blanketed with a sheet of marzipan, then topped with its signature pink rose. The day the bakery started producing this crowd-pleaser in cupcake form was a very happy one. Cause for celebration — with cake!, one might say.

03/07/2025

Five Finds on Friday: Reggie Leonard

Photo by Eze Amos

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Reggie Leonard, whose accomplishments seem too many to list – co-founder of Oenoverse , non-profit board member, guest curator at wine shops, regular contributor to The Wine Guild, VinePair 50 list, Virginia Wine Hype Man, and co-founder of Charlottesville Data Science Meetup. You can follow along at @thats.so.reg for his latest escapades, including a chance to be in a wine documentary about east coast winemaking March 20 at Common Wealth Crush. And, March 22 you can meet him and the Oenoverse team at Ethos from 5 – 8 pm for a wine hang. He’d love for you to stop by. Leonard’s picks:

1)  Gigante Beans at Ethos Wine & Tea. “This feels like a modern wine-bar snack. Beans have always been a staple, but they haven’t always been a trend. Brands like Rancho Gordo and Simpli have put heirloom and less common bean varieties on the radar, and Ethos has one of my favorites – gigante beans. These are like huge but much better lima beans. Ethos serves them room temp, and I always get them with a side of bread and butter, which happens to be sourdough from Cou Cou Rachou. Simple, hearty, shareable, and always delicious.”

2) Beet Salad at Smyrna. “Whenever I go, I convince whoever I’m with that the beet salad is a must. Even so, usually, people miss the cacao nibs, distracted by conversation, or the dizzying amount of amazing choices to make for other dishes or the next beverage. I love making sure I search for them, and get one or two in every bite. I love the earthiness of the beets paired with the earthiness of the chocolate, as well as the textural contrast of the beets and the crunchy cacao. Each bite is like a sneaky little luxury, hidden in plain sight.”

3) Flounder Fish Sour Cabbage (Spicy) Soup at Peter Chang. “It’s embarrassing how much I order this soup. This was a pandemic-era find, thanks to Tracey Love, who generously and unsolicitedly delivered some to me during a time of sickness. It has nice-sized chunks of fish, slightly-tart and fermenty-tasting thin slices of cabbage, and a sneakily-building spicy broth. It quickly graduated from an, ‘I’m sick, I should order this’ situation, to an, ‘It’s a day that ends in ‘y’ and I want it’ situation.” 

4) Tuna Tartare at The Alley Light. “It’s like Steph Curry in a clutch situation, or the feeling you get when the DJ starts playing Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ or Fast Life Yungstaz’s ‘Swag Surfin,’ depending on the vibe. This tartare also belongs on that list of things that don’t miss. It’s perfect as a starter, as a snack, or as a late dinner that’s light enough to feel like you made good choices.”  

5) Jerk Chicken from wherever 434th St. Catering is. “I’ve seen him at farmers’ markets and formerly at the Dairy Market, and word on the street is that he’s opening in a new location soon. So, this is foreshadowing of jerk chicken I look forward to soon being reacquainted with.”