zinc

Considering this place is right up the street from our house, it is amazing to me that we haven't checked it out until now. I invited the "dinner club" to join us at Zinc tonight for some good company and good food. It did not disappoint. Our waitress was great and very patient with the 14 of us. She recommended 2 plates per person and highly recommended sharing to get a taste of everything. It is not easy to share! The food was delicious! There were rave reviews of the cheese platter, the chickpea fritters, the brisket, sardines, and mac and cheese. I tasted the escargot - really yummy, the frites (my favorite food group), and the steak tartare. It was all awesome! Charlie mentioned on the way home that we should head over more often and share a plate of something and some drinks. Good thing it's so close!

Bizou

Charlie has been hoping to eat at Bizou since we moved to Charlottesville. I'm not quite sure what sparked his initial interest. Was it a review he read? Was is the sign over the door? We've attempted to eat there a couple of times, but both attempts were made late night and service had stopped.

Our good friends Nate and Joey were in town the other week and Charlie's dream of eating at Bizou came true. The walls of the restaurant are lined with old and obscure movie posters and the restaurant feels a little like Miller's but cleaner. Joey had a delicious looking veggie stack. Nate had some sort of steak. I had a cod fillet with some sort of bacon cream sauce and Charlie had the meatloaf (apparently referenced as a "must have" in Food and Wine from 2004". The food was very good and definitely was filling. I didn't love the cod. It seemed heavier than I expected it to be. Charlie did devour his meatloaf though. Nate mentioned that the sauce on his steak - for some reason, I'm remembering barbeque sauce - was overpowering the flavor of the meat.

I'll have to get an official verdict from Charlie, but I think Bizou may not be our favorite find in Charlottesville, especially with all of the other fabulous restaurants here. I don't know though - we could be swayed...