Rockettes in C'ville

Charlie treated me to a showing of the Radio City Rockettes at JPJ for my birthday gift. I am a big Christmas fan but have somehow missed out on seeing the classic Rockettes. Let me just say - those are some awesome legs! But this post is really just a commentary on the seating at JPJ. First of all, those stands are steep and I'm not quite sure how some friends of mine have made it out of there in their drunken states without killing themselves on the cement stairs. Second, no one in the audience (I don't care how nice your legs are) should wear an above the knee skirt to see a show at JPJ. I saw way more thighs than I needed to :)

Cafe Cubano

We have been horrible downtown mall visitors. Charlie and I are such fans of Marco and Luca's noodles and dumplings that we have been remiss in visiting Cafe Cubano which is right across the way. One of my co-workers and I were needing a little bit of a breather from the office yesterday and ended up on the downtown mall. After veto-ing Baggby's, the new Mexican hole-in-the-wall at the Jefferson, the hot dog cart, and losing Revolutionary Soup somewhere in the chaos, we ended up at Cafe Cubano. I had one of the combos (the half panini and soup combo) with a smoked salmon panini (I was craving some smoked salmon once I saw it on the menu) and the soup of the day (a tomato bisque). It really was delicious. I'm not much of a panini eater as I find that 9 and a half times out of 10, they are way too greasy - but this was part of the remaining 1/2 of 10 and was not greasy at all. I am a big fan! Some ladies next to us has two different variations of the popular Cuban sandwich (I asked the woman behind the counter what the most popular sandwiches are) and they looked like some seriously delicious sandwiches. I'm thinking I might have to return soon and try them. Here is the menu just in case you want to look before you head over.

Cafe Cubano can definitely hold their own against Marco and Luca's and that is saying something :)

aqui es mexico

donde? on carlton road off of monticello.

a couple of my work friends took a lunch break today to say farewell to on of our coworkers who is soon to have a babe. one of the girls used to live in mexico and recommended aqui es mexico as authentic delicious mexican food. she was right! it was delicious!

so delicious that we may have to add it to our dinner club list and regular dinner stop.

Clifton Inn

We are getting married at Clifton Inn next July! So its a little weird that we have never eaten dinner there. My mom got us a gift certificate to Clifton, so for our anniversary we decided to treat ourselves to a fancy night out.

Clifton is a classy place. Not only is it a beautiful place, but the staff is great and the food is amazing. I had halibut, local quail, and a chocolate tart. Betsy had parmesan and pear ravioli, duck, and toffee bread pudding. We were also served a delicious little zucchini corn fritter before our meal was served. It was all great and I can't even decide what I liked best. Betsy liked the bread pudding and the fritter the best. Betsy's not a fussy food person, but she said "it sure was good." We like dressing up too. The best part about the whole night, though, is when we walked out the front door of the house. It is gorgeous, especially on a clear night. The property is really something. We are very excited to spend our wedding day and night here.

Cassis

So, a friend of ours knows some people who work at Cassis and he took us out for dinner there the other night. We actually didn't realize Cassis was worth checking out... The first time we went to Cassis was the first time we went out to bars in Charlottesville. It was a weird scene filled with cougars and "interesting" music. We basically wrote off Cassis, but we were wrong.

All the food we had for dinner was delicious. Our friend had the steak tartar as an appetizer and loved it. We all split roast duck breast with blue cheese polenta - yum. Betsy and friend had sea scallops, which were are waitress' favorite dish on the menu and I had the lamb. It tasted like it was slow cooked all day -- very tender and sweet. The whole menu seemed to have an autumn feel. The lamb was very much comfort food with lots of autumn/winter flavors and the sea scallops were very rich.

Cassis is on Water St. right next to Mono Loco, across from the Clock Shop. It is a little pricey, but we put it in the same category as Zocalo, so it's worth it. Also, it's a popular spot for Darden professors and wine tasting parties, so it seems to have a solid reputation.

Bang!'s Second Chance

The first time I went to Bang! I wasn't all that impressed. I don't know if it was because I had heard so much hype about it, or because the service wasn't that great, or even because we didn't order the right things, but the second time around made up for it. I met my friend Meg for dinner there the other night. We sat outside (which I loved - except for the major mosquito bites I woke up to the next morning) and I noticed that they have new menus. I think they may have cut out some of their menu items and scaled it down a little. We tried a mushroom ravioli/dumpling thing, pork tacos, coconut rice, and a vegetable noodle dish. Each one was really yummy and I love the tapas/family style way of eating.

Two thumbs up for Bang! the second time around.


They also seem to have really good cocktails...at least they looked good :)

Mono Loco

We had been to Mono Loco for breakfast, but hadn't made it over for dinner yet. That all changed last night. Another visitor - another restaurant, so we checked out Mono Loco. The food was really good...not up to Continental Divide standard or even El Puerto, but it was still good. There is a lot on the menu and it is hard to choose just one thing. They have a lot of seafood options too which I found a little surprising. Our friend, Randy, had a salmon burrito and thought it was very tasty. I wasn't as impressed with my dinner (so much so, that I forgot what I ordered). I thought it would be a contained dinner (like a taco or burrito) but it ended up being a loose salad-type of dish. They do serve a lot of food in terms of quantity and I would go back just for the atmosphere. Randy pointed out how many restaurants take advantage of outside seating in Charlottesville, and Mono Loco is no exception. I really like their outdoor area.

Boylan Heights

Speaking of burgers, the Econ Dinner Club ventured over to Boylan Heights on the Corner for our last get-together. Thumbs up all around. The burger varieties are so fun and different and not to disappoint. Charlie had some crazy concoction with onion rings, chili, wing sauce, everything on it - and it was goooood! I had a plain cheeseburger with avocado on it - delish! And their fries are delicious which automatically adds points in my book (they also have sweet potato fries - a good choice).

Service was a little off - granted we had 12 at the table - but overall another repeat restaurant in Charlottesville!

Henry's

Last weekend, we had a couple of visitors and decided to check out Henry's on the downtown mall. Charlie and I had seen it a couple of times while walking around (it's kind of hard to find since it's downstairs, under another storefront). We all had burgers and they were really really good. I had the Henry burger with an egg on top and it surprisingly wasn't very greasy or heavy.

A fun place to go for a casual dinner.

Dr. Ho's

Yummm Pizza...

Today, Charlie and I went on a yard sale search. We drove out towards Scottsville and on the way back decided to check out Dr. Ho's. I first heard about this little pizza place on the way to my sister's wedding when we got a little lost and ended up out by Dr. Ho's instead of at King Family Vineyards - whoops!

Anyway, the pizza makes up for the name. Charlie thinks it might beat out Mellow Mushroom and Christian's. The crust is great - very light and fresh. They have great toppings and I think they use all local vendors to supply their ingredients.

Worth getting lost for.