Some of you have been talking about the Washington Post article on Charlottesville titled “If It Tastes Good, It’s in Charlottesville.” We even planted a few cVillain spies in the slide show! Jane Black got around town, alright. But, I’ve got to call her out on some inaccuracies in her opinion. Sorry, Jane, had to get a little Villainous on this one! 
You get a lot of stuff right about Charlottesville dining, but let’s be real here!
- Rev Soup: “A bit grungy but cheerful, with a menu of comforting and, more important, cheap soups and sandwiches.” NOT CHEAP. Who ever said Rev Soup was cheap?! Some of the soups are amazing, but good luck getting out of there on the cheap.
- Albemarle Baking: “I tasted two pastries on my first visit, and they were so good that on my second I ignored the No. 1 rule of food writing: Never eat the same thing twice. One was an Alexander, whose delicate, sweet crust.” STOP RIGHT THERE…. Albemarle Baking does make amazing baguettes, but their pastries are NOT delicate. They look delicate but I would never rave about the pastries.
- Mas: You missed some of the best dishes! What about the artichoke goat cheese dip, the bacon wrapped dates or any of the smoked tomato/beef dishes!?
- Hamilton’s: “long a standard for its simple American food and attentive service. The menu offers nothing terribly surprising..” I need to double check this, but didn’t Hamilton’s just launch a pretty wild dessert menu?
- Hot Cakes. “Getting tuna sent back because a lot of you like to eat it in a stage of a hockey puck.” Where’s the love, baby? Did you forget little old cVillain deserves credit for that comment? Next time, give us some kudos! We have the full note posted! My favorite line: “Tired to see those snobby ladies eating steak with Iced Tea, asking ice to put in a delicious glass of Sancerre” … You can read the full French A-Hole with Principle article RIGHT HERE!
Did I get it right? Oh, and for some really good restaurant reviews, check out our restaurant review page.
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Tagged as: charlottesvilling, dining, Food, foreigners, review
Hey jerk face! I just did that…grrrrr…
What do you mean?!
I just did a post for this…then added comments on it…for nothing. Who let you out of the basement?!
Admin fight. get the baby pool and jello.
And I laughed at the “cheap” remark concerning Rev Soup too, but it IS D.C.
Oh shit, you should write the Post and call ‘em for copyright violation on that José comment, dude.
How is that a copyright violation?
Ask C-VILLE, they keep tabs of that anal retentive shit
Is this free and open website a protected form of intellectual property?
Since I should be working but enjoy being contrarian:
1. A medium soup for $4.25-$5 (http://www.revolutionarysoup.com/) is, relatively, cheap. There might be cheaper soup in town, but for a reasonable bite to eat, that is cheap (especially from the perspective of most WP readers).
2. I got nothing here.
3. I suppose, but then this was just a few column inches on Mas, not a review of the place. She did speak of it glowingly, so suggesting that she missed some other good dishes is not to suggest that she was wrong (compare to the situation if she been harsh on it, but had missed the stars of the menu).
4. Unless things have changed on site, Hamilton’s at First & Main (you have to give her some credit for the extra details on the name) has a rather usual dessert menu for a restaurant of its ilk - http://www.hamiltonsrestaurant.com/hamiltonsDessert.pdf
5. Uh, no offense, but how does Cvillian deserve credit for the reference to the Orzo note? Posting a copy of a publicly available note does not make one the source for all references to the story. Plus, it sounds like she took the extra step of talking with De Brito:
If she is going to do some extra legwork, I don’t think she needs to use up (valuable) column inches doing a literature review of everyone else who talked about the goings-on. (Indeed, she would have even less room to talk about the dishes at Mas if she did.)
Hmm, maybe not. But I better it’s still better for you raw.
Craigers, I think most of us would still want more than just soup and a drink for lunch, but I rarely get out of there for under 10 bucks.. just sayin’. I don’t think that is the updated dessert menu for Hamilton’s.
Hey, anyone can read our blog and download a copy of that article. I’m pretty sure it’s not a copyright issue, but it would be courteous to mention the source. It’s ok, really.. people like taking our story ideas. It happens all the time, but it still peeves me.
Also, the note wasn’t publically available. Maybe the knowledge of the saying was, but I would bet two shots of tequila she saw that note which was downloaded from our site when she wrote about it. We put together a black ops team to steal it in 2004 and have guarded its powers for almost 5 years now.
You forgot the apple and roll, Thor.
I don’t think women often complain that Thor forgets the apple and roll.
/What, that’s not a sex reference?
I potato and candy cane all the time.
/serious
Gasp! Don’t be disgusting!
@9 yes. all you need for copyright is originality & fixation in a tangible medium of expression for a period of more than transitory duration.
@17 - so if Jose still has the note (and quite possibly even if he doesn’t), he holds the copyright to the phrases contained therein and Thor is violating his copyright?
/wishing he paid more attention in Trademarks and Copyrights
@17: I think ff’s question was more whether posting on Cvillain (i.e., the ‘free and open website’) constituted forfeit of copyright. I think the ‘© 2008 cVillain, All Rights Reserved’ resolves that question for the posts, if there was any ambiguity.
While you could have a website set up which was suitably free and open to constitute forfeit of copyright of the material posted therein, it would have to be pretty clear that was what was going on.
I second rev. soup as relatively cheap given the quality.
She calls Tomas the owner of Mas, but we all know Coran owns that joint–so there’s the only true inaccuracy, I would say.
@18 - Thor’s use would almost definitely be fair use. (The theft, however, ….)
@22 - true. It was a rather newsworthy event. It appeared in The Washington Post!
@19 ok true.
@thor: how could she not miss some of the best dishes at mas? it’s impossible to eat that much in one sitting!
/no more CR for me
@21 isn’t news reporting/reviewing a fair use?
LIsten, carnocentrics. That broccolini is GUD.
Ok…………This is my area of expertise. I can confirm that Orchid @17 is correct, however she omitted a vital exclusionary caveat; the fact that the guy is a French twat. This obviates all or any copyright obligations by the person or person’s referencing said tangible medium, however transitory in nature they may be, and irregardless of the source; be it print or via electronic media.
This rule can also be used against Germans and Belgians.
I love u people!
- @4, 10, 12, 20 - I accept the “cheap pricing” at Revolutionary Soup report, especially considering the wine
prices there (little or no mark-up from retail, which is a big saving in contrast to typical steep restaurant mark-ups).
- For all you minutiae police out there (you know who you are): note Hamiltons’ consistent use of the “s-apostrophe” construction. Curious, but there it is.
@25 I love me some broccolini. Seriously. It’s fantastic. But I do wonder how they missed (shield your eyes, shen; there’s meat in this dish) the bacon-wrapped dates. No trip to Mas is complete without those.
/if it’s good enough for the god of thunder…
I worship at Tomas’ altar (bar seats). But last night, Mas was out of the first four wines I asked for from their list. The chef said Tomas was in DC, replenishing the wine stock and procuring new selections.
@29 ditto the broccolini. & the only time i have had bacon in YEARS is those dates. (& the boheme chicken livers, but i was drunk then so they don’t count.) MMMM
btw, did anyone notice that in the related coffee article online there was a pic of LaTaza, but no review of the place? Also found it interesting that Java Java got skipped.
As a transplant to dc i read the post and was saddened by how much i miss C ville. I was just telling a friend here how much i miss the food in Charlottesville. I have yet to find a place that i really love to eat at here in DC.
I am really busy here and don’t go downtown much, but i live in Chevy Chase- there should be some really good places here. Anything that is good is ridiculously expensive. $35/ steak expensive and that is with just a steak, no sides, no drink. I do like Saint Ex cafe down near Black Cat, and there is a local chain called Clyde’s that is pretty good but still about $60 for two people.
There is a Tapas place here called Jalio(sp) that my friends took me to after i told them about Mas. It was nothing like Mas. I could not find anything that i wanted to even sample. At Mas I have to limit myself because i want at least 10 different things.
The only taste of cville i have here is that i make my own goat cheese artichoke spread, but i still miss the bread. And i really miss the bacon wrapped dates. And the garlic stuffed olives. and lighting a match off the floor.
OMFG people! Let’s drop the legal disclaimers, chicken dishes, vegetarian delicacies and all that and concentrate on those Bacon wrapped dates at Mas. Salivating already…
Mas broccolini, I’m definitely with you guys. It’s surprisingly awesome for just being baby Italian broccoli. Learning to make it at home is even better.
@ 33 - have you been to zaytinya yet? i found the food there much more consistently palatable than jaleo’s. though neither of them have those BWDs… ahhh, so hungry now!
BWDs? Brassiere Wearing Dudes? Bold Wrinkled Derrieres? Basted With Drunks? Beating Winos Down?
/shutting up now
@20: Coran owns the building and has money in the restaurant, but Tomas owns the menu is still considered the owner of the place. I like the bacon wrapped dates and brocollini , but I religiously eat the lamb chops and the ham and cheese croquettes.
On Rev Soup - try getting food like that in NoVa, DC, or Metro Maryland and you’ll pay at a minimum 50% more, so to a resident of DC Rev Soup probably does seem cheap.
Despite the fact that many people in C-Ville like to bitch and moan about how expensive this place is, most urban areas in the country are way more expensive. WAY more expensive. I’ve lived a lot of places and, with the exception of St Mary Georgia, C-Ville is the cheapest.
its all relative .. u make more money if u work in dc
@38 434baby, you are so right, those lamb chops are the best. I want some right now. Tomas, if you’re reading I heart you.
@ 37 - at least you never called them “bacon-raped dats”, as i did once when serving them to people at a function. i ‘m not sure who was more horrified, me or the bacon.
/chew on that?
@40 - Thor is absolutely correct. There is a Charlottesville discount for employers, and it stinks now that Charlottesville is no longer the relative bargin it once was.
@42….does anyone watch Arrested Development? Misspelling words has never been more fun…Tobias claims himself the first combined Analyst-Therapist and shortens it on his business card as “Anal Rapist”. Needless to say the dates weren’t the only ones running for the hills in that episode.
@44 Don’t forget Bob Loblaw
Or loose seal/Lucille
And “Family Love Michael.”
Stop me now, or I WILL go on about AD all day long.
Vanilla, Tim, back on topic!
Tisk, tisk Vanilla, I would expect more from you. Get’em Shen!
Okay, one menu item on which DC kicks C-ville’s butt: falafel. Amsterdam Falafel Shop? WANT!
Sticks has good falafel. Basil has sucky falafel.
51: Sticks is OK. Rapture used to do a decent falafel-pita thing (do they still have that?); Aromas is good. None of them holds a candle to Amsterdam in DC, though.
(Hmm….someone [puts finger on nose] should do a local falafel run-down.)
@52 i went to aromas for the second day in a row today. i learned that’s the only way i can try new things. tomorrow is falafel day.
the best falafel i’ve ever had is at the farmers market in downtown oakland. it’s across from an afghan guy who gives free samples. & there’s a mini-sweet-potato-pie vendor too.
@53: Orchid, make sure you try the baklava. It’s the best I’ve had in a long time. I’d order 2 of them
@54 i haven’t had it yet, but hassan used to give those little almond rolls away to first-timers when he was at the research park YUM!
I think you’ll find that the baklavas kick the almond rolls’ ass. Enjoy!
quite enjoyed aromas’ falafel. it was too cold to stick around for dessert though–maybe tomorrow
I’ve been to Rev Soup once and would certainly NEVER go again. You pay an arm and a leg for everything. If you’re downtown, you might as well get your soup from the Blue Ridge Country Store and if you’re on the corner, you might as well get sandwiches just about anywhere else, like Cafe Europa.
@58 have we discussed cafe europa’s falafel? (now that i know about the red-names-are-links secret, i’m too lazy to scroll up.) not as good as aromas’ but still better than christian’s pizza.
Rev Soup is pricey but everything’s made with good quality local ingredients. That stuffs costs more.
@58, Ethan, why not just go to the soup kitchen? That shits free!
Doof… Ethan would peel an orange in his pocket.
who are those hot guys in the picture beside the headline ““If It Tastes Good, It’s in Charlottesville”? AMAZING!
seriously, those guys are banging.
Ethan, do you like any restaurants ?
Ethan, do you like any
restaurantsthing?Your comment was broken T-dawg, but I fixed it for you.
@64 I love that.