From a birdie…
In mid-March Paul is selling crush to some guy named Michael who’s going to close it for like a month & make it into a “rustic italian” restaurant & wine bar. He wants it to be all cozy like NYC places with narrow storefronts. He’s keeping the retail but getting rid of the Friday tastings, because he doesn’t think there would be room.
Related posts:
- CRUSH Sold to Michael Keaveny (former Capshaw Restaurant Group Manager) and Will Become a Italian Winebar/Restaurant
- Sign of Our Times Part 2: Crush Wine Shop For Sale?
- cVillain’s Non-Elitist Wine Party @ Crush, Thursday January 24th at 6:30PM
mike K to be correct
Yay! I love italian, and downtown could definitely use some. Vivace is completely amazing, but it’s a bit of a drive for those of us on the southside.
we live in Charlottesville, not Charlottesvilla. The chance of good italian is close to zero.
Sounds like someone needs to go to Carmello’s and try some old school italian
@4 no one needs to go to carmello’s ever. thor said “good.”
I have had some nice meals there and I think it’s better than Vivace. Try the veal
Hmm, but you get terraced gardens with fountains at Vivace and nice interiors too. I don’t get why Italian would be hard for restaurants to pull off well, when it’s fairly easy to make at home, as long as you’re using quality ingredients.
Because it’s easy for Italian restaurants to quickly realize the profit margin jumps a billionfold if they skimp on quality. Pasta and canned tomatoes are cheap. Handmade pasta and fresh tomatoes are a pain is the ass.
@8 i make pasta with canned tomatoes. it is delicious.
what i don’t get is how macaroni grill’s chicken parmesan is 2270 calories & 158 grams of fat, when it’s this teensy little piece of chicken, 2oz of sauce, & maybe a serving of pasta. where is it hidden?
Imported high-quality food from Sicily can be cheap if you know the right people. People who want to send money to Sicily, that is.
What was the name of that fantastic restaurant in Scottsville that closed a few years ago? Something like that would work in the Crush space nicely..
/fingers crossed
Magnolia?
http://scottsvillemuseum.com/business/homeB01CDB12.html
No. just came to me, twas Cafe Bocce. but thanks.
Carmellos stinks, the Greek owner should have opened a Greek restaurant, which we also don’t have in Cville. If it was any good, why would it still be in a trailer after 15 years? Vivace is about as Italian as Moo Sho Pork. Enoteca is awesome, if you only want meat, cheese, and wine (their wine list in pretty kick-ass) We don’t just not have good Italian in Cville, we don’t have any real Italian.
Where are the folks that had Bocce now ? I heard they moved to New York…
I am going to miss the tastings. We liked having a local place to go to on Fridays to taste wine and get a bottle for Sunday night.
**sigh**
Arcady Vineyard
duh keaveny?
@16 srsly. i got in an argument with the michael dude about it. he doesn’t think it’s possible to have tastings AND tables. except beer run does. i said, people will come for tastings, stay for dinner (e.g., me, every wednesday at beer run). he said, you’ll come just for the food. that’s around when i got bored of him & went to get some more free cheese.
can you legally do tastings and be a restaurant in virginia?
you can do tastings in a restaurant, legally
@20: Is that delivery?
I heard the tastings were still on, but maybe just a different night. Adding in some food & wine classes too.
@19 what do you think beer run is?
@22 different night = stupid.
@19 what do you think beer run is?
@22 different night = stupid.
Cafe Bocce’s was awesome. I think the owners were a couple from new york, Marcia and Chris (I think, sorry if I’m wrong.) The husband was the mayor of Scottsville for a while. Real good people.
Are y’all not fans of Ristorante Al Dente?
http://www.ristorantealdente.com/
@23 & 24
not so fast, think this through
if you get your free sips on a diff night, then quaff down over at Market St on Fridays, you double down on the freebies
thats an economic stimulus for my wine budget – vote for change, spare change
What would be the perfect night during the week for a tasting? And how about for classes? Just asking…
@26: Al Dente is effing delicious.
@29 Really, I have heard that is just OK? Tell me more about it because i haven’t gone.
One of the reason I haven’t gone is a little silly but I will be honest- there website sucks. The old english fonts for a italian restaurant. the early 90’s graphics. If there is a web designer out there contact these people and get some free meals because this site does nothing for making me want to go there. Presentation of the meal matters so does the website.
I fried the website up in a big lump of suet, then seasoned it with some Season All and it was scrummy. I would definitely eat their website again.
@30: Yes it’s good, who gives a shit about their website. They spend all their effort making the food look and taste good.
@28 um, friday, like everyone else’s.
IMHO, Mona Lisa is the best Italian food in town. It’s not sit down, white table cloth, but that’s ok with us. We call ahead for pizza a lot, ditto the pre-made chicken parm and lasagna. Just take and bake.
I give a shit about their website and I spend plenty on eating out. Sorry Shen in this day and age it all matters The X Lounge site is a great example of good website, that does bring more business.
These days website matters, location matters, curb appeal matters.This place is in an odd location and you have to make people want to come there. You must get people in the door to taste the great food of a new place use urban spoon on my iphone to get info and that links to sites. It doesn’t take a lot of money for a good website or a bad website is probably more harmful then no website sometimes.
You should help them out then computer geek.
I don’t work at an internet based company that its life blood is on the web and I haven’t eaten at Al Dente.
Shen do you know anybody that that works at a company that makes almost all it’s money from orders taken on the web? Perhaps they could tell them how important good websites are.
Gee I might. i still think you’re wrong though. A restaurant can be good and not have a website.
@39 I agree with you that a restaurant doesn’t have to have a website to do good business. I think no website is probably better than a bad website. It’s a tough climate for new business and it makes me sad when I see places where people are good at their core business screw it up with the small stuff. (and I will try al dente based on your praise because your recommendation about food trumps any bad website design)
The Friday night tastings at Crush were already getting too full. I say go for Monday night so you get a mix of people who don’t stay away to avoid the crowd. Isn’t Monday the standard night off for waitstaff anyway?
I hope they do continue tastings on a different night, but will miss it for my B&B guests. They love when I take them to tastings there. At least we still have the tastings at In Vino Veritas still on Fridays.
I can say that it really helps for a restaurant to have a website is that I can send the links to my B&B guests prior to arriving here so they can already peruse the menu and make their dinner reservations ahead of time. Easier for the visitor, and easier for me to assist them.
Erika
Arcady
@41 funny, bc no one was coming for a few months, bc hannah & andrew were such bitches and also bc they took away the food. paul realized that no one coming was a bad idea so he brought it back & hired people who don’t suck. so if you want fewer people, don’t serve free food. which a restaurant wouldn’t, so your problem is solved.
Yeah, it’s been jammed in there recently. Paul has been talking about moving the place along to a new venture for a while now. I hope the new place can handle what we throw at it.
http://cvillain.com/2008/10/28/sign-of-our-times-part-2-crush-wine-shop-for-sale/
Suggestions of names for the new place?
I will not suggest any new name till I hear/read the rules. We got ignore on the new burger place on the corner.
@43 different strokes, I guess… I liked how helpful Hannah and Andrew (and Greg) were but after they left, the guy behind the counter never bothered to get off the telephone long enough to offer any assistance. I gave up on it.
More Charlottesville Italian. I can’t even fake excitement. Was hoping maybe Keaveny would be interesting with opening a restaurant, but no. I’m going back to sleep.
Wake me when it starts to get interesting around here again.
While I grant you there’s no exceptional italian in town, you all talk like the prospect is an impossibility. Get someone who knows what they’re doing and treats quality ingredients well, and good italian could happen.
Emphasize “could.”
WTF is wrong with y’all? Vivace, Cane Pazzo, and Al Dente are all delicious.
Il Canne Pazzo is delicious, Shenanny. I went there about 2 mo ago after your rave on here. Guess where the flava was? Yes, in my mouth. I look forward to going there again. Make it a stop for sure if you haven’t been yet.
Fellinis is worth a try. Even with all-Italian wine lists though, most of these joints are pretty weak on the weird Italian digestifs. Enoteca has one Grappa. Superficial.
There are bars of the west coast going through multiple cases a week of vile shit you can’t even drink. Cville is still horse country. Yes I am bitter.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/bitters
Pazza’s got Limoncello!
Pazzo. D’oh.
@51 I had Fernet as a digestive a few times when I was working in Italy last year. It is some herbal, bitter stuff – loves it. Have you seen it or anything akin to it in town?
@52 so does al dente.
@51 i had fellini’s $7.95 lunch special today. it was actually really good, & cozy, too.
Fellini’s does lunch?
@56 it’s a new thing, i think. $7.95 for salad, focaccia sticks, & spaghettimeatballs/lasagna/spinach canneloni/a couple of other things. & they have soup or salad separately, too.
my friend was outraged that her tiramisu was less than a dollar less than her meal & used that as evidence as why c’ville’s restaurants are f’ed up. i suggested that dessert is a luxury and she scoffed at me.
When did the food at Fellini’s get good? I was there about a year ago and there was ice in the middle of my gnocci. I guess it’s time for a retry.
@57 Outraged? damn everyone has got a short fuse these days. they were probably charging dinner prices for lunch dessert. Plus you friend did not need those calories- unless she will dance it off at the Belmont Yo’s dance party tonight.
@58 ice in your gnocci sounds much worse when said out loud
unless she will dance it off at the Belmont Yo’s dance party tonight
Pro tip: lose more calories by dancing at higher altitudes (to wit: the bar, tables) with less clothing (to wit: skivvies – possible underwear party coming in spring… scandal!).
Asparagus tip: is delicious when brazed in butter and garlic
Inside tip: A sample of BYo’s paintings will be going up at escafé soon (prolly this weekend). Yay!
/eventually, I will just move in there.
@58 i was there a year ago too & everything on the menu was bizarre. it was a friday so i do not remember the quality of whatever i got. i think they revamped their menu around the time they painted the walls…october, maybe?
@59-60 of course; everyplace does. but she thinks $7 for dessert is still a lot. my friends don’t get out much. no she certainly did not need the calories. and no byo you do not want to see her in her skivvies.
Simone,
What a kind and lovely thing to say. Marcia and I followed with another restuarant in New York. I am not in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I am looking for photos of caffe bocce. If there are any out there please let me know. Chris, formerly of caffe bocce
of course i meant i am now in santa fe chris
Hi Chris, We also LOVED Bocce’s. Scottsville misses you. Do you have a restaurant in Santa Fe?
@64 Very best to you and yours — did you leave Rhinebeck (where I saw you a couple of times)?
My brother’s brother
Chris,
Good luck with the Rams.
Smiley
I loved Bocce when Carter was cooking and that place was the best in the Charlottesville area in those days.