Come out to Alumni Hall from 530-830PM tonight for 2009’s Taste This event. Sample the best of the best (supposedly) food, wine and beer from local restaurants, bars and stores. This year’s event benefits both the local Salvation Army soup kitchen and Meals on Wheels. There will also be a silent auction sponsored by the Blue Ridge Mountains Rotary Club. We attended last year and had a grand ol’ time. Just remember this isn’t a super casual event, board shorts and t shirts are not welcome!
This year’s participating partners include: Bonefish Grill, Fardowners Restaurant, Fossett’s at Keswick Hall, Gearhart’s Fine Chocloates, Hamilton’s at First and Main, Hot Cakes, J.W. Seig, Kroger Catering, Market Street Wineshop and Grocery, Milan Indian Cuisine, Palladio, Pomme, The Boathouse, The Clifton Inn, The Downtown Grille, The Ivy Inn, The Local, The Shebeen Pub and Braai, Wild Greens and our favorite site sponsor the X-Lounge
You can pre-purchase tickets for $35 and buy them in person at:
Greenberry’s (Barracks Road)
Sticks Kebob Shop (Pantops location)
Market Street Wine Shop (both uptown and downtown locations).
Or online by emailing Cynthia Osborne with your name and quantity of tickets. Tickets are also available at the door for $45 each. If you have any questions, please contact Victor Millner at 434-817-1069.
UVA Alumni Hall
211 Emmet St S
Charlottesville, VA 22903
(434) 243-9000
View Larger Map
[pic from Taste This site]
Related posts:
- Taste This! Try Some Cville
- Charlottesville Food and Wine Festival: International Food and Wine Experience!
- Charlottesville’s Food and Wine Experience Postponed
we covered this last year and these people didn’t email us. … but that’s cool we’re just a blog.
http://cvillain.com/2008/06/18/taste-this-in-charlottesville-you-should-have-been-there/
be aggressive, be be aggressive.
is it really a “Dressy” event? People in the pics from last year look “nice casual” to me.
i thought your favorite site sponsor was the upstairs.
is there such a thing as ‘dressy’ in Cville? women here seem to understand degrees of attire, granted.
but i try in vain to find ANY restaurant or bar that requires jacket&tie, or even jacket; same of 99% of events.
i see soi-disant adults here attending theater/opera in tee-shirts.
i doubt it. fossett’s “Dress code: A jacket is suggested, but not required; no jeans or shorts please.”
imo, fossett’s won tonight with their lobster polenta w/ shrimp & black truffle sauce & kentucky gentleman sauce. i hate shrimp and i still loved it. 2nd place was the ribs from the boathouse. 3rd was pork bbq from hamilton’s (made w/ a whole bottle of sherry). other things might have been close but they’re too complicated for me to describe/remember (e.g., clifton). ooh that ceviche from bonefish…and the meatballs & polenta from duner’s…
my favorite dessert was chocolate & marshmallow cake w/ local strawberry ice cream from the ivy inn. also loved the olive oil-orange something from palladio, cheesecake from hamilton’s, chocolate stuff from clifton. hotcakes had some cute madeleines.
& i’d say it was “nice casual except for a couple of people who wore suits.”
I liked the lobster polenta with shrimp and balck truffle sauce from Fossett’s. The taste was good but it was heavy and the truffle sauce was a bit visually unappealing like grey icing on an armadillo shaped grooms cake. I thought the Clifton’s food was best overall. The masala rubbed shrimp with the cucumber was very good as was the crab cake. I thought Pomme’s offering was delicious. The pastrami style smoked salmon would have been great on a bagel with a shmear. I was disappointed with Milan’s offering. I realize that it is often difficult to execute dishes in situation like this, but Milan didn’t even try. It’s always good in the restaurant. The local offered up some of the housemade fresh mozzarella with some heirloom tomatoes. Simple but delicious. I haven’t been to the place but it is definitely on my radar now.
It was Virginia Gentleman sauce (not like it really matters) at the Fossett’s table. I also found the truffle sauce to be reminicient of wet sand drizzled over the shrimp. It was a huge portion and found it to be too rich so I bailed about halfway. Delicious, but I didn’t want to get the scoots at such an affair.
Overall, I was a little disappointed at the chefs’ execution. I don’t think a lot of them took the time to think about ease of “eatability”. Some portions I felt required a knife (the beef at The Local). I really wanted to try out the offerings at The BoatHouse but as soon as I saw ribs, I said, ” No way. Too messy and I don’t have the time to sit down and attack those ribs.” I think amuse bouche size is the way to go. I fancied myself as a Top Chef judge going table to table. It was a fun experience. I really enjoyed Pomme’s “fish wrap” but again, difficult to eat as it was larger than a mouthful.
I thought the Meatball dish (not Duner’s – it was Fardowners Restaurant) were as hard as hockey pucks but the bed of grits was nice. I found the ceviche from Bonefish to be way too acidic. Milan was crappy although I LOVE the food when it’s served in their restaurant. Topeka Steakhouse actually had a really good steak bruschetta thing. The meat was purposefully cold, and ridiculously tender. It worked. Finally know what is up with X-Lounge mac and cheese. Delicious with that truffle oil but there’s no way I could have had more than what was offered. The macaroons at Hot Cakes disintegrated upon touch. Shebeen should had two “stuffed” offering (a steak pie and a triangle thing stuff with veggies) and really should have choosen between the two. Shebeen chicken was surprisingly moist.
I aslo think Clifton “won” best overall, from soup to nuts. Fossett’s “wins” for best table display, and second overall.
y’all are seducing me with these delicious descriptions. sorry i missed it and no surprise that Clifton and Fossett’s dominated– they were amazing last year as well.
agree about eatability. you’re thinking of the beef from the downtown grille though; i went in a corner & ate it with my fingers. the local had pork tenderloin that was surprisingly good. agree about topeka.
oh yeah, masala rubbed shrimp was yummy. i didn’t even know it was shrimp! both crabcakes (hamilton’s too) i thought were good.
i was excited to try pomme but apparently i can’t eat salmon
yeah milan & shebeen were weak. the mango salsa was hard to get onto the samosas & meat pies & chickens.
OK, I meant pork from The Local AND the beef from the Downtown Grille.
I went to every booth but Kroger. Can you blame me?
There was a surprising amount of seafood at the event. Makes sense, with it being summer and wanting something light. It is also sort of risky at this kind of event (having it sit out). Takes more management. I thought all examples of seafood were good.
I had fun at the event and was happy that the proceeds go to a good cause. It also helped me move some restaurants up the list, move some down the list, and remove some completly.
Was Market Street there doing wine tastings?
yes. I tried a Rose and a 100% petit verdot.
*Rosé
yes, robert was there. he had a lovely sauvignon blanc, jefferson pinot grigio, south african chard (very buttery), pleasant rosé…hmmm it’s getting fuzzy. the petit verdot, barboursville cab sauv, & 2 other reds.
i think the reason i didn’t remember clifton well is they weren’t set up yet when i first circled the room.
RwO- i heard an old couple tell the ticket-takers, “i don’t know how anyone could sample everything.” “um, i did.” they looked at me in horror. except for kroger, of course.
Socks are mandatory. You lose.
if that’s to me: god bless you BYo.
FRICK! FRICK! FRICK! I thought this was next week (screwed up the dates) and cannot go! Agggh….story of my life. Sigh………
Your life would be better if you just allowed yourself to say “fuck”. Work with me here, repeat after me…
“Fuck! God damnit!
Frick? Oh hell no.
Frick is the new fuck.
Fingerbanging is the new handshake.
Deal with it.