We just got word that the 12th Street Ale House, which replaced Northern Exposure and the short-lived Spry’s, has finally opened.  The former team from Michael’s Bistro recreates what we loved about the Bistro, 14 beers on tap, 30 to 40 bottles and a similar menu.  Anyone know if they are going to carry all the Belgiums again?  The decor looks promising.  We’ll be headed there this weekend. Let us know how it is if you’ve been.

[pic from Paul Lowry of the 12th Street Ale House in NYC] [via C-VILLE]

A birdie sends in a tip.. 

I heard someone say that they were closing ZydeCo.

Anyone know more? I always thought this place was doing pretty well. I can remember at least 2 other places that didn’t last in this building.

Apparently we can find out exactly what kind of person we are just by looking at the bar tab for the evening.  Screw the pills, the answer is in your drinks.  pills, the answer is in your drinks.  RegretfulMorning.com ran this bar tab analysis post and they covered some important genres of bar crawlers, but what about the other people?  I made a list of some typical tabs we might find around cville on a Saturday night:

South St. -25 to 30 something locals attended by one of their girlfriends…this could be described as a third wheel scenario
2 JP Ales
2 Satan’s Pony
1 Level Tonic

Mas -UVa undergrads trying to impress a girl for the night, but can only afford one bottle of decent red wine
1 Muga Rioja Reserva ‘02

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that there is a new restaurant opening in downtown belmont. Have you seen all the moving around and renovation going on at what used to be Saxx Lounge?? No word on a name or opening date yet, but I’ve been told they will have live music on that beautiful stage there, as well as salsa dancing and a brand new kitchen to put out all sorts of tasty goodies.

Does anyone else know anything about this?

Inspired by parlie’s curmudgeonly diss on the current iPhone buzz, I decided to compile this list of “things that used to be cool in cville but are no longer because too many people do them.” Please, discuss, argue, and add your own 5 cents in the comments! (Why 5 cents instead of just 2? Because we live in Charlottesville. Even our opinions are overpriced!)

So here’s my take on a bunch of things that matter almost as much as my opinion about them! </toungecheek>

#10. Pretending not to care what people think of you – The only thing less painful than being judged by how you look and what you do is being judged for how you don’t look and what you don’t do. Too many folks wearing Birkenstocks? Get yourself some Crocs. That’ll show ‘em. Is everyone listening to that new band on the radio? Go find some “indy” group to proclaim as your FAVORITE. And OMFG people are getting excited about a new product from a popular electronics company? You better not get sucked in, or it will just look like you’re following the crowd! You don’t want to do stuff that other people do, do you?

It’s just too easy to define people by what they ARE. Let’s go out and start judging everybody for what they AREN’T. »Read More

The cat is out of its bag. OXO has been sold and it is no more. We don’t know the details on the new owner or the plans, but we are sad to see it go. I wish the new owner could come on here and let us know his plans. If anyone knows him send him this way!

While we did get an anonymous tip about 2 months ago regarding OXO being on the auction block, we didn’t believe it. Sorry birdie.. you were right.

Let’s recap OXO’s brief history.

August 5th, 2007 – cVillain’s Iron discovers the late night scene at OXO. We rave that “people were actually dancing!” We also critique some of the shortcomings of a restaurant that had little experience with the late night scene.

September 7th, 2007 – OXO learns how to walk, starts to advertise and we send our spies. At that point we were almost as young as OXO, but we saw potential. OXO was hawt.

November 19th, 2007 – OXO grows too big for its own britches. We feel bad because we loved it too much and it turned into one of those problem children. You can read the post, but “You had so much potential, so much independence, so much going for you. You almost had it just right. But you failed to listen and now you are not what I desire.” Things would change for the better.
January 19th, 2008 – The dancing gets dangerous. Drinks are banned on the dance floor.

Spring 2008 – Not sure when exactly, but OXO introduced the infamous Velvet Rope and VIP cards.

April 21st, 2008 – OXO has its bondage party. We have some pictures and wonder how to get more people in leather.

June 16th, 2008 – Closure. No forewarnings to staff or to us. And like that, she was dead.

It is sad to see one of quickest growing, most frustrating and most exciting late night scenes die in Charlottesville. cVillain will miss friendly faces, a default cVillain hangout, professional service and lots of dancing. OXO, you just matured into a sexy, young adult and you left Charlottesville. Maybe we will get to meet again…for now, au revoir.

*tear*

This woman decided to break into Millers two nights ago.  She broke into the third floor via the window.
I ask… why?

[via Newsplex]

Judging by the popularity of Charlottesville and Belmont’s new little jewel, The Local, many of you have already eaten there and like it. We’ve asked you what you think of The Local and published The Local’s Menu.

We’ve visited The Local several times in recent weeks and now it’s time for a formal review. If you peruse the menu, you will find that The Local has a very reasonably priced menu. It hits that $13 to $16 entre range that has driven a similar success to restaurants like Continental Divide.

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[written by Tuffy]

This past Sunday night, I was really quite delighted to go to Rapture and see Barhoppers [Off Stage Theater website].

Barhoppers is something of a Charlottesville institution as this is its 20th year, sort of. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was assured by one of the cast that is was worth the $8 at the very least. She was right. A total of 7 plays were performed, none longer than 10-15 minutes, and they ran from funny, to dramatic, to sad, to touching. All funny, though. And all this with the bar and food service going on. A funny play with a few Jack and sodas – believe you me – makes for a good time.

The Barhoppers preview reads as follows:

We’re calling this one our 20th anniversary…and whether it is or whether it isn’t, it’s at least a pretty fair approximation. This year, we’re proud to celebrate our most prolific contributor, the former C-Villian JOEL JONES, with all 7 short plays penned by the master—so you’re bound sooner or later in the evening to watch two characters who start off hating each other wind up sucking face.

Remaining performance dates: Rapture Sunday, March 23rd. Monday, March 24th. Tuesday, March 25th.

All shows at 7:30 pm, all tickets at $8 at the door, all butts in seats well in advance ’cause you know how it fills up.” Head on out and see what the local talent has to offer.

And by talent, I mean 15th century Scottish warlords, film noir hotness, frat boy/art girl drama, and guitar-toting omnipotence.

And tell them Tuffy sent you. They’ll probably kick you out or not know what you’re talking about, but something cool might happen, you never know.

Ooo lala, both Rapture and OXO are flirting with me again. Why? I do not know, but I like the attention. Thursday night looks exciting to me. Between cocoNUT milk, dancey pants and Chilean DJs I’ll probably be heading out and about. Get your dancing shoes on folks and continue reading to figure out what’s going down.

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