Stanley first introduced us to La Michoacana (MEE-CHO-KANA), a taco, burrito and small Mexican grocery establishment several weeks ago. I had neglected to visit, but I got a chance to go last night.  It’s located right up the street from Richmond Camera on East High Street.  I didn’t know what to expect.

La Michoacana is open from 11AM until 9PM everyday except for Sunday when it closes a little earlier (need verification).  You walk into what looks like a little house or small office. It doesn’t really seem like a restaurant with two small tables and grocery racks in the middle of the store. You can purchase standard mexican grocer items such as limes, tortillas and other sorts of things.

Don’t get me wrong; the place is clean and well lit, so it’s a little nicer and more inviting for us who may be turned off by the backroom of El Paso. The menu is in English and Spanish, so you don’t have to pretend to know what you are ordering. We tried a burrito and chicken, pork and beef tacos.  La Michoacana had a selection of fresh salsas available to add to your meal. We tried them all.

The burrito was rather plain with just meat inside and beans and rice on the side.

The Tacos?  »Read More

Popularity: 58% [?]

A birdie just sent in this craigslist ad which puts the Italian Deli up for sale for $120,000 :

Italian Deli for sale on Main Street, in the heart of the UVA campus. Across from UVA Hospital. Great walk-in and catering business

We don’t know why this is for sale, but the rumor is Pacino’s didn’t make enough money.

/go figure

Popularity: 31% [?]

If you recall, one of our Charlottesville Villains visited Maya during its opening weeks.  Maya rests across from the train station in the district we unintelligently call “Midtown.” As a restaurant serving Southern American influenced cuisine, Maya didn’t get a lot of praise initially, but I think that it is due for a re-evaluation.

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Popularity: 47% [?]

I tend to be skeptical of negative reviews—be they reviews of restaurants, CDs, movies, or whatever. It’s just easier to rant than it is to rave. A good bit of this difficulty lies, I think, in the desire not to sound overly earnest, since praise can certainly quite easily slip into maudlin sap.

And, given the choice between maudlin sap and the vitriol of many a negative review, I’d demure on the choice, preferring instead the subtlety of a brick slamming into my head.

Having said that, bad reviews are inevitable. And ’round these parts, the most frequent species is negative restaurant reviews… »Read More

Popularity: 59% [?]

While scanning through my daily news, aka my RSS feed, I stumbled upon an interesting article from UNCUS. This particular article was about a new restaurant on 29 and Rio. The place is a Middle Eastern Kabob place. This could be some interesting and exciting news. If you happen to be up 29 and want a healthy snack - you now have one.

We undoubtedly review this new place called, Zam Zam Kabob. It is scheduled to open next week. Surely we will not judge it in anyway based on the fact that we have heard nothing about it and its stellar name. All jokes aside, it sounds pretty good and I look forward to eating there and/or hearing about it.

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Popularity: 39% [?]

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*

Popularity: 56% [?]

Well, in case you have been living under a rabbit hole in the last few weeks, you may have missed out on some juicy restaurant gossip. It seems as though one of Charlottesville’s finest is for sale, someone new is doing late nights and a former player has lost its mojo. Which is which?

You have to guess…

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Popularity: 50% [?]

Sometimes commenter dijonbray and I stopped into the new Guadalajara on the way home from Pantops tonight. Apparently they opened up shop on Sunday. We sat at the bar, munching chips and swilling delicious beer, while dijon waited for his food to-go. Business was quite brisk, and they seemed to be handling it quite well.  Nicely done, folks.

Also spotted on High Street: a new place poised to open called La Michoacana. Anyone got the deets on this joint? Is it to be a restaurant? A mini grocery? Somebody dish.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Charlottesville represents a never ending brunch epic. From the crowned winner, Blue Moon Diner, to our battle between Blue Moon and Blue Grass, to our (now) slightly outdated weekend brunch guide, you will never be short options (or a line) to eat brunch on Sunday mornings.

Enter Zo Ca Lo, the place we once compared to an Opium den. As a hip little newster to town, Zo Ca Lo must have felt left out. Ok, so maybe I’m showing my age as Zo Ca Lo has been around for 5 (?) years now. Zo Ca Lo has a reputation around town; a reputation for doing some excellent Tuna tartar, gracing us with amazing cheese balls and some very solid entrées. The restaurant has not garnered a reputation for change, but we are happy to see it finally changing its M.O. after five years.

Just a few weeks ago now, Zo Ca Lo decided to open on Sundays and flex its brunch muscles to an eager Charlottesville. We published the menu if you need to refer to it during this review. Now, what did we think?

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Popularity: 29% [?]

Ned Oldham is an educator, writer, and musician. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia in 1993, and since then has taught writing at several colleges, including University of Virginia and Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland. As a writer and musician, he has published dozens of arts features for magazines including Baltimore and the Oxford American, and released seven albums with his band, The Anomoanon. He is currently the director of the Write Place, the writing center at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore.

Is this guy reviewing our restaurants???

Check out his Photo here for you restaurateurs

http://www.braintargetedteaching.org/aboutus.html

Popularity: 29% [?]