89. Gearhart's Chocolates. The newsy tidbit about this shop is that they are moving into bigger digs - with a much wider array of chocolate decadence to choose from in the new shop PLUS I understand you may have a view of the chocolatier in action. www.gearhartschocolates.com if you want a taste before you move here. Pure, delicious, and gorgeous. THIS is how chocolate was meant to be enjoyed!
88. Caromont Farm goat cheese. Gail Hobbs-Page is a delightful friend, and amazing woman, and a loving farmer. I don't know many who don't admire her work for access to good, clean FOOD. Her goat cheese is extraordinary - the first batch in spring is heaven. The first farm dinner is this October 3rd - and I would have been first in line for tickets, but I'll be in NYC...so I am just going to be jealous of all those who get to enjoy!
87. Albemarle Baking Company. I have NEVER had to live in a town that didn't have great bread. Even in Fort Myers, Florida - which still leaves a lot to be desired as far as food goes - had Andre's French Bakery. Asheville was Blue Moon bakery, Norwich Vermont - King Arthur Bakery...and Charlottesville - well, an ABC baguette and some cheese was the meal I picked up to eat in the rental car as I drove home to Vermont on my scouting trip down here in January of 2006, and it's what pushed me over the edge to choose Charlottesville as our home.
86. MarieBette. Their instagram page will make you drool. It's crazy that in such a relatively small city, we have such great choices for just bread. I've never been to France, but when I go in here, and I focus in on a few items in the case (ok, maybe just the canele) I IMAGINE that's what it will be like someday. I LOVE THIS PLACE. It's not fast, it's not huge portions - it's perfect. Oh, the multi-grain bread, I forget what they call it - $10 for large loaf, so not exactly cheap - but OMG, it is delicious - I think it's fine to charge a little extra for the love they obviously put into everything on the menu.
86. Brazos Tacos. This place started as a pop-up last fall, and now has a permanent home in what is number 85 on my list, the IX Art Park, which also houses number 84 on the list, Shark Mountain Coffee. Just go. I am not sure there is anything like IX Art Park anywhere, so I won't bother trying to describe it. Brazos tacos serves (vegetarian, breakfast and the best carnitas tacos in town). And watermelon juice. As a bonus, the guys behind Brazos also call the southern part of the county home, so they will be sort-of neighbors if you are the next owner of High Meadows... Esmont is a few miles from Scottsville.
83. Hudson Henry Baking Company Granola. The. Best. Granola. EVER. I don't care if you think you make your own really great granola. Yours isn't anywhere as good as this, it's just not. It's good right out of the bag, or for breakfast with milk, or as a topping on baked fruit - but mostly just right out of the bag. Anyway - the founder lives about 15 miles away from us, is always at the farmer's markets, and you can get it the stuff in bulk at the local Whole Foods in Charlottesville, and even though pretty soon you'll probably be seeing it everywhere, for now, it's here - and just one more reason to like it in Charlottesville.
82. James River Brewery. This place is literally 1/2 mile from our front door. Great beer, great atmosphere, and because it's Scottsville, it's not ever really crowded...plenty of space to kick back and enjoy your drink and the company- around the firepit, out back, on the creek, in the fall, is the best place, in my opinion. Got it?
81. Dr. Ho's Humble Pie. Some seriously good pizza, that's probably good for you. Local ingredients, whole wheat crust, and lots of love in that kitchen - it's way south of Charlottesville, but not too far from Scottsville. It's definitely worth the curvy backroad drive to get there.
80. Farmstead Ferments. I happen to love sauerkraut and pickles (if you saw the photo of the kitchen at High Meadows, I SPECIFICALLY mentioned that I was not leaving my pickling crock...no way), and I enjoy making my own. But this stuff, specifically the Garlicky Greens, is addictive -
and I am happy to pay whatever price it is in whatever store I find it in, when the mood hits and I have to have some. It's great that we have such wonderful food choices here - from the farmers to the chefs, there is just a lot of care that goes into the food chain in this area. It's one of the reasons we are not moving too, too far down the road!
Come back in a couple of days - for Part 3. And please share our blog, our story, and the contest! We are so sure the right person is out there, and we can't imagine that at least 5,800 people won't want to give it a try - we just need to make sure they hear about it and enter, so share away please! Now I've made myself hungry...heading to the kitchen...
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