Archive for May 24th, 2008

Today I had the opportunity to indulge in gustatory delights in a trip to Charlottesville, VA. It included a visit to my favorite dumpling shop, a purchase at Barboursville Vinyards, and dinner at the most excellent Oxo restaurant.

Among the highlights was an onion and arrugala bisque with truffle foam.

I think this is something I could reproduce at home: it was mildly sweet, nourishing, and the lemon “dust” was a nice accent.

The worst part of the 3-course dinner was the between-course of raspberry sorbet.

It was placed in a shallow, small plate and served with a mini-spoon. Actually trying to eat it was difficult; it slid around and you feared you’d push it out onto the table cloth.

I had a delicious entrée of herb-crusted salmon. I paired it with a delicious pinot noir, which was a nice balance to the sweet, exotic-spiced salsify in the dish.

The most delicious item? The dessert of rice pudding, pear, and chocolate-vanilla ice cream.

This had caramel, creaminess, texture, and vanilla. Yum-o. Very well done. I’ve never had such a satisfying rice pudding.

So, some 2 years since my first visit to Oxo, the dessert was still the best part. I’d recommend it to friends; it’s on Water Street near some other eateries, near the downtown mall.

Before dinner, I returned to Barboursville Vinyards in Orange County to pick up some of their excellent Octagon wine. It’s a carefully-mixed “best vintage” mixture. I picked up both O VII and O VIII (seventh and eighth versions, ever).

Lastly, I got to visit a nice little grocery off Ivy Street, Food of All Nations, and picked up some things I don’t typically have access to: some private-label olive oils, excellent-quality tea, etc.

So, if you have the opportunity to visit Charlottesville, there’s good food on the shelf and on the table! Makes for some excellent messy cuisine. Take a look at all the pictures.

Update (21 September 2008): We have found out that Oxo closed in late June. Too bad! We had a couple of great meals at Oxo.