Oxo in Charlottesville
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.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
We have visited Charlottesville twice.
Last year was our second visit to OXO and we were very impressed with the food.
Unfortunately the restaurant was not as busy as it had been the year before. My wife had a main course of Mussells in a Pernaud sauce, which she still rates as one of the best dishes she has ever had.
We are going back to Charlottesville next week. Unfortunately, OXO’s number is no longer in service. I assume that it has closed it’s doors.
Too bad, it was worth driving 350 miles to eat there.