Restaurants in Charlottesville and Lexington
 

We will be visiting Charlottesville and Lexington next week as part of a southern college exploration. I'm looking for specific suggestions for restaurants in both places that are a little different. We like all kinds of food and try to go to restaurants that represent the part of the country we are visiting.We not looking for haute cuisine but rather regional cooking in a pleasant setting.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eve

Sounds like a good trip--where are you from? I went to W&L undergrad (Class of 2002) and UVA for lawschool (Class of 2005) so I have familiarity with both towns. (Also, when driving between the two you could stop in Crozet for Crozet Pizza--a C-ville tradition!)

In Lexington: Salerno's is the place in town for a casual meal. Lots of delicious pizzas, HUGE subs and calzones.

For something more upscale try either Southern Inn or the Sheraton Livery--those might fit your desire to try regional foods.

There's also a cute sandwich shop called A Joyful Spirit Cafe that has sandwiches soups and paninis.

Finally, if you like vegetarin fare I really LOVE the Blue Heron cafe. It's only veg. though (as I learned when my poor grandfather's only choice was grilled cheese).


In Charlottesville:

It's FULL of restaurants. You might need to narrow it down by posting preferences. I just advice walking down the downtown pedestrian mall and picking a place. There are tons, many with outdoor seating, and ranging from casual to very fancy. Also, a lot of people like to get great sandwiches from "The Markets" (they're in Exxon stations).

Just a random list of places I like: (not necessarily on the mall)

Christian's Pizza
Thai 99
Maharaja Indian cuisine
Bang! (asian Fusion tapas)
Mas (regular tapas)
Bashir's (greek food)

And for delightful gelato I love Splendora's on the Downtown Mall.

Have a gerat trip!

Ugh, that should be "advise"--that's one of my biggest pet peeve errors, too!

Thanks, Schlegal,
We are coming from New Jersey. I'm hoping to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway from Charlottesville (enter aroung Waynesboro) to Lexington. Does that make sense? I appreciate your suggestions.

Take care,
Eve

Oh yes, that's a lovely drive and avoids all the eighteen wheeler traffic on I-81. So from Charlottesville, you'll just take 64-West to Waynesboro, exit 99, turn right off the exit ramp then take the next immediate right to get to the turn (another right) to enter the start of the Parkway (this is mile 0 on the Parkway). Not sure what time of year you are coming but the PArkway does close for snow during the winter. Check http://www.nps.gov/blri/ for updates on closings throughout the year.

There is no "Lexington" exit on the Parkway. You will exit near Buena Vista (pronounced here as "Byoonah Vista" in case you need to ask directions)as you approach mile 50 and then exit onto Route 60 and then go into Lex.

Will you wish to stop and hike along the way? There are some really lovely areas of the Parkway for hiking.

Good luck with planning. And on the non-planning side, if you have any non-travel questions about the schools I would be glad to answer private emails (junk AT blueridgeparkers DOT COM). As you can see from my email name we LOVE the blueridge area and Shenandoah Valley!

Oops, scratch that about time of year, just reread your OP and saw you are coming soon. So the weather's beautiful and you'll have a gerat time!

schlegal1, glad to see another W&L grad on the board!! I'm class of '77. Dave

Hey, I went to W&l too! Class of '89. Great school, and Lexington is wonderful. If you'd like to see where a good portion of your money will be going the next four years, stop by The Palms - you'll see W&L students, VMI students, locals, and tourists. Better than average bar food, and they used to serve free salty popcorn so you'd be inclined to order more drinks. For a more upscale experience try the Southern Inn, as mentioned above, or Bistro on Main. All of these are within a few blocks of campus.

Hi Dave and Virginia6 --how fun to see 2 other W&L people here on Fodors--such a small school, yet such a wide net of (nice) connections!

Either of you ever traveled with the group itineraries set up via W&L alum. organization? They're out of my price range right now (and I am iffy about group travel) but I am curious to hear a first-hand account of the experience.

UVALaw '02 here.
I, personally, would not waste any time or effort on trying to stop by Crozet Pizza. I could have simply had a bad experience, since many speak fondly of Crozet Pizza, but I found it to be mediocre pizza in a cramped restaurant out in the country. I loved driving around C-ville, but don't expect too much from Crozet Pizza - it simply isn't all that great.


For a super-comprehensive list of C-ville restaurants, try the Food sections of this page:
http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/insider/intro.htm

I personally enjoyed Northern Exposure, Southern Culture and Continental Divide.

Hi,
I live in Charlottesville, and there are so many good restaurants. Mas and Bang are great! They were mentioned earlier--they may be hard to find, but if you ask on the downtown mall, anyone can point you toward Bang. Zocolo is in the center of the downtown mall--and is so good, with outdoor seating--Spanish/Latin american type cuisine. Cassis is French cuisine, just off the downtown mall. Continental Divide has the best margaritas in town...its on main street...not well marked...there is a sign that says "Get in here!". Christians pizza serves slices of gourmet pizza and right next door (on the mall) is Marco and Luca-which has the best dumplings. I could go on and on! Hope you have fun in Charlottesville!

Hi Schlegal1 - I haven't done any of the W&L alumni trips but my parents have. They've been really pleased with them. They've done Grand Canyon rafting plus Greece. A professor or two usually go along on the trips, and they provide history and geography background on the locations. if you like less expensive trips, the Minks on the Moguls ski trips in February are great.

schlegal1, those trips look great but, alas, they're out of my budget, too. Hopefully that will change some day. In the meantime, it's Fodors for all my trip planning!! Dave

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am printing them out to take with us.

Eve

In February, while visiting friends in Charlottesville, we ate at The Shebeen which was very good and specialized in African fare. It's a short walk from the downtown pedestrian mall in the Vinegar Hill Shopping Center, telephone 296-3185.

If you have spare time and the weather is nice, the downtown mall is fun for a drink/appetizers/people watching at an outdoor cafe on the pedestrian mall.

Eve - I hope you'll report back on how you liked the schools and how the trip went.

dave - thank goodness for Fodors!

Virginia6 - Getting history/background is an important part of our trips so I am dreaming that someday I can afford one of those trips. Glad your parents have enjoyed them!