A Feast for a King

Main Street Market

If you haven't been to Main Street Market, please stop reading this review and go. Immediately. Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (although you may end up spending that much easily). And when entertaining out-of-town company, there's no better place to give the impression that Charlottesville, too, has some culture ;)

Main Street Market is comprised of 8 or 9 different vendors serving a variety of different foods and wares. When it came time for a few classmates of mine to take a Criminal Law professor to lunch, we took her straight to Feast for some of the best soups and sandwiches in town.
Feast is run by a UVA grad who's returned here to offer us some tasty treats and a specialty grocery store. There are only seven artisan standard sandwiches, but they range from a classic mozzarella/tomato/basil (with optional prosciutto) to a warm corned beef Reuben with a Russian dressing. And then there's the daily special - which of course I couldn't pass up. Apples, ham, and chevre could not find better partners. And everything is local to Virginia, as much as possible. Apple season just ended here, and Virginia ham is in a class of its own. You'll find some sandwich to meet your tastes, but since there are only seven, you'll probably only find one.
Feast's strength is in the browsing potential. While your waiting for your lunch to be prepared you can shop the impressive wine selection, the constantly changing cheese offerings (and tastings available around the store), vinegars and oils, nuts, Virginia products, and chocolates. Stay away from the produce - yes, it's locally grown, it's organic, it's all the jazz, but so is the produce at Food of All Nations for half the cost. Nearly all of these items can be purchased in a pre-made or custom-ordered gift set. You design it and they'll take care of it, like a Williams and Sonoma, Harry and David, or Dean and Deluca - but with more tiny college town local charm.
The ever-growing cafe and store is intimately familiar with the University faculty and administration, and for good reason. Anytime an event needs catering, Feast is there. Offices are encouraged to take note - you can preorder your sandwich and pick it up to go. Check out the take-away menu at www.feastvirginia.com

Our lunch ended with a single chocolate from Gearhart's, but with a sample size of 1 I'm hesitant to give it a review. Suffice it to say, the Taj with cardamom, rose, and candied ginger was an experience bordering on nirvana. Perhaps my reluctance to say more is to keep people away, though rumor has it that during the holiday season Gearhart's shuts down 4 days before Christmas because they have so many orders to fill...

In addition to Feast and Gearhart's you'll find an organic butcher, Seafood @ West Main, a florist, a coffee shop, one of the best bakeries in town, and Orzo - a wine bar with Siesta and WiFi time during the afternoon. But that's for next time.

-M.