Restaurants, Museums and other fun stuff in Charlottesville

The name Milan shouldn't confuse you. Milan means "the gathering place" in Hindi. (The pronounciation is also different.) Before Milan opened we would drive to Roanoke to eat at Nawab, as we were not satisfied with the Indian restaurants in the Charlottesville area. Nawab was one of our favorite restaurants when we were living in Norfolk. We were in a pleasant suprise when we learned that Milan's owner used to be the manager in Nawab in Norfolk. He recognized us and told us that Milan uses the same recipes Nawab as the same family ownes both restaurant chains.

The building for Milan is a pretty building which used to be a French restaurant and later a Vietnamese restaurant. The restaurant is organized in two rooms, and a little entree. The first room hosts a fireplace which is lit in winter. All the tables have clean crispy white linen table cloths.

When I asked if they serve the same foods every week on the same day for the lunch buffet, I learned that their menu rotates based on what the chef wants to cook that day. So you won't be tired of the food as you would always find something different.

Their lunch buffet included basmati rice, vegetable korma, tandoori chicken, vegetable pakora (spinach and other vegetable made into a ball and then fried), palak paneer (some kind of spinach food) and other hot entrées. The salad section had raita (my favorite, just the way I like it), carrot achar, kachumber (salad made of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions), and a mixed garden salad. For dessert they had kheer (Indian rice pudding) and mango puding. Their menu is quite varied, the next time we had a lunch buffet, they were serving some foods which I never ate before, such as some strawberry salsa, very delicious eggplant dish. The restaurant now is a huge success and very popular especially for lunch. I believe the way to check whether an ethnic food is good is trying to see if they have patrons from the restaurant's home country. Needless to say there are many Indians enjoying Milan's Northern Indian cuisine.

I suggest Milan to everyone who is hooked on delicious Indian cuisine. It is hard to find such a nice restaurant where the food is as good as the decor. The lunch buffet is a good value for what you get. For $7.95 per person ($6.95 on weekdays), you won't be able to eat such freshly cooked meals in such an exquisite place. Milan is a winner!

Copacabana Restaurant is one restaurant that never disappoints us when we take guests visiting Charlottesville. The guests may be picky eaters, not into international cuisine, but the food at Copacabana pleases all.

As my husband told our guests "It is a simple restaurant" decorated with beautiful posters of Brazil on the walls, clean linens, and simple flowers. The tables are arranged for two, four and six. My friend, who didn't speak English well, asked my assistance in choosing what to eat. I suggested her chicken breast and shrimp in spicy Brazilian sauce served with angel hair pasta and vegetables ($14.95), which I learned at a previous visit to be a customer favorite. I ordered Chicken breast stuffed with crabmeat in basil cream sauce served with potatoes and vegetables ($16.95). My husband ordered the special of the day: shrimp and lobster tail with pasta and vegetables . Our other guest wanted to eat what he ate before at another Brazilian restaurant (I guess he didn't want to take a chance) and ordered grilled Copacabana combo on skewer: New York sirloin, chicken, and pork served with rice, black beans, and collard greens ($17.95). He asked for the chef to substitute pork with chicken and after inquiring about it our waiter said it would be no problem.

Our entrees came with salad. Three of us chose house dressing made with avocado vinaigrette, while my husband who doesn't like the garlicky taste of the house dressing ordered his salad with blue cheese dressing. We were served hot bread with butter while we were waiting for our salad. The bread as usual was crunchy and hot. I used some of the slices to dip into the salad dressing, as the dressing was so heavenly. When our entrees arrived, I was disappointed with my choice. I didn't like the basil cream sauce and the crab was too salty for my taste (crab is naturally salty). I wished I ordered veal medallions and scallops in Dijon mustard and white wine cream sauce served with orzo pasta and vegetables, which I loved because of the white wine cream sauce. The steamed vegetables were good. My husband loved his shrimp, pasta and vegetables but found the lobster tail to be too banal. Our guests both loved their entrees although the one who ordered the skewer combo only ate his meat but did not touch his collard greens, black beans or rice (I have to inform you that he is on a carbohydrate diet). I felt bad that those awesome collard greens were to be thrown away. At the end of dinner, he told us that we were lucky to live in Charlottesville and have such great places to eat.

We were all too full, so we skipped the desert as usual. Maybe I will go there just to eat their deserts next time!

Hazel River Inn Restaurantis located in an historical building that is listed on "The Virginia Register of Historic Places." The restaurant area used to serve as a variety of businesses. It used to be stable, a tobacco warehouse, and a restaurant. It was one of the few restaurants serving customers when we visited Culpeper on July the Fourth.

The restaurant had wood floors, exposed brick walls and wood beam ceilings that reminded me of my grandmother's house. Although the A/C cooled inside the restaurant, I noticed that the doors to the deck in front of the street were left open. Regularly, I would prefer to eat at the deck, but it was a hot, steamy Virginian summer and we were all glad to be inside this cool restaurant. Another thing I noticed about the restaurant was the antique looking dish closet put in one corner. It made the restaurant look more like a house than a business. But then there was the bar on side of the restaurant.

The fliers at the entrance stated that a Fourth of July brunch menu was available for $16 per person till 5 PM. However, although it was only 3 PM, our waitress informed us there was no more brunch available. The menu consisted of several different types of sandwiches. My husband and my friend's husband ordered venison sausage sandwich with potato salad and coleslaw as sides ($7). My friend ordered bison burger sandwich with a side of baked beans and coleslaw ($6). When my friend inquired whether there was any pork in the beans, the waitress offered a side of potato salad. Finally, I ordered barbecue chicken served with baked beans and coleslaw ($7). At first I thought it was the southern barbecue chicken, which is shredded chicken in barbecue sauce. However, it was the whole half of a chicken roasted in barbecue sauce. Our waitress was very nice and she managed to have some smoked salmon with greens be prepared for us.

We started our supper with the smoked salmon (House smoked Norwegian salmon -$7 - served with little sandwich bread, cheese, lettuce, capers and sauce). My friend told me that her Virginia bison burger was really delicious. I tasted my husband's venison sausage and I have to confess it was the best sausage I have ever ate. The spices were not overwhelming and I would never guess that ginger was one of its main ingredients. Finally, my barbecue chicken was very delicious. The barbecue sauce reminded me of my mother's sauce. The potato salad was very delicious and home-style. My friends and husband commented on the coleslaw as well.

As we were leaving the restaurant I noticed a framed newspaper clipping on the wall. It said the chef was a former White House chef Peter Stogbuchner of Austrian origin. No wonder: the quality of the food was superb.

Pita Inn Mediterranean Bistro recently opened in the old spot it used to serve. However, this time the restaurant area is expanded, and it is decorated nicely with beautiful pictures of Lebanon.

As appetizers, my husband ordered Grape Leaves (stuffed grape leaves with parsley, tomatoes, onions, and rice), which is served with yogurt sauce and pita bread for $4.95. I ordered Spinach Pie (fresh spinach, onions and feta cheese, mixed with olive oil, lemon juice and spices, wrapped in fillo dough) for $3.95. As an entree we ordered a Gyro sandwich for $5.45 that was served with lettuce and tomatoes, tzatziki, french fries and a pickle. To my surprise, the grape leaves was served hot. It is a Mediterranean tradition to eat the vegetables cooked with olive oil cold. Serving them warm takes their taste away. As well, the grape leaves were not as tightly stuffed as they should have been, which also made me think that they were overcooked. The yogurt sauce was tzatziki. The spinach pie, on the other hand, was delicious and it was served hot. The gyro sandwich was a little bit smaller in size than we expected, and the french fries did not really complement the gyro.

As desert we ordered pistachio baklava and walnut baklava ($2.25 each). The servings were again too small. My husband liked both of them, while I did not like them as much as I like Turkish baklavas.

Sticks Kebab Shop reminded me of Rosa's Cafe in Lubbock, Texas, as both restaurants were crossovers of fast-food and ethnic restaurants. While Rosa's Cafe served Mexican food, Sticks Kebob Shop served kebabs. We ordered at the registrar near the entrance. There was a board hanged that explained how to make our order. First we chose our sandwich. That included a choice of kebab, salad, or platter. We chose the platter which included a choice of kebab - sticks housemade kibbeh (grilled patties of middle-eastern style sausage with pine nuts and fresh herbs , choice of homemade sauce - cucumber and yogurt, choice of homemade side dish - roasted eggplant salad (made with onions, lemon, and fresh mint), and herbed basmati rice and flatbread. All of this cost $6.25. If we ordered a kebob sandwich it would have been $4.75. Alternatively, if we ordered a kebob salad it would have been $5.75. Unfortunately, we didn't like the food very much. It was too spicy for our taste. One thing I found interesting was that there were pine nuts in my kebab. I guess this must be the Lebanese way of cooking.

The decor of the restaurant is very nice. Different tones of greens and yellows are used in different walls. Near the entrance you can pick copies of Cville and The Hook magazines (free weekly newspapers of Charlottesville), and skim through while you are eating your lunch or dinner. There is a bulletin board where local news is hung, if you are interested in visiting some of the hip places in town. Finally, the restaurant on Preston Avenue is not the only Sticks Kebab Shop in Charlottesville. Another branch has opened in the Pantops area recently.

I have been living in Charlottesville more than 2.5 years, but I learned about the Rivanna Trail that encircles the city this weekend. The Rivanna Trail system is maintained by Rivanna Trail Foundation, which was founded in 1992 by locals. The trails follow the Meadow Creek, Moore Creek and the Rivanna River and traverse through several parks, City Gardens, Greenbrier, Pen, Darden Towne, Riverview, Quarry, and Azalea Park, as well as private property.

Last Sunday, my husband and I started at The Senior Center spur (behind the post office on Route 29) and hiked towards Greenbrier Park. The warning on the trailhead said that this trail is a wilderness trail, and it was so true. We picked raspberries along the trail, we jumped on fallen trees and holes and tried to avoid the mud. I felt like I was in the Tomb Raider game when we needed to use our brain to determine where the trail goes. Near Meadow Creek the trail seemed to stop. We saw a rope, which we thought a parent put for his kids. When we read the trail guide we picked at the trailhead we discovered that we needed to cross the Meadow Creek stepping on rocks. As I have short legs, my husband picked up couple of big rocks to place on the creek as supplementary to the existing rocks. The trail contained and we saw abundant fern, and a forest of tulip poplar and oak.

After crossing the Brandywine Drive we entered the Greenbrier Park, which offered wider and easier to navigate path. Both trails were covered with forest of trees, which protected us from the scorching sun. Again we didn't know what to do when we ran into the Norfolk-Southern Railroad crossing. It seemed as if we needed to cross the creek once again, or climb on the hill where the railroad goes through to pass the creek. After careful observation we determined that the trail continues on a big pipe in the railroad underpass. I was a little bit tired so we decided to end our hike and return.

I cannot wait to hike on different parts of the Rivanna Trail system and hope that they are all as fun as the one we took.

The map of the Trail System is available at http://monticello.avenue.org/rivanna/Map%20of%20Rivanna%20Trail.doc

So who would have thought that there is a museum in Charlottesville that has the largest Australian Aboriginal art outside Australia while offering free admission! On a Saturday morning we attended a free guided tour of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum. Kluge-Ruhe museum is part of University of Virginia and founded by the collection of a billionaire who started collecting Aboriginal art after visiting an exhibition called "Dreamings" in New York City. He bought the impressive collection of an English professor, Ruhe, who collected many items when he was living in Australia. Therefore, the name is Kluge-Ruhe.

The building for the museum used to be a plantation house, big and spacious. However, only part of first floor is open to the public. On our guided tour, that lasted nearly one hour, we focused on nearly 30 paintings.

Our tour guide was one of the curators of the museum, and she gave us background information when she learned we didn't know much about the aboriginal art. I was amazed by the different way of thinking of the indigenous people. The artists painted on either the bark of a eucalyptus tree with natural paints, or on a canvas with chemical paints. The styles were quite different. We learned that artists from different parts have different styles as well. I looked at the map of Australia to see where the artists came from.

The name of the exhibition we attended was "Dreamings," which the indigenous people call the start of life on earth. The ancestor beings came out from the inside of the earth. Rivers, mountains, and ponds are all the places of significance, as the Aborigines believe these are the places the ancestral beings sit, sleep, etc. In their paintings the Aboriginal artists sometimes depict their religious beliefs with symbols, and sometimes if it is too obvious they cover it with dots.

The exhibition changes every three months to showcase different works. The curator told us that last summer they had artists from Australia visiting and had events on the lawn of the museum. Admission is free; opening hours for public are 9am-3pm, Tuesday to Saturday. The free-guided tour is at 10:30am on Saturdays. At 1pm, the museum hosts a special kids event.