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| August Events Calendar | ||
This Week:
--This Saturday, September 4, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., classing up the Wine Cellar will be Laura Wortman, who grew up two miles from the store, and her husband Kagey Parrish, otherwise known as The Honey Dewdrops.
The winners of The Prairie Home Companion’s “People in Their Twenties” national talent show in 2008, Laura and Kagey tour nationally when they aren’t hanging out at their home in the area, and they have wowed audiences and critics alike in venues small and large with their distinctively original music. When they played here last September, their melancholy-as-mountain-mist harmonies and deeply felt lyrics seemed to etch permanent smiles on the faces of an incredibly appreciative crowd. It was a magical evening in our humble little store.
We thought that it was only fitting to complement these local kids made good with a big taste of our own contribution to the local movement—our food. Drawing on the “feed”-back from our friends in the greater Batesville metropolitan area, we have put together an All You Can Eat Local Favorites Buffet that features our most popular original productions. Localize fourteen American-style dollars on the front counter and fill your plate with these classic Batesville Store goodies:
Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Smoked Spareribs
Jambalaya with Veggies, Sausage, or Chicken
Sweet Potato Curry with Shrimp, Pulled Pork Barbecue
Mac & Cheese, Veggie Quiche, Chicken Salad
Smoked Chicken Salad, Tuscany Bean Salad, Creamy Cole Slaw
Quinoa Salad, Beet & Goat Cheese Salad, Deviled Eggs
Crescent Rolls, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Pie
Cinnamon Vanilla Ice Cream, Brownies Four Ways
While you’re listening and munching, you won’t want to forget to support the other local products available Saturday night: Blue Mountain Brewery’s Tribute IPA and a wine list that features whites and reds from vineyards within minutes of the store. So honeys, dew drop in Saturday evening for a celebration of all things local. You’ll see why folks around here seldom feel the need to travel to big cities like Charlottesville and Crozet for music, food, and all-around good times.
Past Events:
--This Thursday, September 2, we’re going to be suffering another serious case of the blues in downtown Batesville, and our smile is as big as one of Liza’s legendary chocolate chip cookies.
Mississippi Conjure returns to our humble joint. Featuring Jack Roy on guitar, Andy Burdetsky on bass, Jason Ward on drums, and Wave Milor on harmonica and lead vocals, MSC dishes out a zesty stew of Mississippi Hill Country blues flavored with a few dashes of Chicago Electric and a heaping spoonful of Son House. Whenever they play at the store, they conjure up some real-live, escape-it-you-will-not music voodoo.
While your ears ingest the stew of blues, you can allow your mouth to engage in the food implementation function known as The Batesville Store’s somewhat renowned Thursday evening Burgers and Fries Cookout. Kyle will be managing the Big Ugly as usual, charbroiling up half-pound burgers, Roberta’s homemade veggie burgers, chicken, hot dogs, and Italian sausages. We’ll also be laying out French fries, onion rings, the universe’s best mac & cheese, baked beans, and several deli salads. If you’re on the outs with cookouts, you can order from our regular deli menu.
Word has it that there might also be a couple of kegs hanging around, daring someone to tap them. Your intrepid store owner feels that he’s up to the challenge. The conjurin’ begins about 6:30 p.m. and ends about 9:00 p.m. Why not avoid being square by simply being there?
--This Saturday, August 28th, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., the inimitable Dallas Wesley & The Lost Highway Band will be playing here—yes, right here--in our humble store in Remotesville, VA.
Yes, that Dallas Wesley . . . the kid whose uncanny portrayal of Hank Williams in the hit play Hank Williams: Lost Highway received universal kudos from theater-goers and critics alike. Wow-wow! And yes, that band . . . the group whose four members—Dan Sebring, Thomas Gunn, Jeffrey Justice, and Bahlmann Abbot—also earned universal applause for their performance as The Drifting Cowboys, Williams’ backup band. Wow-wow-wowsers!
I guess you could say that I’m pretty doggone excited about our music this Saturday evening. It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to listen to a group which gets these kinds of reviews:
“The band could turn even a confirmed jazz lover into a country music fan.” - The Culpeper Star-Exponent
“An all-star band that’s bound to bring you to your feet and have you singing all night long.” - WTJU Radio
“For anyone who cares about the roots of authentic American music, the presentation of Hank Williams’ immortal songs hits the mark.” - The C’ville Weekly
“I was at the opening night performance of [the play] and enjoyed it very much. All of the musicians were top-notch.” - Mary Chapin Carpenter
Dallas and his four buddies usually play in venues with steep cover charges or hefty admissions fees. With that in mind, we feel that we should charge . . . well, nothing. As we always do. So come early and stay late. You won’t want to miss a single song.
Nor a single dish from our All You Can Eat Southern Classics Buffet. (You didn’t expect an all you can eat New England classics buffet , did you?) Swing by the front counter, slap down 14 authentic American bucks, pick up a classic American plastic plate, then fill ‘er up with any or all of the following:
Fried Chicken, Chicken Fried Steak, Fried Catfish, Baked Ham, Pulled Pork Barbecue
Southern Veggies au Gratin, Mama’s Candied Yams & Apples, Green Bean Casserole, Baked Cheese Grits
Cole Slaw, Creamed Corn, Black-Eyed Peas
Ambrosia Salad, Coca-Cola Jello Salad, Yam Biscuits, Corn Bread Muffins
Peach Cobbler, Coca-Cola Cake, Shoo-Fly Pie, Vanilla Ice Cream
For those of you who might want to drop a tear in your beer in Hank’s honor, we will be tapping two kegs. So don’t sit home Saturday feeling so lonely you could cry. Move it on over to the store instead and participate in an evening of classic American music and food that could warm even the coldest of a cold, cold heart.
--This Saturday, August 21, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. school may still be out in the real world, but class will be in session at The Store. And what a classy class it promises to be! The inimitable pianists Hod O’Brien and Jim Wray return to the Wine Cellar for another evening of classic jazz. These two keyboard masters carry great wisdom in their fingers, and the music they make is always a seminar in how unique artists can mesh their individual talents to create both provocative tonal contrasts and elegant harmonies. Come and learn. It’ll be the most fun class you’ve taken in ages.
Never one to be schooled in the fine arts, Roberta has created a fancy All You Can Eat Quiche & Salad Buffet that is as sophisticated as it is inventive. For a tuition fee of only twelve dollars, learn why even unreal men eat quiche at The Batesville Store by experiencing this advanced seminar in food combinations:
Seafood Quiche with Crab, Shrimp, Asparagus, Goat Cheese & Parmesan
Ham & Prosciutto Quiche with Leeks & Gruyere
Chicken & Broccoli Quiche with Blue Cheese
Spinach & Mushroom Quiche with Roasted Tomato & Asiago
Roasted Red Pepper & Olive Quiche with Feta & Rosemary
Local Summer Squash Quiche with Tomatoes & Goat Cheese
Mexican Quiche with Homemade Chorizo Sausage & Queso Fresco
Quiche Lorraine
Caesar Salad
Spinach Salad with Bacon, Apple, Eggs & Blue Cheese
Oregano & Endive Salad with Nuts, Cranberries & Goat Cheese
Mixed Artisan Greens with Local Vegetables
Crescent Rolls
French Bread
Brownie Sundaes
For your educational edification only, you will also have the opportunity to discern the differences between varieties of beer--thanks to kegs of Blue Mountain Classic Lager, The Love from Starr Hill, and Smutty Nose IPA—and varietals of wine, including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Zinfandel, Shiraz and four more vino styles. This will be one multiple choice test that you will probably enjoy taking. So come on down to our humble one-room schoolhouse this Saturday evening. It will be a truly classy experience.
--This Saturday, we believe in serendipity at The Batesville Store, if only because the word itself sounds just right for a reality-defying emporium at the intersection of Oz and Shangri-la.
So too must Rusty Speidel, Thomas Gunn, and Mike Clem, three brilliant local musicians who ran across each other by happenstance a year ago, decided to play some tunes together for the fun of it, and—voila!—became Rusty Speidel & Friends, an astonishing marriage of folk/rock/bluegrass talent who will be playing in our humble store this Saturday evening, August 14, from 6:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
You probably know each of these fine players individually. Rusty is the capital “S” of the legendary C’ville folk group SGGL, a masterly guitarist and singer who has played just about every venue on the East Coast, including Wolf Trap, the Birchmere, and Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic. When Rusty played here last March with his good buddy Tom Goodrich (the first “G”), the store was a truly gleeful place. Thomas also played at the store a few months ago, blending the best of regional folk and bluegrass into a unique sound that brought a hugely positive response from his audience. He demonstrated what can happen when a terrific artist is at the top of his game—musical magic. And then there’s Mike, a great good friend of the store who has played with The Pollocks here in Serendipityville. When he’s not doing his thing at the store, he works as the bassist for Eddie from Ohio, which has been named the best folk group in the mid-Atlantic by the Washington Area Music Association. These three artists have played numerous gigs across the region since their fortuitous meeting, meshing their distinctive styles and individual artistry into a sound that I can’t quite describe in words. Which means that you’ll have to come to the store this Saturday, listen to them, and find your own words!
While you grasp for words, you’ll also have the chance to grasp a huge plate-load of food from our All You Can Eat Barbecue Blast. For the lean and mean price of twelve American-style dollars, you can dine on these classic “que”goodies:
Smoked Ribs, Sausage & Chicken, Smoked Blue Marlin,
Pulled Pork Barbecue, Grilled Veggie Kabobs,
Artichoke Frittata, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans,
Corn Bread, Corn on the Cob, Deviled Eggs,
Cole Slaw, Potato Salad & Dill Pickles.
For music and food augmentation purposes only, we will be drawing on kegs of Blue Mountain Classic Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Smutty Nose IPA. Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that you will be totally square unless you are totally there?
--This Saturday, August 7th, we’re having an All You Can Eat Pizza Party from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.—and you’re invited! Swing by the front counter, plunk down a mere TEN BUCKS for adults and SIX BUCKS for kids under 10, pick up a plate, head to the spread, and dine on these classic pizza styles till ya-bout-ta-bust-a-seam:
Four Cheese
Veggie Delights
Cajun
Philly Cheese Steak
Italian
Greek
Smoked Meats
Blanco
You’ll want to save room on your plate for a heapin’ mound of tossed salad or Caesar Salad. And be forewarned: there will be somewhat significant quantities of Liza’s signature chocolate chip cookies available with the meal. Bust. A. Seam.
I know that you are now pondering a philosophical question: Can it really be a pizza party without rock music? No, it can’t.
That’s why we’ve invited ClassX to play in the Wine Cellar for the first time. Featuring local legend Lesly “Monsieur ” Gourdet on bass, John Sentell on drums, Drew Kimball on lead guitar, and Jerry Eck on just about everything else, the X boys have generated enormous buzz in the area for their easy-listening blend of classic and Southern rock. Think Cream jamming Beatles tunes with the Allman Brothers. How could you even imagine being so square as not to be there?
--This Saturday, July 31st, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., A month of buffets featuring great international cuisine, aka “The Inter-Continental Yummilicious Tour,” concludes this Saturday evening, with a back-by-greater-Batesville-acclaim All You Can Eat Asian Feast. We’ll be going stir (fry) crazy fixing up the items below, which you can access and mouth-process through the simple act of plunking twelve bucks (¥ 81.96) on the front counter and grabbing a plate:
Dumplings, Spring Rolls, Egg Rolls, Shrimp & Seaweed Cakes,
Firecracker Beef, Pork with Cashews, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Tofu Stir Fry,
Yum Yum Shrimp, Sesame Noodles, Teriyaki Chicken, Mixed Veggie Delights in Ginger Sauce,
Fried Rice, Spinach Salad with Asian Soy Dressing, Almond Cookies & Coconut Ice Cream,
& Fortune Cookies.
Open your fortune cookie and it will doubtless say that great music is to be found where you eat. That’s because Failure to Yield will be returning to the Wine Cellar. Featuring Batesville’s own Brad Bryant on guitar and vocals, this quintet of veteran musicians mixes original tunes with supremely groovy covers of Neil Young, Van Morrison, and other classic rock artists. When Brad and his buddies play at the store, Failure is inevitable.
--This Saturday, July 24th, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. it’s all about the new in the old store. Making their debut in the Wine Cellar will be the unruly dudes of Strange Attractor. A blues-based rock band with a streak of garage grunge about them, Strange features three adults who have never quite grown up: Mark Williams on guitar, Darrell Wiley on drums, and Batesville urban core resident Stuart Berr on bass. They all sing, they all play with a polite rudeness, they all have more fun than respectable members of the community should be having. In my humble opinion, that makes them just right for our dainty and proper establishment.
While Stuart and his peeps are bringing new sounds to the joint, our head cook Roberta and her good friends in the kitchen will be debuting a buffet as varied and richly seasoned as a Saturday evening crowd at The Batesville Store . . . an All You Can Eat Indian Feast. Plunk down twelve bucks and make your mouth a milan for these amazing dishes:
Sweet Potato & Apple Curry, Jammu Lamb in Masala, Palak Paneer, Matar Paneer,
Coconut Chicken Curry with Cashews, Shrimp Patai, Vegetable Vindaloo, Dahl,
Beef Kabobs, Raita, Pickled Onions, Tomato Salad, Nan, & Mango Ice Cream.
Just reading the above menu makes me hungry—and thirsty. So thirsty, in fact, that if it were Saturday evening right now, I’d be stopping by the front counter and asking Callum, our adult beverage needs manager, for a cup of Abita Amber Ale or Terrapin IPA on tap. Then again, I might seek his assistance with a glass of wine from our list of eight whites and reds.
The forecast is for sizzling heat Saturday evening. It’ll probably be almost as hot outside the store. You will be there . . .or you will be square.
--This Saturday, July 17, from 6:30 p.m. till at least 9:00 p.m. the Central Virginia Blues Society holds its monthly “meeting” at our store. More than a dozen of the area’s finest blues players will rile the joint with high-energy Delta, Memphis, and Chicago blues heavily spiced with classic rock and R & B. They’ll be mouth-harping and guitaring and vocalizing and horning till we feel the blues so strong, it’s like eating one of Liza’s chocolate chip cookies in one bite. What delightful excess!
As if the CVBS’s feast for the ears weren’t enough, we’re also offering a feast for the mouth, an All You Can Eat Italian Buffet. For twelve dollars, you can tip the needle of your inner excessometer by dining on this:
Meat Lasagna & Four Cheese Lasagna, Penne Pasta in Vodka Sauce, Grilled Eggplant,
Shells Stuffed with Ricotta & Spinach, Shrimp Alfredo with Mushrooms, Chicken Cacciatore,
Polenta with Veggie Sauce or Meat Sauce, Linguine with Clams,
Spaghetti with Italian Sausage & Meatballs, Ravioli in Tomato Sauce,
Caesar Salad, Tossed Salad with Fancy Italian Toppings, Focaccia Bread,
Italian Hard-Crust Bread, Gelato, & Tiramasu.
Let’s review. Great music? Check. Awesome food? Check. Excessive fun? Check and double check! Don’t even dare to be square . . . Be there!
--This Saturday, July 10th, 6.30 - 9.00 p.m... Ah, those white-hot summer nights. It’s been more toasty than a strip mall parking lot in a suburb of Hades all day--and it’s still steamy enough to make your eyebrows sweat. The temperature and the humidity have met the Devil at the crossroads, and He’s matched them up like dirty-dancing teens at an after-prom pool party. You want to kick back and chill but wonder how you’re going to make that happen. And then you realize:
The real world may be dishing the heat, but The Batesville Store on a Saturday night always brings it cool. Especially when the great Eli Cook is riling things up with his astonishing solo acoustic blues. Eli will be climbing onto his stool at our new music space, The Wine Cellar, and doing his inimitable guitar-and-voice-of-a-seventy-year-old-Delta-bluesman thing. He will stomp on his guitar case to create his own percussion section, he will drop his head to his guitar neck as if whispering sweet nothings to it, he will avert his eyes from the crowd as if knowing that the effect he’s having is not quite pure. And when he finishes, we’ll all shake our heads and realize that sometimes a music dude can be so hot, he’s cool. Eli Cool.
If there’s nothing cooler at the store than Eli heating things up, a close second has to be our All You Can Eat Mexican Buffet. For the hefty price tag of 120 dimes (or 48 quarters), you can feast on the following till your stomach politely but sternly asks you to cease and desist:
Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales Three Ways, and a Taco Bar with Five Fillings,
Burritos with Spicy Mole Sauce, Shrimp Chimichangas, and Beef Empanadas,
Chili Two Ways, Black Bean & Corn Casserole, and Mexican Potatoes with Peppers,
Spicy Mac & Cheese, Cactus Salsa, Mango Salsa, Corn Bread, and Beer Bread,
Cinnamon Ice Cream with Hot Pepper Chocolate Sauce,
Chipotle Brownies and Mexican Wedding Cakes.
We know that asking you to take in Eli and our Mexican food extravaganza in one sitting is asking a lot. To help you make it through the evening, we will be tapping kegs of Brooklyn Lager and Smutty Nose IPA and uncorking several terrific red and white wines. We’re here for you.
As the great worldly philosopher and Eli muse Jimi Hendrix once said, “Where are you on this ah hot cold summer? Where are you on this ah hot cold summer? Where are you on this ah hot cold summer night?”
You’re at The Batesville Store on this coming hot cold summer Saturday night. If you’re cool . . . .
--This Saturday, July 3rd, from 6.30 - 9.00pm Liza and Roberta will be showing off their patriotic bona fides with their latest food extravaganza, an All You Can Eat All-American Buffet. Plunk down twelve bucks (six dollars for kids) and chow down on these “Made in America” classics:
Fried Chicken, Franks & Beans, Sloppy Joes, and Pepperoni Pizza, Veggie Spaghetti and Cheese Pizza, Ann Landers’ Spinach Casserole, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Tater Tots, Doris Day’s Potato Salad and Roberta’s Three Bean Salad, Waldorf Salad and Caesar Salad, Deviled Eggs, Red, White, and Blue Jello Salad, Red (Cherry), White (Apple) & Blue (Blueberry) Pies, Bonnie Blair’s Peanut Butter Cookies, Liza’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Vanilla Ice Cream.
While you are exercising your freedom as an American to gobble massive loads of food without fear of government restraint, our favorite teen band The Wave, fronted by our hometown’s own Willie DE, will be demonstrating the self-evident truth that when the kids come to play, the store rocks away. As if their usual musical pyrotechnics weren’t enough, the Wavers will also be launching their latest CD Saturday evening with a preview of some of the new tunes and special pre-release CDs at a bargain price. Ah, the entrepreneurial spirit—it’s as American as . . . well, the Fourth of July, or some other day close to the Fourth.
Wait. There’s more. Local gossips are spreading the word that there might be fireworks in the neighborhood toward the end of the evening. Are these rumored fireworks the literal or the figurative kind? I s’pose you’ll have to venture down to Batesville to find out for yourself! Be here. It’s your patriotic duty.
--This Saturday, June 26th, from 6.30 - 9.00 p.m. it’s Mardi Gras at The Batesville Store! Wait... I know what you’re thinking: The mad webmaster from The Batesville Store has finally gone over the cliff. Mardi Gras is in February, and here he is in June, announcing . . . well, Mardi Gras! But you see, we don’t really subscribe to the conventional time measurements here in Batesville. We follow FST, or fun standard time. As in, “If it’s fun, it’s time for it.” And since we had so much fun last February when we held our first Mardi Gras party, we’ve decided that the time has come to laissez les bon temps rouler again.
And what a roll it’ll be when you plunk down twelve bucks, pick up a plate, and pass a good time feasting on this Mardi Gras in June Buffet:
Shrimp Cakes, Jambalaya with Veggies and Jambalaya with Shrimp, Sausage & Chicken, Crayfish Ravioli with Creole Sauce, Cajun Catfish, Creole Smoked Chicken Seafood Gumbo with Chicken, Crab, Oysters & Shrimp, Muffuletta Sandwiches on Authentic Muffuletta Bread, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice with Veggies and Louisiana Red Beans & Rice with Andouille Sausage, Maque Chox Corn, Cajun Candied Yams and Apples, Creole Style Cheese Grits, Yam Biscuits, Corn Bread, Louisiana Crunch Cake, Bayou Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce, Homemade Pralines and Cream Ice Cream
Meanwhile, while you are feasting, we’re also going to let the good sounds roll! Bringing the jazz big and easy will be the Jim Wray Trio, featuring Jim Wray on piano and trombone, Peter Matthews on guitar, and the incandescent jazz vocalist Susanne Fitzgerald. When Jim’s trio plays at the store, Bourbon Street is a kiddy cocktail compared to Plank Road. So come on down to the store Saturday night, throw down and shake your funky feathers loose.
--This Saturday, June 19th, escape our current heat wave by kicking back to the ultra-cool sounds of the ridiculously talented teenage music star, Willie Denton-Edmundson. Willie DE has played numerous times in the store as the front man and lead guitarist for The Wave, the white-hot rock and roll band, but in his first set Saturday evening he’ll be mixing things up a bit, gathering a few of his friends from the local music scene for some seriously sick jazz-funk-fusion licks.
Willie will then go into “Wave Mode,” ending the evening with classic rock and roll. Word has it that a couple of more friends who also happen to be members of the region’s most famous band not named DMB will be joining Willie for this set. If they weren’t so cool, these guys might heat things up so much that they’d set trees on fire all over the neighborhood.
While Willie and his buddies are making your ears happy, we’ll be doing all we can do to make your stomach happy. For the seriously sick price of twelve bucks, you can get down on this All You Can Eat Barbecue Feast:
Smoked Spareribs, Smoked Polish Kielbasa,, Smoked Blue Marlin,
Smoked Chicken Breasts, Drumsticks and Wings, Pulled Pork Barbecue,
Grilled Veggie Kabobs, Artichoke Frittata, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Corn on the Cob,
Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Corn Muffins, Dill Pickles, Deviled Eggs, & Watermelon
For music and food augmentation purposes only, we will also be tapping kegs of Blue Mountain Full Nelson Pale Ale and Yuengling Lager and pouring six great wines by the glass. The fun begins at 6:30 p.m. and lasts till about 9:00 p.m. Be here, ya hear!
--This Saturday, June 12, from 6.30 - 9 p.m.. As purveyors of Batesville’s swinest pork spareribs and pulled pork barbecue, we feel that we know good pig when we see it. So we can state with our usual humble confidence that there will be some seriously excellent pork product in the Corner Lounge this Saturday evening. Hog, actually.
As in the iconic Charlottesville band, The Hogwaller Ramblers, who are playing in the store for the first time. Soo-weeeet! There is a lot that can be said about the Hogs, but nothing quite compares to how they say it. So here they are, squealin’ for themselves:
“Composed of some of the finest musicians in the area and a guy that scratches doggerel because it itches, we pull in blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, rock ’n’ roll, classical and funk . . . infused with our own neuroses.”
“We've traveled extensively through Albemarle County. In addition to Fellini’s on Sunday nights, many funerals, wakes, Bar Mitzvahs, polo matches and sewage treatment plant openings have all been blessed by our presence. We like to stick close to home, but out of town gigs have included some side stage work for a local band called DMB, and once we played at a friend's house in North Carolina. She was a great cook.”
“Our show can be laid back and funky . . . or rocking, if we get a nap that afternoon.”
“We play American music, dammit!”
While the Hogs holler in the corner, you will have the chance to pig out at our All You Can Eat Southern Classics Buffet. Pork over twelve bucks and you can boar into this artery-enhancing trough of food:
Fried Chicken, Baked Ham, Pulled Pork Barbecue, Chicken Fried Steak & Fried Catfish
Collards, Candied Yams and Apples, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Mac & Cheese, Corn Bread Muffins & Yam Biscuits
Ambrosia Fruit Salad, Coca Cola Jello Salad, Watermelon, Peach Cobbler, Shoo Fly Pie, Vanilla Ice Cream, Peach Ice Cream & Sweet Tea
After you’ve larded up your plate, you’ll want to hoof it over to the front counter and do that special food-augmentation exercise we like to call “ordering beer or wine.” We have eight great wines on our list and two kegs, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Yuengling Lager, both of which I’d like to pig-pun on but can’t quite find the words to do it. So ramble on down to the store Saturday evening and waller in the fun. I promise you that it won’t be a pig in a poke.
--This Saturday, June 5th, there will be a certain special something floating in the air around 6.30 - 9 pm when The Rick Olivarez Trio performs in the store’s Corner Lounge. It’s hard to describe it because it is felt but not quite palpable—present but not quite real. Rick will sit on a stool slightly turned away from the main room and do astonishing things with his lead guitar, while Jeff Cheers stands to his right, his rhythm guitar creating sweet harmonies. And behind both of them, Dave Berzonsky will wrap himself around his elegant stand-up bass and smile and nod as he creates the tapestry that his friends weave their magic on.
As you sit back and listen to the trio move seamlessly from gypsy to Latin to continental jazz, you are transported to a different time and place—a Parisian bistro in the 1930’s, or a New York City nightclub in the 1940’s. You half-expect Fred and Ginger to walk in and begin to dance. And who knows? Maybe tonight is the night that they actually do!
It’s too easy to say that the result is some of the finest acoustic jazz you’re going to hear anywhere. There’s more to it than that!
When Rick is not playing his guitar, he’s eating Mexican food, and he knows (from experience) that we serve better Mexican cuisine than any other deli/bakery in greater Batesville. At his request, Liza and Roberta are cooking up another epic All You Can Eat Mexican Buffet. Pass twelve dollars over the counter to yours truly and fill yourself up on this till your guitar string snaps:
Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales Three Ways, Roberta’s Award-Winning Chile, Burritos, Chimichangas, Pan-Fried Empanadas, Spicy Mac & Cheese, Black Bean & Jalapeno Ravioli, Shrimp Quesadillas, Taco Bar, Corn Bread, Beer Bread, Cactus Salsa, Guacamole & Chips, Cinnamon Ice Cream (with or without Hot Pepper Chocolate Sauce), Chipotle Brownies, and Mexican Wedding Cakes.
We will also be serving eight different wines and tapping two kegs. So come on down to the store Saturday evening. It’ll be dreamy.
--This Saturday, May 29, Eli’s coming! The absurdly talented Eli Cook will be ruling our world once again from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. A “legend in the making” (Guitar Edge Magazine) who “has what it takes to be the best blues singer of his generation” (AllMusic.com), Eli has opened for B.B. King, played top-tier blues clubs from New York to L.A., cut three CDs, and headlined numerous music festivals in the region. And to think: he actually plays at our modest establishment in the heart of the heart of nowhere.
Which leads to this week’s philosophical question:
Why?
The answer is quite simple, actually. Eli has a serious jones for our food... Which leads to a philosophical revelation:
We can’t help folks around here play the blues like Eli, but we can give ‘em the chance to eat like Eli. So we’ve put together a huge All You Can Eat Buffet of Eli’s Favorites. Slap twelve bucks on the front counter, grab a plate, and gobble on this heap of good stuff till your stomach sings the blues:
Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Smoked Ribs, Fried Chicken, Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Green Bean Casserole, Tuscany Bean Salad on Tossed Greens, Collards, Corn Bread, Watermelon, and Tiramisu.
To help you deal with all these artery-enriching substances, we’re tapping kegs of Blue Mountain Rockfish Wheat, a local delight, and Humboldt Hemp Ale, which has generated a lot of buzz since its arrival in the store a few weeks ago. We also have a great lineup of wines this week. So come on down to Eli’s world this Saturday evening and enjoy what’s cookin’!
--This Saturday, May 15, we’re hosting another monthly “meeting” of the Central Virginia Blues Society... but we’re trash-binning the PowerPoint slides, stashing the LED projector, and disabling the laser pointer. That’s because we know from experience that the twenty superfine musicians and singers from the area who will be heating up the Corner Lounge with Delta, Memphis, and Chicago blues don’t need any fancy-pants paraphernalia to work through their one-item agenda:
Play. The. Blues. Till. We’re. Blue. In. The. Face.
We also know from experience that when the CVBS pays us a visit, our store is the blues-rockingest commercial establishment in all of downtown Batesville. You can count on it! While the bluesers are jamming in the Corner Lounge, we’ll be putting out an All You Can Eat Mexican Extravaganza that is, as the kids like to say, “sick.” For twelve dollars, you can stand back and appreciate the majesty of this menu or, better yet, you can pile your plate high with massive quantities of it:
Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales Three Ways, Taco Bar with Five Fillings, Burritos with Spicy Mole Sauce, Shrimp Chimichangas, Black Bean & Jalapeno Ravioli, Spicy Mac & Cheese, Black Bean & Corn Casserole, Huevos Rancheros, Mexican Rice, Chili Two Ways, Cactus Salsa, Corn Bread, Beer Bread, Cinnamon Ice Cream with Hot Pepper Chocolate Sauce, Chipotle Brownies.
As if this weren’t enough, we will enhance the food processing process with kegs of Heineken and the amazing New Orleans-made Abita Amber Ale. I know, I know. We’re “sick.” And here for you. The music begins at 6:30. The food feast begins at 6:30. The fun begins at 6:30. I s’pose you could say that there’s a pattern here—but with one element missing. You. Complete it!
--This Saturday, May 8, from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Hod O’Brien and Jim Wray will be classing up our humble store once again. Generally regarded as the finest bebop pianist of his generation, Hod O’Brien has played with Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, and many other jazz giants, and for years he had his own jazz club in New York. (For more on Hod, check out www.hodobrien.com.) Now a resident of Greenwood, one of Batesville’s finest suburbs, Hod began playing “dueling pianos” with Jim Wray two years ago in the store—and the rest, as they say, is history. We feel very fortunate that Hod and Jim still find time in their busy touring schedules to stop by occasionally and do their thing for us.
And what a thing it is! When these two hep cats start jazzing it up, the music they make together is like Batesville Store ice cream on a warm brownie with chocolate sauce dribbled on top. Sweet!
Equally tasty will be Liza and Roberta’s gustatory masterpiece for Saturday night, an All You Can Eat Italian Feast. Fork over a mere twelve dollars then fork these items onto your plate:
Linguine with Clams
Chicken Alfredo
Lasagna
Penne Pasta in a Vodka Cream Sauce
Ravioli
Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Meatballs
Eggplant Rolitini
Italian Bread
Caesar Salad
Tossed Salad with Tuscany Beans and Artichokes
--This Saturday, May 1, if you just can’t get enough of Batesville Day, or if you can’t make it to the festivities in the morning and afternoon, fret not. We are extending the fun into the evening with a huge All You Can Eat Cookout and music from our great friends from the ‘hood, Second Draw. For a mere twelve bucks, you can fill your plate and fill it again (and again) with these grill-based Kyle-mastered goodies:
Half-Pound Burgers, Veggie Burgers, Hot Dogs, Italian Sausages, Chicken Breasts, Chicken Legs & Thighs, Veggie Kebobs
But wait. There’s more. For the same twelve dollars, you can heap on these contributions to the greater good of your stomach from Liza and Roberta:
Crab Cakes (if there are any left after I fulfill my role as the store’s quality control specialist), French Fries, Onion Rings, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Cookies
While you dine, the music will be fine. The Boys from Draw have been playing regularly in the store for two years, and it’s been a ton of fun watching their music evolve from straight bluegrass to neo-bluegrass to “blue-jam,” the term they now use to describe their exciting, free-flowing blend of Americana, alt-rock, and bluegrass. The shindig begins at 6:30 p.m. and ends around 9:00 p.m. We’ll have tables outside. So come on down to the store. We’ll be here for you.
--This Saturday, April 24, nosey on up to the store around 6:30 p.m.—and your proboscis starts twitching. You sniff. You sniff again, deeply. You smell it, right? That spicy sweet scent of caramelizing barbecue sauce. That wafting fragrance of seasoning blends. That intoxicating aroma of hickory-infused smoke.
Yes, you’ve just had a nose encounter with the store’s smokers, which are chock-full of baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, chicken breasts, chicken wings, salmon, and catfish. And I sense you nose why: We are having another bigger-than-Cyrano’s-beak All You Can Eat Barbecue Feast.
For the ridiculous price of 1200 scents, you can fill your plate with all of the above—and add a whole mess of grilled veggies, homemade cole slaw and potato salad, the world’s best mac & cheese, fresh-picked collards, kosher dills, and deviled eggs.
But wait. There’s more. We are here for you, as we always are, and we want to make sure that your ears are not neglected. So we’ve asked Bluzonia to inhabit the Corner Lounge for the evening and rile us up with their unique “hillbilly blues.” When Dave, Doug, John, and Arin are bringing it hot and the mysterious chanteuse who often sings with them turns up the heat even more, you know that you’re witnessing the ultimate in Batesville Cool.
--This Saturday, April 17, when you come in to our Store you will find yourself moving through our latest international food extravaganza, an All You Can Eat Asian Buffet. For ¥ 81.96, or 12.00 American dollars, you can pick up a pair of chopsticks and dine on this:
Dumplings, Spring Rolls & Egg Rolls,
Shrimp in Seaweed Cakes,
Firecracker Beef,
Cashew Pork,
Sweet & Sour Chicken,
Tofu Stir Fry,
Curry Shrimp,
Sesame Noodles,
Teriyaki Chicken,
Noodles with Mixed Delights in Oyster Sauce,
Fried Rice,
Spinach Salad with Asian Ginger Dressing,
Almond Cookies & Coconut Ice Cream,
Fortune Cookies
While you’re sticking food in your chops, bringing more than major chops to the Corner Lounge will be Failure to Yield. Featuring Batesville’s own Brad Bryant on guitar and vocals, this veteran quintet plays original tunes when they’re not covering music by Neil Young, Van Morrison, and other classic rock artists. When it comes to Brad and his buddies, Failure is definitely an option.
The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.
--This Saturday April, 10, take an evening to recover after a long week and head to The Store for one of our favorite regular events: The monthly “meeting” of the Central Virginia Blues Society.
Blues players from all over the region will be jamming into the Corner Lounge and jamming up a Spring storm’s worth of great blues tempered with a slight breeze of rock and occasional gusts of soul. If you haven’t been to one of these jams yet, get thee to the store Saturday. These folks bring it!
Not to be outdone on the plenitude of fun scale, Liza and Roberta are piling on with a ridiculous All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet featuring these ten different styles:
Four Cheese, Italian, Blanco, Mexican, Smoked Meats, Seafood Delights, Hawaiian, Greek, Philly Cheese Steak, and Veggie Veggie Veggie
For a minor outlay of twelve bucks, you can pile your plate high with pie, add a helping or eight of our House Salad or Caesar Salad, and top it all off with a few munchies from the dessert tray and a scoop of ice cream. We’re talking about plenty of plenitude here, folks!
The fun stuff begins at 6:30 p.m.—note the later time, please—and ends around 9:00 p.m. You know by now that you’ll be square if you aren’t there . . . ..
--This Saturday, April 3, spring will have sprung here in beautiful downtown Batesville. Temperatures are rising. And the fun promises to get downright sizzling Saturday night.
Wonderin’ why?
‘Cause we’re putting tables outside and having our first block party of the year!
Things will be heating up inside as well. Playing some seriously hot jazz and R & B licks in the Corner Lounge will be F.U.S.E., featuring the irrepressible Jim Wray on piano and trombone, Steve Michael Smith on guitar and vocals, Peter Matthews on bass, Brian Mesko on drums, and the legendary Darrell Rose on percussion.
Meanwhile, Liza and Roberta will be fancying things up with a smorgasbord of Amazing Appetizers, including crab cakes, bacon-wrapped medjool dates, polenta puffs, stuffed mushrooms, spinach balls, cajun meatballs, smoked sausage pigs-in-blankets, mini-quiches, bruschetta on crustini, endive boats, clam dip, and lots more. You can munch on all this till you can munch no more—and top it all off with a brownie (or ten) and a scoop of ice cream—for a mere twelve bucks.
Now that’s a sizzlin’ hot deal! So hot, in fact, that we’re bringing in kegs of Blue Mountain Classic Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to lower your temp.
So come on down to the hot town tonight. You’ll be square if you aren’t there.
--This Saturday, March 27 , it ‘s going to be a legendary evening at the store.
In the Corner Lounge will be Rusty Speidel and Tom Goodrich, two of the founding members of the legendary folk group SGGL, which began playing at local fraternity houses in the early 80’s, quickly became rising stars on the college and club circuit, and continue to perform before sold-out crowds at Wolf Trap and the Birchmere in D.C., Nashville's Blue Bird, Atlanta's Eddie's Attic, New York's Wetlands, and other venues up and down the East Coast.
Legends in their own right, Rusty and Tom play beautiful acoustic guitar together and share vocals on both classic folk covers and original tunes. Above all else, three decades into their careers together, they still perform with great good cheer and infectious enthusiasm. As Rusty recently told the C’ville Hook, “We love to play. As long as the audience is enjoying it as much as we are, there’s no reason to stop. It’s just a fun, reasonably humorous, approachable kind of show.”
We thought that it was only fitting to honor these two legends of the area’s music scene with a buffet of our own store legends—dishes that we never get tired of serving and our esteemed clientele never seems to tire of munching. For twelve dollars, you can eat till you can eat no more from this menu:
Chicken Pot Pie, Mac & Cheese, Jambalaya & Smoked Ribs,
BLATs, Reubens, Chicken Salad & Pulled Pork Barbecue – all on Liza’s homemade bread,
Quinoa Salad, Beets & Goat Cheese, Hummus & Deviled Eggs,
Apple Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mancatcher Brownies & Maple Walnut Ice Cream,
But wait. There’s more. We don’t want you to listen and dine on this special night without special liquid refreshment, so we’ll be tapping kegs of the Richmond-based Legend Brown Ale and Legend Lager. Was there really any other choice? The fun begins at 6:00 p.m.
--This Saturday, March 20, Hod O’Brien and Jim Wray play classic piano jazz together, which always makes for a special evening at the store.
If you do a Google search of Hod, you’ll read about his long career as the finest bebop pianist of his time. You’ll see that he’s played with Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, Kenny Burrell, and scores of other jazz giants over the years. You’ll discover that he’s cut eight CDs as a band leader and played as a sideman on more CDs than you can count. You’ll trace a performance history that has taken him from New York to LA to just about every other major city in the world. You’ll read reviews that describe him as “an extraordinary, distinguished musician” and a “quiet and true jazz giant” who is “revered by his peers.” If you come to see him play Saturday evening, you’ll also learn that words alone do not convey the serene, masterly joy he brings to his performances. Hod makes his piano sing.
Jim Wray, Batesville’s own keyboard master, began playing “dueling pianos” with Hod at the store two years ago, and now tours the region with Hod when he’s not fronting his own group, the Jim Wray Trio. Jim weaves his own distinctive style with Hod’s in ways that create an elegant tapestry of sound. The two make beautiful music together.
fancy soups and quichesthat will also include two different salads and a dessert bar featuring several of Liza’s most famous brownies and cookies. Eat till you fancy it’s time to stop for twelve dollars. The fun begins at six o’clock.
--This Saturday, March 6, is our new date for a fabulous, long anticipated music group, Batesville Produce. They were scheduled to make their world debut in our humble store on the last Saturday in January, but there was a spot of winter weather that weekend—remember?—that forced us to cancel the event and re-schedule it for this Saturday, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Yes, the Produce will be harvested this week!
Here’s what band member Peter LaBau, who has obviously been reading too many of my emails in the past year, has to say about them:
“Introducing Batesville Produce . . .
Batesville Produce is a freshly harvested band of heavily seasoned musicians all living in the Charlottesville area. Hydroponically grown to fill a coveted performing spot at the Batesville Store, the band features American acoustic roots music drenched in a thick southern sauce composed of the four basic food groups--bluegrass, old time country, western swing, and blues. This musical stew is concocted by four musicians. Jack Boylan cooks on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and vocals. Mary Beth Revak, song bird extraordinaire, channels a who's who of American stylists from Patsy Cline to Ma Rainey, while stirring in a heaping helping of her own vocal genius. Peter LaBau grills up sizzling banjo, dobro, guitar, and vocals. This Stew's base stock owes it all to Lew Burrus, every discerning musician’s first choice on the menu of area bass players. Jack, Mary Beth, and Lew are all key members of the locally renowned Acme Swing Manufacturing Company. Peter has participated in many a jam session at the Store. He returns with his musical compatriots to have their way with Cid and Liza's loyal patrons for another fabulous Saturday night food extravaganza. Be there!”
We thought that it’d be fun to match the band’s first public appearance with the debut of a new all-you-can eat buffet—“Viva Italia!” For a mere twelve American dollars, you can feast on manicotti, polenta, penne pasta in vodka cream sauce, chicken alfredo, clam linguine, eggplant rollatini, minestrone, Italian wedding soup, smoked pepper ravioli, and more.
We will enhance the feast with an assortment of adult beverages, including a couple of excellent Italian reds.
Need I say that you have to be there or be square? After all, it’s not every night that you can eat eggplant rollatini at a 130-year-old country store while kicking back to hydroponically grown music.
--This Saturday, February 27, The Central Virginia Blues Society will be calling their monthly meeting to order this Saturday evening at the store, and they have only one item on the agenda: Jam. The. Blues.
Twenty of the area’s finest blues players will be moving into and out of the Corner Lounge in groups of five or six, dishing a heap of Delta, Memphis, and Chicago blues spiced with healthy doses of blues rock and R & B. There’ll be no PowerPoint presentations at this meeting, just raucous consensus on one key issue:
They may call it the blues, but that doesn’t mean it won’t make you feel soooo good.
Since this is a friendly, down-home meeting, Liza and Roberta feel that it’s only appropriate to have a Pot Luck Dinner. But never fear. We’ll provide all the food—and the pots to put them in. All you have to do is plunk down twelve bucks, grab a plate, and dine on these classic “bring a dish” dishes until you are blue in the face:
-Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, and Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes
-Mac & Cheese and Creamed Spinach
-Tuna Casserole with a Potato Chip Topping
-Green Bean Casserole and Cheese Bake with Broccoli
-Yankee Doodle Noodles
-Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, and Jello Salad
-Deviled Eggs and Cornbread
As usual, we will also be tapping a couple of kegs and pouring from our list of eight different wines.
And as usual, the fun begins at 6:00 p.m. and will end around 9:00 p.m.
--This Sunday, February 28, playing from 1-4pm, Big Boss Sausage & The Pacifist of Fury, a New Jersey-based band on its annual East Coast tour, is stopping by the store for an afternoon of musical hijinx. Calling themselves “Iceland’s Favorite Band,” this group of musical post-modernists blend absurdly clever lyrics with a bit of performance art and straight-to-the-heart acoustic blues, Americana, and what they call “FO-CO-RO-PU”—folk, country, rock, and, well, something smelly. Here’s the way one recent reviewer describes their performances:
“Their live shows are hilarious, high energy, soul bearing experiences that typically make the audience laugh, cry, think, and wonder why. Have you seen the Sausage and the Pacifist? You won’t know what didn’t hit you!”
A group like this deserves a special tribute from the store, and we’re providing it in the form of cheap beer. We’ll be tapping Pabst Blue Ribbon for FIVE BUCKS A PITCHER and Starr Hill Jomo for TEN BUCKS A PITCHER. They’re a class act, and so are we.
--This Saturday, February 20. Le Boeuf Gras has been consumed. Lundi Gras . . . c’est finis. The King of Rex has paraded by. Tuesday is no longer Fat, and the gumbo ya-ya of street parties has given way to the low hum of business as usual. Word has it that even the Super Bowl parties are finally winding down.
The City That Care Forgot is taking a nap. But that doesn’t mean our appreciation of all things New Orleans, particularly in this month of Mardis Gras and football history, has waned. To prove it, we’re putting out a Mardis Gras Buffet that would make a denizen of Da Quarter proud. For a mere $12.00 (fo true!), you can pass a good time feasting on these classic Crescent City dishes:
Jambalaya with Shrimp, Sausage & Chicken, Veggie Jambalaya, Cajun Catfish, Andouille Sausage, Crawfish Ravioli with Red Sauce, Seafood Gumbo, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice, N’awlins Muffuletta Sandwiches, Maque Chox Corn, Creole-Style Cheese Grits, Cajun Candied Yams & Apples, Yam Biscuits, Corn Bread, and King Cake.
If just reading the menu makes you thirsty, fear not. In addition to our usual assortment of wines and bottled beers, we will be tapping a keg of New Orleans-brewed Abita Amber Ale.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a tribute to the Birthplace of Jazz without . . . well, some jazz. Bringing it big and easy will be the Jim Wray Trio, featuring Batesville’s own Jim Wray on piano and trombone; Steve Smith on guitar and vocals; and local legend Darrell Rose on drums.
So come on down to the store Saturday evening . . . . et laissez le bon temp rouler!
-- This Saturday, February 13, the inimitable Rick Olivarez Trio will be in the Corner Lounge, beguiling us with their acoustic jazz stylings. Whether raising our blood pressure with their technical expertise or seducing us with their rich harmonies, the trio evoke champagne cocktails, cigarettes in ivory holders, and soft kisses slyly stolen when the lights are turned down low. Don’t be surprised if Rick and Ilsa show up for the second set.
Not to be outdone, Liza and Roberta are putting together a buffet of “Fancy Finger Food” redolent of a private reception at the Hotel Claridge in Paris circa 1933. For a mere twelve dollars, you can enjoy endive boats with goat cheese, crab cakes, polenta puffs, mini-quiches, bacon-wrapped medjool dates, artichoke fritatta, and six other delectable delights. Included in the price is a dessert tray of seductive sweet treats. Meanwhile, yours truly will be tapping a bit of love—Starr Hill’s The Love, to be precise—and popping the cork on the amazing Virginia sparkling wine, Thibaut-Janisson. So you will be our Valentine? We knew you didn’t have the heart to resist! The party begins at six o’clock, and goes through nine.
--This Saturday, January 30, **weather permitting**, we are presenting a double-decker treat for our weekly evening House Party.
A fabulous new music group, Batesville Produce, will be making their world debut in our humble store. Here’s what band member Peter LaBau, who has obviously been reading too many of my emails in the past year, has to say about them:
“Introducing Batesville Produce . . .
Batesville Produce is a freshly harvested band of heavily seasoned musicians all living in the Charlottesville area. Hydroponically grown to fill a coveted performing spot at the Batesville Store, the band features American acoustic roots music drenched in a thick southern sauce composed of the four basic food groups--bluegrass, old time country, western swing, and blues. This musical stew is concocted by four musicians. Jack Boylan cooks on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and vocals. Mary Beth Revak, song bird extraordinaire, channels a who's who of American stylists from Patsy Cline to Ma Rainey, while stirring in a heaping helping of her own vocal genius. Peter LaBau grills up sizzling banjo, dobro, guitar, and vocals. This Stew's base stock owes it all to Lew Burrus, every discerning musician’s first choice on the menu of area bass players. Jack, Mary Beth, and Lew are all key members of the locally renowned Acme Swing Manufacturing Company. Peter and Jack are flavored with 40 years of performances with area bluegrass groups, and have participated in many a jam session at the Store. They return with their musical compatriots to have their way with Cid and Liza's loyal patrons for another fabulous Saturday night food extravaganza. Be there!”
If you’re like me, just reading this blurb has made you hungry. Fear not. Liza and Roberta plan to match the band with some serious produce of their own: an All You Can Eat buffet of fancy quiches and soups, plus homemade rolls and two different tossed salads. Eat elegantly but comprehensively for twelve dollars. Yours truly will be tapping Blue Moon Belgian White and Starr Hill Jomo Lager and pouring eight different wines by the glass.
Need I say that you have to be there or be square? After all, it’s not every night that you get to eat quiche at a 130-year-old country store while kicking back to hydroponically grown music.
--This Saturday, January 23, the blues-a-rockin’ dudes of Bluzonia will be bluesing and rocking in the Corner Lounge. In their previous three appearances in the store, Dave, Doug, John, and that kid on bass came at us with a bit of Delta and Chicago blues, a dose of jazz, a hint of swing, a measure of country—and a heaping barrel full of musical fun. Expect the same Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, we are going to put out a seriously ridiculous spread of smoked baby back ribs, chicken, sausage, salmon, and catfish. And pulled pork barbecue. And grilled veggies. And mac & cheese. And baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, corn muffins, and dill pickles. Had enough? No? Then go ahead and get some more. It’s All You Can Eat. And it only costs ya twelve bucks (eight dollars for kids under 10).
To help you deal with all the music and food, I’ve arranged for our esteemed local beer distributors to drop off a keg of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a keg of St. George Porter. They do treat us well, don’t they?
As usual, there is no cover charge. But we would like to pass the hat around for donations to the Haiti relief effort. The money we collect will go to Doctors Without Borders, the relief group chosen by Lesly Gourdet, a native of Haiti, long-time teacher at Western Albemarle High School, and great friend of the store who has played his stand-up bass here many times.
So come on down to Batesville Saturday evening and help us put a smile back on the building!
2009
--Our last Saturday evening event of the year features the local acoustic folk legends Bahlmann Abbott and Thomas Gunn. Bahlmann, whose latest CD Falling in Place is heard regularly in the store, draws on the story-telling tradition of his native West Virginia to create songs about family and friendship. A ridiculously versatile guitar-picker and singer, Bahlmann has appeared on the renowned Mountain Stage radio show and has played all over the region.
Thomas is European-reared but an American music master through and through. He has hitchhiked over most of the country, learning regional music and blending it all into a unique sound that has won kudos both locally and nationally. His CD, Sleeping Giants, combines timeless ballads and acoustic pop songs with smart lyrics and elegant melodies.
Bahlmann and Thomas, good friends and near-neighbors, began collaborating earlier this year and have created new music that combines the best of both artists. They are bringing their unique sound to the store for the first time. We certainly hope that it won’t be their last.
They will begin playing around 7:30 p.m. There is no cover charge.
We will be serving light dinners and snacks from a limited deli and dessert menu. I’ll be tapping kegs of Yuengling and Blue Mountain Lights Out, and we’ll have our usual selection of great wines by the glass.
--This Saturday, December 5, from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Sue Chase and Nancy Maxson will hold their semi-annual art and jewelry show in the store.
Sue specializes in original jewelry designs with antique, vintage and modern beads. Her work is on permanent display in the store’s glass-fronted jewelry case, but Saturday she’ll have many more original pieces with an emphasis on great holiday gift choices.
Nancy’s delicate water colors are permanently on display in “Nancy’s Corner” by the front window, and her charming, cleverly designed greeting cards are in several places throughout the store. She plans to bring in several new water colors as well as holiday cards, earrings and assorted other gift items.
If you are looking for a reasonably priced present from “the neighborhood,” you’ll definitely want to drop by the store Saturday and check out Sue and Nancy’s lovely art work.
--This Sunday, November 29, a fabulous new trio, Trifecta, will be playing in the store from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. With Lesly Gourdet on bass and Jason Collier on guitar, the trio features the astonishing voice of Tara Mills, who sings classic folk music as if she were born to it. This is an opportunity to “be there” for a groundbreaking performance by a local group that promises to become “the next big thing” in the area’s acoustic music scene.
--This Saturday evening, November 28, we will provide a bit of yang to Thanksgiving Day’s yin, balancing the Great American Gobble-Fest with some lighter fare—a buffet featuring seven different kinds of quiche and five different kinds of soup as well as a Caesar salad and a tossed salad. Dine lightly until you can dine no more for ten dollars ($7.50 for kids).
Music will be provided by the inimitable Rick Olivarez Trio, the astonishing jazz masters who mesmerized us a few weeks ago in their debut performance in the store. Whether evoking classic guitar-based jazz in the tradition of Django Reinhart or covering modern standards, the trio, as The Hook puts it, is not only “fascinating to listen to but a great accompaniment to dinner or a romantic evening with wine and lighter fare.”
We’ll have St. George Porter and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap, and we’ll be pouring eight different wines from Virginia and around the world.
The affair runs from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
--This Saturday, September 4, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., classing up the Wine Cellar will be Laura Wortman, who grew up two miles from the store, and her husband Kagey Parrish, otherwise known as The Honey Dewdrops.
The winners of The Prairie Home Companion’s “People in Their Twenties” national talent show in 2008, Laura and Kagey tour nationally when they aren’t hanging out at their home in the area, and they have wowed audiences and critics alike in venues small and large with their distinctively original music. When they played here last September, their melancholy-as-mountain-mist harmonies and deeply felt lyrics seemed to etch permanent smiles on the faces of an incredibly appreciative crowd. It was a magical evening in our humble little store.
We thought that it was only fitting to complement these local kids made good with a big taste of our own contribution to the local movement—our food. Drawing on the “feed”-back from our friends in the greater Batesville metropolitan area, we have put together an All You Can Eat Local Favorites Buffet that features our most popular original productions. Localize fourteen American-style dollars on the front counter and fill your plate with these classic Batesville Store goodies:
Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Smoked Spareribs
Jambalaya with Veggies, Sausage, or Chicken
Sweet Potato Curry with Shrimp, Pulled Pork Barbecue
Mac & Cheese, Veggie Quiche, Chicken Salad
Smoked Chicken Salad, Tuscany Bean Salad, Creamy Cole Slaw
Quinoa Salad, Beet & Goat Cheese Salad, Deviled Eggs
Crescent Rolls, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Apple Pie
Cinnamon Vanilla Ice Cream, Brownies Four Ways
While you’re listening and munching, you won’t want to forget to support the other local products available Saturday night: Blue Mountain Brewery’s Tribute IPA and a wine list that features whites and reds from vineyards within minutes of the store. So honeys, dew drop in Saturday evening for a celebration of all things local. You’ll see why folks around here seldom feel the need to travel to big cities like Charlottesville and Crozet for music, food, and all-around good times.
Past Events:
--This Thursday, September 2, we’re going to be suffering another serious case of the blues in downtown Batesville, and our smile is as big as one of Liza’s legendary chocolate chip cookies.
Mississippi Conjure returns to our humble joint. Featuring Jack Roy on guitar, Andy Burdetsky on bass, Jason Ward on drums, and Wave Milor on harmonica and lead vocals, MSC dishes out a zesty stew of Mississippi Hill Country blues flavored with a few dashes of Chicago Electric and a heaping spoonful of Son House. Whenever they play at the store, they conjure up some real-live, escape-it-you-will-not music voodoo.
While your ears ingest the stew of blues, you can allow your mouth to engage in the food implementation function known as The Batesville Store’s somewhat renowned Thursday evening Burgers and Fries Cookout. Kyle will be managing the Big Ugly as usual, charbroiling up half-pound burgers, Roberta’s homemade veggie burgers, chicken, hot dogs, and Italian sausages. We’ll also be laying out French fries, onion rings, the universe’s best mac & cheese, baked beans, and several deli salads. If you’re on the outs with cookouts, you can order from our regular deli menu.
Word has it that there might also be a couple of kegs hanging around, daring someone to tap them. Your intrepid store owner feels that he’s up to the challenge. The conjurin’ begins about 6:30 p.m. and ends about 9:00 p.m. Why not avoid being square by simply being there?
--This Saturday, August 28th, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., the inimitable Dallas Wesley & The Lost Highway Band will be playing here—yes, right here--in our humble store in Remotesville, VA.
Yes, that Dallas Wesley . . . the kid whose uncanny portrayal of Hank Williams in the hit play Hank Williams: Lost Highway received universal kudos from theater-goers and critics alike. Wow-wow! And yes, that band . . . the group whose four members—Dan Sebring, Thomas Gunn, Jeffrey Justice, and Bahlmann Abbot—also earned universal applause for their performance as The Drifting Cowboys, Williams’ backup band. Wow-wow-wowsers!
I guess you could say that I’m pretty doggone excited about our music this Saturday evening. It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to listen to a group which gets these kinds of reviews:
“The band could turn even a confirmed jazz lover into a country music fan.” - The Culpeper Star-Exponent
“An all-star band that’s bound to bring you to your feet and have you singing all night long.” - WTJU Radio
“For anyone who cares about the roots of authentic American music, the presentation of Hank Williams’ immortal songs hits the mark.” - The C’ville Weekly
“I was at the opening night performance of [the play] and enjoyed it very much. All of the musicians were top-notch.” - Mary Chapin Carpenter
Dallas and his four buddies usually play in venues with steep cover charges or hefty admissions fees. With that in mind, we feel that we should charge . . . well, nothing. As we always do. So come early and stay late. You won’t want to miss a single song.
Nor a single dish from our All You Can Eat Southern Classics Buffet. (You didn’t expect an all you can eat New England classics buffet , did you?) Swing by the front counter, slap down 14 authentic American bucks, pick up a classic American plastic plate, then fill ‘er up with any or all of the following:
Fried Chicken, Chicken Fried Steak, Fried Catfish, Baked Ham, Pulled Pork Barbecue
Southern Veggies au Gratin, Mama’s Candied Yams & Apples, Green Bean Casserole, Baked Cheese Grits
Cole Slaw, Creamed Corn, Black-Eyed Peas
Ambrosia Salad, Coca-Cola Jello Salad, Yam Biscuits, Corn Bread Muffins
Peach Cobbler, Coca-Cola Cake, Shoo-Fly Pie, Vanilla Ice Cream
For those of you who might want to drop a tear in your beer in Hank’s honor, we will be tapping two kegs. So don’t sit home Saturday feeling so lonely you could cry. Move it on over to the store instead and participate in an evening of classic American music and food that could warm even the coldest of a cold, cold heart.
--This Saturday, August 21, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. school may still be out in the real world, but class will be in session at The Store. And what a classy class it promises to be! The inimitable pianists Hod O’Brien and Jim Wray return to the Wine Cellar for another evening of classic jazz. These two keyboard masters carry great wisdom in their fingers, and the music they make is always a seminar in how unique artists can mesh their individual talents to create both provocative tonal contrasts and elegant harmonies. Come and learn. It’ll be the most fun class you’ve taken in ages.
Never one to be schooled in the fine arts, Roberta has created a fancy All You Can Eat Quiche & Salad Buffet that is as sophisticated as it is inventive. For a tuition fee of only twelve dollars, learn why even unreal men eat quiche at The Batesville Store by experiencing this advanced seminar in food combinations:
Seafood Quiche with Crab, Shrimp, Asparagus, Goat Cheese & Parmesan
Ham & Prosciutto Quiche with Leeks & Gruyere
Chicken & Broccoli Quiche with Blue Cheese
Spinach & Mushroom Quiche with Roasted Tomato & Asiago
Roasted Red Pepper & Olive Quiche with Feta & Rosemary
Local Summer Squash Quiche with Tomatoes & Goat Cheese
Mexican Quiche with Homemade Chorizo Sausage & Queso Fresco
Quiche Lorraine
Caesar Salad
Spinach Salad with Bacon, Apple, Eggs & Blue Cheese
Oregano & Endive Salad with Nuts, Cranberries & Goat Cheese
Mixed Artisan Greens with Local Vegetables
Crescent Rolls
French Bread
Brownie Sundaes
For your educational edification only, you will also have the opportunity to discern the differences between varieties of beer--thanks to kegs of Blue Mountain Classic Lager, The Love from Starr Hill, and Smutty Nose IPA—and varietals of wine, including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Zinfandel, Shiraz and four more vino styles. This will be one multiple choice test that you will probably enjoy taking. So come on down to our humble one-room schoolhouse this Saturday evening. It will be a truly classy experience.
--This Saturday, we believe in serendipity at The Batesville Store, if only because the word itself sounds just right for a reality-defying emporium at the intersection of Oz and Shangri-la.
So too must Rusty Speidel, Thomas Gunn, and Mike Clem, three brilliant local musicians who ran across each other by happenstance a year ago, decided to play some tunes together for the fun of it, and—voila!—became Rusty Speidel & Friends, an astonishing marriage of folk/rock/bluegrass talent who will be playing in our humble store this Saturday evening, August 14, from 6:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
You probably know each of these fine players individually. Rusty is the capital “S” of the legendary C’ville folk group SGGL, a masterly guitarist and singer who has played just about every venue on the East Coast, including Wolf Trap, the Birchmere, and Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic. When Rusty played here last March with his good buddy Tom Goodrich (the first “G”), the store was a truly gleeful place. Thomas also played at the store a few months ago, blending the best of regional folk and bluegrass into a unique sound that brought a hugely positive response from his audience. He demonstrated what can happen when a terrific artist is at the top of his game—musical magic. And then there’s Mike, a great good friend of the store who has played with The Pollocks here in Serendipityville. When he’s not doing his thing at the store, he works as the bassist for Eddie from Ohio, which has been named the best folk group in the mid-Atlantic by the Washington Area Music Association. These three artists have played numerous gigs across the region since their fortuitous meeting, meshing their distinctive styles and individual artistry into a sound that I can’t quite describe in words. Which means that you’ll have to come to the store this Saturday, listen to them, and find your own words!
While you grasp for words, you’ll also have the chance to grasp a huge plate-load of food from our All You Can Eat Barbecue Blast. For the lean and mean price of twelve American-style dollars, you can dine on these classic “que”goodies:
Smoked Ribs, Sausage & Chicken, Smoked Blue Marlin,
Pulled Pork Barbecue, Grilled Veggie Kabobs,
Artichoke Frittata, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans,
Corn Bread, Corn on the Cob, Deviled Eggs,
Cole Slaw, Potato Salad & Dill Pickles.
For music and food augmentation purposes only, we will be drawing on kegs of Blue Mountain Classic Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Smutty Nose IPA. Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that you will be totally square unless you are totally there?
--This Saturday, August 7th, we’re having an All You Can Eat Pizza Party from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.—and you’re invited! Swing by the front counter, plunk down a mere TEN BUCKS for adults and SIX BUCKS for kids under 10, pick up a plate, head to the spread, and dine on these classic pizza styles till ya-bout-ta-bust-a-seam:
Four Cheese
Veggie Delights
Cajun
Philly Cheese Steak
Italian
Greek
Smoked Meats
Blanco
You’ll want to save room on your plate for a heapin’ mound of tossed salad or Caesar Salad. And be forewarned: there will be somewhat significant quantities of Liza’s signature chocolate chip cookies available with the meal. Bust. A. Seam.
I know that you are now pondering a philosophical question: Can it really be a pizza party without rock music? No, it can’t.
That’s why we’ve invited ClassX to play in the Wine Cellar for the first time. Featuring local legend Lesly “Monsieur ” Gourdet on bass, John Sentell on drums, Drew Kimball on lead guitar, and Jerry Eck on just about everything else, the X boys have generated enormous buzz in the area for their easy-listening blend of classic and Southern rock. Think Cream jamming Beatles tunes with the Allman Brothers. How could you even imagine being so square as not to be there?
--This Saturday, July 31st, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m., A month of buffets featuring great international cuisine, aka “The Inter-Continental Yummilicious Tour,” concludes this Saturday evening, with a back-by-greater-Batesville-acclaim All You Can Eat Asian Feast. We’ll be going stir (fry) crazy fixing up the items below, which you can access and mouth-process through the simple act of plunking twelve bucks (¥ 81.96) on the front counter and grabbing a plate:
Dumplings, Spring Rolls, Egg Rolls, Shrimp & Seaweed Cakes,
Firecracker Beef, Pork with Cashews, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Tofu Stir Fry,
Yum Yum Shrimp, Sesame Noodles, Teriyaki Chicken, Mixed Veggie Delights in Ginger Sauce,
Fried Rice, Spinach Salad with Asian Soy Dressing, Almond Cookies & Coconut Ice Cream,
& Fortune Cookies.
Open your fortune cookie and it will doubtless say that great music is to be found where you eat. That’s because Failure to Yield will be returning to the Wine Cellar. Featuring Batesville’s own Brad Bryant on guitar and vocals, this quintet of veteran musicians mixes original tunes with supremely groovy covers of Neil Young, Van Morrison, and other classic rock artists. When Brad and his buddies play at the store, Failure is inevitable.
--This Saturday, July 24th, from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. it’s all about the new in the old store. Making their debut in the Wine Cellar will be the unruly dudes of Strange Attractor. A blues-based rock band with a streak of garage grunge about them, Strange features three adults who have never quite grown up: Mark Williams on guitar, Darrell Wiley on drums, and Batesville urban core resident Stuart Berr on bass. They all sing, they all play with a polite rudeness, they all have more fun than respectable members of the community should be having. In my humble opinion, that makes them just right for our dainty and proper establishment.
While Stuart and his peeps are bringing new sounds to the joint, our head cook Roberta and her good friends in the kitchen will be debuting a buffet as varied and richly seasoned as a Saturday evening crowd at The Batesville Store . . . an All You Can Eat Indian Feast. Plunk down twelve bucks and make your mouth a milan for these amazing dishes:
Sweet Potato & Apple Curry, Jammu Lamb in Masala, Palak Paneer, Matar Paneer,
Coconut Chicken Curry with Cashews, Shrimp Patai, Vegetable Vindaloo, Dahl,
Beef Kabobs, Raita, Pickled Onions, Tomato Salad, Nan, & Mango Ice Cream.
Just reading the above menu makes me hungry—and thirsty. So thirsty, in fact, that if it were Saturday evening right now, I’d be stopping by the front counter and asking Callum, our adult beverage needs manager, for a cup of Abita Amber Ale or Terrapin IPA on tap. Then again, I might seek his assistance with a glass of wine from our list of eight whites and reds.
The forecast is for sizzling heat Saturday evening. It’ll probably be almost as hot outside the store. You will be there . . .or you will be square.
--This Saturday, July 17, from 6:30 p.m. till at least 9:00 p.m. the Central Virginia Blues Society holds its monthly “meeting” at our store. More than a dozen of the area’s finest blues players will rile the joint with high-energy Delta, Memphis, and Chicago blues heavily spiced with classic rock and R & B. They’ll be mouth-harping and guitaring and vocalizing and horning till we feel the blues so strong, it’s like eating one of Liza’s chocolate chip cookies in one bite. What delightful excess!
As if the CVBS’s feast for the ears weren’t enough, we’re also offering a feast for the mouth, an All You Can Eat Italian Buffet. For twelve dollars, you can tip the needle of your inner excessometer by dining on this:
Meat Lasagna & Four Cheese Lasagna, Penne Pasta in Vodka Sauce, Grilled Eggplant,
Shells Stuffed with Ricotta & Spinach, Shrimp Alfredo with Mushrooms, Chicken Cacciatore,
Polenta with Veggie Sauce or Meat Sauce, Linguine with Clams,
Spaghetti with Italian Sausage & Meatballs, Ravioli in Tomato Sauce,
Caesar Salad, Tossed Salad with Fancy Italian Toppings, Focaccia Bread,
Italian Hard-Crust Bread, Gelato, & Tiramasu.
Let’s review. Great music? Check. Awesome food? Check. Excessive fun? Check and double check! Don’t even dare to be square . . . Be there!
--This Saturday, July 10th, 6.30 - 9.00 p.m... Ah, those white-hot summer nights. It’s been more toasty than a strip mall parking lot in a suburb of Hades all day--and it’s still steamy enough to make your eyebrows sweat. The temperature and the humidity have met the Devil at the crossroads, and He’s matched them up like dirty-dancing teens at an after-prom pool party. You want to kick back and chill but wonder how you’re going to make that happen. And then you realize:
The real world may be dishing the heat, but The Batesville Store on a Saturday night always brings it cool. Especially when the great Eli Cook is riling things up with his astonishing solo acoustic blues. Eli will be climbing onto his stool at our new music space, The Wine Cellar, and doing his inimitable guitar-and-voice-of-a-seventy-year-old-Delta-bluesman thing. He will stomp on his guitar case to create his own percussion section, he will drop his head to his guitar neck as if whispering sweet nothings to it, he will avert his eyes from the crowd as if knowing that the effect he’s having is not quite pure. And when he finishes, we’ll all shake our heads and realize that sometimes a music dude can be so hot, he’s cool. Eli Cool.
If there’s nothing cooler at the store than Eli heating things up, a close second has to be our All You Can Eat Mexican Buffet. For the hefty price tag of 120 dimes (or 48 quarters), you can feast on the following till your stomach politely but sternly asks you to cease and desist:
Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales Three Ways, and a Taco Bar with Five Fillings,
Burritos with Spicy Mole Sauce, Shrimp Chimichangas, and Beef Empanadas,
Chili Two Ways, Black Bean & Corn Casserole, and Mexican Potatoes with Peppers,
Spicy Mac & Cheese, Cactus Salsa, Mango Salsa, Corn Bread, and Beer Bread,
Cinnamon Ice Cream with Hot Pepper Chocolate Sauce,
Chipotle Brownies and Mexican Wedding Cakes.
We know that asking you to take in Eli and our Mexican food extravaganza in one sitting is asking a lot. To help you make it through the evening, we will be tapping kegs of Brooklyn Lager and Smutty Nose IPA and uncorking several terrific red and white wines. We’re here for you.
As the great worldly philosopher and Eli muse Jimi Hendrix once said, “Where are you on this ah hot cold summer? Where are you on this ah hot cold summer? Where are you on this ah hot cold summer night?”
You’re at The Batesville Store on this coming hot cold summer Saturday night. If you’re cool . . . .
--This Saturday, July 3rd, from 6.30 - 9.00pm Liza and Roberta will be showing off their patriotic bona fides with their latest food extravaganza, an All You Can Eat All-American Buffet. Plunk down twelve bucks (six dollars for kids) and chow down on these “Made in America” classics:
Fried Chicken, Franks & Beans, Sloppy Joes, and Pepperoni Pizza, Veggie Spaghetti and Cheese Pizza, Ann Landers’ Spinach Casserole, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Tater Tots, Doris Day’s Potato Salad and Roberta’s Three Bean Salad, Waldorf Salad and Caesar Salad, Deviled Eggs, Red, White, and Blue Jello Salad, Red (Cherry), White (Apple) & Blue (Blueberry) Pies, Bonnie Blair’s Peanut Butter Cookies, Liza’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Vanilla Ice Cream.
While you are exercising your freedom as an American to gobble massive loads of food without fear of government restraint, our favorite teen band The Wave, fronted by our hometown’s own Willie DE, will be demonstrating the self-evident truth that when the kids come to play, the store rocks away. As if their usual musical pyrotechnics weren’t enough, the Wavers will also be launching their latest CD Saturday evening with a preview of some of the new tunes and special pre-release CDs at a bargain price. Ah, the entrepreneurial spirit—it’s as American as . . . well, the Fourth of July, or some other day close to the Fourth.
Wait. There’s more. Local gossips are spreading the word that there might be fireworks in the neighborhood toward the end of the evening. Are these rumored fireworks the literal or the figurative kind? I s’pose you’ll have to venture down to Batesville to find out for yourself! Be here. It’s your patriotic duty.
--This Saturday, June 26th, from 6.30 - 9.00 p.m. it’s Mardi Gras at The Batesville Store! Wait... I know what you’re thinking: The mad webmaster from The Batesville Store has finally gone over the cliff. Mardi Gras is in February, and here he is in June, announcing . . . well, Mardi Gras! But you see, we don’t really subscribe to the conventional time measurements here in Batesville. We follow FST, or fun standard time. As in, “If it’s fun, it’s time for it.” And since we had so much fun last February when we held our first Mardi Gras party, we’ve decided that the time has come to laissez les bon temps rouler again.
And what a roll it’ll be when you plunk down twelve bucks, pick up a plate, and pass a good time feasting on this Mardi Gras in June Buffet:
Shrimp Cakes, Jambalaya with Veggies and Jambalaya with Shrimp, Sausage & Chicken, Crayfish Ravioli with Creole Sauce, Cajun Catfish, Creole Smoked Chicken Seafood Gumbo with Chicken, Crab, Oysters & Shrimp, Muffuletta Sandwiches on Authentic Muffuletta Bread, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice with Veggies and Louisiana Red Beans & Rice with Andouille Sausage, Maque Chox Corn, Cajun Candied Yams and Apples, Creole Style Cheese Grits, Yam Biscuits, Corn Bread, Louisiana Crunch Cake, Bayou Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce, Homemade Pralines and Cream Ice Cream
Meanwhile, while you are feasting, we’re also going to let the good sounds roll! Bringing the jazz big and easy will be the Jim Wray Trio, featuring Jim Wray on piano and trombone, Peter Matthews on guitar, and the incandescent jazz vocalist Susanne Fitzgerald. When Jim’s trio plays at the store, Bourbon Street is a kiddy cocktail compared to Plank Road. So come on down to the store Saturday night, throw down and shake your funky feathers loose.
--This Saturday, June 19th, escape our current heat wave by kicking back to the ultra-cool sounds of the ridiculously talented teenage music star, Willie Denton-Edmundson. Willie DE has played numerous times in the store as the front man and lead guitarist for The Wave, the white-hot rock and roll band, but in his first set Saturday evening he’ll be mixing things up a bit, gathering a few of his friends from the local music scene for some seriously sick jazz-funk-fusion licks.
Willie will then go into “Wave Mode,” ending the evening with classic rock and roll. Word has it that a couple of more friends who also happen to be members of the region’s most famous band not named DMB will be joining Willie for this set. If they weren’t so cool, these guys might heat things up so much that they’d set trees on fire all over the neighborhood.
While Willie and his buddies are making your ears happy, we’ll be doing all we can do to make your stomach happy. For the seriously sick price of twelve bucks, you can get down on this All You Can Eat Barbecue Feast:
Smoked Spareribs, Smoked Polish Kielbasa,, Smoked Blue Marlin,
Smoked Chicken Breasts, Drumsticks and Wings, Pulled Pork Barbecue,
Grilled Veggie Kabobs, Artichoke Frittata, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Corn on the Cob,
Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Corn Muffins, Dill Pickles, Deviled Eggs, & Watermelon
For music and food augmentation purposes only, we will also be tapping kegs of Blue Mountain Full Nelson Pale Ale and Yuengling Lager and pouring six great wines by the glass. The fun begins at 6:30 p.m. and lasts till about 9:00 p.m. Be here, ya hear!
--This Saturday, June 12, from 6.30 - 9 p.m.. As purveyors of Batesville’s swinest pork spareribs and pulled pork barbecue, we feel that we know good pig when we see it. So we can state with our usual humble confidence that there will be some seriously excellent pork product in the Corner Lounge this Saturday evening. Hog, actually.
As in the iconic Charlottesville band, The Hogwaller Ramblers, who are playing in the store for the first time. Soo-weeeet! There is a lot that can be said about the Hogs, but nothing quite compares to how they say it. So here they are, squealin’ for themselves:
“Composed of some of the finest musicians in the area and a guy that scratches doggerel because it itches, we pull in blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, rock ’n’ roll, classical and funk . . . infused with our own neuroses.”
“We've traveled extensively through Albemarle County. In addition to Fellini’s on Sunday nights, many funerals, wakes, Bar Mitzvahs, polo matches and sewage treatment plant openings have all been blessed by our presence. We like to stick close to home, but out of town gigs have included some side stage work for a local band called DMB, and once we played at a friend's house in North Carolina. She was a great cook.”
“Our show can be laid back and funky . . . or rocking, if we get a nap that afternoon.”
“We play American music, dammit!”
While the Hogs holler in the corner, you will have the chance to pig out at our All You Can Eat Southern Classics Buffet. Pork over twelve bucks and you can boar into this artery-enhancing trough of food:
Fried Chicken, Baked Ham, Pulled Pork Barbecue, Chicken Fried Steak & Fried Catfish
Collards, Candied Yams and Apples, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Mac & Cheese, Corn Bread Muffins & Yam Biscuits
Ambrosia Fruit Salad, Coca Cola Jello Salad, Watermelon, Peach Cobbler, Shoo Fly Pie, Vanilla Ice Cream, Peach Ice Cream & Sweet Tea
After you’ve larded up your plate, you’ll want to hoof it over to the front counter and do that special food-augmentation exercise we like to call “ordering beer or wine.” We have eight great wines on our list and two kegs, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Yuengling Lager, both of which I’d like to pig-pun on but can’t quite find the words to do it. So ramble on down to the store Saturday evening and waller in the fun. I promise you that it won’t be a pig in a poke.
--This Saturday, June 5th, there will be a certain special something floating in the air around 6.30 - 9 pm when The Rick Olivarez Trio performs in the store’s Corner Lounge. It’s hard to describe it because it is felt but not quite palpable—present but not quite real. Rick will sit on a stool slightly turned away from the main room and do astonishing things with his lead guitar, while Jeff Cheers stands to his right, his rhythm guitar creating sweet harmonies. And behind both of them, Dave Berzonsky will wrap himself around his elegant stand-up bass and smile and nod as he creates the tapestry that his friends weave their magic on.
As you sit back and listen to the trio move seamlessly from gypsy to Latin to continental jazz, you are transported to a different time and place—a Parisian bistro in the 1930’s, or a New York City nightclub in the 1940’s. You half-expect Fred and Ginger to walk in and begin to dance. And who knows? Maybe tonight is the night that they actually do!
It’s too easy to say that the result is some of the finest acoustic jazz you’re going to hear anywhere. There’s more to it than that!
When Rick is not playing his guitar, he’s eating Mexican food, and he knows (from experience) that we serve better Mexican cuisine than any other deli/bakery in greater Batesville. At his request, Liza and Roberta are cooking up another epic All You Can Eat Mexican Buffet. Pass twelve dollars over the counter to yours truly and fill yourself up on this till your guitar string snaps:
Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales Three Ways, Roberta’s Award-Winning Chile, Burritos, Chimichangas, Pan-Fried Empanadas, Spicy Mac & Cheese, Black Bean & Jalapeno Ravioli, Shrimp Quesadillas, Taco Bar, Corn Bread, Beer Bread, Cactus Salsa, Guacamole & Chips, Cinnamon Ice Cream (with or without Hot Pepper Chocolate Sauce), Chipotle Brownies, and Mexican Wedding Cakes.
We will also be serving eight different wines and tapping two kegs. So come on down to the store Saturday evening. It’ll be dreamy.
--This Saturday, May 29, Eli’s coming! The absurdly talented Eli Cook will be ruling our world once again from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. A “legend in the making” (Guitar Edge Magazine) who “has what it takes to be the best blues singer of his generation” (AllMusic.com), Eli has opened for B.B. King, played top-tier blues clubs from New York to L.A., cut three CDs, and headlined numerous music festivals in the region. And to think: he actually plays at our modest establishment in the heart of the heart of nowhere.
Which leads to this week’s philosophical question:
Why?
The answer is quite simple, actually. Eli has a serious jones for our food... Which leads to a philosophical revelation:
We can’t help folks around here play the blues like Eli, but we can give ‘em the chance to eat like Eli. So we’ve put together a huge All You Can Eat Buffet of Eli’s Favorites. Slap twelve bucks on the front counter, grab a plate, and gobble on this heap of good stuff till your stomach sings the blues:
Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Smoked Ribs, Fried Chicken, Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Green Bean Casserole, Tuscany Bean Salad on Tossed Greens, Collards, Corn Bread, Watermelon, and Tiramisu.
To help you deal with all these artery-enriching substances, we’re tapping kegs of Blue Mountain Rockfish Wheat, a local delight, and Humboldt Hemp Ale, which has generated a lot of buzz since its arrival in the store a few weeks ago. We also have a great lineup of wines this week. So come on down to Eli’s world this Saturday evening and enjoy what’s cookin’!
--This Saturday, May 15, we’re hosting another monthly “meeting” of the Central Virginia Blues Society... but we’re trash-binning the PowerPoint slides, stashing the LED projector, and disabling the laser pointer. That’s because we know from experience that the twenty superfine musicians and singers from the area who will be heating up the Corner Lounge with Delta, Memphis, and Chicago blues don’t need any fancy-pants paraphernalia to work through their one-item agenda:
Play. The. Blues. Till. We’re. Blue. In. The. Face.
We also know from experience that when the CVBS pays us a visit, our store is the blues-rockingest commercial establishment in all of downtown Batesville. You can count on it! While the bluesers are jamming in the Corner Lounge, we’ll be putting out an All You Can Eat Mexican Extravaganza that is, as the kids like to say, “sick.” For twelve dollars, you can stand back and appreciate the majesty of this menu or, better yet, you can pile your plate high with massive quantities of it:
Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales Three Ways, Taco Bar with Five Fillings, Burritos with Spicy Mole Sauce, Shrimp Chimichangas, Black Bean & Jalapeno Ravioli, Spicy Mac & Cheese, Black Bean & Corn Casserole, Huevos Rancheros, Mexican Rice, Chili Two Ways, Cactus Salsa, Corn Bread, Beer Bread, Cinnamon Ice Cream with Hot Pepper Chocolate Sauce, Chipotle Brownies.
As if this weren’t enough, we will enhance the food processing process with kegs of Heineken and the amazing New Orleans-made Abita Amber Ale. I know, I know. We’re “sick.” And here for you. The music begins at 6:30. The food feast begins at 6:30. The fun begins at 6:30. I s’pose you could say that there’s a pattern here—but with one element missing. You. Complete it!
--This Saturday, May 8, from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Hod O’Brien and Jim Wray will be classing up our humble store once again. Generally regarded as the finest bebop pianist of his generation, Hod O’Brien has played with Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, and many other jazz giants, and for years he had his own jazz club in New York. (For more on Hod, check out www.hodobrien.com.) Now a resident of Greenwood, one of Batesville’s finest suburbs, Hod began playing “dueling pianos” with Jim Wray two years ago in the store—and the rest, as they say, is history. We feel very fortunate that Hod and Jim still find time in their busy touring schedules to stop by occasionally and do their thing for us.
And what a thing it is! When these two hep cats start jazzing it up, the music they make together is like Batesville Store ice cream on a warm brownie with chocolate sauce dribbled on top. Sweet!
Equally tasty will be Liza and Roberta’s gustatory masterpiece for Saturday night, an All You Can Eat Italian Feast. Fork over a mere twelve dollars then fork these items onto your plate:
Linguine with Clams
Chicken Alfredo
Lasagna
Penne Pasta in a Vodka Cream Sauce
Ravioli
Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Meatballs
Eggplant Rolitini
Italian Bread
Caesar Salad
Tossed Salad with Tuscany Beans and Artichokes
--This Saturday, May 1, if you just can’t get enough of Batesville Day, or if you can’t make it to the festivities in the morning and afternoon, fret not. We are extending the fun into the evening with a huge All You Can Eat Cookout and music from our great friends from the ‘hood, Second Draw. For a mere twelve bucks, you can fill your plate and fill it again (and again) with these grill-based Kyle-mastered goodies:
Half-Pound Burgers, Veggie Burgers, Hot Dogs, Italian Sausages, Chicken Breasts, Chicken Legs & Thighs, Veggie Kebobs
But wait. There’s more. For the same twelve dollars, you can heap on these contributions to the greater good of your stomach from Liza and Roberta:
Crab Cakes (if there are any left after I fulfill my role as the store’s quality control specialist), French Fries, Onion Rings, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Cookies
While you dine, the music will be fine. The Boys from Draw have been playing regularly in the store for two years, and it’s been a ton of fun watching their music evolve from straight bluegrass to neo-bluegrass to “blue-jam,” the term they now use to describe their exciting, free-flowing blend of Americana, alt-rock, and bluegrass. The shindig begins at 6:30 p.m. and ends around 9:00 p.m. We’ll have tables outside. So come on down to the store. We’ll be here for you.
--This Saturday, April 24, nosey on up to the store around 6:30 p.m.—and your proboscis starts twitching. You sniff. You sniff again, deeply. You smell it, right? That spicy sweet scent of caramelizing barbecue sauce. That wafting fragrance of seasoning blends. That intoxicating aroma of hickory-infused smoke.
Yes, you’ve just had a nose encounter with the store’s smokers, which are chock-full of baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, chicken breasts, chicken wings, salmon, and catfish. And I sense you nose why: We are having another bigger-than-Cyrano’s-beak All You Can Eat Barbecue Feast.
For the ridiculous price of 1200 scents, you can fill your plate with all of the above—and add a whole mess of grilled veggies, homemade cole slaw and potato salad, the world’s best mac & cheese, fresh-picked collards, kosher dills, and deviled eggs.
But wait. There’s more. We are here for you, as we always are, and we want to make sure that your ears are not neglected. So we’ve asked Bluzonia to inhabit the Corner Lounge for the evening and rile us up with their unique “hillbilly blues.” When Dave, Doug, John, and Arin are bringing it hot and the mysterious chanteuse who often sings with them turns up the heat even more, you know that you’re witnessing the ultimate in Batesville Cool.
--This Saturday, April 17, when you come in to our Store you will find yourself moving through our latest international food extravaganza, an All You Can Eat Asian Buffet. For ¥ 81.96, or 12.00 American dollars, you can pick up a pair of chopsticks and dine on this:
Dumplings, Spring Rolls & Egg Rolls,
Shrimp in Seaweed Cakes,
Firecracker Beef,
Cashew Pork,
Sweet & Sour Chicken,
Tofu Stir Fry,
Curry Shrimp,
Sesame Noodles,
Teriyaki Chicken,
Noodles with Mixed Delights in Oyster Sauce,
Fried Rice,
Spinach Salad with Asian Ginger Dressing,
Almond Cookies & Coconut Ice Cream,
Fortune Cookies
While you’re sticking food in your chops, bringing more than major chops to the Corner Lounge will be Failure to Yield. Featuring Batesville’s own Brad Bryant on guitar and vocals, this veteran quintet plays original tunes when they’re not covering music by Neil Young, Van Morrison, and other classic rock artists. When it comes to Brad and his buddies, Failure is definitely an option.
The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.
--This Saturday April, 10, take an evening to recover after a long week and head to The Store for one of our favorite regular events: The monthly “meeting” of the Central Virginia Blues Society.
Blues players from all over the region will be jamming into the Corner Lounge and jamming up a Spring storm’s worth of great blues tempered with a slight breeze of rock and occasional gusts of soul. If you haven’t been to one of these jams yet, get thee to the store Saturday. These folks bring it!
Not to be outdone on the plenitude of fun scale, Liza and Roberta are piling on with a ridiculous All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet featuring these ten different styles:
Four Cheese, Italian, Blanco, Mexican, Smoked Meats, Seafood Delights, Hawaiian, Greek, Philly Cheese Steak, and Veggie Veggie Veggie
For a minor outlay of twelve bucks, you can pile your plate high with pie, add a helping or eight of our House Salad or Caesar Salad, and top it all off with a few munchies from the dessert tray and a scoop of ice cream. We’re talking about plenty of plenitude here, folks!
The fun stuff begins at 6:30 p.m.—note the later time, please—and ends around 9:00 p.m. You know by now that you’ll be square if you aren’t there . . . ..
--This Saturday, April 3, spring will have sprung here in beautiful downtown Batesville. Temperatures are rising. And the fun promises to get downright sizzling Saturday night.
Wonderin’ why?
‘Cause we’re putting tables outside and having our first block party of the year!
Things will be heating up inside as well. Playing some seriously hot jazz and R & B licks in the Corner Lounge will be F.U.S.E., featuring the irrepressible Jim Wray on piano and trombone, Steve Michael Smith on guitar and vocals, Peter Matthews on bass, Brian Mesko on drums, and the legendary Darrell Rose on percussion.
Meanwhile, Liza and Roberta will be fancying things up with a smorgasbord of Amazing Appetizers, including crab cakes, bacon-wrapped medjool dates, polenta puffs, stuffed mushrooms, spinach balls, cajun meatballs, smoked sausage pigs-in-blankets, mini-quiches, bruschetta on crustini, endive boats, clam dip, and lots more. You can munch on all this till you can munch no more—and top it all off with a brownie (or ten) and a scoop of ice cream—for a mere twelve bucks.
Now that’s a sizzlin’ hot deal! So hot, in fact, that we’re bringing in kegs of Blue Mountain Classic Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to lower your temp.
So come on down to the hot town tonight. You’ll be square if you aren’t there.
--This Saturday, March 27 , it ‘s going to be a legendary evening at the store.
In the Corner Lounge will be Rusty Speidel and Tom Goodrich, two of the founding members of the legendary folk group SGGL, which began playing at local fraternity houses in the early 80’s, quickly became rising stars on the college and club circuit, and continue to perform before sold-out crowds at Wolf Trap and the Birchmere in D.C., Nashville's Blue Bird, Atlanta's Eddie's Attic, New York's Wetlands, and other venues up and down the East Coast.
Legends in their own right, Rusty and Tom play beautiful acoustic guitar together and share vocals on both classic folk covers and original tunes. Above all else, three decades into their careers together, they still perform with great good cheer and infectious enthusiasm. As Rusty recently told the C’ville Hook, “We love to play. As long as the audience is enjoying it as much as we are, there’s no reason to stop. It’s just a fun, reasonably humorous, approachable kind of show.”
We thought that it was only fitting to honor these two legends of the area’s music scene with a buffet of our own store legends—dishes that we never get tired of serving and our esteemed clientele never seems to tire of munching. For twelve dollars, you can eat till you can eat no more from this menu:
Chicken Pot Pie, Mac & Cheese, Jambalaya & Smoked Ribs,
BLATs, Reubens, Chicken Salad & Pulled Pork Barbecue – all on Liza’s homemade bread,
Quinoa Salad, Beets & Goat Cheese, Hummus & Deviled Eggs,
Apple Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mancatcher Brownies & Maple Walnut Ice Cream,
But wait. There’s more. We don’t want you to listen and dine on this special night without special liquid refreshment, so we’ll be tapping kegs of the Richmond-based Legend Brown Ale and Legend Lager. Was there really any other choice? The fun begins at 6:00 p.m.
--This Saturday, March 20, Hod O’Brien and Jim Wray play classic piano jazz together, which always makes for a special evening at the store.
If you do a Google search of Hod, you’ll read about his long career as the finest bebop pianist of his time. You’ll see that he’s played with Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, Kenny Burrell, and scores of other jazz giants over the years. You’ll discover that he’s cut eight CDs as a band leader and played as a sideman on more CDs than you can count. You’ll trace a performance history that has taken him from New York to LA to just about every other major city in the world. You’ll read reviews that describe him as “an extraordinary, distinguished musician” and a “quiet and true jazz giant” who is “revered by his peers.” If you come to see him play Saturday evening, you’ll also learn that words alone do not convey the serene, masterly joy he brings to his performances. Hod makes his piano sing.
Jim Wray, Batesville’s own keyboard master, began playing “dueling pianos” with Hod at the store two years ago, and now tours the region with Hod when he’s not fronting his own group, the Jim Wray Trio. Jim weaves his own distinctive style with Hod’s in ways that create an elegant tapestry of sound. The two make beautiful music together.
fancy soups and quichesthat will also include two different salads and a dessert bar featuring several of Liza’s most famous brownies and cookies. Eat till you fancy it’s time to stop for twelve dollars. The fun begins at six o’clock.
--This Saturday, March 6, is our new date for a fabulous, long anticipated music group, Batesville Produce. They were scheduled to make their world debut in our humble store on the last Saturday in January, but there was a spot of winter weather that weekend—remember?—that forced us to cancel the event and re-schedule it for this Saturday, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Yes, the Produce will be harvested this week!
Here’s what band member Peter LaBau, who has obviously been reading too many of my emails in the past year, has to say about them:
“Introducing Batesville Produce . . .
Batesville Produce is a freshly harvested band of heavily seasoned musicians all living in the Charlottesville area. Hydroponically grown to fill a coveted performing spot at the Batesville Store, the band features American acoustic roots music drenched in a thick southern sauce composed of the four basic food groups--bluegrass, old time country, western swing, and blues. This musical stew is concocted by four musicians. Jack Boylan cooks on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and vocals. Mary Beth Revak, song bird extraordinaire, channels a who's who of American stylists from Patsy Cline to Ma Rainey, while stirring in a heaping helping of her own vocal genius. Peter LaBau grills up sizzling banjo, dobro, guitar, and vocals. This Stew's base stock owes it all to Lew Burrus, every discerning musician’s first choice on the menu of area bass players. Jack, Mary Beth, and Lew are all key members of the locally renowned Acme Swing Manufacturing Company. Peter has participated in many a jam session at the Store. He returns with his musical compatriots to have their way with Cid and Liza's loyal patrons for another fabulous Saturday night food extravaganza. Be there!”
We thought that it’d be fun to match the band’s first public appearance with the debut of a new all-you-can eat buffet—“Viva Italia!” For a mere twelve American dollars, you can feast on manicotti, polenta, penne pasta in vodka cream sauce, chicken alfredo, clam linguine, eggplant rollatini, minestrone, Italian wedding soup, smoked pepper ravioli, and more.
We will enhance the feast with an assortment of adult beverages, including a couple of excellent Italian reds.
Need I say that you have to be there or be square? After all, it’s not every night that you can eat eggplant rollatini at a 130-year-old country store while kicking back to hydroponically grown music.
--This Saturday, February 27, The Central Virginia Blues Society will be calling their monthly meeting to order this Saturday evening at the store, and they have only one item on the agenda: Jam. The. Blues.
Twenty of the area’s finest blues players will be moving into and out of the Corner Lounge in groups of five or six, dishing a heap of Delta, Memphis, and Chicago blues spiced with healthy doses of blues rock and R & B. There’ll be no PowerPoint presentations at this meeting, just raucous consensus on one key issue:
They may call it the blues, but that doesn’t mean it won’t make you feel soooo good.
Since this is a friendly, down-home meeting, Liza and Roberta feel that it’s only appropriate to have a Pot Luck Dinner. But never fear. We’ll provide all the food—and the pots to put them in. All you have to do is plunk down twelve bucks, grab a plate, and dine on these classic “bring a dish” dishes until you are blue in the face:
-Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, and Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes
-Mac & Cheese and Creamed Spinach
-Tuna Casserole with a Potato Chip Topping
-Green Bean Casserole and Cheese Bake with Broccoli
-Yankee Doodle Noodles
-Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, and Jello Salad
-Deviled Eggs and Cornbread
As usual, we will also be tapping a couple of kegs and pouring from our list of eight different wines.
And as usual, the fun begins at 6:00 p.m. and will end around 9:00 p.m.
--This Sunday, February 28, playing from 1-4pm, Big Boss Sausage & The Pacifist of Fury, a New Jersey-based band on its annual East Coast tour, is stopping by the store for an afternoon of musical hijinx. Calling themselves “Iceland’s Favorite Band,” this group of musical post-modernists blend absurdly clever lyrics with a bit of performance art and straight-to-the-heart acoustic blues, Americana, and what they call “FO-CO-RO-PU”—folk, country, rock, and, well, something smelly. Here’s the way one recent reviewer describes their performances:
“Their live shows are hilarious, high energy, soul bearing experiences that typically make the audience laugh, cry, think, and wonder why. Have you seen the Sausage and the Pacifist? You won’t know what didn’t hit you!”
A group like this deserves a special tribute from the store, and we’re providing it in the form of cheap beer. We’ll be tapping Pabst Blue Ribbon for FIVE BUCKS A PITCHER and Starr Hill Jomo for TEN BUCKS A PITCHER. They’re a class act, and so are we.
--This Saturday, February 20. Le Boeuf Gras has been consumed. Lundi Gras . . . c’est finis. The King of Rex has paraded by. Tuesday is no longer Fat, and the gumbo ya-ya of street parties has given way to the low hum of business as usual. Word has it that even the Super Bowl parties are finally winding down.
The City That Care Forgot is taking a nap. But that doesn’t mean our appreciation of all things New Orleans, particularly in this month of Mardis Gras and football history, has waned. To prove it, we’re putting out a Mardis Gras Buffet that would make a denizen of Da Quarter proud. For a mere $12.00 (fo true!), you can pass a good time feasting on these classic Crescent City dishes:
Jambalaya with Shrimp, Sausage & Chicken, Veggie Jambalaya, Cajun Catfish, Andouille Sausage, Crawfish Ravioli with Red Sauce, Seafood Gumbo, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice, N’awlins Muffuletta Sandwiches, Maque Chox Corn, Creole-Style Cheese Grits, Cajun Candied Yams & Apples, Yam Biscuits, Corn Bread, and King Cake.
If just reading the menu makes you thirsty, fear not. In addition to our usual assortment of wines and bottled beers, we will be tapping a keg of New Orleans-brewed Abita Amber Ale.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a tribute to the Birthplace of Jazz without . . . well, some jazz. Bringing it big and easy will be the Jim Wray Trio, featuring Batesville’s own Jim Wray on piano and trombone; Steve Smith on guitar and vocals; and local legend Darrell Rose on drums.
So come on down to the store Saturday evening . . . . et laissez le bon temp rouler!
-- This Saturday, February 13, the inimitable Rick Olivarez Trio will be in the Corner Lounge, beguiling us with their acoustic jazz stylings. Whether raising our blood pressure with their technical expertise or seducing us with their rich harmonies, the trio evoke champagne cocktails, cigarettes in ivory holders, and soft kisses slyly stolen when the lights are turned down low. Don’t be surprised if Rick and Ilsa show up for the second set.
Not to be outdone, Liza and Roberta are putting together a buffet of “Fancy Finger Food” redolent of a private reception at the Hotel Claridge in Paris circa 1933. For a mere twelve dollars, you can enjoy endive boats with goat cheese, crab cakes, polenta puffs, mini-quiches, bacon-wrapped medjool dates, artichoke fritatta, and six other delectable delights. Included in the price is a dessert tray of seductive sweet treats. Meanwhile, yours truly will be tapping a bit of love—Starr Hill’s The Love, to be precise—and popping the cork on the amazing Virginia sparkling wine, Thibaut-Janisson. So you will be our Valentine? We knew you didn’t have the heart to resist! The party begins at six o’clock, and goes through nine.
--This Saturday, January 30, **weather permitting**, we are presenting a double-decker treat for our weekly evening House Party.
A fabulous new music group, Batesville Produce, will be making their world debut in our humble store. Here’s what band member Peter LaBau, who has obviously been reading too many of my emails in the past year, has to say about them:
“Introducing Batesville Produce . . .
Batesville Produce is a freshly harvested band of heavily seasoned musicians all living in the Charlottesville area. Hydroponically grown to fill a coveted performing spot at the Batesville Store, the band features American acoustic roots music drenched in a thick southern sauce composed of the four basic food groups--bluegrass, old time country, western swing, and blues. This musical stew is concocted by four musicians. Jack Boylan cooks on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and vocals. Mary Beth Revak, song bird extraordinaire, channels a who's who of American stylists from Patsy Cline to Ma Rainey, while stirring in a heaping helping of her own vocal genius. Peter LaBau grills up sizzling banjo, dobro, guitar, and vocals. This Stew's base stock owes it all to Lew Burrus, every discerning musician’s first choice on the menu of area bass players. Jack, Mary Beth, and Lew are all key members of the locally renowned Acme Swing Manufacturing Company. Peter and Jack are flavored with 40 years of performances with area bluegrass groups, and have participated in many a jam session at the Store. They return with their musical compatriots to have their way with Cid and Liza's loyal patrons for another fabulous Saturday night food extravaganza. Be there!”
If you’re like me, just reading this blurb has made you hungry. Fear not. Liza and Roberta plan to match the band with some serious produce of their own: an All You Can Eat buffet of fancy quiches and soups, plus homemade rolls and two different tossed salads. Eat elegantly but comprehensively for twelve dollars. Yours truly will be tapping Blue Moon Belgian White and Starr Hill Jomo Lager and pouring eight different wines by the glass.
Need I say that you have to be there or be square? After all, it’s not every night that you get to eat quiche at a 130-year-old country store while kicking back to hydroponically grown music.
--This Saturday, January 23, the blues-a-rockin’ dudes of Bluzonia will be bluesing and rocking in the Corner Lounge. In their previous three appearances in the store, Dave, Doug, John, and that kid on bass came at us with a bit of Delta and Chicago blues, a dose of jazz, a hint of swing, a measure of country—and a heaping barrel full of musical fun. Expect the same Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, we are going to put out a seriously ridiculous spread of smoked baby back ribs, chicken, sausage, salmon, and catfish. And pulled pork barbecue. And grilled veggies. And mac & cheese. And baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, corn muffins, and dill pickles. Had enough? No? Then go ahead and get some more. It’s All You Can Eat. And it only costs ya twelve bucks (eight dollars for kids under 10).
To help you deal with all the music and food, I’ve arranged for our esteemed local beer distributors to drop off a keg of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a keg of St. George Porter. They do treat us well, don’t they?
As usual, there is no cover charge. But we would like to pass the hat around for donations to the Haiti relief effort. The money we collect will go to Doctors Without Borders, the relief group chosen by Lesly Gourdet, a native of Haiti, long-time teacher at Western Albemarle High School, and great friend of the store who has played his stand-up bass here many times.
So come on down to Batesville Saturday evening and help us put a smile back on the building!
Thomas is European-reared but an American music master through and through. He has hitchhiked over most of the country, learning regional music and blending it all into a unique sound that has won kudos both locally and nationally. His CD, Sleeping Giants, combines timeless ballads and acoustic pop songs with smart lyrics and elegant melodies.
Bahlmann and Thomas, good friends and near-neighbors, began collaborating earlier this year and have created new music that combines the best of both artists. They are bringing their unique sound to the store for the first time. We certainly hope that it won’t be their last.
They will begin playing around 7:30 p.m. There is no cover charge.
We will be serving light dinners and snacks from a limited deli and dessert menu. I’ll be tapping kegs of Yuengling and Blue Mountain Lights Out, and we’ll have our usual selection of great wines by the glass.
--This Saturday, December 5, from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Sue Chase and Nancy Maxson will hold their semi-annual art and jewelry show in the store.
Sue specializes in original jewelry designs with antique, vintage and modern beads. Her work is on permanent display in the store’s glass-fronted jewelry case, but Saturday she’ll have many more original pieces with an emphasis on great holiday gift choices.
Nancy’s delicate water colors are permanently on display in “Nancy’s Corner” by the front window, and her charming, cleverly designed greeting cards are in several places throughout the store. She plans to bring in several new water colors as well as holiday cards, earrings and assorted other gift items.
If you are looking for a reasonably priced present from “the neighborhood,” you’ll definitely want to drop by the store Saturday and check out Sue and Nancy’s lovely art work.
--This Sunday, November 29, a fabulous new trio, Trifecta, will be playing in the store from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. With Lesly Gourdet on bass and Jason Collier on guitar, the trio features the astonishing voice of Tara Mills, who sings classic folk music as if she were born to it. This is an opportunity to “be there” for a groundbreaking performance by a local group that promises to become “the next big thing” in the area’s acoustic music scene.
--This Saturday evening, November 28, we will provide a bit of yang to Thanksgiving Day’s yin, balancing the Great American Gobble-Fest with some lighter fare—a buffet featuring seven different kinds of quiche and five different kinds of soup as well as a Caesar salad and a tossed salad. Dine lightly until you can dine no more for ten dollars ($7.50 for kids).
Music will be provided by the inimitable Rick Olivarez Trio, the astonishing jazz masters who mesmerized us a few weeks ago in their debut performance in the store. Whether evoking classic guitar-based jazz in the tradition of Django Reinhart or covering modern standards, the trio, as The Hook puts it, is not only “fascinating to listen to but a great accompaniment to dinner or a romantic evening with wine and lighter fare.”
We’ll have St. George Porter and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap, and we’ll be pouring eight different wines from Virginia and around the world.
The affair runs from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.