A Taste of Tavola
Charlottesville’s historic Belmont neighborhood boasts a vibrant variety of eclectic restaurants that rank among Charlottesville’s best. From Cajun and Creole comfort food at Southern Crescent to upscale American at The Jervey to authentic Oaxacan cuisine at Conmole, there’s a culinary experience just waiting for anybody with taste buds. Nestled in the heart of Belmont, right next to The Local, is Tavola.
Tavola is an inspired, rustic Italian restaurant that fills the dreams of every foodie in Charlottesville. The restaurant features a total of five dining areas, including a bar, a dining room, and three private event spaces. Born from chef and owner Michael Keaveny’s passion for Italian cuisine, the food is “philosophically Italian,” according to Keaveny. Tavola dishes are reasonably portioned and ingredient-focused for an authentic Italian experience. The ingredients are locally sourced and seasonal. They don’t come from or represent a particular part of Italy; they come from and represent Virginia, just like restaurants in Italy represent their locality through ingredients.
Finding one’s way into Tavola can be tricky for a first-timer. The inviting double door flanked by windows into the dining room may look like an entrance, but the other side of the doors holds a table with no room for entry. Instead, patrons slip along the right side of the restaurant until they find the real entrance, which opens into the lounge. The lounge features comfortable seating as well as a full-service cicchetti bar separate from the reservations required for the dining room. Italian cicchetti, similar to Spanish tapas, are small appetizers and snacks typically served alongside wine.
The host guides guests with reservations around the corner, past the bar and wine storage, and into the dining room facing the street. Now on the other side of those windows and misleading double doors, patrons are welcomed to take a seat at a well-set table and take in the warm, inviting atmosphere that really makes the Tavola experience.
The air is rich with the aroma of food being both prepared and enjoyed, as the dining room is separated from the kitchen only by the bar, offering an intimate look into the careful composition of each dish. The service is quick, friendly, and knowledgeable, with down-to-earth servers with a passion for food and wine. The dining room is cozy and relaxed. The windows to the boutique across the street let in a stream of natural light that dims as the meal eases past dusk and makes way for the warm, low light that only makes the dishes look even more appetizing.
Tavola offers a seasonal menu and consistent daily specials as well as a full separate cicchetti menu for the lounge. There is also a cocktail menu and a ten-page wine menu boasting more than 80 different wines by the glass and bottle. The menu has six sections of regularly-offered food: antipasti (appetizers, $5-22), insalate (salads, $13-16), paste (pasta, $27-31), entrata (entrees, $27-38), contorni (sides, $12), and dolci (desserts, $10). In true Italian fashion, the dessert menu also offers espresso ($3.50) or a caffè americano ($4) to follow the meal as a digestive aid.
Tavola is a restaurant to visit on as many different days of the week as possible because some of its tastiest gems are daily specials. Among the Tuesday specials, for example, slotted right between the zuppa del giorno (soup of the day, $10) and a fritto misto antipasto speciale ($15), is Tavola’s delectable house-made asiago garlic focaccia ($8). The focaccia bread is buttery and light but dense in flavor, with garlic butter absorbed into every inch of the perfectly-baked bread. The focaccia is topped with a layer of melted asiago cheese that pairs exquisitely with the garlic for a burst of flavor in every bite. We ordered two before our main course and bought two more unbaked to-go.
The Tuesday paste speciale is a bucatini con polpette (bucatini with meatballs, $28). The house-made bucatini is chewy, doughy, and perfectly coated in San Marzano tomato marinara. The two large meatballs laid carefully atop the nest of pasta are also house-made with Simmons Heritage Farm beef. The dish is topped with grated pecorino romano, and requests for extra cheese (my family asked for “a stupid amount of cheese”) are answered generously, with a smile and a bowl full of enough cheese to cover every bite of the dish.
The specials aren’t the only food offerings that change at Tavola. Settled in the bottom-left corner of the menu is the option to “put your experience in our hands.” This is the iconic “Taste of Tavola” tasting menu. For $70, guests are able to forgo their menu choice in favor of a four-course tasting menu consisting of an appetizer, pasta, entree, and dessert tailored to perfection by the chefs. The Taste of Tavola changes periodically and also comes with an optional wine pairing for $45.
To bring a taste of Tavola home, Keaveny wrote a cookbook to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the restaurant in 2019. The book, Tavola: 10 Greatest Hits—Music and Food guides readers through recipes for ten of the establishment’s most popular dishes as well as a tiramisu, a cocktail, and Italian staples like homemade pasta and marinara. The cookbook is also interspersed with recommended wine pairings and songs from Tavola’s playlist to fully mimic the cozy dining atmosphere. The book can be purchased from Tavola’s online store for $24.95.
Tavola fills up quickly, even on quiet weeknights, so making a reservation is ideal. Reservations can be made online through Resy or over the phone by calling 434-972-9463. The restaurant is located at 826 Hinton Ave in Charlottesville. Street parking is available, but limited. Tavola is open Monday through Saturday from 5-10 p.m. and is closed on Sundays.
