Restaurant Week, extended

Restaurant Week — the semi-annual chance to be completely stuffed with gourmet food for $26 — was set to end today. Why I am mentioning this, then, you ask in indignation? How unfair.

But wait! It has been extended to Wednesday (Feb. 3), apparently an attempt to undo the damage from the recent snowstorm.

The list of participating restaurants is long: C&O, L'Etoile, The Melting Pot, Zinc, Maya, to name a handful. At many of them, $26 would just buy an entree on an ordinary day.

On Friday, the eve of the snowstorm, we ended up at Blue Light Grill in the downtown mall (accidentally, I confess; we didn't realize it was Restaurant Week.)

Blue Light Grill's best feature is the comfy, couch-lined cocktail area. Enormous wall-size windows face the mall, perfect for people watching. (In January, that mostly means watching buddled-up fuzzy figures scurry down the street.)

The cocktail on the right is the Pear Tree, made of St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, GreyGoose Pear Vodka, lime juice. Our visiting friend who runs a wine & spirits blog (Thirsty Girl's Whiskey Rebellion) pointed out the St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, which apparently is pretty hot right now. I could last the pear and the lime, but the floral part, mmm, ever so faint. Next time, I'm trying the Ginger Pumpkin concoction (They were out of it, dang.).

Here are a few cell-pics from dinner. Don't be too put off by the weird glare and colors; everything tasted better than it looks here.

First course: walnut and bleu cheese spring rolls drizzled with honey. (Good, but not lick-your-plate good. Very nutty.)


Second course: Winter Root Vegetable Tian (What is that? A pile of thinly sliced vegetables, like the namesake dish Ratatouille creates in the Disney movie. ) with Goat Cheese Flan (creaminess x 10) and Tempura Haricot Vert (fried green beans).

It was delicious.

The photo looks horrible.

So, instead, here is Risotto with Lobster, Marscapone Cheese, and Grannysmith Apples, which had two friends gushing. I mean, lobster and cheese and risotto? How could you go wrong?


Third course: We all ordered the Grannysmith Apple Turnover with Salted Caramel and Vanilla Gelato. Picture a crispy mini-pocket oozing applesaucy filling. (You'll have to picture it, because I forgot to photograph it. Oops.)

The turnover was tasty, but not worth a repeat. The gelato, though, is totally worth a trip to Splendora's, where they often have salted caramel available for a few bucks. (Right now, it seems to be swapped out for butterscotch. Yes, I try to stay up on the gelato news.)

In the scheme of Cville restaurants, $26 for a three-course meal is a deal. But for a student with a $0 salary, definitely a splurge.

One tempting idea for next time: Order a fancy $10 drink and then go down the block for a slice of Christian's fantastic avocado and feta pizza.

Blue Light Grill's Restaurant Week Menu
120 East Main St.
Charlottesville, VA

Annual Chili Cookoff

Umm, I promise: We do more at Darden than cases and cooking. (Like, oh, fund-raising for Haiti, case challenges, bowling, concept competitions, dodgeball, company briefings, TNDC, interviews, soccer, club events, wine tastings, lectures, panel discussions on current affairs, salsa night, etc. — and cases, cases, and cases.)

Let's just say, it's a well-rounded education.

Above: View of PepsiCo Forum tonight, one small part of the cookoff. Pretend it's "Where's Waldo," only look for the decorated tables featuring home-cooked chili.

Tonight was the annual Chili Cookoff. Teams simmered up their own recipes, which other students got the pleasure of tasting. (In teeny paper cups that appeared deceptively too small, but by the end, you are inevitably too stuffed.)


Here's one with two types of lamb. (Neither are the fluffy stuffed-animal kind.) And chocolate, bacon, and beer. If I remember correctly.

I may just be dreaming.


This chili was from the reigning champs. Tasty stuff!


One team's table of witches (just guess, is all I'm saying) had a caldron. Spooky cool.


Adult beverages and kid-friendly options. I had a little of both.



This was my favorite chili — a sweet concoction with the lovely hint of pineapple. Mmmm. I heard a classmate call it "dessert chili." (Not hot enough for him; perfect for me.)

The official judges picked this devil of a team, Los Diablos, as the first place winners. Congrats, Daniel David, Daryn Curry, Rosie David, and (not pictured) Niki Hartvigsen! Their specialty 6-6-6 recipe: 6 types of meats, 6 kinds of chili peppers, and 6 varieties of beans.



OK, what's next on the foodie calendar?

Mornin', 2010 & Q3

(Above: The view from my balcony at 7 a.m. today. One of winter's only perks: sunrises that sleep in.)

Five blissful weeks away from class will end on Monday.

Q3 is coming. The six-week sprint will include finance, management communications, decision analysis (which I weirdly love), macroeconomics, and strategy. I'm looking forward to it — five weeks, while blissful, is too long. (Suggestion to Darden powers-that-be: How about a week between Q1 and Q2 off, and a four-week winter break?)

It's as if our brains have been on a runaway rocket for months, and suddenly everything slammed to a stop. Now we have to get the engine going again.

Highlights of Winter Break
(Darden-related version)

Venture Capital Bootcamp — This fantastic multi-day workshop is part of Darden's entrepreneurial program, though you need to apply and students from other MBA programs also attend (go Terps!). We also end up in groups that worked on a VC case together, which was fascinating and fast-paced. I learned that I have a lot to learn about the venture capital funding calculus and that VC really works for a certain type of enterprise and timetable, not your average mom-and-pop business. We met amazing people, in the VC community, the startup community, and within our own schools. One of my favorite experiences at Darden so far.

Job treks to D.C. — Each year over winter break, first-years organize visits to companies off-grounds. Ex: Students interested in energy might travel to Houston to tour a few companies of interest and meet a few executives. I would love to end up back home in D.C. one day, so I helped out with two treks: MES (Media, Sports, and Entertainment Club)'s D.C. trek and a brand-new D.C. trek aimed at entrepreneurs.

The MES trek visited The Washington Post, Discovery Communications, NFL Players Association, Sirius/XM Radio, and the Washington Nationals. Most of these visits featured panels with executives, who spoke about the role MBAs play. We got to ask questions of Discovery's Chief Marketing Officer and the Nats' Team President, among other superstars, which was awesome.

The E-trek skipped the corporate halls (and the tie and suit of most treks) for an array of startups. We visited Affinity Lab in Adams Morgan, a cool working space above the Tryst coffeeshop where hoodies and sneakers fit in just fine. We met a handful of entrepreneurs there who were working on everything from socially progressive PR to crowdsourced community building to solar thermal products. It was a refreshing switch from the profit-focused firms we learn about most days. Sure, all these companies want to make a dollar, but it's not the first or fifth thing their owners mention.

We also visited FortiusOne, a company that transforms mountains of raw info into compelling and enlightening maps, and Opower, which charts energy use compared to your neighbors in hopes of nudging you to a more energy-efficient lifestyle (and, as the numbers show, it really works!). Both are young startups with 25-60 employees and a great energy in the air.

And we had lunch with local entrepreneurs from smaller companies AwayFind, FELA, and FitFeud, who all had interesting and insightful stories to share.

Field trips for MBAs = a big hit