I’ve been thinking  about Cafe Caturra recently and writing about it. There is so much I love about that place: the patio, the dual fireplaces, the coffee roasting right in the store.  Plus I love that you can buy half glasses of wine, and I love the fact that you can sample and sample wine until you find just the right wine for you, and discuss the wine with the somewhat knowledgable staff.  

But, they’ve got alot of competition in the neighborhood, with several similar concept wine bars opening in the next few weeks. We published a story about the Village’s Magnolia Wine Bistro and also you may have noticed a Near West End location of the very popular Barrel Theif Wine Shop & Cafe with almost an identical concept.  Cafe Catturra’s advantage is that it is already open and already popular. Plus it has an huge affluent customer base withing walking distance (always a plus when you are drinking wine!).

But getting back to my personal experience there. I felt like the signature salad that I ordered was good but overpriced and the lettuce was a bit tough.  If I remember correctly, the salad was $8.95 and the wine was $8 a glass. By the time you add in tax and a tip well you are talking over $20. Which might all be fine and dandy if the lettuce was tender and the wine was to die for. But apparently I have very simple taste and cannot appreciate wine as well as some can.  I stood at Cafe Caturra’s counter sampling wine after wine  trying to find one that I liked as much as Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Shiraz, or 3 Buck Chuck.  I couldn’t do it.

There has been lots of discussion lately about transportation, but if you ride the GRTC Westhampton 16, your final chance to have your say on the elimination of the GRTC  bus route is coming up Nov. 18:

The third and final informal town meeting will be held to discuss proposed GRTC Transit System bus route changes, which would include route elimination or service reduction. The meetings will be led by GRTC Transit   System CEO, John M. Lewis, and may include attendance  by members of Richmond City Council.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
6:00-7:30 p.m.Richmond City Council Chambers
900 E. Broad Street
Richmond City Hall - 2nd floor

Thanks to the Church Hill People’s News for sending us this info on The Hoop Up the Arts 3 on 3 basketball tournament:

Come burn off those Thanksgiving Day calories, gather the relatives and
friends home from college and join the fun of the NTELOS First Annual Hoop
Up the Arts 3 on 3 basketball tournament hosted at the beautiful Weinstein
Center at the University of Richmond on November 28, 2008. All proceeds go
to benefit the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center in North Church Hill.
We will have four male divisions for ages 14 & up, including a 30+ league
with prizes varying from Dick’s Sporting Goods, G-Force Go Carts, Starbucks,
The Funny Bone and Chick-fil-a. Team registration only $100 per team of 3-4.
Check out www.robinsontheater.org for more information and contact Betsy
Hart at betsyrhart@gmail.com or 804.310.2887 with interest or questions.
Deadline: November 24, 2008

by  Michael Gaynor guest blogger and writer for University of Richmond’s The Collegian.

A group of University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University students is striving to make a difference in the city’s low-income communities by working one-on-one with struggling residents to help them achieve economic stability and pursue expanded opportunities.

National Student Partnerships was founded in 1998 by two Yale University undergraduates who saw a wide economic gap between their college and the city surrounding it. The students recognized the impact the skills they’d gained in school would have on the community, so they designed a program in which volunteers could personally coordinate access to employment opportunities and social services for people in need.

Today, NSP has grown to 12 offices located in major metropolitan areas across the country. Richmond sophomore Jaime Calero is one of the 15 volunteers working in Richmond’s downtown office.

“People come to us for help on housing, legal advice — things like that,” Calero said. “We help them write their resumes, set up e-mail accounts, direct them to social services. We either help them out personally or find a place that can help them. It’s great, I feel like I’m actually doing something.”

Senior Leona Chan has been with NSP for three years, first getting involved with the program through the Bonner Scholars. She spent around nine hours a week at the office, seeing more than 100 people each semester, she said.

The one-on-one sessions NSP could provide to people are what make the program special, Chan said.
“If they go to the Department of Social Services, they’re not going to get that one-on-one attention,” Chan said. “They don’t have the resources for that, so we’re someone they can talk to. Sometimes they would come just to stop by and say, ‘Hello.’”

Calero recalled a woman who came into the office seeking housing information and ended up talking to him about her marital problems and what to do about it.

“They come up with the challenges or the problems that they’re facing and we’ll come up with the solutions,” he said.

Another recent client was a foreign lawyer struggling to break the language barrier that was preventing him from finding a job in Richmond. Virginia wouldn’t recognize him without the proper applications, so NSP volunteers helped locate the licenses and certifications needed for him to begin practicing again.

“There’s so many different types of people we see,” Calero said.

Chan said NSP fit well into President Edward Ayers’ plan to establish more ties between the university and the City of Richmond.

“Our organization has been working with the Richmond community for almost 10 years and we’re making a pretty good impact,” she said.

But it is the current economic crisis sweeping across the nation that is keeping NSP volunteers busy. More people are coming in inquiring about homeless shelters and social services as the turmoil causes the city to cut more and more sources of aid.

“We’ve noticed that within the past month there’s been a lot more families on the verge of getting kicked out of their homes,” Calero said.

The NSP volunteers will try to raise some money to combat the city’s poverty rates with a Thanksgiving benefit a capella concert, an event they’ve been putting on for years. The on-campus fundraiser is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Contact writer Michael Gaynor at michael.gaynor@richmond.edu

I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes volunteer usher for the University of Richmond Modlin Center, and in exchange, I get so see some great shows for free. What a great opportunity for someone like me, on a budget, and not wanting to hire a sitter just to see a show.

Well, it recently came to my attention that the Richmond Landmark Theater (and in the 2009 Richmond Center Stage) will be looking for many more volunteer ushers.  I wish I could tell you what acts and events were coming but  that section of the webpage simply lists boring construction updates that seem exactly the same as last weeks.

I’m sure there is someone more knowledgable that can tell me what is going on with Richmond Center Stage. In the meantime, I’m putting out the call to ushers, who might want to join the ranks at the Landmark or Richmond’s other venues —  call Tommy 232-3615 or email Vickie at landmarktheater [at] yahoo [dot] com

Wondering how to convince your kids to give up all that Halloween candy? Here is a perfect idea! Donate it to soldiers in Iraq!

The Echo Lake Elementary School PTA and SCA are joining together on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, to ask students to gather up their extra, unopened Halloween candy or new bags of candy for soldiers overseas.

The “Candy For Our Soldiers” project asks students to drop off their sugary donations on the way to the school’s annual Veterans Day assembly at 8:30 a.m.; Superintendent Fred S. Morton IV will serve as the featured speaker.

The SCA will help to package the candy in snack-size baggies, and every classroom will design a card to send to a soldier.

“The students feel a sense of pride as they show their appreciation to the men and woman serving here and abroad,” says Principal Jodie Brinkmann. “We are so grateful for all we have, and it’s nice to be able to share our treats with others.”

Hubby was voting today at our polling place, Crestview Elementary School — #303.  Some unfortunate person was in such a hurry after standing in line for over 45 minutes that they left their voting machine before confirming their vote.

Result: they could not track the person down, and that vote was not counted.  SO….if you are going to go vote, at least stick around to make it count.  Make sure you are done before you leave!

Go Vote Dammit!  Earn some free stuff. And play awesome jokes on your friends!

My friends Phaedra and Monica have older kids.  Older as in, they are already thinking about high school, and thinking about what will be the best fit for their kids. Both of them live in the City of Richmond, which makes things slightly more complicated. But most importantly, they are considering all thier options.  And, they made a blog about their journey – so you could be in the loop too! Check it out and pass the word along if you know of anyone who is already thinking about high school options for their child.

Also, if you have any  info or feedback about these schools that you’d like to pass along, I’m sure they would welcome that as well.

We’ve reported on the soon to open BJ’s Warehouse before.  An update today announces that the store is still on track to open the first week in December. The almost 120,000 square-foot B.J.’s store is behind Regency Square Mall, and will carry an array of food and other items similar to Costco or Sam’s Club.   In July we reported, a Dec. 6th opening date.

Update: Richmond Bargains Blog reports:

If you’re planning to join the new Richmond BJ’s wholesale club near Regency, don’t wait until opening day; from now until the day before it opens in December, you can join for $35, which is $10 off the regular $45 yearly membership fee. In addition to the discount, you enjoy membership privileges between now and opening day at all other BJ’s locations (including Mechanicsville) and online.

Limited-time offer — join now and save $10 off the $45 annual Membership fee. And get 3 extra months — 15 total!*

Remember last year’s great Lost Art Sale, where you could buy great art bargains? It was sort of a weird but ingenious set up. New and old art, out of a new model home . Last year they had free wine & chocolate,  cheap(er) art, and lots of it, without the whole gallery setting.

Well, it’s coming back, but with a new name — One SmART Gallery–  right here to the Near West End – to Grayson Hill in 3 show homes .  Art diva, Tyler Snidow explains in an email to artists:

Over the past 2 years, that nature of the sale has evolved away from a focus on home consignment (or Lost) art -  towards a focus almost exclusively on the sale of discounted work from regional artists clearing out their studios for whatever reason.  Here are some of the reasons past artists have showed with us:  testing a new style, exposure in a new market or for an emerging artist, practice work, demo sale, moving sale, student work, unframed work or studio clearance or whatever.

So…..artist, sort throught that stuff that’s not selling and pull it aside for the One SmART Gallery sale….or even better donate it to the Mary Munford Auction that is coming up in March at the Jewish Community Center.

Call for entry for artists to submit their art to The Lost Art/One SmART Gallery Sale is Dec. 1-Dec. 20th.  The Sale is February 27-March 7th (10a.m.-3p.m.) 

The Mary Munford Auction is March 21st, 2009.

Shoppers: both events are open to the public, and there will be updates on both events right here on the Near West End News, so stay tuned….