The product needs to be labeled as made in a home kitchen

Ask for another slice of walnut or whole-wheat bread from the nearby Newtown Baking in Staunton, prime artisanal creations that the chef picks up fresh on his way in to work.When the restaurant slips, it’s in details that are easily corrected. Pastas, like one night’s stolid tortellini stuffed with cheese and tongue, need to stay in hot water longer. And for such a significant restaurant, the wine list is so brief, if you blink, you miss it. On the other hand, the bar is up-to-the-moment. Cocktails include the truly smoky rye-based SmokeHaus (ha!) and a ginger-ignited gimlet with a cap of egg white foam and lime zest, both priced to please at $11.Dessert keeps this restaurant from seeing more stars, too. There are a mere four choices, and while I enjoy parts of them, they tend to taste like incomplete thoughts. “Fried milk,” a square of pastry cream that’s been breaded and fried, is beautiful and light one visit, homely and dense another. The only reason my spoon returns to the plate, which looks like a deconstructed cup of coffee, is the espresso gelato. In another composition, dense pieces of chocolate cake are pitted against orange segments. Such partial efforts make me long for the days when more chefs fully assembled dishes before sending them out to diners.
Charlottesville and I have spent some high-quality time together in recent months. Dinner at Zinc, in a converted auto service station, is always a treat. The best weekend grazing is at the Saturday farm market, where you can find superb tacos with tortillas patted by hand. And if your tastes run to brown spirits and fried Southern comforts, the convivial Whiskey Jar downtown is where belly should meet bar.Glass Haus Kitchen is in a class of its own. Already the most exciting place to eat in Charlottesville, the young venture is poised to become an item on the punch list of restaurant enthusiasts near and far."The product needs to be labeled as made in a home kitchen and have the operator's name on it," Smail said, adding that the ingredients and permit number must be listed.Under the law, home kitchen owners are allowed to make as much as $35,000 in gross sales this year, $45,000 in gross sales in 2014 and $50,000 in gross sales in 2015 and beyond. The law assumes large operations would need to move into a commercial kitchen space with multiple employees.In the meantime, she's been busy baking cookie donations for WildCare, a wildlife rehabilitation center in San Rafael, where she volunteers once a week.