At tomorrow’s rendition of the South of the James Market, 4th District Council representative Kathy Graziano and her culinary-minded sons will compete against a team of chefs from Positive Vibe Cafe in the MarketVibe Chefs Challenge. Like something straight out of Top Chef, the teams will purchase all items from the market offerings and prepare a variety of dishes using small appliances, grills and the like. Graziano told the T-D:

We originally thought of this as a way to get people to come to the park, and it’s also a good way to show people what they can do with fresh stuff…It should be fun. We should raise a lot of money for a good cause and get even more people to come to the market.”

Today’s Style talks up the South of the James Market, specifically the offerings from Simply Southern Pies.

Today’s T-D briefly mentions the work underway. The Snelson’s signs have been down for some time now, and work seems to be moving along quickly…

Positive Vibe Cafe’s Vibefest is coming, Sunday June 8. A $5 donation gets you a full day’s worth of music and a taste of their much talked about food. As usual, proceed go towards their daily mission of providing food service training and employment for the disabled. They’re looking for volunteers- contact information can be found here.

Style profiles the newly-remodeled Thai’s Mama in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center.

Today’s retail column has a nice feature on the folks behind Once Upon A Vine South.

Style has published its annual Favorite 50 Restaurants list and, rather surprisingly, the Forest Hill corridor is completely shut out. In fact, it’s the only area of town, as best I can tell, that didn’t land at least one mention. A couple of curious inclusions make me really wonder, but in the end, I don’t imagine local restaurateurs are losing too much sleep over it.

…the big white tent in front of O’Tooles. Their annual St. Patrick’s celebration runs tonight through Monday with all sorts of live entertainment, Irish and otherwise.

Sort of, anyway. The Stratford Hills Shopping Center will be celebrating several milestones tomorrow afternoon. Positive Vibe Cafe is celebrating their 3rd Anniversary with live music and their nationally-recognized food. Once Upon A Vine South holds their official grand opening with a beer & wine tasting featuring several distributors sampling their wares. To top things off, Forest Hill Antiques is holding a large sale.

In talking with the Once Upon A Vine folks tonight, I learned that the merchant community at the Stratford Hills Shopping Center is a reasonably tight group that’s working together to better the neighborhood. I encourage everyone to stop by at some point tomorrow afternoon.

The “South of the James” section of this month’s Richmond Magazine has a nice article on the retail state of Westover Hills. Much of this is old news to the neighborhood association folks, but for the rest of us, some juicy tidbits are there. More below the fold…

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Carena’s Jamaican Grille is the latest restaurant to spring from the always entertaining Jimmy Sneed. Style’s Brandon Fox takes a proper look at the place, a collaboration with Carena Ives of Jamaica House fame, and seems to like what she sees.

In an article on the proposed statewide restaurant smoking ban, Today’s T-D talks with John O’Toole, whose own O’Toole’s went smoke-free in 2007.

“Our food business has increased,” he said. Sales have grown 6 percent since the Irish pub started asking smokers to step outside last March. “We lost a few customers,” O’Toole said. “But for every one we lost, I think we gained 10.”

Yet O’Toole said he does not like the idea of a state-mandated smoking ban in restaurants. “I still think it should be up to each owner. Some of them cater to smokers, and they shouldn’t have to stop.”

The fine folks at Once Upon A Vine South have been up and running for a couple weeks in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center, featuring the same format (and occasionally some of the same faces) as the Bellevue original. Please note that H&H is not affiliated with Once Upon A Vine in any way, but as wine & beer enthusiasts, we feel it’s our duty to let everyone know that there’s finally a proper beverage shop in the neighborhood.

Stratford Hills’ own Positive Vibe Cafe is the recipient of a 2007 New Freedom Initiative Award. The award, handed out by the US Department of Labor, “recognizes non-profits, small businesses, corporations and individuals that have demonstrated exemplary and innovative efforts in furthering the employment and workplace environment for people with disabilities.”

Style Weekly gives a quick shout to Nate’s Taco Truck. A VCU staple run by a Forest View resident, Nate offers “the best tacos in town — end of discussion.”