Basic Necessities

I stumbled upon this restaurant, sandwiched between a gas station and a lumber store, out of pure luck while driving from NJ to NC. Ever since that first visit a year ago, I’ve been back 6 – 7 times and look forward to making the long trek because I know I’ll get to eat at this adorable little café!
The menu changes frequently and they often have specials. On a recent Friday afternoon I came for lunch and had the pear buckwheat panini with swiss cheese, prosciutto, and peach chutney with a side salad. I also came for a late brunch on Sunday and enjoyed a feta, spinach, and tomato frittata that came with a heaping side of fresh fruit, breakfast sausage, and toast. Both meals were great.
This is a great spot to stop for a cup of coffee as well. They usually have 2 – 3 cakes available for purchase by the slice to supplement that.

What a great find! After previous visit to the wintergreen area– we have found the food lackluster. We found a gem in Basic Necessities last night.
A tiny house by the hardware store — we were welcomed by the gracious hosts.
Offered delicious wine and bread, followed by a house salad.
A limited menu of 4 changeable entrees, my super picky mate found his choice with pork tenderloin with apricots and I got seafood newburg.
His comment about the pork entrée –AMAZING. This is a man who has not used the word amazing to describe any restaurant meal! My newburg was creamy and flavorful served in a scallop shell packed with shrimp, scallops snd sweet crabmeat.
From the guitar player, to the tiny quaint building to the creamy, crunchy chocolate praline tart and the English muffins from their pantry shop. A perfect meal.
We will be back for many meals to come.

If you are from the area and have nothing to compare high quality french cuisine to then you may consider this a top notch sunday brunch spot. However, for someone who came as an out of towner from hampton roads virginia I have experienced much better. The portion sizes are tiny for the 19 dollar brunch price tag. The menu descriptions are deceiving, giving high class names for basic items. I.e. crem fresh when its just soft whipped cream. I was underwhelmed and left starving which when told to the waitress, she laughed it off. When I return to the area I will surely go elsewhere.

If you are looing for a nice quaint French place with great food, it does not get better than this place. The wine selection is stellar. I have no negatives to report. We have gone here a couple of times for the Sunday brunch (make reservations) and it was fabulous both times. I had the omelet with shaved salmon one day and the chicken with sauce on toast the 2^nd time. Both dishes were superb (never thought I would like chicken for breakfast). The sandwiches for lunch are also very good with a great selection– what a wonderful change to the same old local brewpub fare in the area. We have yet to eat dinner here but will eventually. There is a great wine selection that you can browse while waiting and other items you would find in a quaint French country store, e.g., jams, breads, chocolates, cheeses, deserts, etc. I mostly go here to buy wine as they have a nice house reasonably priced (I’ll buy it by the case). I also buy my baguettes and brie here as well. When I am looking to spoil myself or prepare for a special occasion/​meal, this is the first place I go for ideas and supplies. Everything is really top notch and you really feel as though you are in a French country shop/​café.

Excellent food and atmosphere. Much better than any of the restaurants at the resort itself.

This little French place is absolutely sensational you will love the food and the wine selection.

April 4. 2015 wow! New owners I guess. They are having a rough go of it. The food was great as usual but the staff is totally unorganized and the check out procedures are sophomoric. Check your bill.

We had an excellent dining experience! The food was fresh, original, home-​cooked, and creative. This is a very intimate atmosphere, in the French style, and is quite unique and romantic. This establishment also boast a very nice wine cellar for off-​sale and a respectable assortment of baked goods. If ever in the area again, we will DEFINITELY go back. Kudos! The only thing wrong with this restaurant is their very weird name. We almost didn’t come here because of this reason.

This quaint store does not look like much from the road. but do not let that deter you. Inside is a homey shop full of wines and cheeses. In the back is the dining room. We stopped in for breakfast and I am happy we found this place. With Wintergeen so close you get some places that suffer from a lack of personality at times.
I had the tartine. A basic toasted baguette but the homemade jelly was to die for. I also had hot chcolate. Wow! European style all the way and oh so good. My boyfriend had the egg, cheese, and tomatoe bagel. The thing was huge and yummy. I would have been envious if not for that awesome jelly.
The prices to dine were great.
The dining room itself is country style and homey. There is a fireplace on one side if it is cold out, which it was for us.
You will be sorry you missed this place. :)

The most quaint, lovely, kind service. Delicious food. Amazing wine. My favorite restaurant when I come to wintergreen. Have primarily come for lunch and brunch.

My husband and I were staying in Wintergreen for our anniversary weekend and made reservations here when we saw that they have vegan options. We were so excited to find somewhere that could accommodate us close to where we were staying. The restaurant is adorable and the décor was very personal; I could tell that a lot of thought went into it.
I spent quite a bit of time thinking about writing this review because I am always appreciative of restaurants delving into vegan cuisine, but I do think that the management and potential customers should know about our experience. I ordered the wheatberry paella and asked for them to prepare it vegan, as they had offered this option on the menu (it was listed vegetarian, or vegan without the aioli). A few moments later, a waitress came back to the table to confirm that I did not want the aioli, and again I requested that they omit it. Shortly after, our salads came and had cheese on them. Not wanting to be difficult, I tried to push it to the side and overlook this mistake (although they should clarify this if they have a customer requesting a vegan entrée). Then our dinner came and my entrée had the mayonnaise on it anyway. Again, I scooped it off and put it to the side, but was feeling pretty frustrated at this point. (I did not send it back because I do not like to be wasteful in these situations.)
After waiting an unreasonably long time to get our bill, I told a waitress (and later, the girl that rung us up — because she asked how everything was) about the issues with my meal and only got a half-​hearted apology. I thought that $ 19 was really steep for a bean and grain dish to begin with, but to not even receive what I ordered made me feel completely ripped off.
In summary, I would not recommend this restaurant for anyone with dietary restrictions, either allergies, or by choice, as they seem to not grasp the importance of respecting their customers requests. The customer service was unacceptable and we should have been comped for my meal. I hope that they are able to offer vegan options more successfully in the future.

The first time we went, we had the tortellini and pesto. But only after the spaghetti ran out, as well as the spaghetti sauce. The tortellini was no better than the pasta I would microwave at home and slather pesto on.
The salmon was the better entrée by far. Although I was fighting an intense bout of allergies, I could taste enough of the salmon to tell that it was fantastic. Coming from Florida and cooking salmon myself, I have a pretty picky salmon palate.
The wine was amazing; the cake was nothing special. We picked up a bottle of the Lovingston pinotage on our way out of town. The wine glasses were as large as fishbowls, and we later found out they were extremely pricey Riedel glasses, which explains why the wine bouquet was showcased so well.
The bread appetizer with mushrooms was great. The salmon appetizer wasn’t as good as the mushroom one, but it was still a good starting dish. Unfortunately, the last time we went, there was no musician, which made me sad. If you can go on a Saturday night and catch the music man, it can make your trip a five star experience.

Cute location with a great staff! Outstanding selection of local and international wines! While all I had was a sandwich and cheese plate made to go, it was amazing! Fresh bread and roasted veggies were spot on! I wish I could have gone back for dinner, because they had a vegan option that sounded amazing. I will be back!

Stopped in to ask directions to somewhere else and had no idea what we’d stumbled into. Great teas and coffees. Excellent selection of wines and an absolutely outstanding lunch. Friendly people and, despite its nondescript outer appearance, a very pleasant and inviting interior. Very popular with the locals.
We generally stay on the highway when heading to and from Richmond but have agreed to reroute all our future trips to include Basic Necessities. It’s worth it.

We’ve been coming to Basic Neccessities for years. Friendly, cozy, simple, good food. Dinner two nights on weekends, with nice acoustic guitar/​singing music. Lunch is wonderful too. And a terrific wine shop. This is a real find in Nelson County, and a nice change from the brewpubs.

I was traveling alone in Nelson County and had seen this place on Unilocal and it was also in a book of local restaurants at the local B and B I stayed in, so I decided to try it. The menu looked good and I was looking for something a little lighter and upscale to eat as I had been noshing at the breweries for dinner. I was pretty disappointed. The place is very small which is fine. I had no complaints with the service or the setting. The food was just not good. I had tortellini that was dry and rubbery. It tasted like something you would buy at the store. I went out later that night and spoke to someone from the area who basically told me that the kitchen is small and they don’t make any of the food on premises. That would explain why I heard a lot of microwave «dinging».
The best part of the meal was the salad and the wine. The salad had cheese that I assume they sold and fresh ingredients. The wine was good and the staff were knowledgable. Unfortunately, because of the price and subpar food I won’t be going back. If I did it would be to buy something in the store part, not the restaurant. :(

Great place to take out your friends and family for Brunch and Dinner. Wine list is fantastic, Food is excellent and the top rated restaurant in Nellysford .
if you’re a tourist from wintergreen make sure to visit this place and enjoy a nice dish, be sure to buy a bottle of wine on your way out.

3 ½ STARS
Cute & quaint comes to mind. Just finding this place and taking a seat at a table in the small back room just down the hall from the deli is half the pleasure.
We stopped for an early lunch on a Saturday. The four of us had the quiche (2), saucisson sec salami and the cheese plate with salad. Everything was quite lovely — good but not great.
Atmosphere — 4 STARS
Service — 3 STARS
Location — 4 STARS
Food — 3 STARS

I was unsure about this place, but it got high marks from other folks for Sunday brunch, and in the mood to rub elbows with hungover UVA students, I was not. Plus any excuse to stray into Nelson county seems like rather an adventure.
We called ahead for a reservation, as the website recommends. Probably a good idea generally, the dining room is small and filled up over the course of our meal — however, when we arrived (at open, 10am) it was still empty.
We got a table in the corner by the fireplace, which was lit, it was very cozy. In no time at all there were two enormous cups of black coffee in front of us – and I don’t know what this place is doing differently, as I’m not usually a coffee fan, but it was tasty. Perhaps it was the bowl of fruit (with a dollop of heavy cream atop) that made the balance?
For entrees we selected the pancakes, and the pipérade. The pancakes, as reported elsewhere, were insanely fluffy, and very delicious. The pipérade was a surprise, I’ve never met the olive that I wasn’t ambivalent about until I met the ones in this dish. It was fantastic, for literally the first time, I found myself enjoying olives instead of merely tolerating them. I’ll have a tough time not ordering it again if I go back. The accompanying bread was perfect, and the sausage good, if a little more on the fatty side than I prefer.
Other reviews have noted the french feel of this restaurant, and I agree. I have to confess, I’m no francophile. In fact I stepped through the door divided of mind, looking for reasons to dislike the european pretenses of the place. I failed on all fronts. Even the harpist won me over immediately, playing a fun mix of classics, from movie scores to folk tunes to rock anthems.
To sum up: Half the treat of this place is in the location, and in getting there. Another half is in the food, which would be worth the drive even on a day that wasn’t intoxicatingly beautiful. And the, ahem, third half is in the great experience delivered by the building and the staff. The warm welcome of this little diner is enough to give you a buzz without even cracking a bottle of wine.

An adorable café and gourmet shop that features a tiny dining room at the back of the building adorned with colorful Provencal linens and earthenware, a simple-​yet-​sophisticated menu that highlights local and organic ingredients and a thoughtful selection of off-​the-​beaten-​path, competitively-​priced wines.
The café serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday and brunch on Sunday. Menu selections include antipasti, soups, salads, sandwiches and grilled meats.
We purchased a nice rose but regret that we could not sample BN for lunch, as we had just dined elsewhere. But we will return to this lovely place shortly…