Breakfast Club

by Niki Krause

I am not here to berate your lack of daring if you haven't yet explored the dining options beyond the university's sanctum sanctorum, the Corner. Behind this article is something of a tale of a lost and found friendship between myself and my good friend Sara Murphy: we met first year and were pretty much inseparable, but second year I stayed on Grounds and she went off-Grounds and we lost touch. I ran into her, literally, at the end of that year and we had lunch. This time we didn't lose touch. Third year we had lunch every two or three weeks, usually on the Corner. This year we've made Sunday brunch our thing, every week. As our friendship has expanded so has our culinary, curiosity and so we've explored many restaurants throughout Charlottesville, and that is what I want to talk about.

The restaurants described here are within any good-food-loving college student's budget; Sara and I trade off paying the bill and it usually comes to about 16 dollars for both of us with tip included. Sara usually gets eggs Benedict or the closest thing to it. I am not that big a fan of eggs, which is especially unfortunate since most brunch menus center on omelettes. The only thing on the menu that isn't wholly egg is usually French toast, and so I have become something of a French toast connoisseur. But let's begin this restaurant rave with a place that specializes in neither.

Bashir's Gourmet Takeout is our new favorite. It's located in the "Mini Mall" at the Downtown Mall, across from the Nook. It's a small shop run by Bashir and his wife, who came to Charlottesville from New York City two years ago. Says Bashir, "We like Char-lottesville better." Sara and I peruse the menu: pomegranate glazed turkey, sesame chicken with ginger and vegetables, baked salmon, pasta suprema (pasta with herbs, veggies and feta) ... all for less than five dollars. Bashir whispers to us that the owner of Mono Loco and the cook from Metropolitan are in the group sitting in the tiny seating section; you couldn't ask for a better recommendation. I choose Bashir's specialty -- an apricot glazed ham with dijon mustard and brie on a French baguette from the Albemarle Baking Company (which, by the way, also makes excellent brioche and Italian bread). Sara hesitates, Bashir insists she sample the ham, and she immediately orders it. To drink there is Snapple ginseng iced tea, diet raspberry iced tea, strawberry kiwi drink, and water; there's also the house blend coffee which Sara praises as the best she's had in all of Char-lottesville: "I usually go home afterwards and make myself some more coffee because restaurant coffee is so inadequate." The sandwiches are divine, the piece of chocolate cake we split for dessert (there are also the cookies and equally tempting baklava) to die for -- we are hooked. The only thing wrong with the place is that it's not open on Sundays -- Monday-Saturday 7-7.

The Jewish Mother is a popular new restaurant downtown. We tried it for lunch one afternoon. The atmosphere is certainly reason enough for the buzz: two floors with lots of room, and you can scribble all over the walls upstairs (where local bands play regularly) with the crayons provided. The menu is also color-friendly and offers a large selection of Jewish motherly foods; I had the latkes and Sara had a tuna sandwich. Sad to say, the food wasn't nearly as good as the decor. The latkes were supposed to be a specialty but they and the sandwich were pretty mediocre. Even the turtle pie we had for dessert tasted like it had been sitting in the case for a couple days. I wanted to like this place.

Mono Loco, located on Water Street in an unmistakable orange building next to the Metropolitan, is another fairly new restaurant. Here again, the atmosphere is a key element. However, the goodness of the cozy space with its raised booths, colorful tiling, and little garden tables is equaled by the food in this case. I had a fresh fruit platter that was a special of the day and Sara had her omelette; both were mouth-wateringly good. The potatoes were excellent, and the dishes were arranged just as decoratively as the rest of the restaurant. (Sara warns not to confuse the Tabasco swirl with ketchup!) I'd like to go back for lunch or dinner.

Southern Culture and the Blue Bird Cafe are two great restaurants on Main Street (next to each other, across from the Baptist church). Both are usually packed for Sunday brunch, but the wait is worth it. Southern Culture does a gospel brunch on Sundays, meaning they play gospel music over the speakers. It is also unique in that they have more than one entree that isn't an omelette on their brunch menu -- granola with yogurt, Georgia peach and walnut French toast (made with good crunchy pieces of bread that are never soggy, which is always a danger with French toast), buttermilk pancakes, and assorted muffins. Sara pronounced the Nova Scotia omelette the best in Charlottesville. The Blue Bird gets our vote for best portions, not too big or too small and very flavorful. Because it was packed, the service was kind of slow but my pancakes with crème fraîche and berries were tops, and Sara's eggs Benedict were just right.

Northern Exposure makes a waffle with strawberries and cream that'll make you do a double take as it passes by, not to mention the pear and Goldschlager French toast. We've gone there two times because the food is really, really good (my burger at lunch was wonderfully juicy), but the service sucks. Both times we waited a horrendously long time before someone even took our orders, and we definitely got the impression that the older patrons were being favored. I'm willing to go through a lot for great food but this was too much.

St. Maarten's is better known for its Wings Night (Tuesday), but we've made it our Sunday standby because it's close and low-priced, 12 dollars for the two of us. It's one of Sara's favorites; she always has problems deciding between the eggs Benedict and the Mexican omelette. The two non-egg choices are a fruit platter with a plain English muffin and fried (yipe!) French toast. It's not a dieter's paradise; I'd stick with the famous wings and the tasty burgers with crinkle-fries.

My old favorite restaurant (and still a close second) is Martha's Cafe on Elliewood. This is why: I don't like salad dressing. "You don't like salad dressing?! Not any kind of salad dressing?!" you scream at me, as many have before you. And my answer is no. Well, actually, a couple years ago my father introduced me to Equal and vinegar dressing -- 1 1/2 packets, a glug of red vinegar -- that I like well enough (hey man, don't knock it 'til you've ... oh, never mind). Anyway, one of the other wonderful things about Martha's is that with entrees you get a yummy muffin and a salad. When I told our server (who just happened to be "Martha" himself since it was mid-December and a bit slow) that I would regrettably skip the dressing and why, he asked me if I liked peanuts. "Sure," I said. He disappeared and returned with our salads. Drizzled lightly over my bowl of varied greens was a peanut dressing that I loved. It was sweet and almost buttery and I licked my lips all day afterwards remembering it. Now when I go there and the server asks which of the salad dressings of the day I want, I tip 'em a wink and whisper, "peanut." All the food is made with only the freshest ingredients, a cliché phrase but I could swear that the basil in my lasagna had been sitting happily on its stalk only moments before and the whipped cream on our apple crisp had definitely been hand whipped. The only complaint I have about the place is that finding it open is sometimes a crap shoot. Especially during the winter months when the owner slips out on weekends -- the patio isn't open then, and people assume that means he's closed anyway. When I tried to go one weekend in January I found a sign on the door saying he'd be back in a couple weeks. If this happens to you, keep trying.

This list is by no means exhaustive. I once heard that Charlottesville has the most restaurants per capita of any city in the East and I don't doubt it. I've tried to mention most places that you, reader, may not be aware of. I haven't mentioned any places on Route 29 or outside Charlottesville (Duner's, in Ivy, is a slightly upscale place I've been dying to try for awhile now) only because I'd need twice the room to do so. I found out about most of these places by picking up the "C-Ville Bites" insert that comes seasonally in the C-Ville Weekly. I urge you to do the same. Use this article as the starting point for your own dining adventures. There is life beyond the dining hall, and your Corner Meal Plan can only buy you so much freedom.