Busrider had a lengthy comment I wanted all of you folks to read. On Sunday, I posted an article about my predicted restaurant failures in 2007. We hit a soft spot with some of our readers and Busrider decided to weigh in. He/She brings an interesting issue to the table. Is the Charlottesville restaurant scene all smoke and mirrors? Would our restaurants survive in larger metropolitan areas? Certainly, this is best analyzed on a case by case basis, but there are overly praised restaurants that wouldn’t do well in major cities.
Busrider explained:
Enough with the diplomacy. West Main is a goddamned travesty of a restaurant. Poor service, incompetent kitchen, and no non-smoking section. I have no doubt that people like the place and have eaten good food there. Hell, I don’t doubt the fact that there are a few good items on the menu, I just haven’t experienced them. Screwing up pub grub is, I think, an unparalleled bit of culinary blasphemy. Paired with indifferent waiters, I prefer to take my money elsewhere.
Fuel deserved to fail. The Nook deserves to fail. Many others make that list, but I’ll refrain from mentioning them. As an outsider and recent transplant, it seems that locals are too eager to give Charlottesville a bigger city vibe, and not without reason. Unfortunately, the restaurant scene here seems to be more about appearances than actual delivery. (There are, of course, several outstanding exceptions.) The restaurant business is a volatile one, and that holds true in Cville, but in most major markets, an establishment that cannot perform well will go out of business within a very short timeframe. There’s turnover here, too, but why doesn’t it happen sooner?
We don’t have to go to Mas just because it brings tapas to Charlottesville. I know Spanish food is the trendy cuisine du jour, but Mas just isn’t that good. Why pretend otherwise? We shouldn’t be in the business of charity when it comes to our food. To varying degrees, we pay for the privilege of dining out and should hold restaurants accountable for their performance (or lack thereof). Trendy doesn’t equal good; price doesn’t equal quality. If a chef puts a plate in front of you at any price point that doesn’t satisfy, don’t continue to frequent his or her establishment.
Wake up, Charlottesville. Grow a set of balls. The Stu Rifkins and Coran Capshaws of the world don’t own your tastebuds. Neither do their names, applied to whatever venture, mean quality. Restaurants in this town need to follow a simple formula to achieve (at least momentary) success: set up a pricey bar, deck out the interior in modern decor, add colored mood lighting, and price all entrees between $22 and $35.
There’s so much more to food than this, and I sincerely hope that people in this city will take a step back to realize that in many cases, they’re paying for a trend, and not good cuisine.
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Tagged as: Charlottesville, Fuel Co., Mas, Rants, Restaurants, Restaurants/Bars, Reviews, West Main
I don’t know if it’s a function of Charlottesville being a college town with kids running around with daddy’s credit cards, but the restaurant scene does seem to be a bit insulated from having to survive on its own merits. Service at any price point is inconsistent at best and more often downright crappy. Price points always seem to be $2-$5 more than they should be. In fact, the biggest indictment of the Cville restaurant scene is its inconsistency from experience to experience. I have had fantastic meals at the Ivy Inn, the Shebeen, South Street, Rapture, Vivace, the late Starr Hill; I also have had train wrecks at each of the places with the restuarant managers seemingly indifferent to my concerns.
It’s sad to say that the only place in town where I have consistently good food and service over the last 10+ years is at Continental Divide. I think BusRider’s point is that the cumulative effect is that there are very low expectations at every price point and if a restaurant’s food and service rises to the level of just good, people rave about the experience. Hopefully Cville’s is starting to get the critical mass of discerning diners that will demand satisfaction.
Methinks my Busriding friend isn’t much of culinary judge. I’ve been eating around town for the past decade or so, and there are plenty of crappy restuarants, for sure, but for my wallet and tastebuds, Mas is the most consistently excellent restaurant around. What it lacks in flash, it makes up for in fresh, often local ingredients put together, very, very well. Of course, I’ve had crappy meals there, as well, and sometimes the service can be lacking. But whether it’s part of the Coran empire or not, it’s a fine restaurant.
Hear, hear! Finally someone distills into words what I’ve been ranting about Cville restaurants (and in particular Mas) for a couple of years.
While I haven’t had tons of meals at tapas joints, I thought Mas compared favorably with the downtown Jaleo in DC helmed by the celebrated Jose Andres. I’m not saying that Jaleo is necessarily all that, just that Mas seems to be pretty good at what they are doing.
Mas is pretty damn good, and I’m a fairly serious food person and I’ve been to a lot of tapas restaurants. The selection, while perhaps not as traditionally authentic as Jaleo, is diverse and pairs interesting flavors and textures, and executes many of them extremely well (I am still thinking about the bread with the apricot preserves and whatever that delightful runny cheese was). The wine list is fantastic.
Granted, I don’t live in Charlottesville (yet), though I went to UVA lo these many moons ago. I don’t think the food scene has anything to do with UVA students. Unless things have changed dramatically in the years since I graduated, students don’t typically frequent the higher-end restaurants, except erhaps for dinner before formals, parents weekend, graduation, etc.
I’ve said for the last 15 years that Charlottesville has a much better food scene than it really needs to have, but I think the town is better for it. I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t even be considering moving back if it didn’t exist.
Divine - Mas, Blue Light, and Zo Ca Lo are frequented by students, but I think you are right. This is a very weathly city and that supports the above average priced fare.
Dave, the fact that “[you’ve] been eating around town for the past decade or so” doesn’t exactly make you “much of a culinary judge” either. I’m glad you like Mas, and I wouldn’t presume to tell others what they should and should not eat. And being new to town, I can’t comment on what Mas used to be; I only know that people whose opinions I respect consider its star to be fading.
My whole point was not to debate the merits of individual establishments, but rather to posit that for our money, we might as well get predictably good food. I don’t care if you’re spending $5 or $75 prix fixe; you deserve to enjoy whatever your wallet affords you. When chefs get lazy and food quality plummets, they deserve to be held accountable by patrons. But in this town, people have a little bit of money and seem itching to spend it on dogshit…and this insulates Charlottesville restaurants a little from the extraordinarily ephemeral nature of the industry.
As an aside, Dave, I have cooked my entire life–both personally and in some decent restaurant kitchens. I also tend to plan my vacation destinations around food. It’s my passion. So feel free to disagree with my opinions, but don’t pull the “I’ve eaten here for ten years…and my penis is 72 inches long” bullshit.
Cheers.
End of discussion, please.
I’m sorry to cut off this chain. Since it’s BusRider’s opinion we flagrantly displayed on the homepage, I’ll give BusRider the last word. That the last word is what it is… cracks me up.
Just remember that there’s a lot behind our preferences for restaurants and businesses. I only recently “came back” to Mexican food, and you’ll never read a review of halibut from me. I hate eating in restaurants with no windows, and I rarely eat big greasy meals at dives. Why? Personal history, texture, melatonin, and fat, respectively. This is all really subjective, 20-some-odd years in the making. Insult my preferences, and you’re insulting who I am. My hope for the site is that you make no apologies for who you are. But please don’t make assumptions about who other people are from their preferences. Then you owe them an apology.
The more you populate the site with your opinions of certain restaurants, the more a “majority” opinion will come out. Maybe the restaurant will take a hint, maybe they won’t. People who like an unpopular restaurant will keep going there, and people who don’t like an unpopular restaurant might go back. Thor and I systematically return to restaurants we don’t care for, just to see if the experience changes. Recently, we’ve been to Mas and Ten. (Exactly the same.)
Thanks, folks.
The Stu Rifkins and Coran Capshaws of the world don’t own your tastebuds. Neither do their names, applied to whatever venture, mean quality. Restaurants in this town need to follow a simple formula to achieve (at least momentary) success: set up a pricey bar, deck out the interior in modern decor, add colored mood lighting, and price all entrees between $22 and $35.
Just thought I would print it again. I have never been associated with any establishment in this town with all entrees priced between $22.00-$35.00. In fact my personal claim to culinary fame is a Gas Station on Pantops. You must have me confused with someone else.