When I host out-of-town guests, I have the worst time choosing places to take them for quick lunches. I avoid the mall for lack of options. I don’t care for Cubano for myriad reasons, notably the lack of ingredients. I’ve overdone Bizou, because in spite of its diverse menu options, the lunch menu remains mostly the same. I find Salad Creations too limiting for the company I like to keep. And I think Christian’s is a “third visit” place, because I feel badly throwing new guests in front of someone yelling, “Whaddyawant?” and subjecting them to a full clove of garlic, hidden under cheese, in a shop so crowded that their ass is literally being pressed against a family’s table.
And yet I’ll bring them to Take It Away. Everything is wrong with Take It Away the first time. But wait…
You can get a sandwich, a sandwich, or, drumroll please, a sandwich. (Fine, yes, they offer seasonal soup.) Your bread options are few, but most customers order sourdough, which has been designated “NEW!” for years. All of the bread is freshly baked and chewy. Your meat and cheese options are also few, and the “vegetable” sandwich consists of raw carrot, alfalfa, and mushroom with cheese. (I like this combination very much, to be honest. Not so keen on tomatos sometimes.) It seems ironic to me that there are probably as many varieties of potato chips and wine offerings as sandwich combinations.
At peak lunch hours (and frequently outside of those hours), it is shoulder-to-shoulder packed with the cross-section of Charlottesville that lives and works near the corner, from hospital technicians to philosophy professors to Comm blocks.
The pay system is governed entirely by the Honor System, whereby a customer is expected to bring his or her choice of beverage and side to the counter before leaving, and paying for them.
And dare I go on without mentioning the mysterious “house dressing?” I’ve heard it’s a little bit of everything, from barbecue sauce to mayonnaise. The mustard seeds are a giveaway. All I know is that it’s really good.
So imagine you’re new to the place. You come in, it’s packed. You look at the menu on the wall and look around for the paper version with the rest of it and realize no one is holding such a thing. You go to the “order here” area and tell an employee holding note paper what you want. You’re asked if you want house dressing, you ask what it is, and you’re told it’s a secret. He or she asks for your name, and you think you’re being hit on. Then nothing happens. You go to the back and stand awkwardly and hear people’s names called out. Everyone seems to know everyone else. You stare at jalapeno potato chips and see people filling up sodas at the fountain in the corner. You go and fill up a soda. Then you see someone holding an Arizona tea (your favorite!) and wonder where the hell they got it. You’re stuck with your Diet Coke, so you drink it. Then, your name is called! What do you do?! You ask if they take credit card. Yes they do. You swipe. You sign. You take your tinfoiled sandwich in a white bag and turn around and–
There are three tables, all full. But there’s the drink cooler! You watch, puzzled, as everyone else leaves the place going somewhere (WHERE?!) with their little white bags. You drove, so you might as well go back home to eat. You go to the parking attendant in the Elliewood lot and pay him a dollar. On your way out, you notice the sign indicating that Take It Away validates your parking.
And then you take a bite of the sandwich, and it is perfect.
And THAT is why I bring out of town guests to Take It Away. It gets so much easier after that!
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tagged as: Bizou, Cafe Cubano, Charlottesville, Christian's, Raves, Restaurants, Salad Creations, The Corner, Traditions, UVA
[…] a friend brought me for the first time, I was intimidated. As I said of my experience of Take It Away, I feel anxious in restaurants with local customs, or where I feel rushed. Even drive-thrus can […]
Two words: Cafe Europa.
It is simply the most underrated sandwich shop in town. The price is good, they have a great selection, even of vegetarian items. You get a lot of food (it’s about $5.50 for a large sandwich and it comes with parsley potato salad). They even bring you your food after your sit down.
underrated? I would say that it is anything but. I do not consider those to be particularly big sandwiches and the 4 or so times I have gone I have left hungry.
If we are going to talk about underrated sandwich places (or at least under-talked about for being great), these need to be included:
Zandi’s
Wayside Deli
and maybe the New Deli.
“take it away” pretty much sums up how i feel about the place.
also let me add that i recently had a pretty solid steak and cheese at Pacino’s. Its the first time i’ve been there since it was no longer either sylvia’s or bambina’s. i never really see anyone in there (similar to the last places that inhabited that spot). the boss man smoking right outside the open front door didn’t exactly enhance my experience, but I think the place is worth checking out to watch a game (they ahve a 60″ tv upstairs) and have some food and beers.
I like the New Deli, but the stripmall location keeps it from getting more popular.
Seriously, post. I’m putting up more complimentary posts because (a) I like these places and (b) it’s exhausting to be bitchy all the time. Please, help me out and publicly express your disapproval of sandwich suckitude on the corner.
I don’t buy cheesesteaks from places that advertise them as “steak and cheese” subs.
If not for the blueberry muffins at Little John’s or the cheapness of Bodo’s, I would almost exclusively eat lunch at Cafe Europa. You do actually get more food than Little John’s for the same price. We obviously have different standards of what constitutes a “large” sandwich, but I’ve never left hungry. Then again, I have conditioned myself over the last 15 months to become full from a Bodo’s sandwich.
Weird, I just made a post, but it disappeared.
Anyway, I don’t buy cheesesteaks from a place that advertises them as “steak and cheese” subs.
I think Cafe Europa is overall the best sandwich place on the corner. If not for Bodo’s being so inexpensive or the blueberry muffins at Little John’s, I’d eat there every single day. You get more food for the same price than at Little John’s. We obviously have differing opinions on what constitutes a “large” sandwich, but then again I have conditioned myself over the past 15 months of eating on the corner to get full from a Bodo’s sandwich.
I’ve been to Take It Away once and wasn’t very impressed.
I’ve already gone off on how perfect the nuclear sub is. I feel like that’s something I’m looking for in the man I’ll marry: will you eat a whole sub… and give me your pickle and help me finish my nuke?
Ethan-
my bad. i missed the first part of your post when you said you were talking about cafe europa. i thought you were talking about take it away. i’ll support the cafe europa comments.
if you want to be a cheesesteak elitist that’s fine by me. i have never lived north of here so i am no expert and don’t know how they are “supposed” to taste. but, i do know when something tastes damn good, and the steak and cheese at pacinos did.
and i’m gonna mention zandi’s one more time as something worth checking out. the location sucks for downtown people (its arounf the 29/rio intersection) but the sandwiches are huge and good and made on great bread.
ps-this is the 3rd time i’m posting this, it keeps disappearing (i hope i dont end up seeing it 3 times)
Ethan-
my bad. i missed the first part of your post when you said you were talking about cafe europa. i thought you were talking about take it away. i’ll support the cafe europa comments.
if you want to be a cheesesteak elitist that’s fine by me. i have never lived north of here so i am no expert and don’t know how they are “supposed” to taste. but, i do know when something tastes damn good, and the steak and cheese at pacinos did.
and i’m gonna mention zandi’s one more time as something worth checking out. the location sucks for downtown people (its arounf the 29/rio intersection) but the sandwiches are huge and good and made on great bread.
ps-this is the 3rd time (now 5th) i’m posting this, it keeps disappearing (i hope i dont end up seeing it 3 times)
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[…] written about my anxiety over the following before, and I am always open to the possibility that I’m […]
Mayo + Whole Grain Mustard = Take It Away House Dressing
/no joke: try it