Another of our famous Mallstars, Tony is owner of the hippest coffee joint on the downtown mall, Cafe Cubano.  I don’t know anyone else in town that takes more pride in drawing a shot of espresso than Tony…be sure to ask for a cortadito (typical Cuban coffee:  lots of sugar, espresso and a drop of milk…it will knock you on your caffeinated feet), and you will see the attention he gives to the tiny succulent shot.  So I thought it would be great to find out more about the man behind the coffee…so here goes!

Starting a life and business in Charlottesville

Where were you before Charlottesville?
I was in Miami in the restaurant business, but when my wife was diagnosed with a serious illness we moved to Alexandria. There I partnered with a restaurant guy in the DC to manage a couple locations and we later sold the business to a South Korean group in 1992. That gave me the chance to move to cville. I started working in Richmond for about a year consulting for a restaurant group and later worked for UVa with a management consulting group.

Why did you come to Charlottesville?
My first wife, who passed away, had a sister that lived here.  For twenty years we traveled to cville about 2-3 times per year.  I was always impressed by the environment.

How did Cafe Cubano come about?
I had an opportunity to meet the brothers from Higher Ground Coffee. I loved their food and coffee and decided to buy it. My goal was to deliver a micro-concept on the downtown mall. I loved the diversity and “city” feeling of the mall. The customer base came from all walks of life. From movers and shakers to UVa professors and students to nerds to entrepreneurs…it reminded me a lot of old-town Alexandria.

»Read More

Popularity: 44% [?]

Alicia Keys said, “If I want to be alone, some place I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want–I go to the bathroom”. I assume that she’s talking about the bathroom in her house, and not any of the public restrooms in Charlottesville, but for the moment, I will humor (probably only) myself and think that she could be applying this philosophy to say, Zinc. Or Maya. Or Mas.

»Read More

Popularity: 34% [?]

OXO
My “Going-Out Companion” and I stopped by OXO late Friday night. Here’s the deal: XSV will play about 30 seconds of a song, then transition it into another song. And the songs are ri-dic. It’s not something I could appreciate every night, but it was awesome to hear “Hang Tough,” “I Want to Sex You Up,” and “Mmmbop.” I happen to love “Mmmbop.” I was way into it, much to the amusement (or horror, maybe) of MGOC. I returned on Saturday and had way too much fun again, way too late!

Escafe
We heart belmont yo. We do. Seriously. He plays techno songs I secretly LOVE. I play them on my iPod when I’m working out, so I can appear all serious and intent on reading my New Yorker and pumping that elliptical, but inside my head, it’s Escafe on Friday.

Sam Hill’s New Year’s Party
I hear they had an awesome piano guy who played requests. I also hear it was packed, with a great Charlottesville crowd of music-lovers. And I also hear Stevie Jay was there. Were you there?

X Lounge
Awesome, obvi.

Bang!
Best service ever. Our waitress made MGOC feel like the special occasion it was. [Read the review.]

Siips
MGOC described it as a “country club party.” Accurately.

Popularity: 8% [?]