We finally discovered the positive side of the heavy rain-fall we have received in the past couple of weeks. This past Saturday’s farmers market was pretty special. Flowers were in full bloom. Here are some noteworthy stops:
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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!
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.
Most of us are obsessed with the downtown mall usually out of convenience. What is off the beaten path? My interest
in procuring a new breakfast spot has yielded a diamond in the cville rough: C’ville Coffee. Located at the corner of Harris and McIntire in what seems to be an antique/furniture business park, it serves up more than just coffee.
My curiosity with Cville Coffee began with the Chocolate Chip Honey Bunches I tried at the City/Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago. Something so simple and delicious surely had to come out of a creative kitchen, or at least a business that really cares about its customer experience.
About an Owner
I had lunch with Toan Nguyen, owner of C’ville Coffee soon after our introduction at the City/Farmers Market. We discussed everything from business to politics to the local “green” initiative. He has quite a colorful past, influenced very much by his wife’s career ambitions. She was a high-powered San Francisco lawyer in the 80’s, no doubt slinging together crazy private equity and leveraged buy-out deals in the hay day of financial market abuse (just a thought, not actually confirmed). Confronted with the realization that working for the Firm would not allow for a great family life, she told Toan she wanted to move back to cville where she attended Uva Law.
2. First Fridays. Read the cvilleMUSE preview.
3. ZoCaLo is open for brunch. [need confirmation]
4. MUSE arts & music preview. <—- BEST PREVIEW EVER
What are you doing?
One of UVA’s engineering brains is working on a thesis to discuss what she calls “food miles,” or the distance it takes food to travel before it has been consumed. Lauren Doucette says the “average grocery store carrot has traveled 1,600 miles before it is eaten.”
She must love food, because she plans to analyze the relative energy consumption of The Charlottesville City Market and compare it to other sources of food. She calculates all the energy associated with travel and technology of the 90 vendors at the Market.
She explains:
Through my energy calculations, I found that the amount of energy it takes to transport goods to and from the Charlottesville City Market for one day is about 13,000 kilowatt-hours. This is about how much energy the average household uses in one year
She hopes to help the community understand how to make the Market more efficient.
P.S. The Market opens in 4 weeks, first thing in April!
