Here’s some news to harsh your coffee buzz: After almost seven years in business and just a year and a half after their move to the “pink building” on South Street, Milano Cafe owners Mark and Victoria Cave have announced plans to close on March 31.
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Mark (pictured) and Victoria Cave will end their seven-year run with Milano at the end of March. |
“Milano Cafe needs an owner/proprietor, someone who can devote the time and resources needed to further grow the product and the brand,” reads an e-mail the couple sent out last Monday. With Victoria fulfilling her full-time teaching duties at Montessori Community School and Mark managing their other business, Country Dogs, the Caves “cannot devote to the cafe the time and energy it needs and deserves.”
While the couple declined to comment beyond what was mentioned in the presser, they point out that if someone were interested in buying the Cafe, they “would certainly entertain that option.” However, their involvement in the cafe will end in late March.
CSAbsent
Roundabout Farm announces that it is not participating in CSAs or farmer’s markets this growing season. “We’re going to streamline our operation and simplify,” says owner Megan Weary. “The time that’s required…it’s a tremendous amount of time.” She tells us the farm will only be selling to restaurants.
Despite the decision, Weary says she’ll miss the connections Roundabout made through those services. “We really loved the relationships we developed with people and the community.” Of the farm’s five years in operation, four were spent participating in farmer’s markets and three spent participating in CSAs.
Roundabout isn’t the only one scaling back. Consumers have three fewer CSA options this year, including Dave Matthews’ Best of What’s Around Farm.
What’s left? Radical Roots in the Valley and Appalachia Star, which owner Kathryn Bertoni tells us expanded this year to compensate for the losses. The Nelson County farm has added a second dropoff day in Charlottesville. And, while they just recently filled up in terms of CSA subscriptions, there’s a waiting list for next year, she says.
Puff pass
Smokers, take note: Charlie’s Restaurant on High Street is boasting a big sign promising a safe haven for nicotine lovers. The restaurant has had a separate outside smoking area since a few weeks before the smoking ban took effect, says Wendy Dickerson, a Charlie’s cook and waitress. And, she says, it’s been pulling in a lot of business.
“We have bands on Fridays,” she says. “It’s always pretty packed because there’s smoking in there.” Dickerson tells us that, while the front door to the bar area is all non-smoking, a separate entrance leads into a smoking area.
Lost and found
U.S. Marshals located restaurant renegade and former local Osama El-Atari last week in Texas after a year of assuming he’d fled the country to escape his millions in debt. The entrepreneur, whom prosecutors say accrued his wealth through false loans against nonexistent life insurance policies, is no stranger to legal trouble. In 2005, he made local headlines for assaulting former UVA star and Texans quarterback Matt Schaub during a dispute at El-Atari’s now-defunct Elliewood Avenue restaurant, Buffalo Wing Factory. Two years after that, federal agents charged him with “conspiracy to manufacture badges,” reports the Associated Press. When his case goes to court, it will be the largest fraud case to be prosecuted in decades in Virginia.
Fresh from the oven
Cupcake baker Maria Porter stopped by the C-VILLE office last week to share a few of her sweet treats from her two-week-old home-based business, Charlottesville Cupcake. Her light and fluffy confections are currently being sold on the Corner at Para Coffee, but she says they’re available for special order, too. Find out more at charlottesvillecupcake.com.
