Five Finds on Friday: Brandon Wooten
Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Brandon Wooten, co-founder of Grit Coffee, now with four locations: the Downtown Mall, Elliewood Avenue, Crozet, and Stonefield. The new Stonefield location, Wooten says, has more of a “European cafe vibe,” and will soon introduce weekend evening service, with small plates, dessert, draft beer, wine, and craft cocktails. Evening service begins next Friday, April 28. Wooten’s picks:
1) Carne Asada at MAS Tapas. “I’ve probably had dozens of steaks since the first time I had the carne asada (8 or so years ago), and have still yet to have a better steak dish in this town or really anywhere else in the world. It’s that good.”
2) Rotisserie Chicken and Fried Yucca at Al Carbon. “Their rotisserie chicken is something special, as is everything else I’ve had there. I love sauces and theirs are exceptional.”
3) Cuban Sandwich at Grit Coffee Downtown. “Hopefully this doesn’t read as self-promotion because we can’t take any credit for the local iteration of this sandwich. (That honor goes to Tony Jorge of Cafe Cubano fame). All we’ve tried to do is carry on the legacy of what we think is the best Cuban sandwich outside of Florida.”
4) Red Hot Blues and a House Margarita at Continental Divide. “I know I’m not alone in coveting either one of these, but for me they are inextricably linked (and a necessity at least once a month). I think often of the Wait-A-Minute mango habañero sauce – probably more than I should.”
5) Double Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries at Riverside Lunch. “My dad used to take me and my brother to Riverside back in the days when it was just a counter in the back of a laundromat. There’s just no beating the simple perfection of their burgers and fries. It’s a Cville tradition I’m more than happy to pass on to my two boys.”