We at Restaurantarama have been telling you about some major shake-ups and shake-downs in the local dining scene. We’ve been dropping big names and getting all philosophical about hot spots closing and hip new joints burgeoning. Well, this week we are relieved to tell you about a person you’ve probably never heard of and a place you’ve probably never been. Don’t you just feel all clean and refreshed already? Of course, Russell Smith hopes you’ll soon know his name or at least the name of his new restaurant in Crozet, Flavor’s Café, which opened on June 8, and that you’ll soon get intimate with his “jazzed-up Southern cuisine.” Smith opened Flavor’s in the old Ombra’s Cafe space where he’d been general manager before he took over the restaurant from Ombra’s absentee owner. Before Ombra’s, Smith tried running a catering operation out of the Shell station on Preston Avenue, and before that, he perfected his homestyle Southern fare working for UVA Catering. In total, he has spent 27 years in the food service industry, yet Flavor’s is his first restaurant. And like any restaurant rookie and chef/owner, Smith is kind of a one-man show. When he’s not smoking the pork for Flavor’s BBQ sandwich with his signature “House Voodoo Sauce” or cooking up hickory-scented spiced shrimp with “secret powder,” he’s pounding the pavement to drum up catering business for Flavor’s and he’s managing the restaurant’s day-to-day operations. And when he’s not doing any of that, he’s trying to finish painting the sign for out front. Currently, the only indication that there’s delicious down-home grub like collard greens and macaroni and cheese at Flavor’s somewhat nondescript location in Crozet Square is a red banner that says, “We’re Open”—which is just about as to-the-point and free of airs as Smith himself. When Restaurantarama came a-calling, Smith simply said, “Where have you been?”
 Music to our tastebuds: Flavor’s Café owner Russell Smith is dishing up “jazzed-up Southern cuisine” in Crozet. |
Indeed, we have no excuse for not getting off our rear ends sooner and venturing out to Crozet country for its latest culinary development where Smith says he’s filling a local void with his casual setting and cuisine that leans toward the seafood end of the Southern spectrum. “I brought oysters on the half-shell to Crozet,” he claims proudly. And while he will gladly serve you a ubiquitous Southern fried chicken dinner, he’s much more jazzed about his Veal Oscar with Crab and Asparagus over Garlic Linguini. The one thing he can’t yet serve you, however, is a Southern-style cocktail. That’s because Smith has discovered the most difficult part of starting a restaurant—that blasted ABC license paperwork. But with Smith’s sweat equity heavily invested, Restaurantarama bets there soon will be a frosty beverage to accompany your unpretentious plate of Southern hospitality and a sign alerting you to the delicious Flavor’s awaiting inside.
Eat good
Sometimes a good meal can restore your faith in humanity. Like when you bite into a beautifully assembled piece of sushi, don’t you just get all proud that we are a species with opposable thumbs? Or when you savor a plate of pasta puttanesca, don’t you just want to bow down to the person who discovered roasting garlic in olive oil is just about the most amazing flavor this side of heaven? Well, here’s another faith-restoring culinary achievement: Orzo Kitchen and Wine Bar’s 10 percent Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, Orzo donates 10 percent of the revenue generated that day to a local charity. A new charity is selected to collect the proceeds from each month. In June, Orzo collected $1,213 for The Cancer Center, and so far in July, it has collected $600 for Building Goodness. Now that’s what we call eating good!