For someone with French culinary school chops and experience running and owning restaurants all over the world—from Cape Town to Montreal and California to Hawaii—Hassan Kaisoum pretty much created a recipe for disaster at his Aroma’s Café & Catering in the Fontaine Research Park. Here were his ingredients for cooking up a Moroccan/Mediterranean dining den in Charlottesville: fluorescent-lighted cafeteria space in a Virginia Department of Forestry office building occupied by folks fascinated with Virginia flora. Not your typical ethnic food scene.
 Two to get ready: Hassan Kaisoum (right) built up the clientele in the old Aroma’s Café space, and Ted Nelson designed the new space in the Barracks Road Shopping Center. The combined result is a recipe for success. |
"People said, ‘I’ll give you three months,’" Kaisoum says with a laugh.
But that was eight years ago. Apparently, Kaisoum is like one of those misunderstood culinary genius types—you know, the kind whose crazy combinations of, like, garlic and ice cream make no sense until you bite into their completed dishes and discover divinity. You see, Aroma’s didn’t just last—it soared. It soared right into the hearts of almost every person stuck in that drab Fontaine Research Park and then by word-of-mouth (Aroma’s has practically no signage) into the hearts of their friends and colleagues and their friends and colleagues’ friends and colleagues until Kaisoum became a household name for anyone with a taste for Habiba sauce.
But finally, finally, Kaisoum is moving his Aroma’s Cafe to a location with a bit more foot traffic—Barracks Road Shopping Center—and has just about the best recipe for success any restaurateur can hope for: a loyal, cultish following already firmly established and access to a whole new market. Plus—and here’s the best part, in the humble opinion of yours truly, who finds cafeteria spaces reminiscent of wart-infested lunch ladies and soggy tater tots—Kaisoum will be getting "a restaurant space that can match his energy," says Kaisoum’s designer, Ted Nelson of Design Build Office.
Nelson says Aroma’s new casual, bistro setup in the former Alltel location will have an open kitchen to highlight the best parts of the original Aroma’s—the food and Kaisoum himself—and an interior design that matches the rich Moroccan flare of them both. But no worries about walking into one of those over-the-top, Disneyland versions of Marrakech that you sometimes find at Moroccan restaurants. Nelson assures us that the new Aroma’s will have clean and simple lines and a design that reflects the more streamlined aesthetics of the Saharan Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. Aah. All visions of lunch ladies have been banished.
And even more good news: Whereas the old Aroma’s was open only for lunch Monday through Friday, Kaisoum tells us the new café will be open 11am-9pm, seven days a week. No more having to wait the entire weekend to get your next fix of the little pieces of heaven disguised as Kaisoum’s Baklava or his Cashew Fingers with Honey, which Nelson aptly likens to the addictive qualities of crack.
Kaisoum says that he’ll close down the old Aroma’s location at the end of December and hopes to open the new Barracks Road location around January 1.
Quick bites
Apparently, it’s bombs away for Atomic Burrito. As of press time, a representative for Atomic’s owners tells us that while discussions are ongoing, no final deal has been inked for the tiny taqueria’s Second Street alley space (which previously brought us smoothie and juice bar Liquid). Current staff, however, tell us that Atomic will close its doors on October 31.
Speaking of juice bars, Sublime All-Natural Food & Juice Bar on Elliewood Avenue will have opened by the time you read this. If you’re a natural food novice, we suggest you sample yourself a wheat grass shot at Sublime’s grand opening celebration this weekend.
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