Cafe Frank – C-VILLE Weekly

Want to know what to order from the new Café Frank, acclaimed chef Jose de Brito’s newest proving ground? Don’t ask acclaimed chef Jose de Brito.

“I am never happy with my dishes, and I usually do not taste my finished plates,” de Brito says. “I am way too scared to find out how bad I am. But it is not exactly my first rodeo, so I know pretty much what works or does not.”

The modesty is almost comical coming from de Brito, arguably C’ville’s most acclaimed chef. He began his career opening cult favorite Ciboulette in 2006, did stints at Trinity and Fleurie, and landed at The Alley Light, where he and restaurateur Wilson Richey drew accolades from the James Beard Foundation (Alley Light was one of 25 semifinalists for the coveted Outstanding Restaurant title; de Brito was a semifinalist for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic), Washington Post, and Washingtonian. After what would have been a pinnacle for many chefs, de Brito went to work cooking with Patrick O’Connell at the three-Michelin star Inn at Little Washington.

A second collaboration with Richey, Café Frank will give de Brito the chance to experiment with a seasonal menu of appetizers like meat pies, long-simmering soups, classic French salads, and entrées such as steak Diane and wagyu beef pot roast. According to de Brito, it’s all about flavor, not pretension.

“I do not have the team, time, space, and ability to make elaborate gardens on plates and play with tweezers, so my only saving grace is flavor,” he says. “I build and layer flavors like a maniac.”

Take Café Frank’s sauces. Each one starts with a base 20 years in the making—he freezes the bases and moves them from restaurant to restaurant as his career progresses. De Brito likens the strategy to the “solera” winemaking technique or the method for creating real balsamic vinegar.

“What is good about Café Frank is that I stay in my kitchen,” de Brito says. “I like dogs a lot, but I can really do without most people, so I rarely go into the dining room. I stay where I belong, talking to my shallots, listening to my sauces, getting aroused by my chicken stock, smelling my herbs. I like a perfectly silent kitchen so I can hear my ingredients.”

The food at Café Frank is classic and casual, “with a lot of TLC,” de Brito says. The new restaurant is truly an outlet for him to “get back into [his] madness.”

“Opening Café Frank was a way to fuel my obsession with making dishes. Hopefully in between I can give a few good nights out to some people. I am busy—extremely busy. I hope my wife will forgive me one day.”

Students grab healthier options, and the Downtown Mall faces French paradox

Smoke in our eyes

A new Q joint started smoking last Friday. Vision Barbecue is pioneered by co-owners Mike Blevins and Gabi Barghachie, who came up with their “vision” for the restaurant while working together at Maya. These barbecue boys are on a mission to add their own take on authentic smoked meats and sides to the downtown restaurant scene. “We are using local wood and a match,” Barghachie says. “No chemical starters, no gas, no electric. Everything done the way it’s supposed to be done.” The menu offers meats by the pound, traditional sides with a spicy variation on pimento cheese, and Little Pig- and Big Hen-sized sandwiches for all appetites. Be sure to grab the wet naps when you pick up VB’s signature sammie, The Hot Mess, loaded with 10 ounces of brisket, pork, and chicken, and topped with pickled onions and jalapeño plus housemade cheese and pepper sauces. Vision Barbecue is located next to The Shebeen at 249 Ridge McIntire Rd., and is open Thursday through Monday.

Crammin’ the good stuff

While we can’t imagine students completely ditching Gusburgers, donuts, and Chinese food delivery, it’s exciting to see UVA’s commitment to healthy, sustainable eating through a new partnership with Harvest Table. A subsidiary of Aramark, Harvest Table specializes in bringing locally sourced, high-quality food to institutional dining. Throughout the fall semester, the company tested its “immersive culinary movement” with pop-ups inside Runk dining hall, before fully integrating to bring Hoos a fresh, eco-friendly alternative.

All Runk food now comes from within a 150-mile radius of Charlottesville and is prepared entirely in-house—no premade hamburger patties, no packaged desserts. Through the initiative, students can choose non-GMO, antibiotic-free, and grass-fed as well as plant-based proteins, and there are options for those with food allergies and sensitivities.

Peter Bizon, executive chef for Harvest Table at Runk, says that university dining halls provide an excellent opportunity to bring local businesses together. He’s teamed up with Shenandoah Joe’s for coffee and Blue Ridge Bucha for on-tap kombucha.

“Some farms have the necessary licensing to do business with us and some don’t,” says Bizon. “We specialize in connecting the ones who don’t with the ones who do in order to foster cooperation among local producers. It means a lot when you can work with local farmers. You can get others involved and create a strong community.”

Harvest Table is also partnering with Babylon Micro-Farms, an organization founded by UVA alumni that helps restaurants grow produce in-house with systems that are remotely climate controlled and can support a wide
variety of plants, from lettuces to herbs, and even some edible flowers.

The university hopes to extend Harvest Table’s services to its other two dining halls in the future.

Frites on hold

While many local restos have pivoted creatively to stay open safely, using igloos, outdoor heaters, blankets, and stepped-up takeout offerings, Brasserie Saison has opted to close temporarily for the winter. The official statement from the popular Euro-pub says, “The health and safety of our restaurant family and community come first and we feel that the risk is too great for indoor dining during these winter months.” Owners say they plan to reopen in the spring, after the majority of the restaurant staff is able to receive vaccines. Then we can finally get back to enjoying the moules frites.

Frites on the go

Meanwhile, just up the mall, there’s another new restaurant from Ten Course Hospitality (the group behind Brasserie Saison, Revolutionary Soup, The Alley Light, The Pie Chest, The Bebedero, and most recently The Milkman’s Bar at Dairy Market): Café Frank, with an original menu from Chef Jose De Brito, whose resume includes Fleurie, The Alley Light, and The Inn at Little Washington. The new café is located in the former home of Splendora’s Gelato (we miss you!), and promises casual, French dining on the Downtown Mall (plus a robust daily to-go menu). The café’s bar program is by Mike Stewart, and Will Richey will curate the bistro-style wine list. We are excited to try the Royal Paella-for-Two with lobster, mussels, shrimp, and chorizo, but the hidden gem of this new foodie magnet might be the 4pm aperitif hour, when De Brito creates unique bites to pair with a prosecco bar-style sparkling wine list and cocktails. Café Frank is accepting takeout orders, and will be open for in-house dining Monday through Saturday beginning in March. —Will Ham