Tag: Corner Juice

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Culture Food & Drink Living

Take us out

The Corner Juice’s PSW Smoothie and California sandwich are a healthy, tasty takeout option. Staff photo

In an ongoing effort to support local dining establishments during the pandemic, our writers have been enjoying a variety of takeout meals from some of their favorite restaurants. Contribute to this ongoing series by sending your own delicious experiences to living@c-ville.com.

Mas Tapas

While carryout can’t quite compare to dining in, to me it’s nothing short of a civic duty to support my favorite restaurants by ordering to-go, in the hopes of helping them weather the pandemic storm and survive till “normal” resumes. Mas has long been one of my go-to restaurants in town, and I feel lucky to still be able to enjoy its food. Online ordering is easy, with pick-up in designated parking spaces behind the restaurant.

My Mas must-haves did not disappoint, starting with the warm, smoky, rich Tomates Asados—tender, Roma tomatoes smoked with herbs and sea salt in olive oil. I can eat these straight up or atop a slice of Pan Casero—a wood-fired, hearth baked bread I could never replicate at home (I order extra to have the next day). The Queso y Alcachofa, a warm roasted artichoke and goat cheese spread blended with onions, garlic, and herbs is the perfect tangy, creamy garlicky accompaniment on bread as well.

I can’t order Mas without getting a Bocadillo, the simple yet perfect sandwich of air-dried, cured Spanish serrano ham and manchego cheese, smeared with a garlic aioli on a crusty roll, and I save the best for last: Gambas a la Parrilla, Catalan-style shrimp grilled in the shell with garlic aioli and gray sea salt. A mess to eat, but every bite is simply divine.

In the before times, getting a table at Mas could require one to be a little cutthroat—especially once it got too cold to dine on the patio. I’m going to take the optimistic view that takeout is the next best thing to being there for the time being: the chance to eat some of the finest food in town, in the comfort of my home, minus the wall of bodies all waiting for the rare table opening. —Jenny Gardiner

Milan Indian Restaurant

In this foggy and raw pandemic winter, my household has returned again and again to a restaurant with food that is indulgent and comforting, but also fresh and zesty enough to blast through the haze—Milan Indian Restaurant on Route 29.

The Charlottesville staple offers a wide variety of vegetable dishes, and the Chana Masala is a standout. The chickpeas have a satisfying bite, and they’re served in a tangy tomato-based sauce with a gentle sweetness and layers of spice.

I am also particularly fond of the Baingan Bahaar, a melty eggplant-based vegetable stew. Eggplant is a delicate flavor but this is not a delicate dish; the mixture is oily and rich, and the vegetable’s flavor comes through with plenty of authority.

The chicken Tikka Masala is lighter and less creamy than at some other Indian restaurants. The flavorful sauce, rather than the meat itself, is the star of the show here. It’s especially tasty with a dollop of roughly chopped mint chutney on top. The cool clarity of the herbs multiplies the warmer flavors of the main course.

Milan is a popular spot, and its to-go pickup operation isn’t quite as seamless as some other local restaurants, so it’s wise to order a little before you plan to tuck in.

When the food arrives, it’s plentiful—all the more important in these times of takeout, when there’s special joy in leftovers. I love to follow an evening Milan dinner with a daytime Milan lunch, dumping all of the quarter-tubs of this or that into a pan and sliding the stew onto a bowl of rice. The flavors blend together, but the mixture loses none of its components’ sharpness or fragrance, and the afternoon’s work is always easier after a warm midday meal. —Ben Hitchcock

Corner Juice

Corner Juice is like Bodo’s healthier, trendy sister, and I find myself craving it almost as much as a bagel these days. The menu offers a variety of light, fulfilling options, and provides more than the name suggests: Corner Juice offers sandwiches, toasts, coffee, and oats in addition to cleansing juices, smoothies, and smoothie bowls. Both locations (the Corner and the Downtown Mall) aren’t allowing customers inside due to COVID concerns, but they offer online ordering for pick-up.

I ordered from the Corner shop, which has a QR code to scan to view the menu, so you can order without contact, and I felt immensely safe getting my takeout.

I chose a PSW smoothie, with pineapple, mango, spinach, mint, and coconut water. This was a first, as I usually opt for the Corner Colada or the Green Bowl. I realize there are greens in these smoothies, but I promise you can hardly taste the vegetables. I also added the California sandwich to have for lunch later in the day. It’s a combination of avocado, hummus, carrot, cucumber, red onion, and alfalfa sprouts on organic wheat Pullman bread. Most of Corner Juice’s sandwiches are made on MarieBette bread, which has had my heart for a while, so I was really looking forward to this one. It was a bit dry, so I would recommend adding the herb mayo or basil pesto to it, but other than that, it was fresh and filling, without making me feel sluggish. The coffee with house cashew milk is another great energizer. Overall, Corner Juice helps you get past those early morning or midday blues—in a healthy, delicious way. —Madison McNamee

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News

Slower but steady: Cornering the summer market

During the summer, Corner businesses adapt to a smaller population with fewer customers. Photo courtesy of Skyclad Aerial.

By Caroline Eastham

During the summer, the UVA student population dwindles from near 25,000 to around 4,000. Despite this significant decrease, it’s business as usual for many Corner restaurants and stores, which have learned over the years to use this time as an opportunity to cater to different crowds and to improve overall customer experience.

Cal Mincer, vice president at Mincer’s, says staying afloat is not a concern for the sportswear store, especially with recent national championships for UVA men’s basketball and lacrosse. “This summer we are definitely summer-proof,” he says. “With two championships back to back…business is as good as it’s ever been.”

Summer events like sports camps and reunions also contribute to expected annual business surges, he says. “We definitely have slow periods in most summers without the students, but we also have some of our busiest weekends in the summer.”

At Corner Juice, the summer offers a time to reset and consider aspects that may get overlooked during the hectic school year, says Willem van Dijk, director of operations. “The nice thing about the summer is that there’s time to rethink your menu and rethink the experience. You get to really have a conversation with people and make sure that they are getting the best experience possible.”

Corner Juice tweaks its hours during the warm months. “It works better to have concentrated hours in which you want your customers to come for those breakfast and lunch times,” says van Dijk. During the school year, he says the restaurant can have a line out the door for hours at a time. “You don’t get that when there’s 20,000 people missing, but we cope.” The juicery is using the summer to open a second location on the Downtown Mall.

Other Corner establishments offer deals or special menu items to sustain customer traffic. Brittany Knouse, Trinity Irish Pub general manager, says the bar has specials to boost business. “We want to offer something to people who work at the hospital and around the Corner and keep them coming back,” she says.

Similarly, at Roots Natural Kitchen, assistant crew leader Lisa Oktayuren says the UVA hospital and Charlottesville families serve as some of its biggest customer groups during the summer. “The knowledge of students being gone brings out all the other people,” she says. “People like to have a cleared Corner versus a crowded Corner. Summer isn’t an obstacle, it’s just a different perspective.”

Categories
Living

For the health of it: Smoothies (and yoga) join the menu on the Corner

Corner Juice's menu isn't completely organic, which "gives us the opportunity to make [our offerings] a little more accessible to a wider variety of people," says co-founder Julie Nolet.

By Max Patten

The Corner on West Main Street has long been the go-to spot for burger bars like Boylan Heights, convenience store eats à la Sheetz, and late-night carbo-loading fixtures such as Insomnia Cookies. Yet times are changing, and smoothies and organic juices have recently joined the mix, as the demand for food that is both healthier and more environmentally conscious increases.

The Juice Laundry was founded in 2013 by UVA law grad Mike Keenan. Inside, natural materials and a clean, open environment makes for an interior that contrasts starkly with that of adjacent businesses. The menu—which includes cold-pressed juices, nut milks, and even vegan mac and cheese—is also very much on trend.

“We have more than just juice and smoothies,” says Julie Nolet, the co-founder of Corner Juice, a Juice Laundry competitor that offers not just food but also yoga classes. She started the business with the help of Joseph Linzon, co-owner of Roots Natural Kitchen, another healthy eating option on the Corner. Corner Juice partnered with Elements, a Charlottesville yoga studio, to round out its wellness appeal. “The best thing to pair with healthy food is healthy living,” Nolet says.

And vegan students are not the only ones buying smoothies. “We also see a fairly large number of persons who are either patients or visiting patients at the hospital,” says Cliffe Keenan, who works at The Juice Laundry and also happens to be the founder’s father. Keenan says he frequently explains the shop’s origins to curious customers. “They appreciate what the backstory is,” he says. “Some people assume this must be a chain. No, it’s not a chain.”

Corner Juice also finds itself at a nexus of local and student activity. “We get people that are visiting Charlottesville because of the Rotunda and UVA,” Nolet says. “We’re actually opening up a second location downtown so hopefully we’ll then get more of a different kind of client base.”

Beyond sharing vegan appeal through their food, both The Juice Laundry and Corner Juice & Yoga advocate sustainability. The Juice Laundry has no trash cans, prompting customers to divide their waste among three bins, and Corner Juice & Yoga has chutes for discarding materials that are recyclable or suitable for composting.

Cliff Keenan says his son “wants to make sure that we leave as gentle of a footprint as possible,” in contrast to the Corner’s older establishments, which still use styrofoam containers and plastic straws. Both Corner Juice and The Juice Laundry also encourage reusable bottles.

The two businesses occupy slightly different niches. The Juice Laundry justifies its higher prices, in part, with an in-store graphic showing the chain of ingredients that goes into its food. “We’re also 100 percent organic,” says Keenan. By contrast, Corner Juice’s menu is not completely organic. “That gives us the opportunity to make these healthy foods a little more accessible to a wider variety of people,” says Nolet.

Both businesses’ success suggests the wellness and sustainability model is more than a trend. “I think we’re on the edge of a way that many more people, especially young people, are starting to look at how they consume things,” Keenan says.

Corner Juice’s menu isn’t completely organic, which “gives us the opportunity to make [our offerings] a little more accessible to a wider variety of people,” says co-founder Julie Nolet.

Max Patten is a staff writer at The Cavalier Daily.

Categories
Living

Bowled over: Charlottesville eateries go all-in on the bowl trend

Most bowls, like this one from Roots Natural Kitchen, start off with a base of rice or greens, followed by protein, a sauce, veggies, and other toppings. Photo by Stephen Barling

By Sashank Sankar

eatdrink@c-ville.com

How much food can you throw into a bowl? For many restaurants nowadays, it isn’t a matter of how much you can, but how much you can’t.

Food bowls have become popular in recent years, with many different places trying their hands at the trend. For most, bowl configuration is the same: Start off with a base, add some protein, mix in sauces, and add toppings.

It’s a simple (and somewhat vague) process, but the approach varies wildly from eatery to eatery, depending on the cuisine. Most start with a rice base, although some restaurants offer a variety of greens as well. Proteins usually come in the form of meat, tofu, or beans, and then there are veggies, all at the eater’s discretion.

The sauces/dressings and toppings are where the bowls’ individual flavor identities emerge.

You might be thinking, “If it’s just throwing things into a bowl and mixing them up, I can do it at home, right?” Well, yes and no. It takes time, creativity, and effort to experiment with getting a bowl’s flavor and texture combinations just right, and a variety of restaurants in and around Charlottesville have perfected it, each in a slightly different way.

Poke Sushi Bowl

Barracks Road Shopping Center and 101 14th St. NW

If you’re looking for a sushi fix, Poke Sushi’s Hawaiian-inspired bowls come with your choice of base (rice or mixed greens), protein (a variety of fish, plus chicken and tofu), sauces, and toppings from avocado to sesame seeds.

Roots Natural Kitchen

1329 W. Main St.

A popular spot for UVA students, Roots combines different ingredients to create new flavor experiences. Here, you can go with a base of grains (bulgur, rice) and/or mixed greens, with protein varying from marinated chicken to barbecue tofu. Come early though, because there’s always a line out the door and down the block. Nowhere near the Corner? Citizen Bowl Shop at 223 W. Main St. on the Downtown Mall has similar offerings at lunchtime.

Cava

1200 Emmet St. N

Cava, a chain that recently opened at the intersection of Barracks Road and Emmet Street, does bowls with a Mediterranean twist. The base here consists of rice and mixed greens or, if you so desire, pita bread. Mezeh Mediterranean Grill, in The Shops at Stonefield, has a comparable vibe and menu.

The Juice Laundry

722 Preston Ave and 1411 University Ave.

The Juice Laundry’s vegan options are a bit of a departure from the rice, protein, and greens bowls that have taken over lunch menus. Instead, you can get açai smoothie bowls, with your choice of fruit or vegetable smoothie as a base, and a variety of toppings (sliced banana, oatmeal, seeds) to go along with it. It’s a sweet yet healthy alternative. The Juice Place offers options for folks visiting the Downtown Mall, and Corner Juice, located at 1509 University Ave., satisfies students’ cravings.