At long last, I think I'm ready to review at least one part of what was a long journey through Charlottesville "nouveau" tasting. Orzo, at Main Street Market.
I have incredibly mixed feelings about Orzo, but let's start with the positive. The simple olive appetizer is soaked in a marinade that after three separate attempts I'm still not what sure is in it. But they're the most delicious olives I've had in a very long time, frankly since Spain, and it might be worth the visit to Orzo just for those olives. And the lunch menu has a number of options, all tast(e)y and down to earth. This next part deserves its own paragraph.
You have no idea how hard it is roast a chicken.
Orzo knows how to roast a chicken.
Orzo knows how to roast a chicken.
It was succulent, moist, with a crispy skin. I can't even start to explain it. It's so unfortunate that the housewives of today (led by Rachel Ray) have gravitated towards the boneless, skinless, tasteless white meat chicken breast. Because now, when it comes time to roast a chicken - I mean really roast a chicken - they, well, *really* roast the hell out of it. Made paranoid by talk of salmonella most stay-at-home-moms produce a roasted chicken drier than the Sahara.
Orzo is on top of its game, and for that, I applaud them.
So why mixed feelings? Well, it's mostly false advertising. Orzo bills itself as a Mediterranean wine bar, and it's frankly neither. When the best thing on the menu is an All-American Roasted Chicken, and lunch consists of a series of paninis, it's not really the Spanish-style eating Orzo was going for. And the restaurants namesake, served as a side with nearly every entree, tastes like it comes from a serving line - it's been soaking in onions so long that nothing else can be tasted. In fact, putting aside the olives, Orzo is better billed as Nouveau-Continental/American rather than Nouveau-Spanish/Mediterranean.
Nor does the restaurant know how to serve wine. All 3 times have involved some kind of spillage, big or small. And the reason for the title of this post, the focus on Nouveau? Well Orzo was my chance in Charlottesville to try a glass of the Beaujolais Nouveau before deciding on a purchase. It was good, but the great thing about Nouveau is that it's, well, new. It's fresh, young, bright. And that means you need to serve it chilled. It is a sin to serve a red with such crispness and minerality at room temperature.
Finally, Orzo's website and blackboard advertise "Tapas and Wifi, with $5 glasses of wine." The only truthful part of that is the price of wine. I went with a laptop to study for finals. No one else had computers out, I was sitting at a dinner table and not something like a bar, so I felt incredibly awkward. But bound and determined to work (a 1L doesn't need that much more incentive) I set up shop. Except there was no WiFi provided. The tapas menu? The lunch menu, with a few items removed. Sandwiches are not tapas, no matter how hard you try.
So all in all, maybe Orzo should keep the food and change the image. Every time I go, I expect one thing and am sorely disappointed, but get something else good instead. The only problem is, the taste of soured expectations is incredibly overpowering.
-M.
Orzo is on top of its game, and for that, I applaud them.
So why mixed feelings? Well, it's mostly false advertising. Orzo bills itself as a Mediterranean wine bar, and it's frankly neither. When the best thing on the menu is an All-American Roasted Chicken, and lunch consists of a series of paninis, it's not really the Spanish-style eating Orzo was going for. And the restaurants namesake, served as a side with nearly every entree, tastes like it comes from a serving line - it's been soaking in onions so long that nothing else can be tasted. In fact, putting aside the olives, Orzo is better billed as Nouveau-Continental/American rather than Nouveau-Spanish/Mediterranean.
Nor does the restaurant know how to serve wine. All 3 times have involved some kind of spillage, big or small. And the reason for the title of this post, the focus on Nouveau? Well Orzo was my chance in Charlottesville to try a glass of the Beaujolais Nouveau before deciding on a purchase. It was good, but the great thing about Nouveau is that it's, well, new. It's fresh, young, bright. And that means you need to serve it chilled. It is a sin to serve a red with such crispness and minerality at room temperature.
Finally, Orzo's website and blackboard advertise "Tapas and Wifi, with $5 glasses of wine." The only truthful part of that is the price of wine. I went with a laptop to study for finals. No one else had computers out, I was sitting at a dinner table and not something like a bar, so I felt incredibly awkward. But bound and determined to work (a 1L doesn't need that much more incentive) I set up shop. Except there was no WiFi provided. The tapas menu? The lunch menu, with a few items removed. Sandwiches are not tapas, no matter how hard you try.
So all in all, maybe Orzo should keep the food and change the image. Every time I go, I expect one thing and am sorely disappointed, but get something else good instead. The only problem is, the taste of soured expectations is incredibly overpowering.
-M.
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