L'Etoile

Next to the railroad tracks, formerly the tea room café, L’etoile is serving up the French name. This place has an exposed downstairs but some more quaint upstairs rooms with original wood floors. Full windows face the sidewalk downstairs and a deck overlooks the tracks. In the winter the front room can get drafty.

This restaurant stands at the western end of the restaurant mile. This evening they offered a salad l’etoile, mixed greens, roasted beets, Roquefort bleu cheese, red onion, pine nuts, and balsamic vinaigrette. The vegetarian entrée option was Lyonnaise Potato Pierogis, tomato salad over local arugala with lemon-chive crème fraiche. For dessert there was a Pot d’crème or a coconut cake.

Two beers were on tap: a red nectar and St. George’s golden ale. The selected wine was a burgundy. The food was delicious, but didn’t seem up to the pretense.

In the dark light of one of the upper rooms, the rough-cut sugar cubes looked like croutons. That led to a surprise.

817 W. Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22903
(434)-979-7957