The Bluegrass Grill does not play bluegrass. In fact, it lacks many of the essential charms of the home of bluegrass, Appalachia. The one thing it does not lack, fortunately, is the most important thing of all and that is a darn good Appalachian breakfast. Yet the question remains: Does the breakfast make up for the lack of, well, basically everything else?
Mismatched cups and plastic tablecloths cover the tables of the restaurant. The large mural and Japanese screen do not match the apple-basket print border and quilts. Altogether, the decor seems inchoate, like the decorators alternated between purchasing trips to my grandmother's home and a Dollar Tree.
A friend recommended the restaurant to me, commending it for being "the breakfast place of choice for hung-over hippies." The diner is staffed by that brand of person particular to Charlottesville: the retro-hippy tattooed academic. Now I would say tattoos are pretty typical of Appalachia, so I can forgive the replacement of darling diner uniforms with tattoos on each of the staff members. I can also forgive the greet and seat timing which is on the slow side. It is the South. What I cannot forgive is the lack of southern hospitality. Consider this conversation:
Waitress: "What would you like to drink?"
Diner: "May I see the menu?"
Waitress: "Do you want hot or cold?"
Diner: "I'm not sure."
Waitress: "Then I can't help you."
Her tone was more sarcastic than sinister, which illustrates that this restaurant is a place of and for regulars; it is a scene of friends of the staff, I imagine, in which the staff feels perfectly comfortable being sarcastic and snippy.
But a restaurant succeeds by creating an environment that customers, even those who only come occasionally, want to be a part of. While others may feel comfortable making this particular environment their "scene," after this visit I would not want it to be mine.
I may be alone in that decision. The failures of the restaurant's facade do not deter the lines of weekend-morning customers snaking out the door. In fact, the people who wait with determination in the parking lot every weekend are probably giggling with glee at the lack of positivism so far in this review. Less of a wait for them!
The long lines exist because the Bluegrass Grill serves what is probably the best breakfast in the state. The grill dishes up a hash of wonderfully chunky and fresh red-skinned potatoes. The dish offers the perfect balance of soft and crisp. There is a hash for everyone (thanks to the vegetarian-conscious Charlottesville restaurant scene). Pork sausage, corned beef and tofu hash highlight the menu. New Yorkers who love their diner home fries will think they've died and gone upstate.
The breakfast specials were received with groans of delight as well. The eggs, cooked to the customer's request, were fantastic. If not organic, they were certainly free-range. The blintzes were fresh and light, dolloped with jelly and sour cream. The coffee, while thin, was fresh-roasted and flavorful.
A single caveat: the chili. It's sweet, but bland and lacks any bits of tomato, meat or even tofu to give it any integrity. It tastes like the cook accidentally reached for the five-spice powder instead of the five-alarm. The Bluegrass Grill is best when it sticks to breakfast.
You can find the Bluegrass Grill nestled in the corner of the glass building next to the Water Street parking garage. Prices are in the midrange, too high to be a daily college student staple, but definitely worth it for the eatins'.
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