Café Caturra has a lot to love. So what’s the missing ingredient? by Tess Autrey Bosher
Samantha Adeo carries the meat and cheese platter and bread at the Short Pump Crossing shop of Café Caturra, the local chain’s third spot.
It’s probably no surprise, coming from someone who gets paid to try the best of what our city has to offer, that no chains come to mind when I think about my favorite restaurants. The most memorable places to get meals in this town tap into common elements of our local culture — food and otherwise. They remind us of where we are and why. Very few chains can do that.
With that said, I have to hand it to Café Caturra. The coffee and wine bar has local roots, born and bred in Midlothian, but it’s also a successful chain now, three times over. In addition to locations at Midlothian Village Square and on Grove Avenue, you can get your “coffee by day, wine by night” at the newest Caturra offshoot at Short Pump Crossing, which opened in September, around the same time the original location at Alverser Plaza closed.
This newest iteration of the franchise stays true to the upwardly mobile brand. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. it’s a cozy coffee house, with a full lineup of espresso-based offerings and teas, sandwiches, salads and panini. After 3, the wine bar opens, offering 3-, 6- and 9-ounce glasses, as well as a wine-fare menu, which includes a variety of topped crostinis and other savory nibbles, including a very worthy mac and cheese. From 3-6 p.m., seven days a week, beers are $3, most of the wine fare is $4 (half price), and 6-ounce glasses of wine are $5. To get a glass of the excellent primitivo and the braised short rib crostini for $9 is a steal.
The many good things to be said about Café Caturra Short Pump don’t end there. A big stone fireplace, wide leather banquettes and love seats, wooden beams, a wall-sized chalkboard for the specials and other homey elements all help convince us we might be somewhere other than a strip mall in the suburbs. There’s even a gargantuan coffee machine in the back — does it really work? — in front of a wall lined with vats of coffee beans from exotic locales to make sure we know how seriously they take their joe.
For a place that emphasizes its beverages first and foremost, Caturra has some surprisingly good food, especially the sandwiches. The chicken club panini with mozzarella, bacon and tomatoes are suitably oozy but with a nice crunch from the thick bacon and crusty bread. The BLT comes with a sweet apple mayo that plays perfectly against the salty bacon. The curry-chicken sandwich and the crispy cheese and tomato panini are similarly admirable.
Of the four soups I try, only the sweet potato is one I’d choose to have again. The chicken tortilla, tomato basil and veggie chili are off-balance in one way or another. One is too acidic, another not spicy enough, another too heavy on the corn. The salads, too, do nothing more than play second-fiddle to the sandwiches. The raspberry walnut dressing is terrific but the salad itself is more trail mix than greens. I actually take all the extra walnuts and dried cranberries home for our dinner salad that night.
All in all, though, what could be wrong with a place that offers pretty decent and sometimes excellent food, a nice wine selection, fine coffee choices, and some good happy hour — what the restaurant calls “your hour” — deals, all in an undeniably pleasant setting? I promise I’m not one to find fault just for the sake of having something contrary to say. But here’s my issue: Café Caturra could be anywhere. It could fall from the sky and land in Sacramento, Calif., Akron, Ohio, or Buffalo, N.Y., and you’d never guess that this nice little coffee and wine bar originated right here in Richmond. Just like Panera Bread, or Starbucks, while it may offer a mostly quality product, it has no sense of place, and frankly feels a bit generic.
But perhaps that’s exactly the point. Style Weekly reported last year that the company plans to open 22 cafes during the next seven years, and other sources have reported that this expansion will include the Carolinas and beyond. Kudos to the Café Caturra brand.
It’s just too bad that, if and when that big expansion happens, there won’t be a piece of Richmond that gets carried along for the ride. Based on the formula the company’s employed thus far, there won’t be any signature dishes, ingredients, drinks, decor or other elements that reflect Café Caturra’s River City roots.
To me, that’s a shame.
Café Caturra — Short Pump Crossing ($) 3332 Pump Road 360-3377 Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Monday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Handicapped accessible The other locations are: 5811 Grove Ave., 285-0690, and 13830 Village Place Drive in Midlothian, 378-4955.
I went there one time and will not go back again. when i spend $30 , i am expecting my water glass to be filled at the table and not at the counter by myself!!! (as i was instructed to!)
Friday, May 07, 2010 3:40:14 PM by Bryan
Even though Grove Avenue was the forth location, The first and second closed, Grove is were Cafe Caturra really found it's mojo, The new concept created by Granville Interiors is awesome, the location is great and it just has a uniquye vibe, not to mention that great pergola out front... What a patio!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 2:31:53 PM by Anonymous
What a boring writer. You didn't do it for me Tess.
As a principle of the design firm "Granville Interiors" that designed Grove Avenue, Athens GA, (which was never built) and Short Pump Crossing,I would like to comment on your assumption that the design/trade dress that we created for Cafe' Caturra is not very "Richmond". Our goal was to deliver to our clients a design that appealed to a large demographic and offered their clients a comfortable place to meet and eat, drink wine or coffee and relax with friends and loved ones. We also knew from the start that our clients were intending to take this concept across state lines, so we paid particular attention to not design a typical Richmond cafe. The thing I love most about Caturra is that the interior doesn't have a pat style or trendy look about it. It's warm, comfortable, and after a long day, one can feel as if they have been transported to Big Sur or Napa Valley... I know everyone from Richmond thinks Richmond is the center of the universe, but sometimes it's okay to just get away, even if it's just for dinner!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 9:02:42 AM by Hungry
Sorry, but evoking any kind of real "sense of place" in Shortpump is a challenge at best. Shortpump, to me, has always seemed so very "Anywhere, USA", that I'm not sure any cafe serving typical sandwich/salad fare can overcome it.
The Grove and Libble location, on the other hand, is very pleasant, and has a really nice neighborhood feel . On my visit there, the food was finecertainly better than Panera or Starbucks.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 9:01:47 AM by Hungry
Sorry, but evoking any kind of real "sense of place" in Shortpump is a challenge at best. Shortpump, to me, has always seemed so very "Anywhere, USA", that I'm not sure any cafe serving typical sandwich/salad fare can overcome it.
The Grove and Libble location, on the other hand, is very pleasant, and has a really nice neighborhood feel . On my visit there, the food was finecertainly better than Panera or Starbucks.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:38:39 PM by Kathy
that waitress is gorgeous!!!! We'll have to go and check out the place! :)~ Kat n Jim
Friday, February 19, 2010 5:35:57 PM by Tess Autrey Bosher
Good question, Zil. You are right that Caturra has never promoted themselves as a "very Richmond" spot, nor is that what I'm looking for in a restaurant, necessarily. But I do like to see some sense of place, whether that comes from personalities, decor, the use of local ingredients, or some other unique factor that gives a place individuality and a soul. It's one of those things that's hard to describe, but you know it when you see it- or when you don't.
Friday, February 12, 2010 10:39:14 AM by VAnative
In my opinion, having vegetarian options that aren't just salads is kind of Richmond-esque. Cafe Caturra also brings in local musicians to play once a week. I think their food is great, regardless of how Richmond or 'everywhere else' they may be. I think the fact that they could be located anywhere is going to be one of the reasons it will do so well anywhere. Happy hour for three hours EVERY DAY? What's not to like about this place? As for the person who needs to have the concept explained to them every time they walk in... seriously? If you want to try wine, try the wine. If you want to know something about it, ask. Most people do not want a full spiel about where it came from, who makes it blah blah.
After trying all of the Cafe Caturras out there and visiting the newest Short Pump version a couple of times already, I have decided that the only one I will go back to is the one on Grove. Maybe the Grove Ave. does carry a bit of Richmond with it, at least with the service. The one on Grove has been the ONLY one who has greeted me as I arrived, proactively explains how the counter serice works, and encourages a taste of the wine before purchase. At the others, I have been ignored and no one seems to care or seems to know much about the wine (if they do, they do not impart this knowledge). Could it be that the different neighborhood patrons expect or require different things? I'm not sure, but I will take friends and family to the one on Grove which emanates more of a true Richmond vibe than the suburban versions.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 6:17:51 PM by zil
So, what kind of signature dish, ingredient, drink or decor are you looking for exactly? Cafe Caturra has never said they are a Richmond theme restaurant. Coffee, wine and some killer mac and cheese is their gig.
