Front Burner: CUPS A-GO-GO
A roasted eggplant sandwich, the vegetarian special of the day at CUPS A-GO-GO. Photo by Rebecca Barnett l The Roanoke Times.
Michelle Bennett has two important rules when it comes to hiring for her Roanoke coffee shops.
“I am very much a believer in paying for the expertise,” she said. “I also hire people who can smile and make conversation at 7 o’clock in the morning. And that’s not me.”
Bennett, who owns CUPS Coffee & Tea in Grandin Village, recently opened a second coffee shop on Brambleton Avenue called CUPS A-GO-GO. Quality is important to her when it comes to the beans, but she said she doesn’t want the food to be an afterthought.
That’s why she put rule No. 1 into action when she hired Alexis Hinchey, 48, to lead the Brambleton kitchen, which will produce food for both shops. Hinchey and her husband used to own a popular Grandin Village cafe and gift shop called Kneadful Things, and when it closed in early 2007, regulars “went into deep mourning,” as Bennett put it.
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May 23, 2012 - 10:00 AM
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That sandwich looks heavenly!
Would it be possible to get the recipes for the roasted eggplant sandwich and havarti pimiento?
The food sounds yummy!
Where is the restaurant on Brambleton?
Well, the sandwich is just roasted eggplant, fresh mozzarella cheese, provolone cheese, and sundried tomato and olive spread (and fresh spinach, judging by the picture). I feel certain the havarti pimiento cheese recipe is a family secret recipe but I’d be happy to check!
OK, Tosh, she said she gives out the ingredients but you have to figure out the proportions
Here goes: havarti cheese, mayonnaise, fresh herbs, salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and lemon juice.
What, pimiento cheese with no pimiento?
I guess so. But I’ll double check.
Ate lunch there today and really enjoyed it. The cheesecakes were to die for. very friendly service. I will return.
Thanks, Lindsey!
Wonder what kind of fresh herbs?
Also, what’s the address of CUPS?
I wonder, too. I guess it calls for a little experimentation.
I apologize for completely skipping over your first question about the address. It is located at 2825-A Brambleton Avenue, across from the Coffee Pot and in the same building as Mr. Bill’s Wine Cellar. Coffee and wine! Two of life’s legal drugs in one building.
It sounds like she didn’t exactly give the recipe away, as should be expected.
In my yeas of experimental cooking, I’ve found it best to take a basic recipe, like we all know of the pimento cheese, and refining it into your own. That’s really what Ms Bennett was encouraging by telling you to determine the proportions on your own.
Don’t be so afraid folks! Expand your boundaries!
yeas = years, of course.
Yea!
I put capers in my pimento cheese…people seem to like it.
This comment may be a bit late, but my husband and I finally had lunch at Cups A Go Go over the weekend and I had the best-ever, most memorable tuna avocado melt that I’ve had in YEARS (and I’m talking over 30 years). Took me right back to being 16 working at Mother Nature’s Health Food Restaurant in North Hollywood, CA.
Michelle thank you for hiring Alexis. Alexis thank you for the tasty blast from the past experience. Needless to say, we will be back SOON.