Thursday, August 01, 2013

Charlottesville: Fry's Spring Station restaurant

In a renovated 70-year-old service station on the corner of Charlottesville's Jefferson Park Avenue and Maury Avenue, Fry's Spring Station is an award-winning restaurant offering gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan courses that are appetizing for all palates.


A brick oven is capable of cooking 22 wood-fired pizzas at once. They also offer crisp and crunchy salads, pastas, and Paninis on Foccacia bread, with a variety of entrees, sides, and appetizers as well as a large selection of adult beverages, many from local vineyards and breweries.

Plentiful outdoor seating beckons guests on warm and cool evenings, thanks to year-round heat lamps, while inside 100-person seating ofers exposed brick and reclaimed heartwood pine floors. With a mixture of Spanish, Jeffersonian, and Art Deco architecture, Fry's Spring Station offers a sophisticated, one-of-a-kind dining experience in the heart of Charlottesville.

Margherita Supreme wood-fired pizza: roma tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. Scrumptuous.

Fry's pretzel appetizer with three dipping sauces -- honey mustard, ranch, and marinara. Also pictured: spinach salad with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, bacon, and tangy vinaigrette.

Chicken Club panini with side garden salad. Not shown: Bold Rock cider from Bold Rock Cidery in nearby Nellysford, a crisp and refreshing hard cider crafted with care using Virginia Apples. The guys in our group proclaimed it some of the best they had ever tasted.

The Jefferson wood-fired pizza: white pizza with fresh arugula and prosciutto. Not shown: Pear and Gorgonzola salad made of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, candied walnuts, sliced pear, gorgonzola, and orange vinaigrette.

Framed prints on the walls are scenes reminiscent of service stations from an earlier time. By the time we left, patrons were inside and enjoying the outdoor patios.

One down side: There are five tight parking spaces behind the building and no on-street parking. It's obvious they have a lot of foot traffic. Other than that, the food and atmosphere definitely make it a popular choice for lunch or dinner.

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
August 1, 2013

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