Continental Divide

By snafu or serendipity, we ended up dining at Continental Divide in Charlottesville. My lovely editor, Lisa, at National Geographic Books knows the town well (go Cavaliers). She recommended that we try Continental Divide, but, it turns out, she had actually meant to suggest we go to another, more upscale restaurant called C&O located on the Downtown Mall.

Given the choice, we most likely would have opted for Continental Divide. It reminded us of some of our favorite places in Hoboken—casual atmosphere, tasty Southwestern-style food, interesting beer list, and excellent margaritas. It was soft-shell tacos all around, pork for Brian and beef  for me. (I was sold as soon as I read the word “brisket.”)

Continental Divide’s cheeky motto is “Too Small, Too Crowded, Too Loud, Too Bad.” We followed the first two pieces of advice from a poster on Yelp.com: “Do as the locals do, go early, go on Tuesday and go often.” He was spot on, as there was no wait for a table. Add to it all a clandestine location—the restaurant name isn’t anywhere to be found, just a neon sign demanding “Get in Here”—and it was a C’ville highlight. Thanks, Lisa!