Thursday, December 01, 2005

The wind practically blew the five of us through the door of Cosmos, a relatively new bistro near Hobby Lobby on Scottsville Road. Monday was a miserable kind of day, with dark clouds lurking in the distance and the threat of rain not far behind, but we had something to celebrate: two new reporters (and the promise of a lighter workload).

We placed our orders with the cheerful ladies behind the counter and settled down in front of a wall of windows to watch the storm roll in. After a brief wait, our sandwiches and soups came out one at a time, a pain because our mamas raised all of us to wait until everyone is served to begin eating. The woman helping us apologized for the staggered service though, and we encouraged each other to dig in before the food got cold.

After a few spoonfuls of potato soup, one co-worker held up her spoon and let the soup dribble off it, commenting it was rather watery. Another co-worker concurred – it just wasn’t as thick as one would expect potato soup to be.

The sandwiches, though, were tasty, served on what the menu calls “rustic Italian bread.” Whatever it was, it was grilled to crispy deliciousness – if there’s anything I hate, it’s a soggy sandwich. I got the Monday special, “The Swiss,” which is ham, Swiss and mushrooms spread with horseradish dijon, and it was heaven in a basket with a pickle spear.

We all liked the sandwiches – ditto for the co-worker who ordered the Italian chicken wrap, which comes bundled in a spinach wrap – and the sides were pretty tasty, too. I got a fruit cup, which had honeydew melon, pineapple, grapes and cantaloupe, while others sampled the pasta salad, which one co-worker said was much better than the typical pour-some-Italian-dressing-on-curly-noodles-and-call-it-pasta-salad mix.

We were divided on the ambiance, though. Most of us liked the colorful, homey mural that covered the white cinderblock walls, but one diner remarked the cafe lacks coziness. There’s a brightly colored kids’ play area in a glassed-in section of the dining room, which the parent in the group liked, but those of us who don’t have children were mildly annoyed by all the shrieking. (I couldn’t stop watching one daredevil – I was convinced she was going to fall on her head, but her mother rescued her before that happened, thank goodness.)

The wall of windows at the front of the store won ambiance points in my book. They have little benches set up so you can sip your coffee/tea/macchiato/espresso while people-watching, and there was a cute Christmas tree in the corner decorated with cheery ornaments and takeout coffee cups. The place was clean and bright, and the waitstaff was very polite, asking if we wanted refills and taking our baskets to the trash for us.

We all had meetings and interviews to run off to, so we didn’t get to sample any desserts, but I did see some tasty-looking pastries in the display case. Cosmos doesn’t seem like a bad place to grab some coffee and a scone and just sit (the menu says they have wireless Internet access) – just bring headphones.

Cosmos

1751 Scottsville Road, Suite 4 • 782-0940

Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. • Monday through Saturday; closed Sunday

Price range: $.75 for a muffin, bagel or scone to $7.25 for various sandwiches

Cuisine: “Gourmet bistro”

Smoking: No

Libation situation: No

– New restaurants are given an eight-week grace period. Comments can be e-mailed to Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at malexieff@bgdailynews.com or by calling him at 783-3232.