More than groceries at Stoney's

Retired Charlottesville Police Community Service Officer Bobby Green cooks up comfort foods at Stoney's Grocery on Avon Street.
PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART

Driving past Stoney's Grocery on Avon Street, you might assume the store is only what it appears to be: one of the many small markets that dot Belmont, selling basic groceries, beer, cigarettes and some simple toiletries. As Dish recently learned, there's more to the store.

"We have breakfast specials, pancakes, homemade sausage gravy, corned beef hash, chicken biscuits, bacon egg and cheese biscuits," says the store's owner, Charlottesville Police Sergeant Marc Brake, who, along with wife Heather, purchased the market from previous owner Lawrence Burruss two years ago.

One of Brake's goals for the 83-year-old market was the addition of a deli, and he knew immediately who he'd want in the kitchen: A former community service officer named Bobby Green, whose reputation as a cook of comfort foods, Brake says, was widely known not not only in the police department but around town.

Green retired from police work in January 2008, says Brake, and was at work at Stoney's three days later. In December of that year, the deli renovation was complete; and since then, Brake says, it's been hectic.

"We got bombarded by catering," says Brake, noting that Green spent the night at the store on Christmas Eve, preparing Christmas Day feasts.  Spring and summer have seen the store's catering business boom with weddings and other events, and lunch offerings– fried chicken, cheese steaks, rice pudding, mac and cheese and the Stony burger– grilled onions with white cheddar sauce on a potato roll– have helped build a regular clientele.

"We really think a lot of Bobby Green and stuff he does not only for us," says Brake, "but also for the community."