Sometimes the caffeine is more important than the choice of cafe.
Yolk on Michigan Avenue in Chicago
I had serviceable espresso at Yolk yesterday afternoon. The waitress said she liked my geeky t-shirt, but I’m not sure she got it.
Espresso at the Anodyne in South Minneapolis
The best thing I can say about this morning’s espresso at the Anodyne is that, for the first time, I was served espresso in a demitasse instead of a jumbo coffee cup. Other than that, it was harshly bitter and unenjoyable.
This isn’t a reason to avoid the Anodyne, however. If you haven’t been, the Anodyne is probably the quintessential South Minneapolis coffee shop. Unlike Uptown, where coffee shops are festooned with pierced and tattooed hipsters, the Anodyne is like a coffee pub, full of normal people who want a nice place to hang out, work, or eat.
Just order something besides espresso.
Espresso at Blue Ox Coffee Co. in South Minneapolis
Disaster! We ran out of espresso beans! So I biked over to the Blue Ox this morning for a fix.
It turns out there is no bike rack at the Blue Ox, but they are working on it. Something about setbacks or zoning or whatever. No biggie; the signpost out front works as long as you don’t have a lot of bikes to lock up.
And the espresso is still awesome.
Another Cubano at Victor’s 1959 Cafe. Mmm.
The espresso at Berkli Parc, on the corner of Allen & Delancey, started out mediocre and has gone downhill from there. The barista/salad maker/cashier obviously has little coffee training, judging by his non-existent tamping, which of course resulted in a watery, bodiless, tasteless espresso.
The thing is, it’s not that hard to make decent espresso. You could probably teach someone in under an hour up front, and a short follow-up a month or two later. But you do have to try, and many places that have espresso machines seem to think that the espresso will make itself if you put a warm body in front of it.
Victor’s 1959 Cafe in South Minneapolis
As a general rule, it’s a bad idea to order espresso anywhere other than a coffee shop that takes espresso seriously. I’ve already got plenty of examples, and this Tumblr is only a few months old. Victor’s 1959 Cafe in South Minneapolis is an exception. The double Cubano with sweet paste is probably my favorite espresso drink on the planet. The food isn’t bad, either (read: fantastic).
(While I was sitting at the bar, a couple came to have breakfast. Since the restaurant was full, they had to wait. They stepped outside and danced salsa in the snow for ten minutes or so until a table cleared up.)
This espresso drink probably shouldn’t be my favorite. They make the espresso from a Terrazza pod, after all. But the sweet paste is made by hand while the espresso drips, and it makes all the difference. Put your espresso snobbery on hold and enjoy.
(top photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/snekse/2780125780/)
Meeting Grounds in St. Cloud
There is only one coffee shop in St. Cloud, and it is Meeting Grounds, where the tortured artists of central Minnesota are forced to gather for lack of an alternative. It’s better than nothing, unless you are looking for espresso. This bitter, diluted cup was pretty awful, but the headache I got from the cigarette-smoke reek coming from the clothes of the tortured artists next to me was worse.
The Red Stag Supper Club in Northeast Minneapolis
Cocktails at the Red Stag Supper Club are superb, and the food is generally awesome, but the espresso leaves something to be desired. I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Supper club does sound more like a place to get Folgers that has been sitting in a warmer for hours than a place where you can expect good-quality espresso. But still. This was some painful sipping.
