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As anyone who knows me will confirm, I feel there is no better way to experience a new neighourhood/city than by sampling its coffee shops. (On a recent road trip from Calgary, AB to San Francisco, CA, I took the opportunity to sample the wares at most roadside espresso shacks -- they do exist and are remarkably quite good -- and drove my family nuts by my insistence on having copious amounts of espresso and driving). It was in this same experiential vein that I took to the streets of my temporary home of Park Slope/Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, this past weekend. What follows, is a brief re-cap (no pun intended) of my findings.
Gorilla Coffee (97, Ave, Brooklyn) – Number one with a bullet. In a neighourhood that is becoming over-run by yuppie moms with SUV strollers, this Brooklyn mainstay is seemingly mom-free. While the interior, decorated in red and black, seems to cater to the lone wi-fi user, the outside benches and window counter provide ideal resting spots in which to both people-watch and imbibe excellent espresso. If you can handle the line-ups on a Saturday morning, it is worth it to stop by, pick up a pumpkin muffin, the coffee drink of your choice and go sit in the park. Their coffee is so good that my dining companion and I used a portion of our legal cross-border shopping funds to bring home a couple bags of espresso beans. 4.5/5
Joyce’s Bake Shop (646 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn) – A little tony-er, this bake shop serves Gorilla coffee and excellent sweets and pastries in a brightly-lit lemon/lime-walls-meets-tin-ceiling space. On separate occasions we sampled their cherry chocolate muffins and ham and cheese croissant – er, I mean cressahnt. I can’t even spell it phonetically. Both were excellent and that’s saying something coming from the land of patisseries. The bake shop experience was also amped up by this eager and friendly local who – seeing us flipping through the Zagat guide – offered us many tips on local dining establishments (reviews of which to follow), in addition to inviting us up to her terrace to enjoy the Brooklyn view. Needless to say, we declined. 4/5
Heights Coffee Lounge (335 Flatbush Avenue) – Had I noticed that this place was called a “coffee lounge,” I may not have tried it, but, as a person forced out of her habitual ways, I thought I’d try the new kid on the block. This place was a bit of a let down, the coffee was uninspiring and pretty bland, as was the décor. With all of the other places in the neighourhood, they would have had to wow me with excellent coffee to get me out of my rut, but no such luck. 2/5
Stay tuned for part deux of my NYC odyssey, which will include a trip to Harlem and my first experience with authentic “soul food.”
5 comments:
Looking forward to part deux!
I don't know if it is like this for everyone who visits your blog, but I see some funny writing, in brakets, on all of the posts that are there up to now. Is that normal?
It looks fine to me, no unusual characters on this side of the pond.
I liked the staff at Gorilla, they've stayed true to the grungy-punky-party-kid-who-just-does-this-as-his-day-job aesthetic that got coffee culture started in the first place. They play the music too loud, and go out of their way to pay way more attention to each other's stories of party conquest than you the customer. It's comforting. I also liked the maps they had up on the walls, and the chairs were quite comfortable (that they were retro-chique goes without saying).
Joyces' bright airy yoga room vibe attracts the young families like bus tour's to Broadway. Every second person who comes in has a stroller, or a little-one strapped to their body by some newfangled baby harness. That said it's a comfortable friendly space, and I liked it quite a lot. I particularly liked the open glass wall to the bakery in the back, it was fun to watch them work while I sipped my coffee. The staff don't really know what a macchiato is, so make sure to give them a refresher course.
Heights coffee lounge was a piece of poop.
I'm with Pearl, there are symbols at the beginning of each review. Here is a sample:
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Analog girl you are...
Those funky tags will only appear to people using Internet Explorer. You can edit the post HTML and get rid of them. (I believe they only appear if you use certain applications, e.g. MS Word or FrontPage, to generate the HTML for your post. More info here.)
As for coffee places, I of course judge them by how well they cater to those of us who don't drink coffee (i.e. the fanciness of their hot chocolate).
Thanks for the tip Kevin - the other Kevin. I edited the post in html and just need to re-post the photos.
I am "learning the internet" in leaps and bounds.
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