Fair Weather Vegan

Does Glen Park Need Another Coffee Emporium?

A new coffee shop called Cup has opened at the very start of Monterey.  Given that we already have three dedicated coffee shops (I actually typed two at first because I forgot about Higher Grounds, which means we have enough coffee shops to have them slip our minds), a grocery store that sell specialty coffees, a diner, and a bakery that sells coffee, all the in space of the three blocks of greater downtown Glen Park,  it seems a bit of an unnecessary addition.  However the upside to the location is when people head down the hill during rush hour it will also be the first thing that they hit, and the more established coffee shops are actually past the BART station and the bus stops, which means commuters coming from that direction have to pass their destinations to get coffee and then double back.  So in that time window it has a certain advantage.  Otherwise, though, there is much less foot traffic on that block than in Glen Park proper, and it's even out of the sightline of the rest of downtown, which is not a good portent.  If it set itself apart by selling coffee that's known in SF for unusual quality, like Blue Bottle, that would be something to hang a hat on.  I will report back.  But I'm only 50-50 about its survival given the challenges at this point. 

Really, Red Rock?

I begrudge no expense when it means seeing a friend, and it was my own choice to go with a medium drink since it was hotter than Satan's undershorts on the Peninsula yesterday (mid-nineties by some accounts).  But if you're selling smoothies and they cost $4.25, that should tell you something about your coffee and tea-based prices, i.e. they shouldn't be the same amount.  4 and change for an iced chai?  You're driving people into the arms of Starbucks. 

Every Coffee Shop In San Francisco c. 2009

Rebecca Solnit's Infinite City is an attempt to map San Francisco in terms that are not strictly geographical.  Just as Burrito Justice once pictures the city as a system of canals and islands, so this atlas is a book of articles and, most strikingly, maps that portray that city as various terrains, some real and some dreamscape, from the gangland to the phrenological.  One of the maps happens to be of San Francisco as home to a tribe of coffee shops, clustered in a heart from the Mission outward.  Of the score of java emporia, only Tartine seems to have been snotty enough to identify itself as coffee shop plus something else, although if you've tasted their baked goods can you blame them (it's also possible this feature was added by the cartographer).  The fact that this map may already be out of date, since Ritual has fired another salvo in the hipster wars by opening a branch half a block from Blue Bottle, is further testament to the place that coffee holds in our urban psyche. 

Frappucino Happy Hour

If you patronize the Evil Empire (which I do too), they are offering half-priced Frappucinos between 3 and 5 through May 15th.  Not that the weather gets warm enough around here to really justify them.  But they're coffee slushies; you don't need that much a of a reason. 

A New Regular Coffee Shop?

I love Coffee Bar, but the problem is so does everyone else.  Peak hours are now a madhouse, and very few hours aren't peak hours anymore.  It's also a total pain in the ass to get to from my remote neighborhood, requiring three transit changes or two and a fairly hefty walk.  Because I was starting to get sick, I insisted that the Financier meet me at a more local place.  She chose Nervous Dog, which she identified as being in Bernal, although as a devotee of Burrito Justice I know that it's actually located in the Autonomous Republic of La Lengua.  I was additionally sold because I had a half-off coupon from Scoutmob, the deal site I prefer because it doesn't make you pay anything up front.  I ended up paying $3.22 for a large cup of Earl Grey and a veggie bagel sandwich.  Saving money will always help give me a positive opinion of a place. 

There are many, many upsides to Nervous Dog.  The atmosphere is relaxed, which made me realize how stressful grad student factories like Haus seem.  There is a nice big couch and some armchairs as well as tables.  The self-aware hipster quotient seems to be low, and the music isn't hipster-esque.  The staff is friendly.  The tea and coffee menus are broad (two kinds of chai).  The one drawback was that the food menu was quite disappointing, although that's true at many coffee shops.  Places like Coffee Bar and the Blue Fig have spoiled us into thinking they are restaurants, but most places can't do everything.  And La Lengua is a neighorhood with lots of restaurants, so no true hardship there.   Although Nervous Dog feels off the beaten track and intimate, it's also fairly small, which means it probably fills up quickly in the morning, etc.  Late lunch was definitely a good time to be there.  Since it's only one bus ride or a brief drive away (plus free but illegal parking in a spot you probably know if you know the neighborhood), I'm seriously considering making it my new go-to work spot. 

"I'll Think I'll Have The Chai"

And therein lies my downfall.  Because I tend to be curious about the chai in places that shouldn't have it.  It's difficult enough for coffee shops to make decent chai.  If they homebrew it from their own leaves they can make it taste bizarre (Ritual, although to be brutally honest iced chai is harder to make well) or not as sweet as we who are used to Starbucks prefer (Coffee Bar, whose chai I love but it took awhile).  If they make it from one of the many bases, powders, or mixes they can easily choose the wrong one (Peet's, which uses a syrup and that just can't work).  I thought they got their powder pretty much right at Milkboy, although the day before all I'd eaten was a six-inch egg and cheese from Subway,* so anything I had would have tasted like a meal at the French Laundry. But then the next morning my curiosity got the better of me.  Since a fun combination of jet lag and insomnia had caused me to get three hours of sleep the night before, and I was trying to counsel two attentive undergrads about their papers, you'd think this would have been the perfect morning for coffee.  But I chickened out of what generally turns into a game of Coffee Russian Roulette,** and thought 'Hmmm, this Bruegger's has chai.  That's totally weird and probably inadvisable.  I should try it.'  And thus, Claire, I am writing about Bruegger's after all ;)  What I am writing is: be smarter than I was.  

*This was not the responsibility of my hosts, who attempted to suggest things for me to eat several times.  I was just completely out of it. 

**Will this make me pleasantly alert?  Will it make me irrational?  Will it make me violently ill?  Let's spin the wheel. 

"This Is Not Your Home; This Is Your Place of Business"

Well, Haus, you really lived up to your Yelp billing this time.  It's rare I get to evaluate a place twice in so short a period.  Unfortunately it's not so great for this coffee shop, as I got stiffed on my tea (I only got a cup for my $2.50, and then noticed everyone else at my table got pots), and eventually was forced out by the 'music' selection.  It started out with European techno, great for movie soundtracks but not the best concentration aid.  But soon I was longing for the club days as it switched over to what can only be called 'ambient for people who don't like things tonal, with bizarre choral interludes.'  Add to this the lovely sound of the barista holding full bore conversations/personal business calls at a volume that let him be heard over the music (the source of the muttered complaint that makes up the title to this post), and you've got a fabulous work atmosphere.  At least my studymates swear by the cookies, one of which apparently has pretzels in it. Also, the outside patio is really cute. Too bad it was pouring again.   

Coffee Shops of the Mission: Haus

If you heed the Yelpers, Haus is either an office from home haven or a hell of cacophonous music and surly staff.  It's one of several almost purely functional work-oriented coffee shops that have opened in the Mission, and like those of its brethren its space is not designed for frivolity.  The blond wood tables are on either wall and mostly sit one because it's hard to fit two computers (the big table was taken up by a single person who spread out a bunch of books); the ceiling is high; the walls are white, and there's only one couch.  The chairs are hard and one of the tables I was sitting at listed alarmingly.  Of course it boasts free wi-fi and plenty of power strips that for once are easy to access.  It also has a nicer outdoor space, although that's something of a game of Russian roulette for San Francisco. 

As someone who finds it hard to concentrate with music playing, I had been worried about Haus' rep as an experimental rock jukebox, and I had tried to push Mission Pie as an alternative (Haus is also right across the street from Philz so I felt traiterous in the coffee wars).  But Mission Pie has no wi-fi, which is a boon to the attention-deprived but a problem for those who work collaboratively.  "The music isn't too loud, right?" my studymate practically yelled when I walked in.  This caused me a degree of scrutiny from the nice guy behind the counter, who seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would be bothered by the music and genuinely solicitous of what kind of music I would prefer.  This kind of attention tends to embarrass me and I kept reassuring him that no, the problem was me and my inability to focus, and I liked all kinds of music and don't worry about it.  But yes, the music at Haus is loud, in part because of the fact that people don't talk much there, and that's something to be considered when choosing your coffee shop. 

Something else to be considered is that its prices are a bit steep.  It serves Ritual coffee, which is a regular combatant in the coffee wars that some swear by, but an iced coffee will set you back $2.50 and a mocha $4.  I was pretty incensed at first that my herbal mint tea was also $2.50, but it came in a little pot that provided 2+ cups so that wasn't awful value for the money.  There are various pastries from various Mission sources that cost the same as elsewhere.  There is not, however, a full menu, which isn't a great business decision for a place that encourages you to settle in for the day to work. You can duck right out and into one of the country's fullest taqueria/empenadaria/pupuseria corridors, however, so that may have gone into the thinking.   

Summary: a no-frills study space, worthwhile if you live nearby and moreso if it's sunny enough to sit outside. 

Do Not Order Iced Tea At Philz

Philz prides itself, of course, on making its drip coffee one cup at a time.  What is less obvious is that they also do this with tea, or at least they do at the 24th Street original branch.  A little weird in the case of hot tea, but somewhat unthinkable in the context of iced tea...which is made in a batch in a pitcher.  That's just how it's done.  It saves work and time, and it makes the iced tea taste good.  I already thought something was strange when the barista asked me if I wanted cream and honey in my iced tea (I was worried that I'd be stuck with a mistaken order of hot tea, because...cream?).*  Then I picked up my cup and I realized that it was hot tea with ice cubes in it.  HOT TEA WITH ICE CUBES IN IT.  The laws of physics dictate that rather than the ice cubes making the drink cold, they will melt, creating a watery, luke-warm mess.  Philz, you make tremendous coffee.  If you don't want to serve other things, you don't have to.  Don't passive-aggressively make them bad. 

*It just occurred to me that maybe they did mess up my order and rather than starting from scratch just tried to fix it.  Has anyone else had iced tea at this Philz and can you corroborate my findings?

Around The Bay

Grubstreet has found a video guide to re-creating Bakesale Betty's famous chicken sandwich.  That almost seems unsporting, as well as taking away one of the true pleasures of the experience, which is making the pilgrimage to Oakland along with other devotees. 

Mission Local reports that the Amber India owner is set to open a new locale near Luna Park. This is fabulous news for an area of the Mission bereft of North Indian cuisine.  It also adds that Philz is set to raise coffee prices by $.25, which reminds me that I need to pick up a pound of Tesora to ship to my parents. 

Finally, in a combination of two of my favorite things, SignpostSF says that Tuesdays are trivia and $2 taco nights at The Boardoom (as well as $2 beers and $5 tequila shots if you're into such things, although the tequila doesn't seem like much of a bargain?).