Lots of exciting coffee stuff here in Buffalo: getting new training and testing implemented, Bunn loaned us a Trifecta, wheeling out a new espresso blend, getting the Cabal going again... Lots of news there, but first I want to get up my notes from LA.
One of the other baristas from camp, Cameron Peterson, joined me for some coffee scouting before his flight left. Picking up the rental car I had reserved turned into a crazy series of delays and problems, but we finally got some wheels and started tracking down some food.
1604 Pacific Avenue
Camp had prompted me to be less than a perfect vegetarian, and the long ordeal of getting to LA and getting a car left me starving. We were lucky to stumble on this place in Venice beach. Yes, hunger makes everything taste better, but this seitan "sirloin" burger was amazing:
Also tried these non-alcoholic wine soda things they had, I could definitely get behind it:
Fainting spells temporarily averted, we headed out to find some joe.
1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd
11973 San Vicente Boulevard, LA
After another cup of Thiriku at Venice Beach, I started checking off other LA coffee points. I was supposed to meet up with barista and Buffalo expat Jessica at some point, so I headed up that way, stopping in at Caffe Luxxe in Brentwood (I checked out their Santa Monica location real fast, but it was line out the door so I kept moving).
Really glad I stopped in here! Tiny store, awesome service, very nice coffee, and some cool baked goods.
Luxxe clearly is shooting for more of a "traditional European" vibe, particularly the Santa Monica location, which to be honest always puts the wind up my back a little. This smaller location, though, really nailed their design: it seemed to fit perfectly in a very small space.
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| A "Nico": espresso, cinnamon, candied orange rind, and a dab of steamed light cream. Pretty rich, but an interesting little desert drink. |
We need a better way of mapping worthwhile cafes for tourists like me. A lot of coffee people I talked to seemed to think that LA was pretty much "dead" outside of the Intelligentsias. And, compared to some other cities, maybe that's true; but nobody even mentioned Caffe Luxxe. At any rate, glad I made it.
55 East Colorado Blvd, Pasadena
I picked Jessica up and we went up to Pasadena to check the Intelligentsia there. I really like the space: dark and warm, lots of dim lighting, and a prominent bar. We ran into some other Pull-A-Shot survivors, which makes me think that next year we should all get a secret tattoo or hand-sign or some such. I made Jess get a cup of the Thiriku, I got some Black Cat, and I decided to try some a lasagna "cupcake":
Um, awesome. Intelligentsia doing food, wine, and beer is an interesting move, and I'd like to know how it's organized.
Something that I've come to believe, at least half-heartedly, is that you can never do two things as well as you can do one thing. To put it another way: there's good reasons to specialize. Since most cafes have relatively small staffs, I think we tend to try to specialize at the level of the entire store: all employees are expected to be kind of interchangeable in terms of skill-set. That's part of the reason I always like leaner menus: the fewer things on there, the more that everyone involved will be able to focus on those items.
Clearly, the Pasadena offerings require a lot of thought and skill on a number of different fronts: beer and wine selections, food selection and preparation, in addition to a really high standard for excellence in espresso and manually-brewed coffees. How much of these areas are shared by all staff members, how much is delineated to different departments? I didn't really think of this question until later, so I didn't ask.
Definitely a cool project. I still feel like I'm getting my feet wet in terms of understanding coffee, brewing, expanding my palate, so it's pretty cool to see people actively taking that world and seeing how well it interacts with a larger culinary world. Case in point, Jess & I were invited in for the tail-end of a cheese and coffee pairing, featuring really fancy cheeses whose provenance I forgot to write down. Pretty great.
260 North Allen Avenue, Pasadena
Grabbed a quick cappuccino from Chrysti Chaney at her shop. Team Heather Perry!
Diedrich roaster, right up front, pretty bad-ass.
Pretty cool shop, very much the kind of chill-all-day-with-boardgames kind of environment that got me hooked on coffee shops in the first place. It sounds like Chrysti has a lot of plans for the place; it'll be interesting to see what happens in a year or so.
Jessica had to get home, so I dropped her off and headed to the Craft and Folk Museum for their coffee exhibit. Pretty cool. The museum's right across from the Tar Pits, so I checked that out as well. Science!
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| Totally not coffee-related, but I'm a sucker for giant ground sloths. |
3101 Main Street, Santa Monica
I still had a few hours to kill before my flight, so I headed back to Santa Monica & Venice, hoping to find a book for the plane and maybe a fish taco or something. Happened to remember that Ben Brown from Nuova Simonelli had recommended a joint down here: Cielo.
Glad I stopped in, not least because after a coffee-intense week I don't develop a caffeine tolerance so much as a caffeine metabolism: I need a fix every two or three hours just to stay human.
Cielo is using 49th coffee, which was a nice surprise. Their barista pulled me a really lovely shot of Epic.
He also gave me a cup of iced Yrgacheffe off their cold-drip tower for the road. Kind of mind-blowing: bright, lemon-candy acidity, balancing out the typical sweet-cream body of good coffees brewed cold. I've never got high notes like this off any cold-brewing techniques, Toddy or drip; definitely something I want to try to replicate when Spot starts cranking iced coffee again.
I found my fish tacos, wandered the Venice boardwalk for a while, and remembered that Small World Books has a really world-class SF selection, which is so nice I want to send them flowers or something.
LA was fun! Camp was crazy! I'm back in Buffalo, healed up, and I will hit you with some more updates soon.
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