Sad news…

Posted by Adrienne on January 12, 2009

Back in August 2007 I reviewed our favorite neighborhood coffee shop, the Clicquot Club Cafe. Just found some sad news online that says the cafe is closing due to the bad economy. Tonight is the last night they will be open.

It’s hard to believe Clicquot was having rough times because every time I would go there on the weekends they were packed! But I guess looking back, I remember some very slow weekday evenings. Plus it’s a small place, so it’s probably difficult to find seats on winter weekends. It’s really a bummer – they were the epitome of a small friendly neighborhood coffee shop. I wonder what will happen to that cute little building? What else could end up there that would possibly help to create a vibrant neighborhood? And if a place like Clicquot can’t survive in a neighborhood like Seward, what hope does it have elsewhere?

Campus Option 1: Bordertown Coffee

Posted by Adrienne on January 10, 2009

This is the first in a series of posts exploring coffee shops near the University of Minnesota, since this is where I spend the majority of my time. I’ll start with the East Bank, but also check out the West bank and the St. Paul campus as well.

Students at the U have a LOT of coffee shop options on campus; many of them are independent, many are not. My favorite on-campus coffee place is the French press on my studio desk, but when I want to get away from a project I head to Bordertown Coffee. It occupies the first floor of a beautiful old brick and timbered building hidden behind Frat house row on University. To read the full and fascinating story of how the owners acquired the building, read their website.

I love the warm cozy feel of the main sitting room, complete with armchairs and stone fireplace. This room is frequently busy during the lunch hour but most times you can find a small table. There is an additional smaller sitting room on the main floor which can be reserved for free as a conference/study room. Apparently the upper floors contain some sort of student housing, perhaps another fraternity or co-op.

The website mentions the cafe’s owner’s Christian beliefs, but I was pleased to note that the cafe did not advertise this fact; I’ve witnessed several blatantly religious coffee shops that were a bit of a turn-off.

The Fair Trade coffee and espresso are quality, and the homemade bakery items are usually delicious (I loved the dark chocolate nut bars but was not crazy about the vegan blueberry muffins). For lunch options, I wasn’t impressed with either the quiche or the basalmic chicken wrap, but maybe I’ll have to give some of the other breakfast items a chance. The hummus and pita is a nice snack option, but I’d ask to have the pita toasted – cold pita not so appetizing.

So if you find yourself on campus in need of a cozy coffee shop, sneak behind the frat houses and see if you can locate this little treasure. Bonus points if you can figure out a way to get there via the underground campus tunnels!

WiFi and desktop vampire re-defined

Posted by justinph on January 8, 2009

Adrienne and I went to 2nd Moon tonight to do a little reading and computing. We sat in the back, which we had never done before. It was very nice and cozy.

As we walked in, we saw this fellow sitting near the front:

A guy working on a 20″ iMac.

Apparently, we’ve moved from just using laptops in cafes to using entire desktop computers. No doubt, the iMac is very easy to cary and plug in, but it seems a just little excessive to me. I think there is a point at which computing in public is not OK, especially given Blue Moon’s already noted problems with people working for too long.

Unless you own the coffee shop, this is socially unacceptable behavior.