On a Hill by the Bay
Posted by Adrienne on April 11, 2007
This week I’m headed to San Francisco for a wee vacation. Webmaster has a web-themed conference to attend and I’m tagging along because, while I’ve visited other parts of California, I’ve never seen San Francisco. On my must-see list are: SFMOMA, Golden Gate Bridge Park (gorgeous gardens, I’m told), Nob Hill area, China Town, Haight-Ashbury, and North Beach (heard there’s a great cafe here called Trieste which features impromptu opera on Saturday afternoons – now there’s something I have not seen in any Twin City cafes!). Maybe if there’s time and the weather is good we’ll check out Alcatrez. Personally I’m just excited to explore a fantastic city via old-fashioned cable cars. Plus the weather there has got to be better than what we’ve got here!
Anyone have any other S.F. must-see/do suggestions for me?
I have more reviews in the works, so stay tuned!
Nina’s Cafe
Posted by Adrienne on March 20, 2007
I know my blog says Minneapolis, but of course St. Paul is part of this project too. Since I have not spent much time there, I wanted to explore a bit. How I happened upon Nina’s started with Garrison Keillor. He describes his favorite local coffee shop in his new book Homegrown Democrat and it sounded like a good place to visit, the epitome of a neighborhood shop. Asking around I figured out that it was Nina’s, on the corner of Selby and Western in St. Paul but that was all the information I had when I drove across town to find it. I had never even been in that area before and, upon arrival, I was entraced to find that it was steeped in history.
In the Works…
Posted by Adrienne on March 12, 2007
Nina’s Cafe in St. Paul is almost finished, then Cars-R-Coffins (in my neighborhood) is next on my list. In the meantime, if you have not already discovered it, check out the Twin Cities’ own Action Squad website. Their urban explorations of the secret decaying parts of our city have kept me fascinated for the past few weeks.
New Sights
Posted by Adrienne on February 23, 2007
Due to an extreme case of Cabin Fever, my webmaster and I boarded the first plane we happened upon last weekend and found ourselves in the slightly less chilly part of the country called Chicago. It was maybe five degrees warmer than Minneapolis, but even that felt nice. Luckily my younger sister, who happens to reside there, took pity on our frozen souls and provided us with shelter, company, and sustenance. She even humored my appetite for cafes by introducing me to a pleasant little coffee shop called Dollop, located just north of Wrigleyville (yes, that would be the popular neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field), and a delicious organic cafe in Roger’s Park called the Heartland Cafe.
Bob’s Java Hut
Posted by Adrienne on February 5, 2007
NO POETRY. This is the warning I hear. You may not find it on the door, but it’s pretty obvious inside Bob’s Java Hut that this ain’t no beat-poet-finger-snapping or middle-age-new-age-red-hat-clubbing or college-broken-heart-guitar-strumming type of a joint. Take an old school biker garage, paint it fire engine red and mint green, put some crazy music on, and give em good strong coffee. Oh, and park your ‘cycle in FRONT.
Spyhouse Coffeehouse
Posted by Adrienne on January 17, 2007
If the Blue Moon Coffee Cafe was the coffeehouse to reinforce my good decision to move to the Twin Cities, then Spyhouse was the coffeeshop that inspired me to move up here in the first place. I was vaguely familiar with only a couple parts of the cities – hard-edged midway St. Paul and cushy residential deep south Minneapolis. As much as I knew I wanted to move here, I was having trouble getting excited about such a city – where were the Neighborhoods? Where were the hip boutiques, the ethnic restaurants? Where was the bohemian street life I was used to in Madison? I drove around looking for apartments and doubting that this was the right place for me – until a light illuminated on a Nicollet Street corner in the form of a neon sign that read COFFEE. Stepping inside, I knew I was saved.
Blue Moon Coffee Cafe
Posted by Adrienne on December 15, 2006
What an appropriate beginning location for this project. Blue Moon was the first coffee shop I discovered and visited upon moving to the Twin Cities just over a year ago. My previous home was Madison, Wisconsin, where the coffee shops are eclipsed in number only by bars. And so of course the first question to my new Minneapolis roommates was: where’s the nearest coffee shop? Six blocks east, two blocks north to the Blue Moon. Walkable. To my Madison-infused mindset, this was the only way to negotiate a cup.
This was my first full day in the city, my first morning experiencing my new home. I remember taking in the sights of Lake street as I made my pilgrimage – not very inspiring. Empty store front after ugly parking lot after fast food joint. Though the glow of newness glossed over most of that, I was relieved to finally arrive at a small store front on the corner of Lake Street and 39th Ave. Its purple awnings, welcome sign, and glowing star lamps in the window enticed me to think I had found my new anchor.
And I was not disappointed. Continue reading full review →
© Copyright 2006 Adrienne Bockheim.