#40: Rustica Bakery ★★★★½

October 12, 2011 by room34

Location

3220 W. Lake St., Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★★
Food: ★★★★★
Service: ★★★★
Vibe: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★½

Pros

Nails the European bakery vibe pretty well…

Cons

…for a place in a strip mall.

Review

It’s safe to say that prior to this morning, Rustica was not on my radar. I didn’t even know it existed. But presented with the opportunity to run around Lake Calhoun and then head off to a nearby coffeehouse for a review, it came up as an option and I decided to give it a try.

I don’t spend a lot of time in Uptown these days, but I lived on Hennepin Avenue for a couple of years in my mid-20s. At the time I was incredibly disdainful of the strip mall at the northwest corner of Lake Calhoun. It felt like an incursion of suburban banality straight into the hip urban heart. (Yes, I was that pretentious.) Now that I live elsewhere, on the rare occasions when I do get to Uptown, I still don’t feel like hanging out in a strip mall.

But times have changed in Uptown, even at the strip mall. The anchor restaurant space that was, in my Uptown days, occupied by — good God are you kidding me?! — an Applebees is now the home of Burger Jones. And, whether Rustica was here back in the ’90s or not, it’s here now, and it’s worth a visit.

Rustica is a European bakery. From the (yes) rustic decor to the high quality pastries and traditional European-style espresso drinks (no 20-ounce cappuccinos here), it looks and feels the part. Even the table I’m working at is real wood, distressed by age and use (probably as a door), not the workers at the Pottery Barn factory. (Unfortunately it also has a large crack running most of its length that prevents my laptop from sitting evenly on its surface. Yes, a petty complaint.)

I decided to put Rustica’s bakers to the test by ordering my least favorite kind of pastry: a scone. I know some people like scones, but I always find them almost inedible… hard, dry and crumbly. They make a mess and they make me thirsty. But while Rustica’s scones meet those basic criteria, they are light and delicate and oh-so-delicious. I recommend the chocolate orange scone… chunks of high quality dark chocolate and crystalized orange pieces. Fantastic.

The scone pairs quite well with the traditional European cappuccino, which was expertly prepared. The coffee may not be in Kopplin’s territory, but it’s every bit as good as Angry Catfish.

I had read before arriving (in the Google reviews) that sometimes the service at Rustica can be a little sub-par, but that was not my experience. The barista was friendly and fast… this may be the least amount of time I’ve ever had to wait for a cup of coffee this good. There’s plenty of seating and free Wi-Fi (of course), although there are no “comfy” seating areas and the furniture and lighting are not necessarily optimal for getting serious work done.

Do I need to rethink my negative assumptions about places in strip malls? I think so. Rustica deserves more respect than that.

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Bonus review: Amazing Grace Bakery & Cafe ★★★★½

July 10, 2011 by room34

Location

394 S. Lake Ave., Duluth
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★
Food: ★★★★½
Service: ★★★★
Vibe: ★★★★½
Overall: ★★★★½

Pros

Great location, food and coffee. Outdoor seating with views of Canal Park.

Cons

“Garden level” location makes interior a bit dank. Food probably won’t appeal much to kids.

Review

After an early morning run along the Duluth waterfront on the last day of our vacation, SLP and I visited the continental breakfast at our hotel. Confronting the steam trays full of rubbery scrambled egg disks, a mound of glistening bacon, and a meager assortment of sub-Super Mom’s pastries, and the slow-moving queue to pile these non-delicacies onto plastic trays, we decided to explore other options. Our first thought was to try the Caribou Coffee a few blocks down the street, before we remembered seeing Amazing Grace in the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace building on Lake Ave., just a block from our hotel.

Amazing Grace can be a bit hard to find, with its garden level entrance hidden down a half flight of stairs behind its large outdoor seating area. It’s clear that something is there, but it’s not immediately obvious what it is. The interior space is surprisingly large though, with ample seating, yet it feels cozy due to a winding layout, low ceilings and small windows.

Service was fast and friendly, and the Alakef coffee excellent. But where Amazing Grace really shines is in its selection of delicious homemade pastries. I sampled both the blueberry pinwheel and the cinnamon twist, while SLP had a honey raisin bran muffin. The pastries were delicate and flaky, croissant-like but with a crisp outer layer. Amazing Grace also offers a full menu of other food options with table service.

While it would have been appealing to spend some time to enjoy the outdoor seating, we took our order to go and tried, unsuccessfully, to ply the kids with the pastries. Our assessment: while Amazing Grace’s food is delicious, it will appeal mostly to adults.

Duluth’s Canal Park is one of my favorite places to go for a quick weekend getaway or as the first day of a driving tour of the Lake Superior area. And now I have a favorite local coffeehouse there too.

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#39: Birchwood Cafe ★★★★

May 10, 2011 by room34

Location

3311 25th St. E., Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★
Food: ★★★★★
Service: ★★★½
Vibe: ★★★★½
Overall: ★★★★

Pros

Great food, great coffee, great vibe.

Cons

Limited parking. (But why are you driving, you evil person?)

Review

I’ve been meaning to check out Birchwood ever since my neighborhood supermarket started carrying their packaged granola. But first I had to find it. Although Birchwood is in the heart of the city, it’s tucked into a mostly residential area that is easy to pass by as you’re zipping along in the car on I-94 or on your bike on the West River Parkway. Turn off the parkway on 25th Street and head a few blocks west, and a small commercial block appears amidst the houses. Look for the long row of Nice Ride bikes out front.

Birchwood has a very inviting exterior, with some of the best sidewalk seating I’ve seen in the city. Most places manage to squeeze a few tables along the edge of a dusty curb, but Birchwood offers several large tables and a generous strip of landscaping separating the sidewalk from the street. On a beautiful, sunny, finally warm May morning like today, it’s nearly perfect.

Inside, Birchwood has an intriguing diner feel. It’s not really ’50s retro, so much as it’s a reimagining of where we’d be today in a world where the intervening decades had gone much differently than they did. A better world that doesn’t exist? Perhaps, but places like Birchwood are doing their part to make it a reality. There are no “comfy chairs,” but this is not that kind of place. The large seating area is filled with 2- and 4-top diner tables, and a long bench takes up the entire west wall. Power outlets are in rather short supply, so if you’ll be working on a laptop, charge up before you come.

Birchwood serves Peace Coffee, and pairs it with a large assortment of healthy vegetarian, vegan and non-vegetarian food options using organic, local ingredients. I ordered my usual cappuccino, along with the quiche du jour.

The coffee was very good, on par with most other places in the city that serve Peace Coffee. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite around, but I have no complaints about the quality.

Food is where Birchwood really shines. The quiche was made with a light, flaky phyllo dough crust, and was baked perfectly. The eggs were firm but still fluffy and moist, and the top was golden brown. The quiche was served with a side of skillet rosemary potatoes that were delicious, and the plate was garnished with a refreshingly unusual combination of blackberries and kiwi.

I found the service at Birchwood a bit mixed. As opposed to most coffeehouses I review, Birchwood has more of a cafeteria approach to ordering. The person who took my order was a bit terse, but the other staff I interacted with were friendly. Food is delivered to your table and the staff buses the dishes.

Birchwood has gotten a fair amount of hype lately, it seems, and I think it lives up to it. Especially on a sunny day, this is a great place to be.

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#38: Corner Coffee ★★★★

May 6, 2011 by room34

Location

514 3rd St. N. #102, Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★
Food: ★★★★
Service: ★★★★
Vibe: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★

Pros

Nice vibe, good coffee, simple but tasty food.

Cons

Dearth of electrical outlets, hard to find if you’re not familiar with the North Loop.

Review

It’s hard not to be a little biased in Corner Coffee’s favor, experiencing it a mere 16 hours after I Am Coffee, but I’ll do my best to be objective.

There’s probably no place else in Minneapolis where I feel more out-of-place than the North Loop. When I first moved to Minneapolis and got to know the city well in the late ’90s, the North Loop was a blighted industrial area. During the few years in the early 2000s when I was living in Atlanta, the North Loop became gentrified into one of the top “hip” destinations in the city, while still retaining that patina of post-industrial dilapidation. When moving back to Minneapolis in the middle of the last decade, we actually considered a few lofts in the North Loop, but with a new baby, it just didn’t seem like a good fit. I found the area intriguing, but life got in the way, and I’ve rarely been back. (But that didn’t stop me from immortalizing the area in a song from my latest album.)

The North Loop is really divided into two parts: the area north of Washington Avenue has been transformed into a dense residential area of warehouses converted into loft condominiums (and new construction designed to look like warehouses converted into lofts). The area south of Washington, on the other hand, while home to a few apartment buildings, mostly is still industrial, although it’s been renewed and is in some sense thriving, not that you’d know it from the pothole-ridden streets in the area. But then again, right now the entire city is pothole-ridden after an exceptionally harsh winter.

Once I managed to locate Corner Coffee, and then locate a 4-hour street parking space a couple of blocks away, I entered and immediately felt at home. Corner Coffee has a great coffeehouse vibe, probably most comparable to Spyhouse among the places I’ve reviewed so far. There are three distinct areas (not quite “rooms”) inside, with plenty of seating, both tables and sofas. There is a wall of windows on the south (at least I think it’s south, or southwest-ish; my internal compass fails in this part of town) side of the building, but on this slightly overcast day the interior feels a bit dark. It’s fine for working on a computer, but may be a bit too dark for doing paperwork or reading. Nonetheless, it’s a very inviting interior… a place you’d want to spend a few hours. There’s even a small kids’ area in one corner.

Service was fast and friendly. I was pleased to see two people working behind the counter; one of the biggest problems I’ve noticed at coffeehouses lately is having only one barista on duty. Especially if your establishment has prepared food, relying on a single person to run the cash register, make coffee and make food is a recipe for disaster. Three customers can turn into a rush. Fortunately, this is not an issue at Corner Coffee.

As I looked for a place to sit, I was dismayed to find that most (if not all) of the tables are not within reach of a power outlet. Good thing I have a full charge on my laptop. Free WiFi (with a password) is available.

My cappuccino was ready almost as soon as I found a seat, and my breakfast sandwich was delivered to my table (a nice touch) soon after. I ordered egg, cheddar and ham on a croissant. It was presented simply and unadorned, but the eggs were light and fluffy, and the whole thing was delicious. The coffee is good, very good. But as I’ve noted in a few other recent reviews, Angry Catfish has raised the bar so high that it’s difficult for anyplace else to compare. (This is also a partial explanation for the lack of new reviews here recently; too often I’ve considered finding a new place to review only to decide on just returning to Angry Catfish, because their coffee is so good.) If I hadn’t been exposed to Angry Catfish or Kopplin’s, however, I would count this coffee among some of the best I’ve tasted in the city.

As I said, I don’t really know the North Loop well, and when I’m here, I feel like a tourist. That’s probably because even though I live in the city, I live in an area that doesn’t feel like a big city, and the North Loop is about as “big city” as it gets in Minneapolis. So it’s an interesting place to visit. And now I have a favorite coffeehouse in the neighborhood.

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#37: I Am Coffee ★★½

May 6, 2011 by room34

Location

2758 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP

Ratings

Location: ★★★★
Atmosphere: ★½
Coffee: ★★★½
Food: N/A
Service: ★★★
Vibe: ★
Overall: ★★½

Pros

Decent coffee, clean. Unabashedly weird name.

Cons

Looks — and smells — like the Subway next door.

Review

When I was a kid, whenever we’d travel with my grandparents (which, looking back, seems strangely often), we would inevitably end up at very… well, let’s say modest accommodations. Cheap motels, in other words. My grandmother only seemed to have one criterion by which to judge a motel: it had to be clean. “Well, at least it’s clean,” she’d say. Often while simultaneously imploring me not to walk around in the room barefoot, which seemed to undermine her assessment of the place.

What does this have to do with I Am Coffee? Probably not much, if anything, except for the fact that as I was driving home from the place, trying to decide what my “pros” and “cons” for this review would be, the biggest “pro” I could come up with was that it was clean.

I Am Coffee is exceptionally clean. And compared to the spectacularly dingy Lori’s, the only other establishment that I have to date given a review of less than three stars, it’s probably worth emphasizing that. It’s clean, just like the Subway next door. The Subway you can see into through a large window in the wall adjoining the two businesses. The Subway whose distinctive bread smell permeates I Am Coffee as if they were one, which is not entirely surprising when you consider that, basically, they are.

Besides being clean and smelling like Subway bread, the interior is not huge but fairly open, populated sparsely by a few tables and a couple of lounge chairs. The harsh fluorescent lights, tile floors and overall interior give the impression of a fast food restaurant, not a coffeehouse, and I did not find it very inviting.

I should note that the conditions for this review were unusual. I was meeting a client around the evening rush hour, so I didn’t get to spend as much time as usual taking in the details of my surroundings, nor did I have the opportunity to try the food options. I did notice some appetizing looking pastries in the case, along with an assortment of Umpqua Oats, which I tried recently for the first time at Nokomis Beach and heartily recommend.

I had some time to observe these food offerings at the counter because I had to wait at the counter for nearly a minute before I was noticed. Granted, it was nearly 6 PM and there were few customers around, so the barista can be forgiven for not having noticed my presence, as she was in the back area doing… something. Once she did notice me she was apologetic and polite, and prepared my cappuccino quickly.

The cappuccino was pretty good, not amazing, and it was very hot. Too hot. But over the course of my meeting it cooled to an acceptable temperature.

My meeting went well, but I left I Am Coffee unimpressed. I would not recommend going out of your way to visit it, although I can see stopping in for a morning coffee — to go — if you live or work in the neighborhood.

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#36: Peace Coffee Shop ★★★★½

January 10, 2011 by room34

Location

3262 Minnehaha Avenue S., Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★½
Food: ★★★½
Service: ★★★★★
Vibe: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★½

Pros

The standard bearer for high-quality, organic, fair-trade, locally-roasted coffee in Minneapolis (and beyond).

Cons

The slightly cold interior is a minor disappointment; coffee cups should have handles.

Review

First off, even if you’ve never been here, if you live in the Twin Cities and are at all interested in coffee (at least, beyond Starbucks and Caribou), you’ve probably heard of Peace Coffee. That’s because it’s everywhere. Peace Coffee has, for years, operated as a local roaster of organic, fair-trade coffee, and they’ve distributed their product (by bicycle, when possible) all over the metro area and outstate Minnesota. (I recently spotted Peace Coffee at Gymocha, an indie coffeehouse in a former Hardee’s restaurant in my hometown of Austin, Minnesota.)

Recently Peace Coffee opened their first coffeehouse. Be careful when googling or mapping… you may find yourself, as I did, mistakenly led to their roasting/packaging facility on an industrial dead end near Lake St. and Hiawatha Ave. Be sure to search for “Peace Coffee Shop” and you’ll be led correctly to the bright red façade at the corner of Minnehaha Ave. and 33rd St. Luckily, the correct location is only about a half mile from the incorrect one, so if you do end up on that industrial dead end, take solace in the fact that at least you’re close to where you’re going. Peace Coffee Shop is also in the same building as another appealing destination: the Trylon Microcinema.

Upon entering Peace Coffee Shop, you’ll find yourself in a large, open, industrial-feeling space. The barista bar is central, surrounded by stools. Around the outer walls are long plywood benches and a number of tables. There’s also a second seating area just to the right of the entrance. The space is interesting, but I did not find it incredibly inviting. I like how it looks, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like a place where I’d want to spend the whole day. The lack of “comfy” seating options contributes to this. That said, the friendliness of the staff and the standard coffeehouse soundtrack still made me feel welcome.

The service at Peace Coffee Shop is speedy and attentive. I ordered my usual cappuccino, along with a toasted bagel with honey almond cream cheese. The bagels and other pastries on offer are a cut above the usual, and the honey almond cream cheese appears to have been prepared in-house. It’s smooth and creamy with large slices of almond.

The coffee is well-prepared and tastes great, of course. But given the high standards that have been established lately by the likes of Kopplin’s and Angry Catfish (yes, I’m a broken record), I had to shave a half star off my rating. Likewise for the food: although the bagel and cream cheese are among the best of their kind that I’ve tasted, the food options are otherwise fairly limited. Also, and this is perhaps a trivial complaint, but my coffee cup doesn’t have a handle… it’s more like a soup cup than a coffee cup. It’s not unusual for coffeehouses to serve large coffee drinks in a glass tumbler (like a pint beer glass), but for a smaller coffee it’s odd… I found myself spinning the cup around searching for the handle that isn’t there.

All together though, despite a few minor criticisms, I think Peace Coffee Shop is an outstanding addition to the Longfellow neighborhood, and it lives up to the reputation of its name.

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#35: The Bru House ★★★½

December 7, 2010 by room34

Location

1431-A Silver Lake Rd., New Brighton
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★
Food: ★★★★
Service: ★★★★
Vibe: ★★★
Overall: ★★★½

Pros

Excellent coffee and food, an indie coffeehouse in the suburbs.

Cons

Where am I?

Review

To say I’m a stranger in the northern suburbs would be a gross understatement. I grew up in southern Minnesota, which means that when I did come up to “The Cities” as a kid in the 1980s, I rarely made it farther north than Burnsville Center. There’s no question that the metro area is a magnet for people who grew up outstate but who yearn for a more urban lifestyle. Most of us who are drawn in, however, rarely reach the city core, instead settling into an outer suburban orbit, typically on the end of the metro area closest to where we’re from.

In other words, even though I do live in Minneapolis proper, I’m a stone’s throw (well, a really hard throw) from the southern city limits, and I spend a fair amount of time in the southern suburbs — Richfield, Bloomington, Edina, Eagan. The only times I’m drawn north of downtown are when I have client meetings or I’m heading “Up North” to “The Lake.” (OK, I haven’t yet identified my own personal lake to prepend with a definite article, but you get the idea.)

Southern Minnesota and northern Minnesota are distinctly different places… geographically, culturally, politically. And these distinctions seem to carry over into the adjacent suburbs. The northern suburbs feel like a different state to me, and I feel curiously out-of-place. All of which is to say, this is a weird review for me.

What can I say about the Bru House? First off, I had a hell of a time finding it. I had mapped it in advance, but once I was actually in the car, driving north on Silver Lake Road, I cruised right past it, and it wasn’t until I was in Mounds View that I knew I’d gone wrong. Turning back, I eventually did locate it in a small, non-descript, half-vacant strip mall. But despite the empty storefronts, the parking lot was packed full, and pretty much all of the cars were here for The Bru House.

It’s not hard to see why. Inside, The Bru House is clean and inviting, if a bit crowded. I managed to find one single 2-top table in a dark corner, but the rest of the place was full of large groups — on one end, a boisterous, homogeneous collection of senior citizen men; on the other end, a multi-generational assortment of grandmothers, mothers and children. A curious and perhaps telling divide. I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. (No, wait… maybe we are in Kansas.)

No matter; I’m here for the coffee, food, and free WiFi, all of which are on offer in abundance. I’m on my way to becoming a spoiled snob for fine espresso drinks, visiting Angry Catfish with increasing frequency these days. The Bru House isn’t quite on par with this emerging breed of Minneapolis coffee artists, but the cappuccino I ordered is really good. I also ordered a breakfast sandwich consisting of eggs, bacon and Swiss cheese on a toasted bagel. Although a microwave was clearly used at some point in the process, the results are still very tasty and a nice complement to the coffee.

The service at The Bru House is friendly and home-like. It’s easy to see why the place is so popular, especially considering the lack of other nearby options. The Bru House exceeds all necessary criteria to be a huge hit in mostly-residential, semi-rural New Brighton, and I wish the proprietors continued success on the north side.

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Latte chez moi

December 3, 2010 by room34

OK, so I’m not likely to put any baristas at Kopplin’s or Angry Catfish out of a job. But, yes, I do have an espresso machine at home, and sometimes I even use it!

Today was one of those days. I’m definitely not a “microfoam” artist yet, but I’m improving, slowly. The taste? Not bad, thanks to some fine, espresso-ground beans courtesy of Coffee & Tea, Ltd. in Linden Hills. They’re the best!

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#34: Dragonfly Coffee ★★★★

October 27, 2010 by room34

Location

5001 Penn Ave. S., Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★
Food: ★★★
Service: ★★★★
Vibe: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★

Pros

Great coffee, eco-friendly, comfortable environment, loads of ’70s-’80s memorabilia.

Cons

Limited food selection, awkward bathroom arrangement.

Review

I’ve been meaning to try Dragonfly for ages. Although I don’t live that close to the Lynnhurst neighborhood, I’ve driven past Dragonfly, at the intersection of Penn and 50th, countless times on my way to and from Edina or Bloomington, and it’s close to both Lake Harriet and Lynnhurst Park.

Though this is a busy urban intersection, Dragonfly offers convenient parking behind the building. Walking in, I was won over immediately by the light and welcoming atmosphere and, even more, by the loads of memorabilia from my childhood: framed record albums on the walls, old copies of TV Guide from 1975, Dukes of Hazzard Dixie cups, Star Trek action figures, and Peanuts glasses — the collectibles they used to sell at McDonald’s when I was a kid. Add to this visual nostalgia overload a music selection that includes Radiohead and Wilco, and I’m in nerdy white boy heaven. (Yeah, I’ll claim it.)

The service at Dragonfly is friendly and familiar. The coffee, while not as artistically presented as a few of the “five-star” places I’ve reviewed, is flavorful and well-balanced. The food selection is somewhat limited, but what is available (including pastries from Patisserie Margo) is quite good. I ordered my usual large cappuccino and complemented it with a delicious, if perhaps a bit too buttery, almond croissant.

I feel somewhat guilty about my choice of a large drink, since (like most places) Dragonfly doesn’t have “large” mugs, so I had to get a paper cup even though I’m staying in. Fortunately, Dragonfly takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, using Eco-Products cups, composting their waste, etc. Also, all of the coffees are organic. (Yes, if you can’t tell, sustainability is still kind of an afterthought for me, but I’m trying.)

The seating space at Dragonfly is relatively small, with a handful of vintage dinette sets and a solitary couch (which, incidentally, is looking appealing for a nap after the past few late nights working). The bathroom — assuming there is one (and I do assume) — is behind a door leading to the kitchen and a storage area. I prefer the anonymity of a cavernous space where these things are concerned. So if, like me, you’re blessed with a temperamental bladder, this may be something to factor into your plans. (And that’s enough about that.)

Overall, I’m very pleased with my experience at Dragonfly. Larz, the owner, has succeeded in creating a friendly, welcoming, relaxing environment in which to enjoy a delicious coffee and a snack, get some work done, or just chill for a while, sans les enfants. What do I think of that? Formidable!

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#33: Bob’s Java Hut ★★★★½

September 22, 2010 by room34

Location

2651 Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis
GOOGLE MAP • YELP • WEBSITE

Ratings

Location: ★★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★★
Coffee: ★★★★
Food: ★★★
Service: ★★★★
Vibe: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★★½

Pros

Great location, cool retro theme, great coffee.

Cons

Limited food selection.

Review

In some ways my review of Bob’s Java Hut is likely to seem a lot like my last regular review, for Spyhouse. Bob’s is just a few blocks from Spyhouse. Like Spyhouse, it has a retro feel (though the feel is distinctly different). Like Spyhouse, its coffee is great; its food offerings are decent if somewhat uninspired; its service is friendly and familiar, yet professional.

I’ve driven by Bob’s many times. Its most distinctive trait is the lineup of motorcycles often parked outside in the dedicated “Motorcycles Only” parking along the Lyndale Ave. storefront. It’s easy to understand why motorcycle aficionados like Bob’s. The interior decor is part ’50s diner, part retro motorcycle garage. The racing theme extends to every aspect of the interior. Not being a motorcycle fan myself, but as a lover of the mid-century design aesthetic, I appreciate the color palette, racing stripes, and vintage European racing posters.

The side of Bob’s facing 27th Street is lined with large windows and 2-top tables. The Lyndale side features a huge glass garage door that can be opened in nice weather. (Unfortunately today is sunny and clear but just a bit too chilly for that.) There’s also a diner-style counter with vintage bar stools and a number of 4-top tables in the middle of the space. There are no “comfy chairs” or sofas, but there is a large rear-projection TV, and I’m told it’s often used to show vintage motorcycle race films. Overall, Bob’s is a fun environment to come to for work or conversation.

As usual I ordered a large cappuccino and, on this particular day, a pumpkin cheesecake muffin. The cappuccino was smooth and tasty, if not particularly artistic. It was served in a glass tumbler. The muffin was moist and delicious. The food options on offer do not appear to be produced in house, but there’s a great selection of fresh-baked muffins and scones, along with some prepared sandwiches and breakfast biscuits.

On a (relatively) warm, sunny fall day like today, if I do have to be inside working, it’s great to be able to do so at a place like Bob’s Java Hut. I’m not in this part of town as often as I’d like, but I’ll definitely add Bob’s (along with Spyhouse and Common Roots) to my personal list of excellent coffee options in the Uptown/Whittier/Lyn-Lake area.

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