>Heeeeeeyyyy Charlie…
>
Heeeeeeyyyy Charlie, come down this alley, Charlie…. pssst.. just a little closer.. yeah, this alley… down a little further….
A recent article in the SF Chronicle reluctantly piqued my curiosity. An Alley coffee shop? — Really? For the sake of abstaining from normalcy, I usually avoid newspaper finds, however, something about going down a random alley in the Mission in pursuit of stellar niche coffee really got my attention. I mean how often does something like that come up?
Later that same week, I put in a phone call to Dave, bassist and visitor. A fitting ‘Charlie’ if I don’t say so myself. Trusting, grouchy and doe-eyed. We settled on 10 am Saturday. Planning to meet up with him there, I surreptitiously guided him by phone to the alley a la Charlie. Much to my dismay, I found him 15 minutes later with generic ‘natural food’ store coffee benched and waiting outside 24th street Bart Station.
I glared at him, minorly annoyed, and then glanced over at the coffee shop on the corner of 16th and Valencia. ((Not even remotely close to the instructions dictated earlier –‘walk down Valencia towards 15, hang a right on fifteenth and then a left on… )) yeah… so I was bit put off; my plan to get him into the alley FOILED ::evil gesture of hands rubbing together::”
Later that same week, I put in a phone call to Dave, bassist and visitor. A fitting ‘Charlie’ if I don’t say so myself. Trusting, grouchy and doe-eyed. We settled on 10 am Saturday. Planning to meet up with him there, I surreptitiously guided him by phone to the alley a la Charlie. Much to my dismay, I found him 15 minutes later with generic ‘natural food’ store coffee benched and waiting outside 24th street Bart Station.
“What happened?!”
“Uhmm.. I thought you meant this place?
I glared at him, minorly annoyed, and then glanced over at the coffee shop on the corner of 16th and Valencia. ((Not even remotely close to the instructions dictated earlier –‘walk down Valencia towards 15, hang a right on fifteenth and then a left on… )) yeah… so I was bit put off; my plan to get him into the alley FOILED ::evil gesture of hands rubbing together::”Having sufficiently glared at Dave we ‘pleasantly’ made our way to the 16th/Mission Bart station walking one block over to 15th and a hop to Caledonia lane. 3/4ths of the way into the dead-end alley is when you start realizing that you’re really at the right location–the two lonely cafe chairs and sounds of shots being pulled give away its hiding spot.
Verdict – Hidden Treasure —Oh, Booty!
STATS:
Owner: Jeremy Tooker (ex-Ritual)
Beans: Stumptown (for now)
Get: Latte (not skinny)
learning to experiment 