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Showing results for tags 'Coffee'.
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The new name of the new fine dining restaurant from Aaron Silverman will be Pineapple and Pearls: "Rose's Luxury's Sister Restaurant Has a Name: 'Pineapple and Pearls'" by Jessica Sidman on washingtoncitypaper.com Café/coffee/sandwich shop in the mornings and fine dining (with reservations accepted!) in the evenings. They're only going to be open 4 nights a week and no weekends. A very bare bones website is up too: PineappleAndPearls.com -
Opened 10/21/2013 - Caffé Aficionado, 1919 N Lynn St, Arlington. A new high-end coffee house opened Monday in the CEB/Deloitte building in Rosslyn. They serve Handsome Coffee, from Los Angeles using a 2-group La Marzocco GB/5. They do pour overs later in the day and serve amazing pastries. Not sure who bakes them, but they are delish. Not everything on the menu is available--like some house made Belgian-style waffles. They also have fresh squeezed orange juice. -
Oby Lee had a really good coffee shop/roastery in Rehoboth Beach for years. He could make disgusting-sounding flavored coffees taste really good. Their sticky buns were legendary. We heard he lost it in a bitter divorce. Anyone been to his place in Arlington? http://www.obylee.com/ -
The Marvelous Market up in Chevy Chase DC, the strip that includes Politics & Prose and Comet Ping Pong, has closed and will be replaced by Little Red Fox. The shop/café will provide in-house prepared dishes, coffee, sandwiches, pastries etc. etc. Let's hope it's good. That Marvelous Market was pretty useless. -
Rosslyn is lousy with small sandwich shops, and, frankly, most of them are... well, lousy. Well, maybe not lousy, but certainly bland, nondescript, unimaginative, plain, etc. You get the picture. In this sea of sandwich shop sameness, I must give a shout out to the good folks at Rosslyn Coffee & Deli, who are more than a cut above the rest. Located in an office building near the bottom of Wilson Blvd., the place has no outside signage, so it is easy to miss. Inside you will find a fine array of hot paninis, foccacia sandwiches, and other specialty sandwich creations, as well as your standard deli fare. Today, I had the pastrami panini on a multigrain ciabatta, with havarti, spinach, artichokes, and roasted red peppers. The sandwich was tasty, the ingredients were fresh, and the unusual accents like the spinach and artichokes worked and were much appreciated. Apart from the sandwiches, the care these folks put in to this enterprise is evident from the cleanliness of the store, the quality of the snacks and drinks they sell, and the fact that they also have a surprisingly good selection of bottled beer, including a mini-section with Belgian ales. This is not your gourmet sandwich shop, just a hard-working place making quality sandwiches with fresh ingredients, keeping the hungry of Rosslyn well-fed. It is worth your consideration if you are ever in the area. This is exactly the type of small business that deserves support. -
I picked up an order at Cameo the other day. Since Souk no longer has bread and I'm not baking much myself, I've been scoping out other sources. Since I was only ordering bread, I also got just a regular $3 drip coffee too. After ordering online, I arrived 30 or so minutes later. The coffee had been put out on the counter with the bread when the order was fulfilled right after I put it in, so it had been sitting a while. The upshot: their rustic bread is fantastic. The coffee, which I ordered with "a splash of milk" had exactly the right amount of milk. Since it was pretty tepid when I tried it, I'm not sure how to evaluate it beyond that. They have tasting notes, etc., on the menu. So...wait for it...I sat at a table outside with no one around and chugged about half the coffee, since it wasn't getting any hotter. First time I had consumed food or beverage at a restaurant's tables in just about a year. I reheated what was left of the coffee when I got home and it was fine, but I'll try to order when I'm nearby next time so the coffee hasn't been sitting long. -
Springfield might not have everything, but Cervantes Coffee Roasters is here, and it's darned good coffee. I'm not a fan of the industrial park location on Fullerton Road, and the corresponding lack of parking, but I am a fan of the coffee. I should also point out that they won the award for best cold brew at the CoffeeFest in New York this past week. Congratulations to the crew at Cervantes! -
Oddly enough I guess I never added this place to DR's - if you are at the WooBoi Chicken place Weird Brothers is to the left if facing Dunkin' Donuts or coffee or whatever they are calling it now. Weird Brothers is small, only a few tables to sit at, but the coffee is great. If you want something a lot more small-town than most of the coffee shops it is a great place. They roast their coffee in plain site, and the brother who runs the place (the other is deceased) is there quite a bit. The staff friendly, and they have an assortment of pastries and sandwiches they stock from local shops. They have a NitroBrew tap as well. For the small size, the staff is pretty efficient, so if you encounter a line, it usually moves quickly. NOTE: they also sell 1lb & 5lb bags of beans or ground coffee - I buy beans and go through a lot of coffee on a weekly basis. Embrace the Dark Side is their espresso bean, and strong. The nice thing is since they roast daily, the stuff is about as fresh as you will get.- 8 replies
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Better late than never. M.E. Swings is a true DC area coffee pioneer, having been founded here in 1916. Long roasting downtown and a major presence through the roaring 20s and WWII, the company has a wonderfully rich history and commitment to our region. In 2006, the last generation of the founding family relinquished control and sold to a non-family buyer. Today, the company roasts in Alexandria and operates a single retail shop just east of the World Bank across from the Old Executive Office Building. I tend to think of Swings with respect for its history but, sadly, not with a lot of enthusiasm for its product. Very important to fess up that I have not visited the downtown shop but will very soon. So why a dour view of the product? I've had Swings coffee many times in restaurants and, at least a few times, in homes where they'd bought the beans. Based on those experiences, I can say that the flavors weren't vibrant, rich or especially complex and that I didn't so much enjoy them. This was a consistent view. While true that home and restaurant brewed coffee can suffer from all kinds of equipment and technique issues, I think I've had it enough in situations where I had good visibility to the brew method, bean freshness and equipment used with still the same impression. We know a few more things about Swings that support a view that the company has fallen behind a booming coffee scene increasingly dominated by great independent shops focused on new approaches, freshness and the highest quality single origin beans. First, Swings simply doesn't have the focus that the great independents here do. They have a healthy wholesale business not just with restaurants but also with grocery stores ranging from Safeway to Whole Foods. Large batch commercial roasting though they do use Probats in Alexandria which tend to be fine roasting machines. Second, their known practices aren't quite up to modern standards. They routinely sell beans that were roasted months (as many as 6) before; just not a timeline for great coffee as discussed on many other threads. They also tend to emphasize blends. Blends can be fine or even wonderful but an emphasis on those at the expense of single origin beans often illustrates a roaster not emphasizing freshness and the highest quality arabica beans. Finally, I know a couple of local restaurants (which shall remain unnamed) that have switched or are in the process of switching from Swings because they feel the coffee isn't helping them with their customers. It doesn't get a lot of raves or positive feedback. Again, true that restaurants muck up coffee all the time but the better coffee roasters work with their restaurant partners to ensure that doesn't happen. This is why you can get a very good or excellent cup at places like Eve, Society Fair, NRG's restaurants (Birch & Barley, Evening Star, Buzz), R24 or Woodberry Kitchen. As a coffee hound, I'd love to see one of the old line locals really up their game. This applies to three roasters primarily: Swings, Quartermaine and Mayorga. But I fear these companies long ago decided that quantity was the path to success versus the harder slog to ensure great quality. I will visit the shop--they may be using fresher beans there than available elsewhere; I'm not sure. But based on what I have experienced so far and know, Swings isn't close to the same level of the fast growing number of super local retailers and roasters we've written about in many other threads. -
Junction Bakery and Bistro had it's soft opening this week. It's where Mancini's used to be. They gutted it. I stopped by to get the staff's Friday breakfast. They've gotten real spoiled when I'm in the clinic on Fridays not Dunkin Donuts like my partners The place is cool, super retro looking, you can see into the bakery and watch them work and make delicious baked goods. Seems like people already know about it, it was fairly busy for just being open for 2 days. I got a bunch of stuff - ham and cheese croissant, chocolate croissant, everything croissant, lemon poppy tea cakes, cheddar chive biscuits, some scones, and then I get an Americano for myself. Was a big hit... Everyone loved it. The everything crossaint was a real winner. I had half a cheddar chive biscuit, and that was good. Everything was rich/moist. The Americano was ... watered down (I know, I know ... it has water in it), but it wasn't as strong as Swing's or Stomping Ground or even the new St. Elmo's (what a revamp!). Well, the next hipster thing continues in Del Ray, a full fledged bakery with people with those baking hats. Food is good. Looking forward to trying real breakfast here. -S -
Sweeteria Dessert Café, a coffee & dessert cafe from the owners of Kao Thai Restaurant, has soft-opened in the former location of Your Whole Body at 8646 Colesville Road in downtown Silver Spring: https://www.sourceofthespring.com/silver-spring/sweeteria-dessert-cafe/ -
Hey folks - Just wanted to let you know that we received our first couple of flats today of Black Mission Figs. We will be spinning up a couple of flavors this weekend - Black Mission Fig sorbetto and Mascarpone gelato with a Black Mission Fig swirl. I spun up a test batch today of the sorbetto and it was AMAZING!!...not to be modest or anything, but you know. Also, I already posted this on another thread but we will be spinning 1 small batch of Olive Oil gelato...we plan on putting this one out on Friday. Check out our blog for more details. see ya! http://www.gelato-ology.blogspot.com/ -
Though I know Qualia has been referenced on some other coffee topics, I don't think it has it's own thread. Not in the Dining Guide. Didn't come up with a google search. So I'll create it here because this shop, now three years old, totally deserves to have a little spotlight shone on it. WaPo got it right with their brief review last year. And, even a visit to the content-rich Qualia website makes clear this is a shop obsessed with bean quality and the technique/process that convert bean to great-tasting cup. Today I was in the area of Georgia Avenue and remembered Qualia Coffee was nearby. I'd only been there once before a year or two ago and vaguely remembered enjoying it but I'd had a lot of good/great coffee since then...and had learned a bit more, so I wanted to check back. This time, I talked at length with Joel Finkelstein, Qualia's owner and chief roaster, along with Aaron, also a roaster and a serious and generous teacher of all things coffee to anyone interested enough to ask. Qualia is a Great Shop by my scale as explained here. They offer a large selection of very fresh, frequently changing and clearly dated beans. They roast onsite using a smaller roaster and average 5lb batches. This means they'll run out of a given roast often but then can restock in 2 hours. With a dozen or so from which to choose for a pourover, this means you'll always get freshly roasted beans, whatever the region or varietal. Joel and Aaron both care about roasting intensely. Their knowledge is incredibly deep and their dedication to excellence exceedingly high. I think they do espresso drinks but that's decidedly not the main focus here. It's very much about the world's best beans roasted with a crazy high level of finesse. Oh, and coffee aside, Qualia does seriously good baked goods including bagels from the area's best bagel maker* I had a very interesting Panamanian coffee I really enjoyed followed by a Brazilian Minco I loved. And, I left the shop with a deep appreciation for Joel, what he's doing and how he's doing it. He's thinking about possibly opening a 2nd Qualia downtown somewhere and I hope he does since the only downside to Qualia that I can see is that it's not that conveniently situation for me to be a regular. For all of us that deeply appreciate purveyors who prioritize quality over revenue maximization, Qualia deserves our enthusiastic support. It'd be great to see a few restaurants in town serving Qualia. Qualia won't ever be a multi-million, high-growth business. But it is already a great business because it is first and foremost about Great Product. * Georgetown Bagelry on River Road
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Souk Bakery and Market was scheduled to soft open in the Hello Cupcake Barracks Row space today (via PoPville). -
The coffee portion of Little Pearl is opening today, Dec. 16 (via Washington Post) and the wine bar portion is opening on Dec. 30 according to their website.
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After a brief hiatus, I hit the road again on Friday, this time to Filter, just off Connecticut on 20th St., NW. It's on a nice mostly-residential block and easy-to-miss if you aren't looking for it. Quite tiny--5 or 6 small tables along the wall, a cute patio in front with just a bench and one lonely chair (they've ordered more!). Good indie tunes playing not too TOO loud I had a pour-over and,since I sat and chatted with a friend for some time, was able to have an espresso before I left. Staff quite friendly, operation very efficient, quite a line had formed by 8:30. Food offerings very narrow in comparison to Big Bear, Mid-City etc No fruit or yogurt or granola etc., just breads. Both the pour over and the espresso were very nice-the pour overs come in two categories-mine was the lower and ran 2.50 for 12 oz. Espresso nicely prepared. A bit on the acidic end of scale for my taste but really just fine. Supplier is Cafe Pronto. All in all, definitely big giant step up from Sbux and Caribou quality-wise and free of attitude but a bit cramped and lacks the home-y atmosphere of a Big Bear, Sidamo or Sova. --- [The following posts have been split into separate threads: Coffee Nature (arcturus) Dolcezza (porcupine) Ebeneezer's Coffeehouse (saf) The Wydown Coffee Bar (TedE) Mug N' Muffin (twinsdaddy) Java Shack (daveo) South Block (RWBooneJr) Bump 'n' Grind (Kev29)]
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About a week ago I followed signs leading me to Firehook Bakery, in a very odd, industrial location on Flint Lee Road off Lee Road in Chantilly (across from Chantilly Crossing, home of Target and Costco). Having seen Firehook in DC, but not being close enough to try it, I was intrigued. Given that the most prominent bakeries out here are in supermarkets or wholesale clubs, I find this to be a great addition to the neighborhood. I tried a loaf of the pumpkin cranberry bread. Quite delicious. Many of the other offerings also looked good (example: Danish with fresh fruit instead of neon gop). Also, they are giving a free cup of coffee with each purchase, and the coffee is fantastic. Next time I'm in there I'm going to buy a bag of beans. In short, good news for us hicks.
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Port City Java, which was in the old antique shop space opposite the North Hall of Eastern Market, has changed ownership/management and name. The overhead sign for "7th St Hill Cafe" just went up today. The sign that has been up for a week or so in the door indicates it is closed for renovations and change in management. From what I've been able to find out, it seems that the franchise owner for Port City decided it was too expensive to renew the franchise because of the high rent. It seems to be completely new ownership, even though the note on the door only refers to management. I went to put this is a Port City Java thread and discovered there never was one. I liked the place and their coffee. It's been very popular in the neighborhood. I checked with the people at the newly named Hill Cafe on 15th Street and A, NE, and this place is not affiliated with them.
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Ryan Jensen, former Murky alumnus and currently with Counter Culture Coffee will be opening an espresso bar in the space previously occupied by Murky Coffee, which you may recall, was seized in February by the district for nonpayment of taxes. Link to story -
In the new Northgate complex at 450 N. Washington St., about two full blocks south on Route 29 from Chasin' Tails, Cafe Kindred has put up signage, and according to their Facebook page, is working hard to open (if you look at the photos there, you can almost feel the excitement of two people working to make their dream a reality). -
On the way to La Colombe over the weekend, we passed by a new independent coffee house, Compass Coffee. We couldn't resist not checking it out. We weren't disappointed. The space is great - light, airy, with 2 large skylights in the ceiling, an industrial feel to the tables and chairs with white subway tiled walls. Definitely a place for hanging out - and there was already a presence patrons with their Mac laptops surfing/working away. While we were enjoying our cortados and rosemary/garlic biscuit, one of the owners came over to introduce himself. He and his friend, both former Marines got into coffee during their tour of duty and wanted to add to the DC coffee scene. Much, if not all of the storage units and furniture were built/welded by the 2 owners. Pretty impressive. They are roasting their own beans and the barista on duty pulled a lovely smooth and rich cortado. The biscuit was a bit chewier than I prefer, but had good flavour. Compass Coffee has only been open about a month, but the place was bustling with activity. Beans are sold in tin canisters which are treated like growlers in the way that you get a $1 discount when you bring the canister back for a refill of your next bean purchase. We are big fans of La Colombe, but are excited to also support Compass Coffee in their venture. It's a great new addition to the DC independent coffee scene. -
Sugar Shack Donuts is another soon-to-be addition to the area near the Braddock Road Metro. Sugar Shack made USA Today's list of Top 10 best doughnut shops earlier this year. Things are definitely picking up in the Northwest quadrant of Old Town, with more to come. And they're hiring, according to the signs in the windows. The latest news, and links to previous stories from Red Brick Town can be found here. -
I've been a fan of these folks for several years: https://www.tbcroasters.com. Their products used to be stocked by Whole Foods, specifically in Silver Spring, but were dropped for no good reason a while ago. WF told them they were located too far away, yet the same store stocks La Colombe, which is about the same distance away in Philadelphia. Trager Bros have 2 Virginia locations in Lovingston and Afton. Their coffee might still be on the shelves at MOMs markets but I haven't checked in a while. I've been ordering from their online store. My go-to is the whole-bean, dark espresso. It's one of my life's little pleasures to open a new bag and smell the freshly roasted, oily beans (yes, they are oily). If you give them a try, let me know what you think.
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How do indy coffee houses get added to the map? Mug N' Muffin out in Stone Ridge (the next big community past South Riding) is a nice little place. They even make affogato and I am finally going to try it!
