Our Urban Odyssey » coffee

Ugh… Frappe Haven Closed for Health Violations

Nova — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:43:02 +0000

What’s going on? Made the trek to Astoria and was looking forward to a nice, sweet, caffeinated frappe and a souvlaki to go at the great Athen’s Cafe. First noticed that the seats weren’t outside. Then saw the big health department sign that the place has been closed for health violations. WHAT? Come on Athen’s Cafe. With what’s going on in Greece, you’re needed more than ever. What’s left if we don’t have our kafenenion culture to sulk in? And you make a mean frappe, though apparently not a necessarily sanitary one.

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Paying Respect

Nova — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:49:44 +0000

Let’s pay respect to Broadway Restaurant at 101st street and Broadway, a diner that keeps it old school in the good ways (hot, hot coffee in a nice ceramic coffee cup, good company, familiar staff) and for the prize here: still having a cottage cheese omelette on the menu. Had to search far and beyond for that.

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Lord of the Frappes

Nova — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:33:20 +0000

If the link doesn’t work, click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaHb8grTIUk

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Summer Book Rec: How to Be Idle

Nova — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:23:39 +0000

I am reposting something from last year because it’s summer (in the northern hemisphere) and your minds are more easily prone to indoctrination by this manifesto. Free your soul!

“I have a dream. It is called love, anarchy, freedom. It is called being idle.”

-Tom Hodgkinson

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How to make a Frappe

Nova — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 01:55:23 +0000

For those who haven’t been paying attention. The crack of all coffees.

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The crack in your coffee

Nova — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:01:13 +0000

Part of Urban Confessions Week

Alright, this confession comes from a barista/cook/waiter/owner all in one type of worker behind the counter of a Greek diner. It’s SCANDALOUS, I say, for a Greek or Greek diner coffee lover. Now I truly believe the magic behind the Greek diner coffee is the temperature. See my Cecil-ware conversations about this. But on two separate occasions at two different diners, I heard a fellow addict ask the Greek magician if he used “the Greek coffee”, as she sipped her black elixir with a smile. He nodded, and then mumbled, “Venizelos…” Venizelos, is it you in there?! How is that possible, you are the dark demi-tasse kind. Perhaps the diners are using this as a “secret sauce”, a variant of a potion I am convinced a certain donut chain uses to make their coffee taste so darn good. Or is the coffee in some of these places exclusively brewed from Venizelos beans? If any of you try to make a cup of joe with Venizelos from a drip machine and not a briki, let us know how it tastes. We’re close to unraveling the code of the king of urban coffee.

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Fanciest so far

Nova — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:16:28 +0000

My love for diner coffee has reached an all-time-high. I am pathetically in love with diner coffee. I now find myself critiquing the cups they are served in, and am forever spoiled by this cup here, served to me in a diner in Murray Hill, Manhattan. Look at that saucer!

I know, I know, the heroin in this love affair is the temperature… Nobody else gets it anymore. Diners are the last bastion of hot, unrushed coffee. But it’s also the ceramic cup, the dainty spoon, the cream, the cozy atmosphere… I’m in love!

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More diner talk

Nova — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:15:27 +0000

I’ve been enjoying more of our classic NYC Greek diners. What pleasure to know that even though there may be an abundance of Starbucks, I can still roll the die in passing them in faith that the NYC Greek diner is still a steady part of our urban landscape and I will find one to enjoy a good cup of coffee.

We already talked about part of the secret to their great cup of joes, Cecilwares Fe 100’s. But here are more reasons I’ll take my coffee there over other places:

sitting at the counter top is like being in someone’s living room. There is a feeling of hospitality. The people behind the counter are like mother hens to your needs.
the cups are a heavy ceramic that retains the heat of the coffee. The feel of the china in your hands is real, not a flimsy disposable cup, a plastic nothingness that separates you from the world and implicates you as an eco-sinner. That ceramic cup is endless. It’s always hot, and when it is not, you’ll get a refill.
the experience seems tailored just for you. You don’t have to speak a stupid branding language, you don’t have to order like a robot.
they can make the cheapest bean taste good.

So ode again to the Greek diner and its coffee.

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Heavenly coffee

Nova — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:06:10 +0000

The Church of Heavenly Rest, located at 2 East 90th St. (Fifth Ave.) in Manhattan has something wonderful going on besides spiritual love. I walked by there and did a double take. They run a cafe out of the church! It is darling. Talk about setting a scene for some good idling and pensive thought. You can order a cup of coffee, smell church incense, feel the curvature of the gothic arches with your eyes- all while contemplating the meaning of life and whether your cappuccino foam has taken the form of holy images. You might get distracted by the mansion next door, but that’s okay! Allow yourself to daydream…

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Café con leche

Nova — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:01:32 +0000

Diner in Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico 2004

The name escapes me but it had a good café con leche and a cozy atmosphere. What would be a Greek diner for NYers.

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