[flickr-gallery] A Small Town Girl's Guide · Coffee

Coffee

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Picasso's Coffee House, photo by MilliGFunk

Work required me to travel to St. Charles yesterday, so I took advantage of the opportunity to have a quick cup of coffee in Historic Downtown St. Charles with my friend Elizabeth (@ekcutshall) and two of her three kiddos.

I went to college in a very old Louisiana river town, so I’m no stranger to rod iron railings and brick streets along a river. My college town’s historic district was three blocks long, though, while St. Charles’ brick streets continue for blocks and blocks, with beautiful buildings lining both sides of the street. Most of the buildings appeared to house shops, bars and restaurants, so I assume that an entire day could be spent window shopping and dining in Old St. Charles.

Apparently the Katy Trail –  a 300 mile bicycle path – runs through Old St. Charles, too, so a long bike ride, shopping and eating great food undoubtedly lies in my not-too-distant future.

Elizabeth and I met at Picasso’s Coffee House, St. Charles’ expert on the ‘art of coffee’,  on North Main Street. They exclusively serve coffee roasted in the St. Louis area, their breakfast menu is catered from LaBonne Bouchee Bakery, and they offer a full lunch menu from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.  In the evenings, Picasso’s serves wines, beers, and its famous Masterpiece Martini. The cafe itself is clean but creative, artsy but warm.

I may be forgetting to mention the most important part about Picasso’s: it’s coffee. I ordered my usual skim latte, and I was impressed. The temperature was just right, the coffee was smooth, and the milk had great flavor.

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Picasso’s Coffee House is located at 101 North Main Street in Historic St. Charles, Missouri. To read more about St. Louis-area coffee shops, check out my October 2009 post on wifi and coffee in The ‘Lou. To learn more about Picasso’s, visit their website.

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Having had reason to dress myself today in something other than hiking boots, Columbia pants and a fleece, I set out for St. Louis like a true New Yorker; wearing all black (except for my amazing boots). More specifically, I set out for a meeting in Maryland Heights, followed by several hours at Foundation Grounds in Maplewood, where I drank coffee and worked remotely for my job.

I’ve become so accustomed to seeing the same faces over and over again at work and in my tiny little town that I found myself buzzing from the energy of seeing so many different people come and go from the coffee shop today. I stopped into Sarah Carmody Photography to pick up an art print I won at the Maplewood Arts Walk a few months ago, where I had a good conversation about photography and music. My trip to the gallery was followed by a St. Louis Wine Club wine tasting at St. Louis Wine Cellars with Angela Ortmann of StL Wine Girl.

So much civilization in one day! I feel like the kid in The Nutcracker who falls asleep to exaggerated dreams of the big holiday party  hosted by her family that night…I’m sitting here in my eerily quiet house in the middle of the snowy woods of rural Missouri. My mind is slow, yawns bring sleepy tears to my eyes, and the day spent in “the city” seems no more real than dancing toy soldiers or life-sized rat kings.

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Mocha, photo by smalltowngirl

Mocha, photo by smalltowngirl

I support local businesses where possible, and I also work remotely from locations around St. Louis regularly. I’m always watching for locally owned wi-fi hotpots where I’m welcome to sit with my laptop for 3-4 hours at a time, working.

I’ve fallen into the St. Louis Bread Company habit, and frankly, that depresses me. I don’t like their coffee that much, and the place just takes a little from my soul each time I work there, not unlike the way shopping in Wal-Mart kills my brain cells.

Exposed Brick, photo by smalltowngirl

Exposed Brick, photo by smalltowngirl

Though it may at first seem unrelated, it was the Atomic Cowboy’s exposed brick walls last night at the #SeattleCatTweetup that made me realize just how much I hate working from Bread Company.

Not one to sit in discontent for long, I asked some St. Louis twitter friends today to make their suggestions for great wi-fi/work hotspots in and around St. Louis. As far as I know, all of these businesses are locally owned and have wi-fi. If you see a mistake here or you have additional suggestions, please leave a comment for me.

If you like this list, you should check out the list of St. Louis restaurants and bars twitter friends helped me generate in July.

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Kayak’s Coffee (on Skinker near Washington University)

Park Ave Coffee (Lafayette Square; open fairly late with great patio)

Bauhaus Kaffee (Farmington; serving Kaldi’s coffee)

Mississippi Mud (Cape Girardeau and St. Louis on Cherokee Street)

The Royale (South City)

Hartford Coffee (South of Tower Grove Park on Hartford Street)

Coffee Cartel (Central West End, Open 24 hours!)

Provisions (on Olive – This one was suggested, but I wouldn’t have thought of it as a work/wifi spot. Can anyone confirm or deny this is a potential laptop-friendly wifi spot?)

Murdoch Perk (closed Mondays; on Murdoch btwn S. Kingshighway and Hampton in Southampton)

La Dolce Via (closed Mondays and Tuesdays; on Taylor in the Grove/Forest Park Southeast)

Northwest Coffee (two locations; Central West End and Clayton)

Companion (Central West End, Clayton and Ladue)

Wired Coffee (Sunset Hills)

Foundation Grounds (Maplewood)

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(Thanks to @michaeltomko, @poppymom, @Lisa_S_47, @threefourteen, @meporter, @cjonescgp, @elsicomoro, @jrobmartin, @allabuzz and @theroyale for recommendations and more information about these businesses)

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The absurdities of small town living continue to bring joy to my life. Yesterday, disappointed that my favorite coffee shop closed at 2:00 pm, I trekked across town to the only other place I could think of to get a latte; Espresso to Go.

You’ll notice that there is a mobile home in the background of this drive-through coffee shop. Fittingly, Espresso to Go is actually a metal shack. Here’s to small town life.

Shack, photo by smalltowngirl

Shack, photo by smalltowngirl

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Friends and colleagues of mine know that I’m a coffee drinker, and several of them have recommended Kaldi’s Coffee to me  since I moved back to Missouri. On Friday, I gave it a shot (har, har, har…)

Kaldi’s is one of two coffee companies in St. Louis that I’m aware of that roasts its own beans (Northwest Coffee is the other). Kaldi’s also has delictable sweet treats and lots of vegetarian food options for full meals.

I ordered a black bean burrito and cozied into a table near a window, ready to upload and edit the 200+ photos I’d taken at work that morning in Shaw Park. When the barista called my name to give me my burrito, this is it said:

My Name is Not Alyssa, photo by smalltowngirl

My Name is Not Alyssa, photo by smalltowngirl

For those of you who know me only as smalltowngirl or @milligfunk, I’ll fill you in on a secret; my name is not Alyssa.

That said, the coffee, the burrito and the cookie I got for desert (a giant one with chocolate chunks) were all good, and I really liked the no-wireless-internet, authentic-coffee-shop feel of Kaldi’s.

Kudos to local, independent businesses, even if they decorate their burritos with the wrong name.

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Sitting at Foundation Grounds in Maplewood, intending to work remotely after a morning meeting at Westport, my work servers have crashed, and I’m unable to access emails or files for work.

The coffee shop is lovely, with refreshingly happy and down to earth staff (no snobbish yuppy baristas here). There is a quirky turquoise mural of a tree with white flowers blossoming on the wall, and mismatched (but coordinated) upholstery covers high-backed chairs.

The pear and brie sandwich I had for lunch was lovely (fair warning though – it was onion heavy, though the onions were raw and easily removable). The iced mocha wasn’t bad either. Foundation Grounds gets brownie points for using biodegradable plastic cups, made from corn.

In the cold case, I found Kambucha, organic juices, Honest Tea, and Stonyfield Farm yogurt – a fairly forward-thinking collection of foods and drinks for this part of the country.

To top off my visit to Foundation Grounds, I overheard someone speaking Mandarin Chinese, and turned to find a husband and wife speaking Chinese to one another. The husband, a St. Louis-born acupuncturist and his wife had just moved back to St. Louis three days ago from years in Seattle and Asia.

His Chinese was far more fluent than my own (embarrassingly rusty) Chinese is, but it was so uplifting to meet another person who has moved back “home” to this part of the country after seeing the world in hopes of contributing something to the communities we grew up in.

Today’s coffee shop encounter is a reminder that when things happen (like servers crashing), there’s often something better in store. It’s been a rough last week for me, but with my hope and optimism restored, I’m looking forward to what the rest of this week holds.

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Tonight’s blog is one I’ve intended to write for two months, as Olde Tyme Pantry was one of the first places I visited, camera in tow, upon my relocation from NYC to Farmington in late February.

Olde Tyme Pantry, photo by smalltowngirl

Olde Tyme Pantry, photo by smalltowngirl

The simple concrete and steel frame of Olde Tyme Pantry is complimented by rustic log accents. On the front porch sits a wooden wishing well and several wooden rocking chairs. This Saturday, with the concrete patio newly expanded into the gravel parking lot, a group of people socialized around a large wooden table under the store’s front overhang.

I’ve been to the market at least four times now, and each time, the smell of fresh baked bread has met me as I’ve opened the front door. Just inside the entrance, on the right, sits a countertop with fresh-brewed coffee. Week before last, I bought myself a coffee grinder at the very un-religious local Wal-Mart, anticipating the purchase of fresh coffee beans at Olde Tyme Pantry. I was just as pleased with the flavor of my coffee as I have been with the fresh whole wheat bread I’ve bought week after week.

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Old Tyme Pantry is a great spot for buying spices, dehydrated soup (and other types of) mixes, and basics like whole grain noodles and baking supplies. They sell trail mixes and dehydrated fruits (see cranberry and white chocolate chip trail mix, above), and did I mention that they’re homemade bread is really, really good?

And the eggs! Oh, the eggs! A dozen cage-free brown eggs is $1.99, and I guarantee that you’ll taste the difference between these eggs and the ones you’ll buy at the aforementioned Super Center. These eggs are amazing to eat, and it’s not uncommon for 4 or 5 eggs in the dozen to have double yolks.

As wonderful as the food is, the experience is what makes the trip – your first time at least. Kiddos tug the shirttails of their dads, who ring you up at the register. Ladies wear long skirts and fitted white caps, with no accessories or makeup.

It’s a shop where your humilty comes out, and in a magical way, this store brings out the manners in its shoppers, too. You’ll hear “please” and “thank-you”, and costumers will stop to advise one another…

“Have you tried the vegetable chips? They’re so good!”

“Oh, you have to try the deli meat.”

I think it’s fair to say that even in Missouri, there’s a rebirth right now of farming, home-cooking, and buying local. While not all of Olde Tyme Pantry’s products are locally produced (see cheese photo, below), it still feels good to know that the money you spend is supporting local business, and that the foods you buy are relatively natural and whole.

NY Cheese from Olde Tyme Pantry, photo by smalltowngirl

NY Cheese from Olde Tyme Pantry, photo by smalltowngirl

Shopping here on Saturday afternoons has become an almost-weekly habit now for my mom and I, and I think that once you visit a time or two, you’ll find yourself frequentling Olde Tyme Pantry, too.

The Pantry is open from 9-5 Tuesdays through Fridays, and 9-4 on Saturdays. For more on Olde Tyme Pantry, read the Daily Journal’s story here.

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All photos by smalltowngirl

I love this coffee shop.

Still new (open for less than a month, I believe), Bauhaus Kaffee is the newest addition to quaint, downtown Farmington’s collection of stores and restaurants.

The owners, who are from Fredericktown, Missouri, have spent the last two years renovating the space.

I’m not sure how old downtown’s buildings are, but my guess is that they’re from the early 1900s. The sidewalk outside is red brick, and two tables with two chairs each, sit just outside the cafe’s front doors.

The cafe’s two floor-to-ceiling picture windows let sunshine stream in, and offer a view of the side of the court house, around which downtown Farmington was built.

Gleaming, subtly distressed hardwood floors are offset by black granite-topped tables and contemporary black leather sofa and armchairs.

Prints of German artwork hang on the red, exposed brick, and a piano sits in the back.

Beside the piano sits an empty guitar stand – empty because someone in the cafe has inevitably picked up the instrument to pluck out acoustic melodies each time I’ve been in the cafe.

I like to think that by way of my Sunday afternoon latte ritual, I’m helping keep Pat, the owner’s spirits high. Today we chatted about their scones being hand made from scratch each morning, and about the anticipation over the arrival of their new stove, which will accomodate homeades soups in addition to their already homemade baked goods.

Today, craving something sweet, I ordered a mocha. The taste was just as great as the presentation:

The clientelle is as diverse as one could hope for in a community as relatively homogeneous as Farmington, Missouri is.

Today, for instance, there were three q-tips (white haired folks), a woman who looked to be my age with a mod, black haircut and a large tatoo on her foot, and another late-20s/early-30s writer-type with a laptop. I couldn’t help the excitement, overhearing him voice his enthusiasm about a local, independent magazine.

I hope that Bauhaus Kaffee surives. I take that back, I hope that it thrives, and I have faith that it will. Warm fuzzies will take over my belly when downtowns come fully to life again, and I think Farmington’s well on it’s way, thanks to places like this one.

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