Cafe Cuteness on the South Side

My friend is newly pregnant & suffering from hideous morning sickness, so I put together a care package for her. She lives in Park Slope, which makes her a long-distance friend, so I figured I better mail it otherwise she'll have had the baby already by the time we see each other.

What a lovely day for a walk! My iPod mini playing the latest episode of Filmspotting, I strolled down 47th Avenue all the way to our hellhole of a post office on 44th. Just as I'm about to pay for my package (thank goodness I was using the machine & hadn't waited in line for a surly teller), I have a mental flash. To my wallet. Sitting on the dining room table.

I leave the PO and call Wesley to tell him how stupid I am. He tells me he's just about to leave for Hackensack (don't ask), and he can meet me at 43rd St and 48th Ave and hand off his wallet on the way to the BQE. Beats the pants off of going back home.

Instead of walking back down 44th St, I decide to take 43rd & stop in at the library. A sign caught my eye: "Free Wireless." I stepped inside the Dolce Vita Cafe on the corner of 43rd Street and 48th Avenue, and discovered a gorgeous, welcoming environment that immediately made me want to order a Limonata and a pastry. I couldn't stay today, but I'm going to go back there ASAP to write up a full review. In the meantime, read this article from the Queens Chronicle.

How To Run a Business Into The Grind

Remember when we wanted Starbuck's on Queens Boulevard to burn? I sure do. Remember too, when our first Mom-and-Pop coffee shop opened? It was called The Grind. Those were good times. We had a place to go to and a place to point a finger at.

Not so much anymore. We can still point at Starbuck's all we want and say that, even if hipster gentrification seems a ways off - corporate gentrification is at our door. But, Mom and Pop are letting us down as well.

The Grind is coming to a screeching, filthy, understocked halt. And, slowly, to boot.

Several recent visits have shown the place to be heading down the tubes - with slow service, dirty tables, no napkins, no coffee stirrers, no smiles, loud music, no change and no fresh pastry. Don't get me wrong - I like a place with some personality, and I'll still stop off at The Grind and suffer through to get the occasional coffee, but dang, man, if you're going to run a business that sells coffee, do it well and do it quick.

I give the place three months tops.