(Kid-Friendly) Café Au Play

A couple of you have asked me if during my wanderings I have run into any kid-friendly cafés. It’s not always easy to find places to take kids when you go out. I can understand why. Most of the time, I avoid places where kids are likely to be making lots of noise. However, people with kids (me included) don’t always want to leave them at home and it is nice when to find a place that is geared to handle them.

It is no easy task to run a kid-friendly café. There was an article in the Oregonian last January that discussed the decision of Sip ‘n Kranz, a Pearl district café, to close its kid playroom in an attempt to improve business (the café has since changed ownership and no longer operates as Sip ‘n Kranz). Stories like these are bound to scare others from making their cafés any more accommodating for the little ones, making them few and far between. So when I find kid-friendly cafés, I’ll be sure to tell you about them.

I recently visited a couple of places that were kid-friendly, Gigibar and Bella’s Garage. They are both cafés first and kid-friendly second. By accident, I also stumbled a café whose main objective is to be kid-friendly, Café Au Play. Here’s the back story:

Café Au Play

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Gigibar: A Linguaphile’s Café (closed)

I went to Gigibar the other day out at the corner of 60th and SE Division to drink some coffee and to meet with a fellow MIM graduate, David Hubbard. I arrived around 10:30am, and had the café to myself when I arrived. Gigi, the owner, greeted me and asked what I wanted to drink. I asked her about her espresso and she told me it was Bella Selva, an organic coffee roasted by K&F Coffees, a Portland company. She said it was a lighter roast that was kind of chocolaty. I ordered a double ($2) and went to sit down. The coffee was nice and toasty, not over-extracted or bitter. 

Gigibar

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What Makes a Good Café

Some of you have probably noticed that I mostly write favorable reviews for cafés. That’s true, I do. I try to find as many redeeming qualities in a café that I can. I’m not interested in making a cafe look bad. If there’s a place I really don’t like, I don’t bother writing about it. I’m not out to make enemies and I’d rather use my time to write about places that I think are worth visiting. 

So what makes something a good café? Here’s a list of things that I look for, so that you can have an idea of my criteria.
  1. I tend to like places that give a damn about coffee and about service. If a place cares about both, it’s likely to get a good review.
  2. I like places with personality. The café doesn’t have to be weird, but having something that distinguishes it from other cafés is a good thing.
  3. I drink my coffee from a ceramic cup. If a café only has paper cups, it ought not be in business. Not only is it wasteful to use only paper cups, but I also hate putting paper in my mouth. I’ll do it if there’s no other option, but it doesn’t make me happy.
  4. On a similar note, any self-respecting café ought to have metal stirring spoons. If you only have plastic stirrers, or even worse, only wooden stirring sticks, you lose major points. A wooden stick transfers its flavors to the coffee, and how am I supposed to clean up the sugar at the bottom of my cup? The only time I want to put wood in my mouth is when I’m using a toothpick to clean steak out of my teeth.
  5. Music volume is important. I like music. I listen to music. I write music. I play music. When I’m in a café if you want to play music, that’s great. However, if it is so loud that I can’t have a conversation or if I can hear your music over the music coming through my earphones, you ought to turn your music down. 
  6. Friendly service makes me happy. I don’t expect you to be super-smiley, but polite and friendly is not too much to ask. 
  7. If I come in to a café and you don’t want to pause your conversation with a co-worker to help me, that’s a bad sign. I promise not to be on my cell phone when I order, and you should offer me similar respect. If you don’t, you’re not getting a tip and you’ll probably lose a customer.
  8. Show some enthusiasm for the coffee, for crying out loud!
  9. I tend to prefer places that have just a touch of class. I’m not expecting high society, but I prefer things to look neat. It’s a bonus when the baristas dress similarly as if they were all part of a team. 
  10. Your employees ought to know something about the coffee. I don’t expect everyone to be coffee experts, but if you ask an employee “What’s your coffee like?” and he or she says “Um, it’s good," you are losing an opportunity to educate me and create more interest in your coffee. 
  11. Wi-Fi is nice to have. It’s not a requirement, but as a writer it’s one of the tools I like to have available.
  12. Finally, there’s the most ambiguous criterion of all: vibe. Some cafés have it, some just don’t. I don’t know how to explain this one. It’s like trying to explain what “cool” is. Fonzie was cool, Richie wasn’t. Same goes for cafés.
That’s what I look for when I go to a café. Anyone care to add anything? One of these day’s I’ll write up what makes a good customer. We have a few responsibilities too.

 

World Cup Coffee and Tea

After checking out the Sterling kiosk on Glisan, I decided to head toward downtown to find a place to sit and write. I didn’t make it very far. A few blocks down Glisan, I came across World Cup Coffee and Tea. I had been planning to try World Cup coffee, but I thought I would go to their café in Powell’s Books. However, since the opportunity presented itself, I decided to stop and check this one out. It turns out that the store on Glisan is World Cup’s headquarters and main café. The company has its offices and its roasting operation there.

World Cup from the outside

While waiting in line, I read some of the company’s literature and I thought I was at another café for coffee enthusiasts. Having visited many similar places, I expected the people in the café to be knowledgeable about the coffee. I walked up to the counter and asked the barista what their espresso was like. She paused for a second.

“It’s really strong. Have you had espresso before?”

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Sterling’s Kiosk

I intended to give Coffeehouse Northwest a review the other day, but when I arrived and asked what espressos they had available, the barista informed me that they only had Hair Bender (from Stumptown) available. Actually, they had two different Hair Benders available, each with a different roasting date. While it might have been an interesting exercise to compare how the roasting dates affected the flavors, I was hoping to try something different. The barista suggested I go to Sterling, a few blocks away on NW Glisan. She said it doesn’t have any tables, but that if I wanted to I could bring my drink back from Sterling and sit down at the café and hang out. Though it was a nice offer, I decided to come back to Coffeehouse Northwest another day.

It took me about five minutes to walk over to Sterling, and when I arrived, I found what appeared to be an old-fashioned coffee bar, built in the style of the 1920s (at least that was my impression). The kiosk was sandwiched into a small space by the entrance to a flower shop.

Small but classy (dressing up is optional)

Tim, the barista, greeted me and I asked him about their espresso. He recommended that I try the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (YUR-guh-chef) coffee. It was a little more expensive than the house blend they had available ($2.50 for a double), but it was more interesting too. He described the espresso as beginning with blackberry flavors, continuing with a smooth middle and creamy finish that was like Baileys (Irish cream). That sounded interesting enough for me, so I ordered one and watched him prepare the espresso.

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