The Beans Are Not Always Greener...

The Carquinez Bridge, gateway to Vallejo and Benicia in San Francisco's east bay

It may be less evident to more and more people as time inexorably marches forward, but there was a time where Starbucks Coffee shops didn't occupy every town, or at least seem that they did.

I can remember a time when the chain was conspicuous by its absence. Vallejo and Benicia are neighboring cities along the Bay Area's Carquinez Strait along Interstate 780, but I can remember when the more highly populated (but less economically well off) city of Vallejo was mermaid-less, but the much lesser populated (but more well-heeled) town of Benicia sported a branch.

With all Starbucks being mostly corporate-owned (save for locations inside airports, supermarkets, etc.), I myself wondered at the time what Starbucks didn't see in Vallejo, or perhaps, did see. Vallejo has one of the more diversely populated cities in the Bay Area (since 1980, the percentages among White, Black, Hispanic and Asian populations have steadily equalized) and I pondered if corporate minds thought that wasn't a money-making formula.

Eventually, Vallejo's residents did get their Starbucks and proved that they as much as anyone can boatloads of Frappuccinos and Unicorn Lattes. Nowadays, the Seattle-based chain is more of a constant (with close to 30,000 branches worldwide, with half of them in the United States) versus a buzzy novelty for which many would clamor. Interestingly enough, while Vallejo currently hosts more locations than Benicia, the higher per capita still resides with the latter (roughly one for every 7,000 residents for Benicia vs. 1 for every 20,000 residents in Vallejo.)

Evolution of a Mission: Mission Coffee

When Mission Coffee opened up in October of 2012 in the Short North, they had joined a coffee scene whose quality and general public awareness was under the radar to most folks outside the immediate area. Things have changed immensely since that debut for Mission and the Columbus coffee scene, however. Slowly but surely, the quality of the Columbus coffee scene has received notice on a national scale, as exampled by this March 2018 article by USA Today

Add in an appealing incentive in the Columbus Coffee Experience, a coffee trail featuring some of the best area coffee purveyors, as well as by an influx of new roasters such as Florin, Ramble and Bacca joining established members like Thunderkiss, Stauf's and Crimson Cup in creating a wealth of beans for the local consumer to sample, and you have the definition of a burgeoning scene. In its own right, Mission has tapped into this momentum to become one of the city's best coffee experiences.

The Chocolate Cherry Connection: Pattycake Bakery

It's easy to go over old ground with places that predate my existence here in Columbus such as Pattycake Bakery.  Still, a brief history for those who aren't familiar or have forgotten how this quaint Clintonville bakery came into being might be helpful.

Established in 2003, this vegan bakery undertook the unique transformation to worker-owned co-op a decade later, adopting conscientious credos such as utilizing recyclable and biodegradable packaging, sourcing locally whenever possible, and using human power to deliver many of their goods via their bicycle-powered cart. While not an exact match, the bakery does remind me of one of my favorite places back in California in The Cheese Board Collective, another workers co-op which has spent more than 40 years selling cheese and, later, coffee, baked goods, and the pizza of the day (all veggie, with just enough made to sell out before the day's over) to hungry patrons in Berkeley.

I could say Pattycake has great pastries (and they do; more on that later), but it holds a little special place in my heart in that it helped ease the transition here to the Buckeye State. Ironically enough, it was another California transplant in Peet's Coffee (which had a brief and somewhat strange run here in Ohio, as I detailed in this blogpost) that set this up long before I had a notion that I would ever move to Ohio, much less heard of Pattycake itself.  

Final Sweep Across The Plains: Three For The Road

Similar to Columbus and its North Market, Cedar Rapids, IA sports
its own upscale public market in the form of the Newbo City Market

Not unlike any of our previous excursions to far away places, we end up covering a lot of ground in a short time. Perhaps it's making up for lost time, and perhaps it's just the way we roll, but nevertheless we encounter a lot of places and destinations that are definitely worth your consideration should you be in the area. We close out our grand Great American Eclipse vacation journey with a blog post about three eateries that fit that definition to a tee.

Columbus Coffee Chronicles (Vol. 2): Boston Stoker

When Dayton-based Boston Stoker opened up their initial Columbus location just south of the Ohio State University campus on Neil Avenue in early 2013, it provided a wonderful opportunity for me personally. Whenever I had business on campus and I had time on my side, I fell into the very tasty habit of dropping by for a shot of espresso and snacking on the whatever Clintonville-based Pattycake Bakery sweet-tooth appealing treat they had on hand that day.

However, this location, which was something of an oasis of better coffee around the campus area, was not ideal as it was a shared space with a branch of the Credit Union of Ohio (it had been a McDonald's prior.)  The announced demolition of the building forced both tenants to relocate, with Boston Stoker finding a location down the street closer to the Thurber Village area of Victorian Village,

Columbus Food Adventures' Coffee Tour

The Columbus Food Adventures Coffee Tour is definitely
worth keeping an eye out for when it is scheduled.

I have been a big fan of Columbus Food Adventures (CFA) and the myriad of culinary-oriented tours they provide of the area's metro scene. In fact, my spouse and I have been on enough of them to fill out one of the culinary passports they give tour-goers at the end of excursion entitling you to a free tour, and we are most definitely looking forward to scheduling that in the near future.

While organizing my computer files recently, I just realized that the latest tour we took with CFA, the Coffee Tour, was one I had not written about. Although it has been a couple months since this early December tour, I did want to write up a little something on it because, similar to previous tours with them, we along a friend of ours from out of town very much enjoyed this excursion.

I will start by saying this is one of CFA's more unique tours in that it covers one very specific item: coffee. This one item, however, has gained Columbus' renown for over the past few years. The coffee-oriented website Sprudge listed Columbus in its 2014 "5 Underrated Coffee Cities" and local roaster Crimson Cup was designated "2016 Macro Roaster of the Year" by industry magazine Roast. The coffee scene has also become a tourist attraction as well, with the folks at Experience Columbus creating the Columbus Coffee Trail that provides out-of-town java enthusiasts a fun way to seek out the area's best caffeinated concoctions.

Sandwiches Around the Statehouse: Cafe Brioso

Cafe Brioso's storefront: the sign points to good things inside

If you are familiar with Cafe Brioso only as a coffee house, this may seem like a bit of an odd header under which to place them. However, this header really shows how diversified this place really is.

Of course, the main calling card for Brioso is its excellent coffee. If you come through the entrance off High Street, the first thing you will probably notice is the buckets of freshly roasted beans off to the left; a quick glance behind will give you a view of the area that houses their roasting equipment and other ancillaries (e.g. their pour-over coffee station.) Numerous restaurants around the Columbus metro area feature Cafe Brioso coffee on their menus.

Breakfast gives the customer several options: for those with modest appetites, freshly-baked scones are available. Those who want something a little more filling can opt for their freshly-baked muffins or the excellent bagels from local bagel maker Sammy's New York Bagels. Other baked goods available for customers include cookies, croissants and, every now and again, pie (and who can argue with pie?) Generally, I've found all their baked goods rating in the good category.

And then there are the sandwiches, which are available in half-order ($4 - $5) or full-order ($6 - $7) sizes. These sandwiches aren't the best or necessarily the largest in the downtown area, but their homemade nature makes them reliably tasty for me. Their tuna salad or fresh mozzarella (or, when available, their special Lily's egg salad) are my standard go-to orders here. Brioso also earns bonus brownie points for the use of wonderful bread of local institution Dan The Baker in their sandwiches. Customers also can choose from a select list of salads; soups can be ordered separately or specially-added to your sandwich or salad order.

We could end it with the food, but that would neglect the atmosphere. Out of all the places I have been to in the Columbus area so far, Cafe Brioso reminds me the most of a place would fit right into San Francisco's coffee scene without any undue notice.

However, no coffee shop I was familiar with there quite matches Brioso's mix of working-class (both white- and blue-collar) hangout; bicyclist-friendly atmosphere; community participation (as exampled in the Pinchflat poster art show and Moonlight Market, where pop-up restaurants from the previously mentioned Dan the Baker and Kolache Republic find a home) and small business support (The Flying Gent Mercantile, which advertises itself as "the only Central Ohio destination for original, classic, and exclusive men's goods from around the world," can be found inside Brioso's shop.)

No, Cafe Brioso is Columbus' own and proud of that aspect. This pride also extends to their coffee as well as their part in the overall local coffee scene that has blossomed since I have been here. It's not surprising that Brioso has emerged as one of the primary destination spots in the downtown area, if not the city as a whole.

2019 Update: Brioso Coffee has opened up a second roastery on Long Street focusing on their roasted coffee beans and coffee drinks. For more information, check out their main website at the link below.

Cafe Brioso

14 E. Gay Street (Downtown - Google Maps)

Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 228-8366
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