Coffee shop battles for my heart
UPDATE: Cheesebikini? confirms rumors that Ritual is working on a new place, to open sometime this year, complete with outdoor area. No word yet whether it’s true, or where in S.F. it would be. But a relish-worthy thought…
I live more or less between two very different cafes. In fact, one’s a cafe, the other a boulangerie. But it’s still a public place with tables that serves coffee and pastries.
Let me be more specific. I live 1.5 blocks from Ritual Roasters. It’s that place on Valencia in San Francisco with no clear sign with words, but merely a red-flag play on the sickle-and-hammer of the U.S.S.R. Since it opened a few years ago, Ritual has been a local hit. Filled as it tends to be with the beautiful set, the trendy twentysomethings of this city, with their laptops, fixies, little hats, and general conviviality.
Ritual’s coffee used to leave a lot to be desired. But late last year, they began roasting their own beans in the store, and the flavor picked up quite a bit.
The biggest downfall of Ritual: no free refills.
The best thing about Ritual: (tie) free wifi and no dirty looks for connecting; roominess.
The other place, a mere 2.5 blocks away, is Tartine Bakery. It’s that place at the corner of 18th and Guerrero with green paint and (ha!) no signage whatsoever. It opened, I’m guessing, in 2004, to great fanfare and instant lines out the door and down the block. In a sense, rightly so, with their fresh Euro-style croissants and other savory and sweet foodstuffs.
One of Tartine’s trademarks, though, is slow service. Another is very limited seating. My estimate is a a 20-person occupancy. Typically, there are more people standing in line, chatting idly and drooling, but not really thinking about what it is they’ll order once it’s their turn.
Tartine supplies Mr. Espresso coffee, a dark, bold roast that’s really close to perfect. Free refills and self-serve. Nice.
But here’s the thing, and the reason I’m writing this comparison: I went to Tartine yesterday, ordered my coffee, asked to share a table (only open seat in the house) and was instantly given dirty looks. I had a couple of magazines with me, as well as my laptop. I really just wanted to connect and check my email and the news. The dirty looks got dirtier. I actually felt bad. And the connection was spotty at best.
Simply put, fuck that.
SO…
For now, I’m sticking with the slightly inferior drink at the place with better atmosphere, better music, better art, and closer to home.
My two cents.
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February 21st, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Tartine always bugged me. The quality of the pastries is of course excellent, but they’re a little *too good* if you know what I mean – too fancy, too fussy, too precious. Also, the staff and clientele tends overly towards what a friend of mine in college liked to call the “BPs” (i.e. “Beautiful People” – is that a widespread abbreviation?). I like my pastries and the company I keep both a little less groomed than that.
Not that I wouldn’t go to Tartine in a heartbeat if I were a few blocks from it right now!
February 21st, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Wild, you actually think Tartine’s coffee is better than Ritual’s? You go for drip coffee (not espresso drinks) no? I wish Tartine would start serving Ritual coffee, and that Ritual would serve Tartine pastries.
But I can’t complain having such culinary wonders all in a few blocks. And now the new Buy Rite ice cream place across the street from Tartine.. They use Ritual coffee for their coffee ice cream..
February 21st, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I do go for drip, almost exclusively. And yes, I still favor Mr. Espresso over Ritual’s roast.
That said, Ritual has come a long way, and really only started roasting recently. Given time, I’m sure they can surpass Tartine’s coffee.
Also, I reprioritized why I choose one place over another. At the end of the day, atmosphere and clientele won out.
Ha, love your idea of Ritual serving Tartine pastries.
Another idea to help solve space issues at Tartine would be for them to open Bar Tartine (on Valencia between 16th and 17th streets) in the morning and early afternoon to serve coffee and pastries. That place is smallish, too. But it would help.