joe and the art of coffee

the next coffee shop i visited was joe and the art of coffee.

i checked out the branch at 9 east 13th street, just off 5th avenue.

i had been looking forward to trying this place as i thought they had a good website

www.joetheartofcoffee.com

and they do jogging clubs at the weekends with free coffee.

however, it annoyed me for various reasons. firstly the two women behind the counter

both reminded me of one of my sisters-in-law !

( adopts ant and dec accent )

kate, it's not you... barbara, it's not you... it's not you kathy... gerry, the public have 

decided it's not you... maggie it's not you either... but patsy... it might be you 

secondly, there were no free seats or tables but there were lots of people... well, they were 

all women actually ( all stoke-newington looking women too )

they were hogging the seats but over half of them had finished their drinks and were 

just sitting there using laptops or reading. 

i took this shot as i stood up with my coffee leaning against a wall. the bloke on the right

was just ahead of me in the queue. he found a stool and sat next to the bins.

bad times.

i moved around the place giving paddington hard stares out at all the 

beverage-less women on their laptops. most of them stared back at me like

my sisters-in-law at the family christmas party but in the end a nice english

girl showed some manners and vacated her table

i put my camera on the table and started taking a few photos...

that made the 'ladies' flee, and in a few moments there were plenty of seats available.

the coffee was good, but there was bad ju-ju at this place.

new york dog

after my coffee at la colombe i crossed over lafayette street to photograph
 a strange sight i had spotted from across the road...

a dog wearing trainers ?!

hmmm...

wait a minute...

here boy !

his trainers were all well and good, but i wanted to get a proper shot of his face...

i whistled and he looked at me

what the what ?!

one black eye, one pale blue eye...

that's wrong !

for lucy...

at my favourite hangout in soho ( cafe cafe ) last week i saw a very good sign indeed.

my love for empañadas has been well documented over the years.

i have no idea what the hell a vegetable empañada is, but i overlooked this wretched black sheep of the empañada family and ordered up two chicken and one beef. 

check out these bad boys...

it looks like a couple of chicken empañadas are tring to escape, using all their

strength to lift up the glass dome and make a break for freedom.

it was all in vain for them. a few minutes later they were on my plate.

so lucy... how do you like me now ?

cafe cafe

cafe cafe is a great place on greene street.

the coffee and juices are amazing, the food is incredible and the layout of the place

is very stylish. i prefer to sit upstairs in the loft and to do a bit of people watching while

i'm eating empañadas / drinking coffee.

this is the view from the loft

this is my extra strong latte

and... well, you know i can't resist a self-portrait...

www.cafecafe.com

if you're in the area, it's well worth a visit.

new york coffee

my first proper coffee in new york was on saturday morning.

i went down to soho and headed to lafayette street to see if supreme

had any decent hats available. next door to supreme was this place...

it was absolutely heaving. they were queuing out of the door. i said to the bloke infront of me

" i guess the coffee is good here ? "

his reply was excellent... 

" heck yes "

so i queued up for about 15 minutes. there were no seats available inside so i

took my flat white outside to photograph it then to drink it.

rather than hold it, i balanced it on this green pipe thing...

there was a red one next to it so...

the bloke was right. it was a corking coffee

www.lacolombe.com

neckface

neckface was still at it on the streets of soho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_Face

new york breakfast ( day 1 )

after my early morning walk to times square, i found a 24 hour duane reed

where i stocked up on essentials and went back to my hotel to get ready for the day.

it must have been about 5.30am when i found a 24 hour diner.

i ordered up an oj and a coffee

and corned beef hash with two poached eggs and fried potatoes

game on !

i had only slept for 4 hours, and for only 5 hours the night before...

i decided that a self-portrait of me would be a great idea.

tired and grumpy, but the breakfast was magic darts and i was very happy with my hair

which was glued in place by some american wax. 

( i think the wax was developed by n.a.s.a. to be used on the space shuttle when any of the metal panels came apart during a mission and needed to be stuck back together again )