Thursday, December 23, 2004
10:45 a.m. – The Atomic Café
The Atomic Café has so much going for it. Great location – close to both offices and the funky neighborhood with its walking commercial district – and occupying half the ground floor of a beautifully refurbished factory that I believe is a historical landmark. Original wood flooring, tons of natural light, a charming, lulling folk group with a bluegrass tint playing atmospherically in the background, plenty of parking (a large lot around the side from the factory days no doubt), a small kids area in the back; free internet access (though “it’s been kind of funny lately, and is not working today!), and even power strips on the floor to plug in your computer! What could be better, right? This was the first coffee house I discovered when I moved to town, and I thought, “this is where I’m going to plant my flag!”
Yet there’s something about it – a bit too commercially together perhaps? – that has prevented me from feeling at home here. Maybe a big thing is, I don’t like their coffee that much. It’s heavy and Starbuckian. I’ve switched to decaf for the day, and ordered the Sumatran – I’d have preferred the organic Mexican were I here for my first cup of the day – which tastes thick. Their iced coffee is not very good, and their pastry offerings seem to have been ordered from a nationwide catering service – I’m sure I’ve had those bear claws in 5 different states.
Yet I’ll always have a soft spot for Atomic Café. I like the name (the real one almost as much as my made up one for it) and I’ll always remember it as the first place where I ever saw a copy of The Onion. I still remember what caught my eye – one of their sidebar story-less headlines in the lefthand corner of the front page, written not long after Gene Siskel unexpectedly died, which said, “Ebert Finally Wins.”
I won’t linger here either, today. What with the wireless internet down, and my coffee already tepid, I’m outta here.
Yet there’s something about it – a bit too commercially together perhaps? – that has prevented me from feeling at home here. Maybe a big thing is, I don’t like their coffee that much. It’s heavy and Starbuckian. I’ve switched to decaf for the day, and ordered the Sumatran – I’d have preferred the organic Mexican were I here for my first cup of the day – which tastes thick. Their iced coffee is not very good, and their pastry offerings seem to have been ordered from a nationwide catering service – I’m sure I’ve had those bear claws in 5 different states.
Yet I’ll always have a soft spot for Atomic Café. I like the name (the real one almost as much as my made up one for it) and I’ll always remember it as the first place where I ever saw a copy of The Onion. I still remember what caught my eye – one of their sidebar story-less headlines in the lefthand corner of the front page, written not long after Gene Siskel unexpectedly died, which said, “Ebert Finally Wins.”
I won’t linger here either, today. What with the wireless internet down, and my coffee already tepid, I’m outta here.
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