Twice in recent weeks, during unrelated threads on the Louisville Restaurant Forum, I’ve been subjected to heavy hinting by a Louisville coffee wholesaler to the effect that a coffee shop is coming to downtown New Albany very soon.
Both times this coffee biz heavyweight hasn’t responded to hints of my own to let me know the score, but … dimly recalling a Board of Public Works meeting that I attended during the spring, when the owner of the building at 419/421 State Street (formerly Sherwin Williams Paints) asked the board for permission to close the sidewalk for restoration of the façade in preparation to open a retail store (now State Street Flooring) … there was some comment made about an adjoining coffee shop, wasn’t there?
Sure enough, we drove past it on Sunday afternoon, and people were inside working, so I poked my head in and asked what they were doing. The reply was “coffee shop,” with a target date for opening of the first week of January.
As we see it, the challenge in opening a coffee shop extends somewhat beyond the lengthy list of hurdles facing any new business venture.
The coffee needs to be made correctly, an appropriate aesthetic needs to be served, and it needs to be open!
With all due respect to the Main Street Grind, we’re still waiting for a downtown New Albany coffee shop to get it right. As a model, Perkfections in Jeffersonville (359 Spring Street) comes very close, with the sole flaw of being closed on Sundays and (we’re told) maintaining short weeknight hours.
Here’s the roster of coffee shops in New Albany, and one worthy business in Floyds Knobs. We’re assuming that reports of Brew Café’s demise are true, as the phone number is barking “disconnected.”
Bean Street Cafe
Charlestown Road
(812) 944-6262
Jim Book started the business at the intersection of Slate Run Road and Charlestown Road, and recently moved it to the burgeoning exurb north of the I-265 interchange. He has irons in the fire at Indiana University Southeast and is reputed to be establishing a branch somewhere in the Quadrangle reclamation project in Jeffersonville.
Coffee Crossing
4212 Charlestown Road
(812) 981-2633
Web sites with Bible verses = some variety of Christian outreach, so consequently such establishments shall never be NA Confidential’s cup of Joe. But to each his (or her) own.
Main Street Grind
155 E. Main St.
(812) 944-2326
Gracious, pleasant people who’ve been in business for more than 10 years, so of course they must be doing something right … and yet they have a knack for never being open for business when it really matters, i.e., roughly a 30-hour workweek compared to 100+ for a typical Heine Brothers in Louisville. Unfortunately, the espresso varies widely according to who is on duty at the time.
California’s California's Coffee House/Mexican Kitchen/(insert name this week)
1515 East Market Street
If you have a wheel, then give it a good hard spin. Are they open or closed today? Cooking this week, or not? Working with Los Indios, or Taco Bell? Have coffee or not? A special arrangement with Starbucks, or Folger’s? Sorry, but we’ve passed the point of frustration. It’s not an encouraging picture.
Hobknobb Roasting Company
3700 Paoli Pike
Floyds Knobs, Indiana
923-1458
Roasts on site, makes a good espresso, has the aesthetic down – and too damned far away from downtown to bicycle without working at it.
As Casey Stengel is reputed to have asked the 1962 New York Mets, "does anybody here know how to play this game?"
To which we'd add, "somewhere near our house!"
FYI - Perkfections in Jeff is looking for someone to take over the food side of their business and run it if any one is or knows someone interested in making something happen for lunch and building a dinner business. Already established lunch crowd. Great owners, also, this is my fav coffee spot on this side of the river.
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing rumors of a coffee shop going into the old Abe's Rentals, too.
ReplyDeleteIt would be an ideal location (Abe's) with respect to placement and the building style, and they've had some commercial food equipment stacked up in there for a while, visible through the plate glass in front.
ReplyDeleteIn all this I still feel somehow guilty for not touting the Main Street Grind, but their hours are not friendly for me, and they're too inconsistent with espresso (and that's my standard of measurement).
The Main Street Grind is a great little place, and their biggest business is the noon lunch crowd. They used to have longer evening hours but just didn't have the traffic to justify them. They make all their food on site and it is very fresh, and the kitchen is very clean, big pluses in my book.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the espresso since I don't drink it. We usually visit there either Thurs or Fri evenings and have coffee and just hang around for awhile. Summer makes for some interesting people watching on Main Street. The owner, George Enteman, has become a good friend over the years.
I musta missed that. I'm heading that way today and will check it out.
ReplyDelete