On a rainy fall day, my son and I found a log cabin of a café, serving a tasty espresso in the Village.

Ok, so we did not accidentally ‘find’ it. Joe was on the day’s agenda. Our visit to the third café serving Joe espresso in New York.

Tucked away on Waverly Place in a quiet part of the Village in between the bustle of NYU and the far West Village, this Joe café provides a great complement to the other two.

There is the university/academic hangout just south of Union Square, in the middle of the action. Then you have the SoHo chic Joe Espresso Bar in an Alessi boutique on Greene Street. And then this living room of a café where I was searching for the fire place, it was so cozy.

And the espresso is tasty, as in the other two cafés.

What type of style would Joe choose if there were a 4th café?

Address

Joe – 141 Waverly Place, New York between 6th and 7th Avenues. ABCDEFV Trains at West 4th Street. 1 Train at Christopher Street – Sheridan Square.

SohoKind Previous Visit to Joe the Art of Coffee in the East Village

SohoKind Previous Visit to Joe at Alessi in SoHo

Music

Edith Piaf – Padam…Padam

We are proud to release our third children’s T design, Papa & Kind, designed by Sengthe from Tours, France, working in New York.

Now available in our boutique.

Today’s parent.

SohoKind style.

About the Artist

Sengthe is a visual artist from Tours, France, with projects in New York and throughout Europe. He mixes painting, film, poetry and performance art to create his unique style. Currently, he is working on his next film, which he wrote, produced and directed in New York. For more insight into his style and work, please check out his website www.sengthe.net.

Our next featured music in SohoKind Café is Edith Piaf.

It would be a challenge to live in Paris and not hear about Edith Piaf or her music.

That voice! Wow!

Just listening to her music makes me feel like I’m walking through the city. Her’s is another example of timeless music. And fits quite well with SohoKind Café.

‘Je ne regrette rien’ and ‘La vie en rose’ are beautiful and familiar. But it was ‘Milord’ that hooked me into the rest of her music.

If it has been a while since you last heard her genius, then hopefully you’ll enjoy the next few Café visits.

Other Info

Edith Piaf on Wikipedia (Français)

Edith Piaf on Wikipedia (English)

La Môme - La Vie en Rose (Film Biography of Edith Piaf starring Marion Cotillard)

My son and I were on the lookout for another East Village café serving up a wicked espresso.

Just a couple of blocks down the street from one great espresso we previously visited, lies another at Everyman Espresso.

Everyman Espresso also offers up an entirely different scene than those visited so far, as it is in the lobby of a performing theater company immediately next door. And when my son and I arrived there was a lively theater discussion going on just out front of Everyman’s bench seating.

Inside, it looks like a cross between the lobby and backstage to an off-Broadway production, with a generous dose of space and local theater posters.

And I love the high bar tables, adding to the social and spartan feel of the café.

The espresso was rich, tasty and with a carefully crafted crèma leaf. Served triple ristretto.

Finally, the service was quite friendly. The menu indicated to ask the barista what a ‘triple ristretto’ is. So we did, and the barista gave my son and me a lesson in espresso prep.

Address

Everyman Espresso – 136 East 13th Street, New York between 3rd and 4th Avenues. 456LNQRW Trains at 14th Street – Union Square.

Music

Edith Piaf – Milord

Is it SoHa (South Harlem) or the Upper West Side?

Amsterdam between 110th and 111th Streets.

Unsure?

Either way, it’s a great location for a local hangout such as The Hungarian Pastry Shop, where my wife, son and I enjoyed a couple of hours with friends over the weekend.

An inviting interior, with sidewalk seating enjoying the comfort of St John the Divine as a neighbor, The Hungarian Pastry Shop has a lot going for it.

The espresso is decent and the selection of pastries made my mouth water.

The atmosphere felt incredibly local. It still has a neighborhoody feel from residents who have been in the area for years and students from nearby Columbia.

There were lots of people reading, studying or on their laptops (although there is not a reliable WiFi connection available).

If you want to check out the buzz about SoHa, then drop by The Hungarian Pastry Shop for the afternoon.

Address

The Hungarian Pastry Shop – 1030 Amsterdam Avenue, New York between 110th and 111th Streets. 1 and BC and 23 Trains at Cathedral Parkway – 110th Street.

Music

Serge Gainsbourg - Marilu

Today was one of those fall days where I was excited it was raining. Since my son was born it has been pretty dry. So the chance to have a couple of rain drops fall on his face provided some entertainment.

We were in midtown to meet a friend for lunch and afterwards to enjoy a café at Macchiato Espresso Bar.

It’s a cool little modern bar getting a lot of traffic during the week being located so close to Grand Central and many office buildings.

It’s buzzing, but if you are in the 9-to-5 world of New York, it must provide a nice oasis. For my son and me, we had a nice espresso, prepared with care, using Danesi beans. And we enjoyed super-friendly service.

I’m sure they are friendly to everyone, but when you walk in with a smiling 5-month old baby, you tend to attract attention and extra courtesy.

Macchiato Espresso Bar is a great place to have a café. Particularly with cold or rainy weather when you want to be inside. They have a bar, bar tables and tabled seating along the large street-facing window to provide for great people watching or place to enjoy a conversation.

Address

Macchiato Espresso Bar – 141 East 44th Street, New York between Lexington and 3rd Avenue. 4567 Trains at Grand Central – 42nd Street.

Music

Serge Gainsbourg – Ford Mustang

Now that’s an espresso!

After yesterday’s espresso identity crisis – am I an espresso? Cappuccino? Americano? Water with some coffee dropped in? – my son and I took no risks.

We decided to visit Ninth Street Espresso’s Chelsea location.

At first I thought I had the address wrong, as there was no café on either side of the street.

Then we discovered the Chelsea Market and there it was, Ninth Street Espresso with an open space bar in the middle of the covered market.

Genius location for them. No chairs, just the espresso bar. And a buzz of people around, passing amongst the market. It put a smile on both of our faces.

Their original location served up a great espresso, but for whatever reason, today’s was even better.

Address

Ninth Street Espresso – 75 9th Avenue, New York between 15th and 16th Streets in the Chelsea Market. ACEL Trains at 8th Ave/14th Street.

SohoKind Previous Visit to Ninth Street Espresso in the East Village

Music

Serge Gainsbourg – Requiem pour un con

As we do often throughout the week, my son and I ventured off to another café yesterday.

It called itself a coffee bar.

To put it short : the espresso tasted like instant-made with enough water to embarrass a café americano.

This left me questioning myself as to what to put in the review and video. The place was cute; a tiny place with a little bar and an outdoor bench, in the midst of a bustling area. It could have lots of charm as a neighborhood stop.

But the espresso was so bad, I would not feel good writing the critique, and I am not about to trash a place here.

That is not my intention with SohoKind Café.

So it is a good point to re-evaluate and state what I am doing with SohoKind Café.

First and foremost it is about having something fun for me and my son to do together. He will be 5 months old this weekend, which also means 5 months as a stay-at-home/work-at-home-dad for me also. And he is becoming more fun by the day.

He just loves walking around. The people, the lights, the noises, the store fronts. At this age, whether he is in a cafe or a toy store seems to be rather irrelevant as long as there is action around, he is with his parents and we do not sit too long. He wants to get back to walking around town.

What matches that criteria and something I love? Voila SohoKind Café.

Let me say that every café reviewed under SohoKind Café can be considered a recommendation. If I would not recommend it to you in person, then I will not include the review here. They are all ones that if in the area and I wanted to enjoy a café, I would stop by. If not, then they will not be included here.

We have walked over large parts of Manhattan now, looking for cafés. What is a café?

First off. Manhattan has a ton of restaurants. Not as many cafés.

A café lets you order just an espresso, or other drink, and let you sit undisturbed for at least 20 minutes with no pressure to order food. Thus, we have seen numerous places around the city that look charming, or with beautiful terraces, and probably have good to excellent food but fail this condition.

For me and thus SohoKind Café, a café is just as much a type of experience as a type of place or a drink. As the French say, ‘we grab a coffee’. Even if you drink tea, water, americano, cola, beer or espresso, you still ‘grab a coffee’. The important part is to have a time of the day to enjoy. It could be 5 minutes, it could be 2 hours. But it is your time. And that is the essence of my criteria for the places included in the SohoKind Café list.

Where can we enjoy the experience?

It is entirely subjective, but for SohoKind Café comes down largely to 3 criteria :

- setting/ambience of the establishment itself

- tastiness of the espresso itself

- location, location, location

You can tell the setting/ambience and location just by walking around. And yesterday’s café passed these criteria. But it did not meet a minimum standard for the espresso.

I hope that explains it a bit. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.

Today, my son and I are off to enjoy another café.

My son and I were in SoHo to meet a friend and enjoy an espresso.

We had a very good one at Aroma Espresso Bar.

It is not so much in SoHo as on SoHo, being located on the south-side of Houston itself. Thus, it loses a lot of the SoHo charm by facing north across what may be one of the widest streets in Manhattan.

The café itself was refreshing and crisp. A modern/futuristic 50s diner with long communal tables and plenty of bar seating.

I would put Aroma in a small category of NYC cafés that appear to, either have aspirations or just look like they could, become local contenders to Starbucks throughout the city. Throughout London, there is Caffe Nero and Costa presenting strong local competition to Starbuck’s. This competition is surprisingly lacking here in NYC.

If they maintain the taste of their espresso, the sharpness and cleanliness of their espresso bars, then Aroma could be one to present this challenge. If they do not, someone else will.

Address

Aroma Espresso Bar – 145 Greene Street, New York on Houston Street. BDFV Trains at Broadway – Lafayette. RW Trains at Prince Street. 6 Train at Bleecker Street.

Music

Serge Gainsbourg – 69 Année Érotique

We are proud to release our second children’s T shirt design, Berlin Alphabet, designed and conceptualized by me, Spencer, at SohoKind.

Now available in our boutique.

An alphabet (German and English) for the kids to learn from, puzzle and design statement all in one.

Berlin is just a cool city, after having visited each of the past 2 years, my interest and amazement in this city just grows. We were there this summer with my son (3 months at the time) for almost a week and had a great time. But we still have only scratched the superficial surface of what this city has to offer.

Paris has its beauty. New York has its energy.

Berlin has that and its intrigue.

This T design is meant to express this intrigue of the city. It is not difficult to appreciate Berlin, but it is like a puzzle. You need to interact with the city to find and realize its genius and charm.