My son and I found another enjoyable café option in the east 70s. Sicaffé provides a great space to hang out. Quite comfortable from the moment my son and I walked in.

Some short tables and then some higher bar height tables. I dig having the choices. Well-lit. Modern, clean. The smell of coffee was inviting.

Plus they have a newspaper rack which is another welcoming sign. It was the middle of a weekday afternoon and packed, so Sicaffé is no secret to those in the area.

The music was a good match for the ambience of the café. Plus, the mirror art is a creative touch.

The espresso was decent. And the café setting was so pleasant that the baseball caps worn by the baristas stood out like a sore thumb.

Sicaffe is another café definitely worth a visit when in the area. Or, for those living around the corner, another great neighborhood option.

Address

Sicaffé – 964 Lexington Avenue, New York between 70th and 71st Streets. 6 Train at 68th Street.

Music

Edith Piaf – A quoi ça sert l’amour

A charming and pleasant surprise is hidden away on East 74th between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. It is called Café Haba.

It’s an understated café with charm that reminded me to take a peak at the streets while rushing down the avenues. Today was cold so my son and I were walking fast (this new baby carrier is working out ok after a bumpy first couple of days). I’m glad that I had noticed Café Haba a couple months ago while it was under construction.

In a setting that could maybe be described as a modern view of traditional Euro comfort, Café Haba offers table seating and window bar seating. Presenting a good place to relax for a few minutes with a drink and snack or enjoy a conversation. It was also incredibly well-lit, which added to the atmosphere.

The espresso was also good. The one thing that caught (hurt) my ear was the radio playing from behind the counter. It would add to the ambience of the café if it was from a European sender, but it was a local channel which took away just a bit of the café’s flavour.

Definitely worth a visit. The folks living in the area have a welcome option for a neighborhood café.

Address

Café Haba – 203 East 74th Street, New York between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. 6 Train at 77th Street.

Music

Edith Piaf – Le droit d’aimer

It was getting late on a cloudy, overcast day in the West Village. What a difference daylight savings time makes. And we wanted an espresso.

We found a cute little chocolate boutique/café called Chocolate Bar.

With a name like Chocolate Bar and street-facing window seating, my son and I had to give it a try.

The espresso was decent. The brownie was on that super-fine border between not yet done and baked, giving it a perfect texture of gooeyness and cake that made me forget for an instant if I had ordered a brownie or fudge. Mmmm, tasty. It even made my son lick his lips as he watched me eat it. The atmosphere was charming, if a touch too commercy with all of the chocolate wares.

The baristas were wearing what looked like chocolate-colored bunny ears, but I was not entirely sure. And the menu had some inviting chocolate drink options.

Definitely worth a second visit. Next time I’ll try the Mint Mocha and find out exactly what it is the baristas are wearing on their heads.

Address

Chocolate Bar - 48 8th Avenue, New York where West 4th and Horatio intersect. ACEL123 Trains at 14th Street.

Music

Edith Piaf – Johnny tu n’es pas un ange

So as it turns out, there are a couple of impressive cafés in the heart of midtown, and right around the corner from one another.

My son and I made it a double-header of café and museum. Topping off a great visit to Fika on West 58th with an enjoyable visit to MoMA.

Very-well designed, Fika is a contemporary styled bakery and espresso bar. Simple espresso menu. Light lunch menu. And then delicious cookies.

The atmosphere is modern and very inviting. An espresso at Fika is a stimulating experience. A bit like going to the museum. You do not just eat or drink, but you engage with the café, just as you do not blankly look at the colors on a wall in a museum.

The bakery is on site, allowing everything to be fresh. The espresso was quite good as well.

They also explain what exactly Fika is.

Fika is Swedish for the experience of the coffee break. It is more than just the coffee itself. Fika is also the experience of taking the time during the day to enjoy a moment with friends, family or colleagues. Accompanying this moment is then coffee and a light snack.

If you want a clearer explanation of fika, I highly recommend you experience it for yourself.

Address

Fika – 41 West 58th Street, New York between 5th and 6th Avenues. NRW Trains at 60th Street. F Train at 57th Street.

Music

Edith Piaf – Les flonflons du bal

Good news of the day :

Just 4 days until the release of SohoKind’s 4th baby & kid t-shirt design!

As for SohoKind Café, my son and I are really enjoying our tour of the New York café scene. We hope you are as well. We have been to cafés the last couple of days, but it just does not work out to have a new review (details down below). I am quite excited about tomorrow’s visit, which will be posted early next week, after our next T release. So what’s been going on the last couple of days?

Tuesday

Let me start Tuesday by saying that the Baby Bjorn is just amazing!!! It has been an incredible facilitator of SohoKind Café.

Some of my friends, upon seeing SohoKind Café, have asked me : ‘So you visit all of these cafés with your son?’

Yes.

And why not?

The one caveat here is the Bjorn. Come on, this is New York. If you have to rely on a stroller you will not be able to enjoy some of the best cafés that New York has to offer. Unfortunate, but that is the way it is. Enter the Bjorn and hello NYC cafés!

The twist is that our son is now 5-and-a-half months old and weighs about 22 pounds. The Bjorn is holding up wonderfully, however, it is quickly becoming too small. When my son sleeps in it, his head is drooping over the side or the back, so I have to prop his head to ensure he’s comfortable. Additionally, it is only recommended to use the Bjorn up to 25 pounds.

So we spent Tuesday morning shopping for a new baby carrier. We found one that supposedly holds kids up to 55 pounds which can be up to 4 years old or such. Awesome. That sold me. Lots more walking without always needing the stroller.

We walked around for a bit and capped off the afternoon with a visit to Zibetto. I love that place!

Wednesday

Wednesday is now swimming day. My son appears to love it after two visits. Aside from swimming and the normal walks, feeding, changing, playing, etc. I decided not to visit a café and instead spent the time on the next steps for our Ts and SohoKind Café.

For our t-shirts, based on our 2-week release schedule, we will have 10 designs released by early 2008 and then the marketing engine will go into action. Part of that will be a Facebook app which I started to brainstorm and conceptualize yesterday.

Ditto for SohoKind Café and a Facebook app. That should be fun and I’m excited about putting it together.

Also, for SohoKind Café we have now visited over 30 cafés, including most of the best ones in the city. There are still some spots we need to visit. In my research I’ve noticed that there are sparse resources for a comprehensive guide to the New York café scene.

Thus, in the coming weeks SohoKind Café will release a comprehensive online guide, version 2007. And I started designing that yesterday.

Thursday (Today)

So my wife and I are having doubts about this new baby carrier. Yesterday, after about 30 minutes of my son bawling and multiple attempts to get him into the new one, I reverted back to the Baby Bjorn. And so did my wife.

This morning, in preparation for the day, I did some dry-runs while my son was sleeping. And it still was not really working out. I checked out the online video manual that the manufacturer put together for tips to see if I was doing something wrong, but I think there were some camera tricks involved in that 30 second masterpiece.

Anyways, regardless of the difficulties of putting the new carrier on, I think my son hates it. Not convinced but getting there.

We were at the new Nespresso store in the SoHo Bloomingdale’s early this afternoon. Cool espresso boutique, not as much of a café as their Madison Avenue presence. After a few minutes my son was screaming and seemingly trying to escape the carrier. A little walking and we were ok…

until we visited another café in SoHo. We actually did visit a café today, but I decided not to review it. They actually did have a good espresso and the setting has high potential - great location, outdoor seating and charming interior. But the experience was rather disappointing. Partly because the place was creepy due to an entire absence of music (it felt as though they were closing even though there were many customers and it was about 3 in the afternoon) and partly because after a few minutes my son was wrestling trying to escape.

We had to get out of there he was crying so loud.

It could be the new carrier, or he may be getting teeth.

We’ll give the carrier another chance tomorrow.

As long as the carrier is holding up well, we’ll also be visiting MoMa one last time this year to check out the latest exhibit before the holiday season when the tourists get to town and turn the queue from 5 minutes into over an hour.

Plus, I’m pretty excited about our café visit tomorrow.

Again, our 4th baby & kid T-shirt design is coming in just a few days!

Is it a chic lounge with an espresso bar? Or, an espresso bar with a chic lounge?

Either way, Mocca in Tribeca is a welcome complement to the New York café/espresso scene.

Somehow the lounge and espresso bar coexist rather naturally and seamlessly, so that you can just enjoy an espresso at a little bar or take a seat in the open space of tables for lunch/dinner or a café. The set-up can easily then transition into a chic night destination.

Mocca offers so much stimulation that my son did not know where to look, as his head was swifting back and forth to check out something different.

As for the accessories, the lightly played soft house music fits the ambience and at an appropriate volume permitting conversation. Not too sure though how the large screen TVs match either the lounge or espresso bar.

Again, Mocca is a nice complement to the café scene, offering something unique.

The espresso was pretty good as well, with take-out as an option. So maybe it is an espresso bar…

Address

Mocca – 78 Reade Street, New York between Broadway and Church Street. AC Trains at Chambers Street. 123 Trains at Chambers Street. JMZ Trains at Chambers Street. RW Trains at City Hall.

Music

Edith Piaf – La goualante du pauvre Jean

Tribeca is not only one of the richest US neighborhoods per capita in terms of $$$. It also seems to have a decent per capita ratio of cafés serving a very good espresso.

My son and I visited Blue Spoon Coffee Co. Although its location is aesthetically more Financial District than Tribeca (amazing what the difference a single block makes), the atmosphere of the café itself, along with the taste of the espresso more than make up for it.

Blue Spoon is quaint, which helps create its charm. There is bar-like seating along the windows for people watching. And then there are also a couple of tables for reading or a conversation, creating a comfortable space.

The espresso is quite good. The barista added some créma art, which is another sign of TLC with the café.

Plus, when I bused my dish, he even asked me whether I had enjoyed the espresso. A nice touch.

When you are way downtown, Blue Spoon is a great find.

Address

Blue Spoon Coffee Co. – 76 Chambers Street, New York between Broadway and Church Street. AC Trains at Chambers Street. 123 Trains at Chambers Street. JMZ Trains at Chambers Street. RW Trains at City Hall.

Music

Edith Piaf – La foule

Another beautiful day yesterday. Just crisp fall weather with a lot of sunshine.

My wife was off of work yesterday, so the three of us walked through the children’s Halloween parade at Washington Square Park and then headed south to SoHo, where we experienced quite a pleasant café surprise.

Upon seeing Café Borgia, my wife and I both said, yep, let’s have a café there. It is actually called Café Borgia II, as the original was in the Village on Bleecker with a rich history of its own.

What a location, being situated on Prince just off of Thompson. And Café Borgia matches it with a great place to enjoy a café.

People watching and more people watching.

They offer sidewalk seating, a comfortable interior and a good espresso.

The cakes looked delicious too. But we had already had a snack from the Union Square farmers’ market. It was a busy afternoon yesterday  Did I mention that we took our son swimming for the first time yesterday as well? He loved it.

Yesterday was a good day.

And we’ll have to visit Café Borgia again.

Address

Café Borgia II – 161 Prince Street, New York between Thompson and West Broadway. RW Trains at Prince Street. CE Trains at Spring Street.

Music

Edith Piaf – Sous le ciel de Paris

Yesterday was a bit crisp, but beautiful. Blue and sunshine.

So my son and I ventured through the West Village to enjoy a sidewalk café espresso at Cornelia Street Café. The café is located between Bleecker and West 4th, so it gets a good amount of foot traffic but also is slightly sheltered from the hecticness of both.

Thus, providing a great location for an urban pause. The sidewalk café is just what we wanted on a day like yesterday.

A decent espresso. But, once again, Cornelia Street is another good example of location, location, location, and the appropriate ambience.

If you’re rumbling through Bleecker, next time take a side step over to Cornelia Street Café.

Address

Cornelia Street Café – 29 Cornelia Street, New York between Bleecker Street and West 4th Street. ABCDEFV Trains at West 4th Street.

Music

Edith Piaf – Mon Manège À Moi (Tu Me Fais Tourner La Tête)

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