Coffee Shop Sagas II

On Tuesday (Steve's birthday!) I spent more time trying to find coffee shops. I'm still trying to find some decent places near where I live. I went by a place that used to be called Wassi and true to form, it was closed and being renovated. Man!! Coffeeshops here do NOT have staying power. It’s going to reopen in 2 or 3 weeks (at least that’s what the guy said), so I’ll check back later. It’s reasonably close, on 28th Ave., so it would be a viable workplace.

I also walked a ways trying to find this other place I had seen a sign for, “Blue Coffee Shop,” and didn’t find it. Walked about 10 blocks east just to turn back around. Turns out it was much closer, “was” being the operative word, for of course, it’s not there anymore. I stopped for lunch at a pub that had a really nice vibe to it. Food was a little off – my medium hamburger was pretty raw inside – but the bartender was super nice. Made me want to head back there and hang out, a la Cheers. Anyway, one of the regulars there (didn’t ask him if his name was Norm) told me the place had been bought out by some Mexican man who was turning it into something else and that it was located between Steinway and 41st, so it would have been right there on the first block. I tried to locate the place and didn’t manage it, or at least I'm not sure. There was a tiny little internet café that might have been it, once upon a time, but that place definitely wasn’t what I was looking for. Another place I found was this lounge called Vibe.

There are lots of lounges around here, it turns out, and during the day they open as restaurants/cafes. Well, this one opens in the mornings and even offers breakfast food. They don’t have bagels or muffins or anything like that, but they do have omellettes for $4.50 and waffles and they have free wi-fi. So, one of these days I’m gonna set up shop there. Probably a completely quiet place to work. I’m pretty sure I’d be one of the only people in there while I was there. Might be a little TOO quiet. One of the reasons, maybe the main reason, that I head for the coffeeshops is that I want to be around people.

Anyway, I've mentioned the cultural diversity here. There are lots of Arabic peoples living in NYC. If you're not familiar with the term "Halal", it refers primarily to Islamic dietary law and describes those foods which are permissible, similar to Kosher laws. I have Iraqi friends in Austin now who work at our office there. They have a difficult time finding restaurants which serve Halal meat -- they're basically limited to one or two places.

Not so in NYC!! There are outdoor vendors selling Halal gyros and kebabs all OVER the place in midtown Manhattan. And my area of Astoria has lots of Arabic people living here. To quote the ever-accurate wikipedia's entry on Astoria:

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the neighborhood's Arab population grew from earlier Lebanese immigrants, to include people from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Morocco. Eventually, Steinway Street between 28th Avenue and Astoria Boulevard saw the establishment of many Arabic shops, restaurants and cafes.

Well, why do I bring this up, you may ask?

On my way down those 10 blocks to try to find Blue Coffee, I ran across this:


A Chinese Halal restaurant next to an Irish tavern. What more can I say? Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!