JJ's Coffee + Wine Bistro

Uptown has another coffee shop, which at this point seems about as ridiculous as Uptown getting another Thai restaurant, condo development, douche bar, or a third outdoorsy sportswear store sandwiched in between the Timberland and the Northface. At this point, Uptown Minneapolis must be rivaled only by Seattle and Portland for having the highest number of coffee shops per capita, and since almost all of them are truly exceptional, any newbies are going to have to really struggle to not only distinguish themselves, but to justify their very existence. Well, JJ's Coffe + Wine Bistro opened maybe a couple months ago so I just tried it last Friday, and I've been back every morning since then.

JJ's doesn't just prove itself worthy of trying to sell coffee in the Hipster capital of America, but it pretty much ups the game for all Uptown coffee shops. Anyway, I have a new favorite place to hang out in the mornings.

Maybe it isn't even fair to compare JJ's to other coffee shops since it defines itself as a "coffee + wine bistro," whatever that means. I guess it means they don't just sell coffee, but wine, beer, and food as well. So far, I've only come in the mornings so I haven't had a chance to try out their evening selection, but if it's anything like the morning, I'm sure it's pretty cool. To begin with, this is the most beautiful coffee shop I've ever seen, so much so that I actually felt a little intimidated and uncomfortable the first time I walked in. I mean, it doesn't look like a coffee shop, but like some kind of bar you'd find on the lower east side of Manhattan, and I almost expected to turn a corner and see Woody Allen sipping a martini with Spaulding Grey. That's what happens in New York, right? Who's Spaulding Grey? Anyway, everything is shiny (even the wood) and sparkling and clean, with tables along the all glass window wall that faces Lake Calhoun and various hidden booths that are placed in the walls like little nooks. There's even a widescreen TV up on the wall, and their menus are actually vertically hung widescreen tvs as well. That's some fancy stuff right there. You order at a counter that is a little awkwardly placed in the middle of the bar, so there isn't much space to line up, but luckily there has only been a line once.

And the patio is awesome. The chairs are ridiculously comfortable (why are patio chairs almost always horrific?) and the space itself is long and thin so there is a lot of room for tables but you still don't feel as though people are right on top of you. It is also right across the street from Lake Calhoun, so while the view isn't exactly breathtaking, it's quite lovely. 

The service so far has ranged from ok to great. The best service I received from a young Asian woman who was exceedingly polite and helpful and a taller dark haired gentleman with (I think) a mustache and goatee. My other encounters with the servers here left me thinking they were maybe a little bored or otherwise unengaged, which is fine and better than being rude. I also had my dish taken away once by a very beautiful girl wearing a batman t-shirt, but that was the full extent of our interaction, but like Mr. Bernstein's monologue in Citizen Kane, not a day will go by that I won't think about that girl.

The food is unexceptional, but still very good. The first time I came I got a breakfast burrito that was serviceable but boring, and came with a side of salsa that tasted like Pace. That's fine because I like Pace, but I wouldn't recommend it. On my second visit I got a caramel apple fritter that the server suggested I try warm, and it was very good. It didn't taste like it was freshly made nor did it really distinguish itself as something I couldn't get ay any other coffee shop in town, but again... it was a caramel apple fritter so it was good.

(Interjection: For what it's worth, a woman at a table near me just said to her friend, "I don't know where they get their baked goods, but they should switch." But these women actually dragged three tables and put them together lengthwise in the middle of the patio effectively blocking anybody's passage around their group, so clearly they're idiots.)

On my third visit (this morning), I got a breakfast sandwich and it was pretty great. I ordered the "Southwestern" which is an egg sandwich that comes topped with cheese, red and green peppers, and mushrooms, but I think I actually received the "Fargo," which is basically the same thing only without the mushrooms. I'm not sure if I was charged for the more expensive one or not, but it's only a quarter and I didn't really care either way since it was a very tasty breakfast sandwich. As far as these things go, it was probably the best "egg mcmuffin" style sandwich I've had in a coffee shop that wasn't actually a full-on restaurant. This isn't going to beat what you'd get at Common Roots, but I still recommend it highly.

Oh, and since this place is a coffee shop, I suppose I'd better get around to talking about their coffee. Every time I'd come I've gotten something called 494 Blend (I think that's the name) and it's just about the best cup of coffee I've ever had. They don't use a clover or any other type of single cup brewing system nor do I know anything about their roasting and grinding, but this is still an exceptional cup of coffee, and it's the main reason I've come back every day. And, really, everything else aside, a damn good cup of coffee is all any coffee shop really needs.

I say... check it out.

Breakfast at Common Roots Cafe

I'm currently sitting at Common Roots Cafe, sipping on some Peace Coffee and digesting my breakfast. There: I've managed to make myself look like an annoying hispter and completely disgusting at the same time. Anyway, this was a good breakfast and Common Roots Cafe is a great place, which you'll already know if you read my original review way back when.

Here's what I got: a fried egg and cheese sandwich on a garlic bagel. It came with side of grapes and a slice of orange -- which I haven't eaten yet, but I should even though I'm not excited about them -- and then I smothered it all in Sriracha.

(Interesting tidbit: Until about five seconds ago, I had no idea that it wasn't spelled "Siracha." Sriracha? How do you pronounce that? Certainly not the way I've always said it, which was like "sir ah cha." Sir Ahchah was a Knight from Camelot, right?)

Back to the point: This was a good sandwich. The egg was perfectly cooked, although I might ask for the yolk to be runny next time since that's the way I prefer it, but most people seem to think I'm weird about that. Not sure what kind of cheese was on it, but it tasted mild and melted very nicely. And, of course, the bagel was great. Common Roots always wins the award for Best Bagel every year in various local magazines, a category which seems to exist only because Common Roots exists. Of course they have good bagels, the cafe's owner is a nice Jewish boy from the East Coast. Do these bagels deserve to win awards? Sure. Why not? I wouldn't give them an award for the best thing ever, but best bagel in Minneapolis, sure. I'm also a nice (half) Jewish boy from the East coast so I also know a thing or two about bagels. These are great, but I've probably had better... but maybe not out here in the Midwest.

And Peace Coffee is also great. I'm currently drinking the Roots Blend, which sounds like a blend specifically made by PC for CR. It's a nice, medium bodied cup, even though the description on their website calls it a dark roast. Anyway, Peace Coffee is another great, locally owned company and I've never had a bad cup.

I've had their bagel sandwich before, but the previous time I ordered it with the optional Bison sausage, because that sound delicious. And it was delicious, but nearly impossible to eat, since it wasn't a patty but links that were cut into chunks that didn't work on a sandwich. They weren't uniformly cut so they didn't fit and kept falling off and making the entire thing into a mess, so I ended up taking them off and eating them by themselves. It was still good, but I still recommend going with just the sandwich, saving yourself the extra $1.50 and the added mess. 

So how good was this breakfast? Well... pretty good, considering it was only about five bucks. But the best thing I can say about it is that I came here this morning with my laptop because I was going to write about a couple other things (for this blog and my other), and ended up writing this because I wanted to rave about it.

Dogwood Coffee Bar

This is my mug, not theirs

Dogwood Coffee Bar is exceptional coffee in search of a better coffee shop. It's gourmet coffee that is well worth the gourmet price, but I'll probably only get it when I'm taking my coffee to go.

Dogwood Coffee was already a well established and well respected locally owned coffee roaster, but the location in Calhoun Square in Uptown, Minneapolis is their first stand alone coffee bar. They serve single-cup brewed coffee from their own locally roasted beans, which means that every cup you get is made just for you while you watch and hasn't been sitting in a pot for who knows how long. The end result is a delicious, fresh-as-can-be cup of coffee, of course, but it's also a lot of fun to watch the process. Dogwood is sort of like the Benihana of coffee, and it's worth checking out for the show as much as the cup of coffee you get at the end of the performance. Lots of coffee shops brew by the cup using the same tools as Dogwood, of course, but the open layout of this place makes the baristas' efforts almost impossible not to watch, and they are all very friendly and open to questions and comments about anything coffee-related. This is very cool, but do take note that it'll take around five minutes or so to get a single cup of coffee, so this isn't the kind of place to stop into on your way to work.

However, it's also not really the kind of place to stop and chill with a cup of coffee either, which is a shame because drinking a great cup of coffee is almost like a religious ritual, and when it all works out right, it's something to be savored. Dogwood is just... uncomfortable, and I mean that literally. There were two plush chairs, only one of which was taken when I went the other day but they were both pushed so close together that had I sat in the free one my legs would've become entwined with those of the other gentlemen. And, no, I couldn't move the chair, because the layout is long and narrow leaving zero space for anything to be nudged even an inch. There's also a bar by the window with a bunch of stools, and I have sat their before but this time I had my laptop and was going to do some work, so I wanted a chair. I opted to sit at one of the four or so tables with actual chairs around them, but immediately regretted this decision since the chair was hard and incredibly unforgiving on my bottom. Also, the legs of the chair were too narrow and jutted forward to far, so it was almost impossible to find a comfortable place to put my legs.

Making my coffee

When I looked around for a power outlet, I found only one, but it was already in use. One of the sockets was taken up by the laptop of the guy who was already taking up the comfy chair spot, and the other was taken up by a lamp. Now, I'm not one of those self-entitled snobs that thinks every coffee shop needs to have enough outlets to supply every customer's electronic devices (laptop, phone charger, heating pad, vibrator, or whatever you're bringing to a coffee shop), but it does seem like a smart decision to have more than one, single power socket available at any given time. I'm not saying that only one socket is a deal-breaker, but it's something the owners should probably look into if they want to cultivate returning customers, or if they just want to please people who review coffee shops on their blogs.

Oh, and just to be clear, the chair thing kind of is a deal breaker.

This used to be a Starbucks

The bar itself is quite lovely, however, with a lovely design and a very open, airy feel, even though the space is actually quite narrow and confining. Dogwood is located in the front of Calhoun Square that, perhaps ironically, used to be a Starbucks years and years and years ago. If you remember that Starbucks, this place has the same basic shape and dimensions, only they seem to have knocked some walls down so it feels more open, and there are lots of windows looking out on Hennepin Avenue that should make for great people watching during the summer.

They offer pastries from Rustica Bakery, but I didn't get anything so I won't comment on the taste, freshness, or selection. I have been to Rustica, however, and can comment that the stuff I've gotten there is usually overcooked and so flakey more of the pasty gets on my shirt than in my mouth, but lots of people rave about them.

Dogwood Coffee Shop is definitely a great idea for a coffee shop (a hand-crafted coffee bar run and serviced by a local coffee roaster), but there is still much to be desired from their execution. If this place was more comfortable (meaning chairs that don't actually hurt to sit on) and offered a couple more outlets, I'd probably come here a few times a week. On the other hand, it's probably a good thing that this place is kind of awkward because I definitely can't afford a $4 cup of coffee more than a few times a month, but you'll notice that I never once complained about the price because the flavor, taste, and freshness are well worth what their asking, and maybe even worth more.

I say... check it out. It's good coffee, and there are plenty of chairs and couches in and around the rest of Calhoun Square to chill on.