7×7 Knows Nothing Of SF Cafes
Last week 7x7 magazine published their list of their favorite coffee shops to "sit down, plug in and plug away. Here are seven of [their] favorite spots for free browsing and good coffee."
Their list:
- Coffee Bar
- Caffe Trieste
- Café Que Tal
- Tazza D'Amore
- Java Beach Café
- Sugar Café
- Café Muran
Now, I'm not normally one to nitpick, but this list is terrible. San Francisco is one of the best cities in the country for café hopping, but if you only read 7x7, you'd never know it.
I just spent the last three years as a law student. Preferring the bustle of cafés to the staid law library, I studied at cafés all over town and have been to almost all of them.* Malcom Gladwell might argue that I've had a rare opportunity which, when combined with hours and hours spent at cafés, allows me a rare level of expertise and makes me uniquely qualified to weigh in on quality of 7x7's reporting.**
While the list is better than nothing, that distinction is only marginal. One gets the feeling that an editor had a page to fill, but was too lazy to actually do any research. Instead of, say, checking Yelp or hitting up Google, the editor yelled out for her interns to volunteer their favorite SF cafés, and these were the first seven to reach her ear. What is this -- amateur hour?
Lack of diligence notwithstanding, the list has fundamental problems. More specifically...
- Coffee Bar: The only listed cafs that should be in a "best of the city" compilation. Coffee is consistently solid, wi-fi is stable, tons of seats and outlets. Problem is that it's always packed... and this list really didn't help things.***
- Café Murano: Tiny. We're talking maybe ten (10) useful seats in the whole place. The staff is incredibly friendly and polite, the food tasty and reasonably priced. But so, so small. Excellent local hangout? Certainly. Best in SF? Um, no.
- Sugar Café : (Pros) Large space with lots of seats and outlets; gas fireplace in the front, great when it's raining out; near downtown and Union Square; booze in the coffee as it turns into a bar/lounge at night. (Cons) Loud music; espresso is pulled from a cheap(ish), automatic machine -- I once had a bartender/barista argue with me, telling me that a capuccino wasn't supposed to have any foam; chilly inside; only metered parking; doors/windows up front are usually open, so bring a jacket.
- Java Beach Café : Only a few outlets. It's the only café near Ocean Beach, and if it's sunny out, you're not getting a seat. Should you miraculously find a seat, you're going to be surrounded by people in line (out the door) or hovering and waiting for you to leave.
- Tazza D'Amore: Solid and worth sitting down if you're in the neighborhood. Nothing special; feels generic. Then again, I did see my first OLPC in person there, which is always fun.
- Café Que Tal: Why go here if you can get the much better coffee and free wi-fi at Ritual? (unless, of course, you need an outlet).
- Caffe Trieste: Very dark inside, and again, good luck getting a seat. Maybe 15 seats inside, but only a few outlets and people camp out and use this place as their damn office. Bastards.
Finally, how about taking some responsibility for what you print, eh 7x7? How about throwing in a caveat -- we're in the middle of a recession, and businesses can't survive if people take up seats all day, use outlets and wi-fi, and only buy a single cup o' joe. Coffee Bar, for example, is a great space, and no one wants to see it go the way of the Canvas Gallery. (Run out of business by less-than-stellar management, high rent, and broke UCSF grad students who sat all day but hardly purchased anything.)
So 7x7's list sucks. Now what? I guess I'll need to write up my own set of reviews. Check back soon for updates!
* Before law school, I spent two years working from home (read: at cafés) in Boston. I've been to almost every café in Boston and SF, as well as most of the cafés in Portland, Seattle and the entire state of Connecticut.
** Of course, Malcom Gladwell would certainly never be asked, and would never weigh in. Really, this was just an excuse to recommend Outliers. Definitely worth your time.
*** C and I have been going to Coffee Bar since the week it opened. An immense improvement over Arc Café, the prior occupant, Coffee Bar quickly became an important space in that half of SF. People meet, hang out, work, socialize, hold events. I'm really happy that Coffee Bar is such a hit; word of mouth alone quickly made it difficult to get a seat, despite the dozens of available spots in the enormous space. And then this article came out. I went last weekend and, wondering why I had to stand and wait for a seat, I overheard a young law student say to a friend "Like, yeah, like, it was totally in, like, 7x7 and everything. We can stay here all day!" Ungh. Getting a seat there is now silly difficult. Still worth a visit when the mood strikes, but wow -- so crowded.