KC Perky

Its official: Broadway Cafe wins.

Previously: Westport’s David

Charlie’s Bistro & Sandwich Shop (1128 Oak St) has an espresso drink menu on the wall.

I went this morning to try them out.

They do not have fru-fru drinks.

Not too much to say about this little place. It qualifies as a coffee shop, but just barely. How so? Well, 1) They sell coffee. A lot of it. But, 2) Its mostly just brewed cups, very little espresso drinks. Its a shame, with such a clever name as Espresso Ah La Cart.

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There is a heck of a lot of tumult in the coffee scene these days! Crave becoming Javanaut (still not open yet), Rev! about to open, Ejay’s relatively recent opening, etc. And today, another bump! SoHo Cofee and Bakery is no more. The sign in the window states that they’re going to be under new ownership soon and possibly re-opening in April.

Yet another testament to how hard it is to keep a restaurant open, let alone a coffee shop. There’s a great article on this topic over at Slate, Bitter Brew.  So this is yet another shop I have to remove from the top ten list. Seriously, readers, you need to patronize my top ten shops and keep them open!

Looking for my quintessential coffee shop? The ether to my java? YJ’s Snack Shop is it.

This little joint, nestled into the northwest edge of the crossroads district, is comfy, tasty, and friendly. Exactly what you want first thing in the morning. Good news is, though, they’re not open just in the mornings, or even just the days– they’re open 24 hours a day from Thursday till Sunday, when they cap off the weekend with live jazz before closing. Speaking of caps, YJ’s employees all wear fedoras at work. Is there some sort of mystical coffee and fedora connection I’m missing here? The baristas get to choose what music is playing. The music selections are often eclectic, ranging from jazz to rock to country to hispanic to punk to electronic.

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So there I was, just minding my own business.  Wearing green.   Dancing a jig.  Wanting to drink a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake.  When this beast ruined St. Patrick’s Day:

That’s right, the McDonald’s McCafe atrocity.

4 Stores in a row, no Shamrock Shakes.

According to the manager at the 4th store, McDonald’s marketing department is working so hard to promote the McCafe coffee, they skipped doing Shamrock Shakes all together!

Such a shame.  Their coffee isn’t even that great.

Who could have ever guessed that the two would go so well together?
Yeah.
Every programmer that ever existed.
So, of course, a programmer made a coffee social networking site.
And so did two others.
So far.

Coffeenatic, Barista Exchange, and Barista Connection.
Mercy.

I had been tipped off by many friends, readers, and one psycho hose beast that my listings for Parkville’s coffee offerings was way out of date, and they were right. Even the hose beast.

First off, Parkville Coffee & Fudge, previously of my top ten shops, is no longer. They have morphed into The Sweet Guy, and just do fudge, gelato, and other sweets now. I will go update the NEW top ten shops now. Can you feel the suspense? Can you? Oh, those are just caffeine shakes. My bad.

Another deletion from the coffee map was a recent addition: Cafe des Amis.  Looks like a very nice restaurant that has no interest in catering to the coffee crowd.  Oh well, I’ll just go eat a lovely dinner there sometime instead.

But have no fear, if you’re looking for a pick-me-up on main street (no, not the Elliot Spitzer kind of pick-me-up), Constant Cravings is just a block north, and will fill your coffee needs …if you don’t want coffee first thing in the morning. Or in the evening. They’re only open 10AM – 5PM. Very much catering to the other Main Street Parkville businesses. I’ll have to check back here over a lunch break soe time.

So if you actually need coffee in Parkville before 10AM (like most of us), you can head up to River Rock Coffee Co.

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Just added 9 shops to the KC Coffee Map. A couple in the northlands, a couple in OP, one way out west, another in Lees Summit, and one in mid town…. Something for everybody! Except for you, Grandview. That’s what you get for inventing the Grandview Triangle, the only traffic jam visible from space! Details after the jump.
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