KC Perky

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!

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off by many friends, readers, and one psycho hose beast that my listings for Parkville’s coffee offerings was way out of date, and they were right.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 some 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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Crave Cafe, one of my very favorite coffee shops in town, is about to reinvent itself (under new ownership) as Javanaut. Very little details are available at this point, but I’m determined to find out if they’re going to keep it awesome or ruin it. I’d be OK with them upgrading the wifi quality though. I’ll keep you updated as information becomes available. But for the time being, don’t go there, they’re closed for remodeling.

//update: Pete (proprietor of Crave Cafe) says that when his lease ran out, he decided to take a break after having run Crave for 6 years. He has also eluded that the tenor of the whole place is going to change significantly. Negatively. We shall see.

//update: http://www.javanautcafe.com/ is to be the new website. Allegedly they were opening March 17th, but they were not open yesterday when I stopped by.

//update 3/25: Looking through the windows, they look like they’re getting close.  Maybe another week or so?  Looks like they have done a LOT of cleaning and painting and fixing.

//update 7/16: Still closed.  SERIOUSLY?  Allegedly ‘close’ to opening.

This morning’s adventure was to try three questionably open places.

• Solomon’s Porch - Appears to not be open when the church isn’t open. Will investigate further
• Main St Cafe - Not actually a cafe, is a music venue
• Andrew Drips Coffee House - Not actually a coffee house, is just a run-down house.

KC Coffee Map minus 2.

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This morning’s coffee adventure was set to take place at Blue Goose Cafe over in KCK, but it was not to be found! Unfortunately, 852 Minnesota Ave appears to be inhabited by a McDonalds now. KC Coffee Map minus 1…. :(

Most anybody who follows KC coffee at all has probably already heard that the Starbucks in Westport is closing. No, this isn’t a part of the national initiative to close Starbucks branches. This is pure competition. Somehow our little David, Broadway Cafe, beat down the Goliath enough to get them to leave. Hooray for local coffee shops!

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Eljay’s Coffeehouse just opened last Thursday in the River Market (412 Delaware) in the same place that The Cup and Saucer occupied a few years ago. Leah and Joy (L and J, ElJay) are both excited about this new venture, and are confident it will hold its own where Cup and Saucer didn’t. Leah’s not just confident, she’s also friendly, generous, and perky! Their first day open, it was free coffee for everyone. How can you beat that? Oh, my mocha was spectacularly rich. Free and wonderful. Mmm!

It was from Leah that I heard the rumor that City Market Coffeehouse is closing. That would be a crying shame, I do so love the CMC. BUT, upon checking it out, the barista at CMC said that no, they weren’t closing, it is just a nasty rumor. One probably started by Eljay’s. Little did he know how close to the probable truth he actually struck.

[map to Eljay's CoffeeHouse]