PhillyLunchBox

Bonte

Bonte
130 South 17th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-557-8510

Dear Bonte,

Close the damn doors!!!

We don’t mean close your business. Just close the doors, literally. It’s fucking freezing in there all of the time. Are you guys Eskimos or something?

Me and Mr. Lunchbox have been there at least half a dozen times lately, and every time we’re there either the front or back door is wide the f open.

We’re only asking because we care, care!! We love your shop – the La Colombe coffee, the wireless Internet access, the newspapers, the staff, the sandwiches, the marketing postcards people leave there.

It’s just that, we can’t keep coming there is we’re gonna freeze our nuts off every time we sit down and have a sandwich and coffee.

I even tried closing the back door myself last week, but the fucker wouldn’t even budge. Maybe it’s welded open or something, who knows.

I guess the cold does one good thing – it keeps the chocolate bars from melting. I bought two the other week – a regular and a dark chocolate bar. They’re like 3-something each, so we didn’t drop even a shaving of chocolate. But they’re worth it – our office mates devoured them in minutes...

Berkserker Still Loves the Lore's Touch

Lore's Coffee Shop
7th Street - Between Chestnut & Market
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: 215.627.3233

Stopped by Lore's yesterday, my first visit in over three years to this charming little independent joint. I used to work around the corner from the place, during the heady days of Internet startups/blowouts (still trying to pay back the 7k I lost on those stock options...brutal).

I actually started out the morning with a small coffee from Dunkin Donuts at 11th & Chestnut at 7am, on my usual morning visit to my mom's hospital room. I had been getting the DD coffee all week, but as I left the hospital that day, with my still-almost-full DD coffee cup and the awful after-taste of the first swigs still in my mouth, I thought about Lore's - wondering if they were still there.

So I walked down Chestnut St. a few blocks, dumping my cup of DD along the way (my apologies to one of the young trees on Chestnut St.), and there it was - good ol' Lore's, with people streaming in and out, most with smiles on their faces and hot cups of java and sweets in their hands.

The Rasta guy behind the counter was so friendly, greeting everyone with a warm hello - nice to see the atmosphere hasn't changed at Lore's, a very refreshing thing these days.

Lore's setup is still the best I've seen at any coffee shop anywhere - you do everything yourself: pour your own coffee, do the sweetener & milk thing, and put the lid on too. The gal at Dunkin Donuts that morning put my three Sweet & Low's in my cup herself (with her bare hands touching the powder, mind you - yuck!), and she didn't even stir it before putting the lid on.

The cups at Lore's are great too - the outside has a plastic-y, raised-spongy feel that prevents you from feeling the heat. There's no need to double-up on cups a la La Colombe (whew, say that fast 5x). I'm sure they're more expensive, and probably bad for the environment, but man - that cup is awesome.

I asked the other counter person - a nice young gal - about another nice gal who used to work at Lore's - she was about yeh-high, studying music (was it piano?), and was setting out to travel the country with nothing but her guitar and her wits. Turns out, she did do some traveling, still has her wits, and she's now in New York. She even emails Lore's owner sometimes, just to say hi. That's the kind of atmosphere this place has...I like it. And the coffee is still $1.

Tuesday's Coffee Column by Berkserker

I spent a week in Costa Rica last summer, and one of the highlights was all of the wonderful coffee I had there. My first cup was memorable - but it took four tries before the waitress finally understood my "Un cafe, por favor." After that, it was smooth sailing.

If you search the Internet (including eBay), there's a dizzying number of Costa Rican coffee companies who offer coffee for sale in the US. While in Costa Rica, I actually bought several pounds of coffee to take home. My favorites were Cafe 1820 and Rey Coffee (http://lapulpe.com/default.php/cPath/1_22).

I kept a couple bags in the freezer, but one bag mysteriously disappeared during a house move this spring, only to reappear months later in a box my basement. It smelled ok, so I fired up a pot and it tasted great!

Costa Rica started producing coffee in the 1820's after gaining independence from Spain. The country's first "Chief of State" saw the need for a major cash crop, so he offered free land and seeds to anyone willing to grow it. Export to Europe began in the 1830s, and by the 1870's the US had gotten into the act and actually built a railroad in Costa Rica to pump up the volume of exports.

Today, there are about 13,000 coffee farms in the country, with many of the larger ones owned and/or operated by foreign companies. It seems that Starbucks is heavily involved in the country, in a good way (apologies to you Starbucks haters!). In fact, one of their executives just won an award for her work there: http://www.socialfunds.com/news/release.cgi/2129.html

If you're ever in Costa Rica, there's a neat show put on by Cafe Britt
(http://www.coffeetour.com) that might be worth seeing. It's a multimedia presentation (the country's longest running theatrical production, by the way!) that gives the audience an entertaining history of coffee in Cost Rica.

Tuesday's Coffee Column by Berkersker

Berserker chimes in about his favorite homebrew:

"This summer at a friend's house, I noticed a rather distinctive yellow and black tin can sitting in her kitchen cabinet. Turned out to be a coffee called 'Chock full o'Nuts'. I had never heard of it, so we fired some up.

I loved it, and it's quickly become one of my favorite coffees. It's rich, smells great, and goes down smooth. Just yesterday - Mr. Lunchbox himself had his first cup ever, courtesy of me, and he was duly impressed (not a mean feat!.)

A subsequent trip to their website revealed that Chock full o'Nuts has its roots in New York, going all the way back to the Depression. They have a full line of "Original" coffees like Regular, Hazelnut, and Instant, as well as "New York Classics" including SoHo Morning Roast and 5th Avenue French Roast.

For the coffee-house bum on your Xmas shopping list, Chock even has its own cafe houses ("Chock Cafes"). Sadly for Lunchbox fans in Philly, the locations are a bit out-of-reach for casual visits - NY and NJ appear to be the closest.

But hey, it seems that most grocery stores in the Philly area carry the stuff, so it wouldn't hurt to try a small can for a few bucks. Some of you probably have been doing just that for years, so I apologize if I've missed the boat on Chock and let my Philly parochial side get the best of me on this one!!"

Thanks Berkserker!

La Colombe

FYI -

La Colombe is back open and serving fresh java for you coffeegeeks out there. They raised the price to $1.25 a cup. Not bad, considering it is the best in the city.

It's been a sad week...

La Colombe on 130 South 19th street (Rittenhouse Plaza), has been closed this week for renovations. They serve what is arguably the best coffee in Philadelphia, possibly the country. If that were not enough, it's only a dollar a cup. How do they do it? Volume I guess.