Coffee Talk
Back when the Romanelli Grill (see review) opened in the 1930s, it was a neighborhood bar that also served food. In those days, there were distinct differences between a restaurant and a bar and grill. But the lines were fuzzier when it came to coffee shops. A coffee shop was like a diner or luncheonette, putting the emphasis on food rather than coffee. After all, a basic cup of joe wasn’t much to talk about in the era before gourmet coffees jolted the public consciousness.
Conversely, postwar coffee houses were much more about style than substance. The counterculture coffee house, with beret-wearing, jazz-digging hipsters puffing on cigarettes and swilling espresso, was almost a parody by the time Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs recorded “Sugar Shack” in 1963. They described a cute little girlie behind the espresso machine, barefoot and wearing a black leotard — the same outfit Audrey Hepburn wore in a coffee joint in the 1957 movie Funny Face.
Predictably, the current revival of the coffee-house culture puts the emphasis on overpriced java drinks rather than food. But some local barristas have learned that they can make money by offering more than muffins and biscotti. Judy Hackbart, the owner of Café Expresso in Mission Center Mall (4841 Johnson Drive in Mission), made that discovery only after spending five years peddling coffee drinks and freshly roasted beans out of a 485-square-foot space near the back of the shopping center.
That tiny shop was called Coffee Express. This spring, Hackbart moved to a space nearly three times larger, right across from the Coyote Grill. And she’s selling just as much food as coffee — including grilled panini sandwiches, tuna melts and her own recipe for sloppy-joe sandwiches. She imports the quiches, pies and cakes as well as those ubiquitous cellophane-wrapped muffins. But business has improved dramatically, and her brightly colored space stays occupied from nine in the morning until nine at night.
Offering more than cold sandwiches and sweets has also improved the fortunes of independent advertising mogul Richard Barker. Last year, he turned half of the office space he’d used for his More Than Media company into a combination coffee house and art gallery called The Grand Gallery & Coffee (1815 Grand Avenue).
“We started out just serving deli sandwiches, but we quickly found out that our customers wanted hot lunches,” Barker says. “So we started offering one lunch special a day. Now we offer three.”
Barker credits chef Tiffany Munson — “and her chefettes Susie Gall and Suzanne Smith” — with the coffee house’s culinary success. “They’re making some wonderful things. Chinese chicken salad, a meatloaf melt. We have steak on Wednesdays, and I’m the grill man for that.”
The Grand Gallery & Coffee stays open just until 2 p.m., and lunch specials frequently sell out early, with most downtowners taking their meals to go.
