A New Business Slips into Downtown in the Waning Moments of 2011

11 Cafe, 122 A South Gay Street, Knoxville

Just when I thought the news was pretty much finished for 2011, I got a pleasant surprise. I'd already started mentally composing my end-of-the-year stories about businesses coming and going during the past twelve months. Out for a walk to take pictures for those blog posts I realized business news hasn't quite finished for the year.

As I walked down the 100 block of Gay Street, I noticed bistro tables on the sidewalk in front of what was, until just over a month ago, a clothing store. Rumors had surfaced that a bagel/pastry shop might be in the making and, in fact, there it was. There wasn't much in the way of signage out front of 122A S. Gay Street, but inside hummed a little, fully operational bistro: 11 Cafe.


Barista Michael Brock prepares an Americano at 11 Cafe

You'll find Cafe Americano (which I can vouch for - very good) and pastries with tables and lounge seating and a growing number of menu items to which, owner Mustapha Moussa tells me, more is being added daily. Additional food and drink offerings such as imported craft beers, cheese plates and Mediterranean lunch and dinner items will be offered along side the cakes, pastries and bagels now available. Based on a Facebook post it appears Kim Trent hardily endorses the Chicken Shawarma Wrap and hummus.The bistro is currently in a "soft opening" phase and getting kinks worked out for a grand opening on First Friday in January.

Menu Board at 11 Cafe, Knoxville

Mustapha encouraged me to come back and just hang out and it looks like it will be a place which is very comfortable for a hang-out spot. Having owned cell phone distributorships in the past, he has some retail experience, but this is his first foray into a coffee shop and into the downtown market. He says opening a coffee shop has been a long-term dream and he is very excited to have his current location.

It's time for the 100 block to come into its own. The city spent a fortune making it functional, structurally sound and beautiful. Several new businesses have opened with rumors of more on the way. If we want it to be the vibrant area it can be we need to support these entrepreneurs. Buy lunch at Harry's, buy athletic wear at Lululemon, purses at Julie Apple and buy a bagel from Mustapha and meet barista Michael Brock. You'll enjoy some good food and coffee and make new friends. What can be better than that?


11 Cafe, owner Mustapha Moussa foreground, Knoxville



Best and (not-so-much) worst coffee at downtown coffee shops

This is a little painful to write. Why? I love coffee shops. I like their personalities and the people who work in them. I love the smells of coffee and confections, the sounds of espresso machines and animated conversation. I love them when they are funky or modern, when the baristas are friendly older folks or younger ones with tattoos and piercings. It's more than the coffee, it's the whole experience. Throw in some excellent music and I'm helpless.

That said, I really like what I find in the downtown coffee scene. While the coffee at the restaurants is very spotty, the places devoted primarily to that most wonderful drink are excellent, with one unfortunate exception.

For the sake of this discussion, I didn't consider Starbucks in the Hilton. I think of it as in, but not of downtown. I'm delighted when I find one in a hotel when I'm traveling, but for this story, I didn't mention them. Higher Grounds got eliminated because as many times as I have tried, I can never catch them open. Do they really serve coffee there? Also, not downtown, but close is the Golden Roast, which has excellent coffee, but they are more of a UT spot.

Who knew there would ever be so many coffee shops in the entire county, let alone downtown, that you could eliminate some and still have a conversation?

Which brings us to the coffee houses in question: Coffee and Chocolate, Downtown Grind, Night Owl, Old City Java, and Remedy. Each has something to recommend them. All but one has very good coffee. Each gets extra points for various reasons. So, here are the reasons you should go to all but one of them, but at the end I'll man-up and say which, in my humble opinion, has the best coffee.


Coffee and Chocolate, Union Avenue, Knoxville

 Coffee and Chocolate has excellent coffee. The particular blend changes with the day and sometimes with the person brewing the coffee. The coffee is priced reasonably, but you are going to pay if you want some of their amazing chocolate. The chocolate is what sets them apart (secret: it's imported from the Chocolate Factory) and you can get it in a very large number of forms, but it is expensive. The seating is somewhat limited, but usually adequate. They have outdoor seating, but the sidewalk is small and most of the time people are parked uncomfortably close to the store. I wish Union Avenue would be closed to traffic from Gay to Locust, but I'm dreaming. Its location - around the corner from Market Square - is a big plus if that is the center of your downtown universe. The music played varies, but it is always good.


Downtown Grind, Gay Street, Knoxville

 Downtown Grind is an interesting case. It is housed in the Phoenix Building on the 400 block of Gay Street. It is paired with Prestige Cleaners. The employees often work both places and there is no separation, other than counters between the two businesses. My assumption would be that the coffee would be terrible. This could never work, right? Wrong. The coffee is very flavorful and the staff is very friendly. Cynthia Markert works there part-time and her art is on display. They sell confections, but I've had them so rarely, I can't evaluate them fairly. There is limited seating inside, but additional seating in the lobby and outside takes care of the traffic adequately and this is one of the best places among the four for people-watching, since it has a great view of Gay Street foot traffic. It's easy to forget that you are in a cleaner's, but if you have that dress or pair of pants that needs to be pressed, well, that's one-stop shopping. Strangely, if they have a website or Facebook page, I didn't see it.



Night Owl Cafe, Central Avenue, Old City, Knoxville

 Night Owl is, in my opinion, the only one to avoid. The coffee was sub-par. I'd say it tasted old when I visited. The place also smelled like cigarette smoke to me, which I thought was no longer legal in restaurants. No one present was smoking, but someone had been. I'm not a smoker and it really hurts the taste of what I'm eating or drinking if I have to smell that. I did enjoy the music which was sort of alternative and I like the chessboards on the window tables and the view from those. None of that, however, makes bad coffee worth drinking. In fairness, they did have a good many items on the menu, so maybe they are more of a late-night restaurant and I assumed incorrectly that the coffee was central.



Old City Java, Central Avenue, Old City

 Old City Java is the original downtown coffee house. Located at 109 S. Central, it has been an Old City institution for years. The coffee is strong, flavorful and fair-trade. The blend offered varies daily. The chairs and tables are worn and comfortable or shabby, depending on your perspective. There are two large rooms, so seating is rarely a problem. I say rarely because sometimes they host events - like the poetry slam I attended - that pack out the house. This is rare, however. If I had to give them a bit of a room-to-improve nudge, it would be in the speed of service. The last two times I've been there I've had to wait for probably ten minutes for my drink, even though the lines were short. I'm not sure if they are understaffed or if I've just been unlucky, but that is my experience. The confections were also pretty limited when I was there and were not extremely fresh. But, oh, the coffee!



Remedy, Jackson Street, Knoxville

 Remedy Coffee is on Jackson Street around the corner from Old City Java. That seemed like a foolish location to choose when they opened last year, but it appears to be working. The strangest thing about this coffee house is that it is operated by a church. Knoxville Life Church not only operates the coffee shop, but it is where they meet. All profits go to charitable organizations such has Habitat for Humanity. Normally, this would be enough to make me uncomfortable and I would definitely expect bad coffee. It turns out it is a very comfortable place. No one tried to convert me to anything. It is very comfortable, nicely appointed, Wi-fi enabled (as are all these establishments) and there is a book bank in which you can donate a book and take a book. It seems to me that JFG coffee used to do a similar thing just down the street. And here's the thing: the coffee I had was slow coming, but worth the wait. They can hang with anyone else in the taste competition. As a bonus, they also have Wendel Werner playing keyboard most weeks.

OK. I've delayed long enough. Here are my confessions: I like them all very much with the one exception. I could restrict myself to drinking any one of the other various offerings for the rest of my life and be happy. I go most often to Coffee and Chocolate because of convenience and I really love them, but I can't help it: Metropulse readers get this one right year after year, the best coffee is consistently Old City Java. It has a depth of flavor and a pleasing after-taste that can't be beaten.

Second best? All of the rest (except you-know-which-one). You can't go wrong with the coffee at any of them. I suspect different people would be more comfortable in one place or another, so find your favorite spot, enjoy a good cup of coffee and be grateful for this gift with which downtown Knoxville has not always been blessed.

Best (and worst) Downtown Coffee at Restaurants

"My nerves have gone to pieces
My hair is turning gray
All I do is drink black coffee . . ."

Black Coffee
Music: Sonny Burke, Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster
Performed by Ella Fitzgerald
 
I can't run from it any longer. I've been overdue to write about downtown coffee since I started this blog. I know I've mentioned it - that's because I can't help it. It's my heritage. It is in my blood. My blood is probably 50% coffee by now.
 
According to my father, it all started when he put coffee in my baby bottle. He's an honest man, so I'll have to take his word for it. It was part of the culture where I grew up. When you wake up in the morning, you make coffee. When you end your day, you make coffee. If you have guests, you make coffee. A date? How about doughnuts and coffee? Special guest coming to have dinner? Gumbo and coffee essential; iced tea, likely.
 
We went to south Louisiana to visit relatives or to New Orleans and had coffee with chicory. It was thick. It was black and it better be fresh and hot. Burned coffee stinks and cold coffee is an abomination unto God, who probably grew the first coffee.
 
So, I got older, went out into the world and discovered, much to my horror, that not everyone drinks coffee. The first time guests came to the house and said, "We don't drink coffee," you could have knocked me over with the soft toss of a coffee bean. I lived in Gainesville, Florida by that time and I soon discovered an amazing coffee house called Cafe Espresso. I suppose they had frappuccinos and cappuccinos, but I always like my coffee straight. Which doesn't mean it was boring. On any given day they would have a dozen or more different coffees from all over the world: Ethiopian, Cuban, Malaysian, Italian, etc. The tables were cross-sections of cypress trees. I'm sure they would be illegal, now. My palate learned a lot in that place.
 
Then I moved to Knoxville in 1982. I know: Right in the middle of the World's Fair. A World's Fair is a very international event, right? This is a major university in town, right? Knoxville is probably 20 times bigger than Gainesville, right? What must all that mean? Only one thing: the coffee here is going to be great! Except for one thing: It wasn't.
 
There were no coffee houses to be found. The best cup of coffee I can remember in those early days was at Regas (Dad's money when he came to town, FYI) and it wasn't great by any stretch. I could not believe it. This was even the coldest climate I had ever lived in. They should have coffee!
 
Things slowly got better and now there are a number of places to get a good cup of coffee in town. I'm not extreme about determining the source of the bean and I'm not prudish about buying from a large corporation if they have good coffee. If anything, I think Starbucks - and maybe Duncan Donuts of all things - taught most Americans that the cup of coffee they pry out of the pot at 3:00 in the afternoon or the hot water they add to instant faux coffee, isn't real coffee. I'm a bit of a purist at home: I hand grind my beans in an old-fashioned grinder. It's just better that way.
 
So, fast-forward and now I'm downtown. There is excellent coffee to be had downtown, there is very good coffee, there is barely coffee and there is brown-tainted swill that, if encountered, should be spewed from your mouth forthwith.
 
I'm not afraid to name names. I haven't had coffee everywhere that serves it, so I'm only evaluating the coffee I've had. If there is somewhere I should try, let me know. Of course, these are just my opinions, but I feel pretty strongly about my coffee, so here goes:

Best Coffee at a Restaurant: Trio - Always delicious, fresh and hot. They serve a different specialty blend each day, a house blend and a decaf. I've had a number of the special blends and the house blend many, many times (decaf is an abomination unto God) and I have only once been disappointed. I have no idea what happened that day. Find a not-so-busy time for the restaurant and yourself and bring a book. Sit outside. Eat a panini and afterward leisurely drink multiple cups of coffee while reading and people-watching. Preferably, do this when it is not hot as blazes outside. Do not, however get my table (the tall one to the right of the door).

Also excellent at restaurants: Italian coffee at French Market. Very traditional! :-)

Good at restaurants: Cafe Four - not always the best, but good. Also, La Costa - sometimes really good, sometimes not so much. Regas - not terrible, not so great the last time I had it (it's been a while).

Not the best place for coffee: Le Parigo - how is this possible at such a high-end restaurant? Food, yes. Coffee, don't think about it. Downtown Grill and Brewery - I know, they aren't known for their coffee.

Spew it from your mouth: Pete's - the absolute worst coffee I've ever tasted in my life. They should remove the word "coffee" from their name. The drink they serve should not even be called coffee. My advice: Go there. Eat their delicious breakfast. Smuggle in a thermos of good coffee. Sapphires - Truly horrible. I was there for brunch, so the coffee should be fresh - not. It was disgusting and tasted very old.

Coming Soon: My ranking of coffee at Coffee Houses. Happy drinking.

General Burnside Asserts Himself Unexpectedly

Image via Wikipedia

General Burnside from the American Civil War is most known outside of Knoxville for his famous sideburns. Inside Knoxville he was better known for taking over the town during the war and holding off the confederate attempts to reclaim it. I'd never given him much thought, myself, until recently when he virtually confronted me on the street.

I found myself at the French Market on a recent delightful morning when the sun was shielded enough by cloud cover to make sitting outside in the shade bearable early in the day. I'd gotten interested in trying their Italian coffee and I'd just started and become entirely hooked reading Jack Neely's book Market Square: A History of the Most Democratic Place on Earth. (Follow the link and buy it if you haven't. You won't regret it.) I'd worked my way up to the 1860's and the siege of Knoxville. On page 24 I'd just read the paragraph that starts with the sentence, "In the early Autumn of 1863, blue-uniformed troops under Union General Ambrose Burnside occupied Knoxville." Looking up to rest my eyes, I nearly fell out of my chair. Directly in front of where I sat was the historical marker pictured below:

If I had been anywhere else in in Knoxville I would not have seen it. If I had been inside or at another outside table, I would not have noticed it. Even at my table, if I had chosen the other chair, my back would have been to it and I would have never known. It was almost as if the old guy was saying, "Hey, before you sat there with your fancy coffee, I hung out in this spot." It was beyond creepy. What made me look up at that moment or be in that spot when I read that portion? I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

It makes you wonder how many markers we walk past without ever considering the lives and important moments that centered on that very spot where we carry on our little lives. And further, who will notice that we once walked this road? Will we make enough difference that someone will remember?

One More Cup of Coffee Before I Go (to the city below)

Evenings downtown have been downright pleasant lately if you've gotten out a little earlier to appreciate what heat and humidity really feel like. By around 7:00 a light breeze glides between the buildings, which also offer shade from the setting sun. At that point, it's finally possible to breathe, again. On one of these evenings recently that I decided to go out for coffee. I'm big on coffee and soon I'll give my review of local coffee establishments, but on this particular evening my goals were to go light on the budget by only buying a cup of coffee and nothing more and specifically, to try Remedy on Jackson Street in the Old City.

I didn't make it past Market Square before the plans started to change. First I saw what could have easily been a musical mirage: a string trio playing in the middle of the square. It turns out to be a quartet (minus one, sometimes) named Norwegian Wood. It is the brainchild of Alexia Pantanizopoulos who told me that she started it because she loves the Beatles. You might guess that their repertoire consists entirely of Bob Dylan songs . . . but you'd be wrong. They play all Beatles, all the time, though Alexia is classically trained. I dropped a dollar in the case and thanked them for letting me take a picture.

Then I saw Taylor, AKA the Rose Guy. I had to buy a rose, so of course, there went three more dollars, but money well spent. I heard later that he is leaving town and I really hate that. I've seen him around for years, but only recently started to get to know him. Certainly a gentle soul.

After leaving the square I walked through the 100 block of Gay Street to see how the construction is going and caught the light of the setting sun on the side of the Sterchi Bullding. I'm not photographer, but I think the picture is good enough to show why it caught my eye. Remember, you can click any picture on the site to enlarge it for a better look.


Once I entered Remedy, I realized that not only would I have coffee (which they brewed fresh for me), but I would have live entertainment - on a Tuesday night, no less. A keyboard player moved seamlessly from one song to another for the next two hours while I drank coffee and edited a chapter for a friend at a table only a few feet away. Like everyone else I ask, he agreed to have his picture taken - and, of course, I tipped him and the nice barrista. Remember this was supposed to be inexpensive? Oh well.

He played great music that could have been delivered from my Ipod: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, Have I Told You Lately that I Love You by Van Morrison, Just Another Day by Paul McCartney, New York State of Mind by Billy Joel and on it went. By the end of the evening, after realizing how large a musical vocabulary he had, I guessed who it might be just by reputation and the barrista confired it was, indeed, Wendel Werner. What a delight. For the price of a cup of coffee.



Around 10:00 I started the walk home, but detoured down Central to check on the progress of Aisle Nine, our inchoate grocery store. I spoke to a nice lady inside who assured me there would be vegetables next week. Color me skeptical at this point. I see large amounts of beer and candy. I'll still hope.

As I crossed the street and neared Java Old City, I looked inside to see if anyone was there I had met at the poetry slam. I had such a good time, I thought I might thank them for hosting it. I didn't see anyone familiar, but as I turned to walk away, something - or more specifically, someone - caught my attention. I stopped and thought, "Was that a bride in full bridal regalia sitting at a table in a coffee shop?" I walked inside.

Much like the blackberry car that I thought might be a harbinger of a juicy (sorry) revenge story about an angry ex-lover, but turned out to be simply a mulberry car, after all, this wasn't quite what I expected, either. I imagined the jilted bride walking from the church, ultimately to take haven in the warmth of a quiet, comfortably shabby coffee shop: "I'll have an espresso. No. Make that a double." Fantasy turned to reality when I met a very gracious young woman named Sara Bowles who wears these clothes for performances and who was set to perform later in the evening at the Pilot Light in the Old City.

So, finally, I walked home. That was quite a cup of coffee. I still think she made a pretty bride.