Say it ain’t so, Joe’s
A recent post propped Joe’s over on 30th and Bluff (at the Steelyards). This author visited today and was greeted with swill for an Americano. Seriously sour. But that’s exactly what I’ve come to expect from Allegro pours and yes, I’m getting tired of writing the same thing over and over about Allegro, but it’s fucking true. Joe’s, Ozo’s, can we change your minds? We have no idea why you slave to Allegro, but you can’t seriously think its quality coffee. Vic’s? Lost cause. You’ve got your formula, you’re sticking to it, and that’s fine. Newslands loves you for it. But Joe and Ozo, you guys really seem to be into coffee for the sake of coffee. How do you reconcile serving Allegro? Please answer, because we know you read us.
shop transactions
From the fact file and the rumor mill:
Sidney’s just changed hands, from Trish to wife-husband team Heidi and Matt.
Amante is up for sale. The rumor price we heard initially was $1.3M, but I’ve since heard something more like $700K. (Good luck with that. There aren’t that many wannabe euros here.)
Playgrounds (we never got around to posting a review) closed doors in late 2008, the owners trying to find somebody to buy it. The rumor price we’ve heard is absurdly low, so low I’m not even going to print it. The owners of the shop also owned the NoBo space and spent oodles on the build-out (obvious if you’ve been), and are offering to either sell the space or lease.
Boulder needs more coffee shops
I never thought I’d ever catch myself saying this, especially after starting to tally all the Boulder shops last year and stopping after we passed 40. But on a Monday afternoon, a holiday, I can’t get a seat anywhere. 2PM, random afternoon, a sunny 65F in the middle of January, and instead of hiking everybody has decided to shack up inside Boulder coffee shops?
Let this also serve as a WTF?? for Saxy’s. When it opened it was an awesome shop. Maybe because it felt manageable. Now? Of the last three times I’ve stopped by the place has been shoulder-to-shoulder with diligent MacBook slaves, all staring unblinkingly into their life-suck devices (full disclosure: I’m blogging right now from a MacBook, at a coffee shop, so there). Every seat taken, every person on a laptop. Saxy’s now wins the award for most lifeless shop atmosphere. Seriously, it feels like an Ivy League library during finals in there, and of the last three times I’ve tried, I’ve immediately walked out and found another place to drink and chill. Somehow the cognoscenti of Boulder “found” Saxy’s. Please people, unfind it. It was such a nice shop before it got taken over by the Borg. (FWIW, this was written about back in August 2007 and it’s only gotten worse.)
