I've never had the often raved about Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee before, although I have been inside of their location on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA. This location is in hipster-ville/gipster-ville in Silverlake (LA's answer to San Francisco's Mission District). It's surrounded by gentrification --- fancy pupusarias, brunch spots and shopping. More importantly, it's also across the street from an El Pollo Loco.
I was originally going to meet my friend Paul at Casbah Cafe for a cup of coffee but I got a text from him exclaiming, "The coffee at Intelligentsia smells good." So we made a quick change of plans.
Upon entering, you'll notice the cute outdoor seating area. Once you enter it was semi confusing on where to go as the interior layout is sort of like a gay bar, but taking into account nicer materials and the fact you can see people in the lighting. It sorta reminded me of a coffee bar in Rome with the bar style seating that was available as well.
I ordered my friend an Americano while I had to ponder for a minute on what to get. My take on a good coffee house is drip coffee straight up. No cream, no sugar. They had 4 drip coffee specials today starting at $3.50 and going up to $7. I asked the barista which one he liked. He suggested the most expensive one, that being $7 for a cup of Joe. I said, okay, what the hell? I think it was some sort of reserve coffee called La Tortuga from Honduras. However, I wasn't quite paying attention, but that's what I deduced from their website. He described it as any gay man would, "lush" and "bold."
I finally sat down with my friend and sipped on my $7 drip coffee while we caught up on life. Holy hell it was like heaven in my mouth. I hadn't quite tasted anything like that before. It started out super light but finished bold and smooth. Maybe lush. If it weren't for the fact I could have gotten a meal at El Pollo Loco for the same price as an exquisite drip coffee here, then I'd place it at 5 stars. So i had to knock it down to 4.
Now go rush there... and have a gay barista suggest the $7 drip coffee. Mmmm... lush.
1 comment:
Silverlake <3.
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