What are the ingredients for a good, perhaps superlative coffee house? Coffee? Eats? Service? Fast WiFi? Folks? Music? Comfortable seats? Location?Most every coffee drinker I know protests Starbucks trying to romance us away with their coffee-flavored drinks. But how many will step off their normal path to support a really great place, run by wonderful people, with great coffee, fine eats, cool music, and comfortable seats where no one will bother you if you want to sit and fiddle on your laptop?
In the hope that a great place with these essential ingredients in abundance is rewarded, I am going to recommend my favorite coffee house, even if it might become crowded once the word gets out.
The Nervous Dog at 3438 Mission (between 30th and Courtland) in San Francisco deserves your business. As I write, it is still early on Sunday morning, and I just watched the owner go outside with a bowl of water for a customer's dog, obliged by the health code to wait outside. He, the owner that is, not the dog, is unflaggingly bright spirited and courteous, and I have the impression that this is who he really is - that he genuinely likes people and enjoys serving them. I had a perfectly made (free trade) cafe americano plus wonderful lox and bagel, all for a very reasonable price. We are listening to country gospel music. I would not be able to sit through 2 crossover country "hits," but this music has the A flat that distinguishes the genuine article, and I am enjoying it much more than I might have thought possible. It seems that I am not alone either. I see more than one of the two dozen or so diverse feet around me moving rhythmically .
At the bottom of Bernal Heights, the Hill, a few souls have wandered down to refresh their souls. It is not in a great Starbucks location, as you can see by the picture, no fancy shopping mall, or convenient kiosk in a supermarket, but the parking looks reasonably available for San Francisco if you are a driver. I came on foot, lucky to have The Nervous Dog in my neighborhood.
I am not alone in my evaluation either. I will link to Urbanspoon that posts reviews by ordinary folks like me. As of today, June 3rd, 17 out of 25 reviews give it the highest rating, 5 stars.
If you can't join me at The Nervous Dog, support your local coffee house.
