I Heart Cafe Pedlar

Given the dire state of our economy, it’s probably a mistake to take every business closing in my neighborhood to heart, but I can’t help it.  When Café Nova on the corner of Warren St. & Court St. closed down, I was crushed.  Naturally, I blamed myself.  Was it because I regularly took up their tables for an hour and 15 minutes to nurse a single latte while I did my laundry?  Was it because I refused to call it anything but Café Nova even though it had been Margaret Palca Bakes for a couple of years already?  Was I too aggressive when I stared down that spoiled 8 year old girl for a table?  Did I scare away the mommy money and help put them out of business?  Mostly, I love my neighborhood and don’t want to see it suffer.  Since my favorite coffee spot closed this January, my heart would sink a little every time I passed the shuttered corner.

I was thrilled to hear that Cafe Pedlar was opening.  Well, it hasn’t so much opened as hatched whole.  The space has undergone a complete transformation from one day to the next.  With fewer tables but a long comfortable bench and coffee bar, they’ve opened up the space to the light that pours into its windows and will make use of it to hold regular cupping events.  The coffee comes from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a direct trade provider.  Their morning croissants are from Ceci-Cela but all other the baked goods come directly from the owners’ Frankies 457 Spuntino.

They’ve named it for Vincent Cincotta, the late owner of the produce stand next door known as “Jimmy the Peddler”.  It’s a promising sign that they really get the neighborhood which is always looking for a reason to fall in love with itself again.