There’s a case for coffee and it’s making its argument with visual boxes, giving shelf space to edibles —sweet and savory—leaving no dispute that their company is a welcomed food compliment to coffee. Within the coffee district of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, and Prospect Heights, a few specialty coffee shops are just as concerned with creating a beautiful cup of coffee as they are with displaying what locals have with their coffee. This case for coffee highlights local spaces buoyed by area food artisans, chefs, and bakers. Peer closely, it’s not stones being thrown, but smells of savory and sweet.
Hungry Ghost
253 Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Heights
The now one-year-old location in Prospect Heights is an American-Italian inspired space conceived by owner Murat Llyarog. And the Brooklyn king of Hungry Ghost’s food program is Chef Pete Solomita, a neighborhood local in the business for fourteen years and of Little Buddy Biscuit Company fame.
“He has one hundred percent freedom to create whatever he wants—pastries, muffins, biscuits—which has to be as important as coffee,” said Llyarog.
The importance given to food begins when customers enter the cafe front off the Flatbush thoroughfare. The space flows from window seats: tables for two, a communal table, Stumptown by way of a La Marzocco GB5, and then the counter’s main attraction—a double glass case with stainless steel connections holds all the food glory that accompanies the Stumptown coffee program.
“I want you to be able to look in, if you want to. I want you to see what’s in the case before the register and associate pastries with your coffee.”
Chef Solomita’s pastries tower delicately revealing options such as gluten-free muffins, maple walnut scones, cheddar and black pepper biscuits, quiche, and vegan goods. Baked daily in small batches, the flavors gathering around the Christian Hooker custom cabinets and tables inspire one to echo Llyarog’s sentiment, “I’m hungry to keep this place just the way it is.”
Southside Coffee
652 6th Avenue, South Slope
The five-year-old local space is a true spot for the simple things—great coffee, great treats. Joshua Sidis and Ben are its co-owners who convinced one of their regulars, Jen Shelbo—formerly of Tudors, Gramercy Tavern, and Per Se fame to name a few—to be their in-house purveyor of things non-coffee. Because of her connection to the kitchen at nearby Lot 2 where she also cooks, she is “able to have high quality produce and ingredients here at a reasonable cost for customers.”
Shelbo’s decision on what customers would like is determined by what’s in season, what’s popular with patrons, and what’s reasonable for the space. “I think a pastry is such a personal thing, so you should eat what makes you happy. For example, if it’s a muffin, then I’m trying to give you the best muffin, something textural and flavorful—a muffin that you can rely on,” said Shelbo.
It’s no wonder that the whimsy of Shelbo’s passion lends to a combination of far-reaching seasonal flavors and goods like the Lemon Ricotta Poppy Seed Scone, the Candied Ginger Cocoa Nib, a can’t-keep-in-the-case quiche, a homemade biscuit with ham from Brooklyn Cured with caramelized onion jam, Bacon Cheddar Buns on Sunday, and everyday jam bars.
Such a diaspora of goods makes for a perfect marriage with Southside’s coffee program, which remains a Park Slope staple whose consistency remains the same amid an evolving seasonal food landscape.
Lark Cafe
1007 Church Avenue, Windsor Terrace
Newcomer to the specialty coffee shop scene, Lark Cafe is a one-stop space for all the things that any man, woman, or child could desire. “I was drawn to having a space that was a gathering place,” said co-owner Kari Browne upon arriving to the area with a new baby and craving new connections.
The space plays between adult sophistication and childlike simplicity. The duality works as rounded edges and benches bring kid-friendly design to minimalist functionality evidence in concrete floors that whisper it’s okay to let one’s inner child come out to play.
Eyes will goggle too as they meet a case atop a Cesar stone counter supported by a chevron wood base made by a local woodworker. At thirty-six inches long, fourteen inches tall, and fourteen inches deep, Lark’s case is the distillation of some of Brooklyn’s finest food creators including doughnuts from Dough, jam from Anarachy in a Jar, magpies from Maggie Magpies, vegan salted chocolate chip cookies from Ovenly, pies from Four & Twenty Blackbirds, bagels from Terrace Bagels, and quiche from Colson’s Patisserie.
“We sampled food and treats from all over and there’s a really amazing food revolution going on in this borough. It was a conscious effort to choose proprietors that were locally based,” said Browne.
Addressing such a collective palette, it’s indubitable that Browne should answer the oft-asked question, “Who is your customer?” with “Everybody.”
Root Hill Café
262 Carroll Street, Gowanus
Occupying space at the border of Gowanus and Park Slope, the half-decade-old space is far from being old at all. A rehabbed space and a full kitchen with Mississippi chef Josh Burnett at its helm, the café is sprouting on some solid gastronomical ground.
The background of Root Hill Café’s owners—Italian and Lebanese—aspired to have a menu indicative of the neighborhood. “We’re letting the roots of Root Hill and the neighborhood tell us where we should go,” said Burnett.
To that end, their food case is a glass behemoth of options. Inset into a raised counter that greets one as they immediately walk up a slightly tilted ramp, it stands at four feet, six-and-a-half inches by two feet. Inside the wonder-food-land, one can choose from homemade sausage and buttermilk biscuits topped by strawberry, a chess pie made of cornmeal with white vinegar, and a savory tartlet shell. Atop the case sit muffins, cookies, and croissants baked fresh daily.
A coup for Root Hill Cafe’s redesigned space is that it now has the space and ability to cook its meats in house and provide old school deli options. For many a post-noon and mid-evening visitor, the case is clear that the café is listening and providing options its patrons want.
“We want to stick to our roots while keeping an eye on the roots of the neighborhood as they change,” said Bartnett.
Two Moon Art House And Cafe
315 4th Avenue, Park Slope
Danielle Mazzeo and Joyce Pisarello are a sweet food-de-force in their umbrella space along Fourth Avenue. Two Moon is an event/coffee shop space, with an ongoing roster of artists creating a cultural microcosm.
“We are not formal, but we are creating a holistic experience. Whether you need to be here to work, for a midday sing-a-long or are an artist performing, you’ve just walked into our living room, stay as long as you need,” said Mazzeo.
In an effort to fuel their patrons creativity, Mazzeo and Pisarello have chosen an unencumbered food program—goods encased in glass dishes, sartorial packaging for others—all baked by either of the ladies. Along with the home baked goods, a coffee program by 40 Weight Coffee buoys their minimalist format, and it works.
The home-inspired treats include muffins, cookies, brownies, shortbread, and frosted cupcakes. With such focus, there’s no two ways about Mazzeo’s summary of Two Moon: “It’s a Brooklyn experience, a gathering, a place where you can sit for two hours and just have a cookie.” A good cookie, one might add.
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