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1/31/03:

Can such a thing as a brand new, non-corporate, independently owned coffee house exist in the Chicago Loop? No atmosphere of maximised product placement for pretending to relax to? No ads simulating art and featured bland-jazz soundtrack (available on CD at the counter) to signify comfort while actually driving you away to keep the millions-served turning over every 15 minutes? A place that needn't be reproduced as Standard Cafe Module^TM on every damn corner of the city?

Apparently Millenium Perk, which recently opened on 78 East Madison, is that rare and long-needed and decidedly non-Starbuckian joint that's betting its house on good coffee, $3 sandwiches and the goodwill of a whole slew of Loop office rats who are sharp enough to see clearly through those overpriced Cosi-CornerBakery-Caribou shitholes that litter this grid like a turned-out shopping mall. It also doesn't expect you to change your personal coffee lexicon when ordering - imagine that!

Chicago readers who can understand these gripes, please try this place.

Here's also a handy little guide to cafes in Wicker Park (it'll load to a plam pilot too) which provides more than enough evidence that the two identical Starbucks in the area needn't be here.

posted by jeremy @ 1:43 AM

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