27 January 2011

Where to Find the Perfect Mocha? The Answer's at Stumptown


Having left you all without a post for longer than I'd like to admit, I decided to use this snow day to share my most recent food adventures with you. I trekked through the nineteen inches of slushy snow on a cold day in New York to the dark warmth of The Ace Hotel's lobby. Yesterday I came here too, but without all the frozen puddles to wade through. I guess it shows what lengths I'm willing to go to get a good mocha and maybe betrays an addiction to finding the best -- it seems impossible to waste a meal on something less than perfect.

The music is lively and varied (Run-D.M.C., Django Reinhardt, The Beatles, Motown...). Behind a row of Macs, hip business execs, furiously at work, occasionally reach for a sip of their favorite drink. My coffee du jour was a large, dark, almost savory mocha made with Mast Brothers chocolate ($5), beautifully decorated with a foam leaf design and adorned with a ribbon of thick homemade whipped cream rosettes. To supplement this enormous caloric intake I added a muffin with chocolate chips ($3.50). The pastries are good, although sinfully rich. The coffees are perfect. The mocha has very little sweetness, making it possible to drink the large pint glass of coffee set before me. It's a real jump-start to my day.


Yesterday I enjoyed a medium latte ($4), a chocolate chunk cookie ($2.50) and a croissant filled with pastrami and sauerkraut ($5). The lattes and mochas are some of the best I've ever had, and the pastries are often unusual twists on rich pastry classics. If you feel like a morning treat, put on your hipster best, grab your Mac or a worn copy of Ulysses and take yourself out to Stumptown. You wont be disappointed.

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