In a comment on the first Coffee Circuit post, a reader pointed me at the Kirkwood coffee shop called Breukelen Mojo, which I hadn’t heard of before. This is, in short, why I dig the Metblog. Got a local coffee shop you love? Drop me a line in the comments so I can pay them a visit.

Breukelen Mojo (say it like “Brooklyn”) just turned one-year old this summer—an important milestone for an independent coffeehouse. Opened up by New York transplants eager to evoke the vibe of their cafe scene back home, the place seems focused not just on coffee but on local events. Area musicians and Thursday-night movie showings attract an evening crowd to the shop’s stage. If the main cafe space seems a little big for relatively few tables, I think that’s why: they use the room for event seating. Sunday mornings, I was told, locals enjoy classical guitar and coffee on their private patio.

I’ll admit, when I saw how small the coffee-drink menu here was, I worried. Simple menus, in my experience, often mean that a place is either a) doing the bare minimum necessary to be a coffeehouse, or b) looking to avoid the Starbucks syndrome of a sprawling overeager menu. That second option can be good or bad. It’s one thing to go for a basic, low-impact approach to the coffeehouse style, but it’s another thing to build a reactionary menu that cuts out the precious drinks that cafe dilettantes (like me) enjoy finding at local joints. Much to my relief, at Breukelen Mojo, they manage to pull off a relaxed, low-impact style without giving up on the fancy coffee drinks altogether.

The ladies I talked to at the shop, who were both super-friendly and smiley, told me they went out to Portland, Oregon, to attend barista classes before they opened up the shop. They wanted to do it right. Watching the barista put together a mixed-syrup concoction she called an Almond Joy, it’s easy to see. A multi-syrup cafe mocha has every reason to turn out heavy and thick, tasty but gut-punching with over-saturated sugary sweetness. Now don’t get me wrong, their Almond Joy isn’t airy—it’s still a mocha—but it was lighter and better composed than I could’ve expected. The barista didn’t dump syrups in a cup; she mixed and stirred and poured with an attention to detail that I look for outside of the morning rush. I appreciate that. Best of all, the thing was delicious from top to bottom, without that punishingly syrupy final quarter that’s the bane of so many mochas.

The nice folks over at Breukelen Mojo also pointed me at a couple of other Atlanta coffee and culture happenings I wasn’t aware of, so thanks for that. Don’t you be shy, either: if you’ve got a coffee shop you want me to check out and write about, drop us a comment on the site. I’m not doing formal reviews, obviously. I’m doing short profiles—I want to know what makes your shop what it is and why you were inspired to open it.

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It probably isn’t fair to judge a new restaurant on its opening night.^[1] I’m sure The Grange doesn’t want me to do that and, honestly, I don’t think I want to do that to them. So let’s call this a first impression, with the understanding that we’ll meet again soon.

I found out The Angel was closing the hard way: I showed up and no one was there. The place was lights-out and empty. Uh-oh, I thought. Good news is, the place didn’t lay fallow for long. Better news is, The Grange kept pretty much everything that was good about The Angel’s space—the dark woods, the brick patio, the tile floor, and the little pub-nooks—and added just a bit of light, just a bit of air, to open it up and make it feel fresh.

On to the bad news. Saturday night, the joint was hopping, but tangled. The space between patio and bar was wandered by folks trying to figure out the seating situation, with no host and no list to help. I like wandering into a self-serve pub space, sure, but that night was just too busy for that. A tall man with keys on the end of a long spoon rushed around, apologizing for late dinners and calming frustrated customers. Beer was being brought in by the six-pack. They were in the weeds.

So let’s go back to some good news. Service was happy, attentive, and up-front. As soon as our waitress knew there was going to be a delay on our food, she let us know. Our appetizer showed up quick and hot.

Which brings us back to some bad news. The food on Saturday night was a bust. In an Irish pub, chips shouldn’t be skinny, limp, soggy things. What comes with them shouldn’t be a plastic Solo cup of blue-cheese dressing. Fish and chips shouldn’t consist of a single ragged piece of fish burned within an inch of edibility and more of those skinny fries. The shepherd’s pie was ordinary.

Word since Saturday, though, is better. The report I got says “Grange impressed” and “Good food.” Also, “Great hangout vibe,” which I sure agree with.

Friendly advice, Grange? Commit to the Irish vibe on your menu, nail those pub-favorite dishes, and add some distinctive dish that gives your place its own voice. In the meantime, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that The Grange stays busy enough to find its flow. The trick is giving a new place time to find its footing without, you know, just not going and accidentally running it out business, I guess.

Not to jinx it, but I’d be surprised if they can’t make it work there.

^{1. I’ve read that some restaurant critics give a new place three months to get their act together before they review the place. How long do you wait?}

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One of the greatest shortcomings, so I’m told out here in the suburbs, of Atlanta is that you have to drive everywhere to do anything. Too much of a sprawl. Not a great downtown.

It’s just as true about the truly ex-urb nature of the OTP crowd as well. Folks have to get in a car.

Now the beltline is a good step to start attracting folks in-town and our own james has turned me around about using Marta more regularly (which would rate as “at all” for things not involving the airport of seeing the Braves, Hawks, Falcons or Thrashers) but what people really get moving for is Tennis.

Follow with me.

ALTA is purportedly the world’s largest member tennis organization, the largest recreational community tennis league in the world, says WikiPedia, though a citation is needed.

In any case, folks will drive to play tennis. They will come to tennis facilities in the city to play their matches. My folks, who live in Newnan (charitably an Atlanta suburb), play at least one or two matches at Bitsy Grant each season.

So with all the budgetary problems in the City of Atlanta why not just ask ALTA (or tell them) to pay more to use these public facilities? Why have a dark day when you can charge an incremental fee for those folks who don’t actually live in the city but use the facilities?

I’m not the first person to suggest that suburbanites like myself who work in the city contribute in some way financially (I’m not sure taxation is the right nomenclature here, but it’ll do) to support the infrastructure that benefits their lifestyle. It would make sense that if the city can’t keep up the facilities on their current base then they should either scrap the courts (which is overreaching), close on some days (the current plan) or figure out an alternative source of revenue to keep them open.

The one defining characteristic of Atlantans - at least all the ones I knew in the suburbs as a child and the ones I work with now as an adult - they ALL eventually play tennis for at least a season or two.

I’m no economist or pundit but it seems to me that if there’s an issue that would really get folks who normally don’t think about City of Atlanta problems (other than to complain about crime or congestion), tennis is your ticket (racket?) to think about their impact and role within the city itself and not just as an interloper.

But what do I know? I’m trying to solve a shortfall through tennis. I need my head examined.

Climb on your own soapbox in the comments and rail against suburbanites like me, the Mayor’s office or tennis. We don’t mind; we encourage it.

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there is a great article in access atlanta today about the couple that bought and saved the plaza theater:

“It hit us: It’d be cool to try to keep that place open,” Jonathan said. “So we called and said, ‘How much you want for that place?’ I don’t know why. We just did it.”

They met with a broker, looked at the books, stopped by a bank.

Jonathan: “Finally we said, ‘Wow. I guess we can actually do this.’”

The joking stopped. Asking price for eveything but the leased building: $100,000

“I totally remember sitting at the dining room table going, ‘You want to do it? Are you sure we can do this? Maybe we shouldn’t do this,’ ” Gayle recalled.

Jonathan’s tie breaker: “It came down to, ‘I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s just do it.’”

So like a hipster remake of an old MGM musical, the Rejs did it. Almost two years later, they remain unlikely saviors of Atlanta’s oldest continuously operating movie house. For how much longer remains an open question.

the article goes on to discuss how the bread and butter of the plaza hasn’t been indie films like the owners thought, but rather special events like slasher flicks, grease sing-alongs and art shows in combination with films.

a quick check of the plaza’s web site shows some pretty neat stuff coming up including sideshow art combined with the movie killer klowns from outer space. who could beat that?

h/t to the atlmalcontent who says in his post, “the least cinephiles can do is help them break even by supporting the Plaza, real grass compared to the AstroTurf sameness of the multiplex.”

indeed.

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Seen on a bumpersticker on the way to work this morning: “Put that anta back in Atlanta”.

Opposition to airport codes, a dig at ATL Open/Brand Atlanta or subtle race-baiting in the local music scene?

Maybe everyone is just down on The ATL?

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i tried to tell you a long time ago. our hawks ended the nba’s longest playoff drought and snuck in as an 8 seed in the eastern conference finals.

the hawks open tonight against the celtics in boston. sekou smith has the match-ups, and you can see how hard it will be. the hawks have lost all the regular season games against the celtics by 10 points or more, getting blown out by 23 in the first meeting.

the celtics are arguably the best team in the nba, and one blogger is seriously hoping the hawks can just win ONE game.

the hawks are 15.5 point underdogs, which according to some is probably a good bet. i’d offer to bet my friends over at the boston metblogs but i am a realist.

either way they are in the dance and it’s nice to say i told you so…..

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well it appears that oft-discussed, oft-put off meger between atlanta’s own delta airlines and minneapolis-based northwest may actually be happening as the two airlines agreed to merger terms (ajc here.) while we can debate whether this is a good thing for the airline industry (this author thinks yes), one thing is very clear to me at least.

if the terms of delta’s memo to it’s employees are correct, namely, “the company is named Delta, headquartered in Atlanta;” then this merger is probably a good thing for atlanta and in particular atlanta based flyers.

a few reasons i see -

1) access to northwest’s asia routes. delta is a great carrier to europe but it’s asian routes blow. northwest has a booming hub at tokyo’s narita airport, and a whole slew of asia routes direct from the states out of it’s detroit and msp hubs. this merger will make getting from atlanta to asia a ton easier.

2) access to two more midwestern hubs and their associated regional jet routes. this will open up more destinations in the northern midwest along with more flights.

3) maybe northwest’s service culture will leave a mark on delta’s? just hoping on this one…

anyway, that’s how this (somewhat) frequent flyer sees it. you?

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no news on the marta web site yet, but the austin business chronicle reported several days ago that cap metro (austin’s excellent transit service) would be losing their coo and evp, dwight ferrell, to atlanta.

from the article it seems that ferrell is highly regarded and this appointment is just the kind of proven executive that atlanta’s system may need.

as a public service i thought we would open up comments here on what you would like to see marta’s new coo focus on. i know i would like them to get the darn led displays working properly.

you?

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A customer at Parkgrounds said that there were signs going up in Cabbagetown. These signs read things like What’re You Looking At? and Thanks for Gawking. None of these signs appeared in any news reports I saw, despite all the coverage of the Cabbagetown damages.

Saturday morning, the Ides of March, the day after the tornado, the streets were dotted with people with cameras. Little amateur cameras, big digital SLRs, cameras with long lenses, cameras aimed out car windows, cameras in cell phones. Some folks drove around, popped open their car doors, snapped a shot, and moved on. Some walked from East Atlanta Village, where trees were laid across a handful of streets and an empty lot had become a graveyard for worn-out trunks, to Cabbagetown, where houses had become timbers and cars had been crumpled. They captured the honesty, the hurt, the shock, the confusion, the startling vulnerability of our homes and lives, the brutal unpredictability of the world’s impact on our illusory invulnerability.

It’s my feeling that un-doctored photography is, on some level, honest. It captures and reproduces; it doesn’t translate or imitate. It doesn’t render. It’s not a shameful thing to take a picture of someone else’s woe. It’s not crass to capture suffering on camera, because suffering is genuine and real and thus fair game for an honest medium. It happens, and so it can be recorded.

Saturday morning, I thought maybe I’ve been wrong. Maybe it’s more than awkward or un-neighborly to photographed a smashed home. Maybe it’s worse than rude. I’m still undecided.

What do you think?

(Photo by Elemess)

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So, I driving down to the airport and right at the “Grady Curve” I have 7 motorcycles pass me at - honestly - 80 to 90+ MPH. They are all weaving in and out of traffic and lanes. It’s just like a race was going on around me. I’ve encountered this phenomenon a number of times on the 75/85 corridor. Since I’ve been witness to this type of “death wish” activity so many times, I began to wonder if it’s some sort of underground extreme sport: Racing at amazing speeds down crowded interstate highways. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the open road here. I’m talking the downtown connector.

Have any of you encountered this phenomenon? I can’t think of anything else to call it. I’m sure I’ve seen these incidents at least 10-15 times in the last year or two. Any thoughts?

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