This place is great.
I’m in Chicago for the PItchfork Festival (and blogging about it here.
I’m currently at Lovely – A Bakeshop. I’m eating a buttermilk raisin scone (Not sane, right?) and drinking a frothy mochacinno. This place has just about everything I look for in a coffee shop: a great variety of seating, plenty of space, friendly service, interesting decor, just a touch of food, good location (it’s about 4 doors down from where we’re staying), and good music (currently a lite mix of the happier side of mid-80s synth-pop).
And now here’s the story of why I’m an idiot and Yelp is sometimes no help at all.
I looked-up nearby coffee places on Yelp last night (on the iphone) and it directed me to the Ark, just 4 blocks away. So, this morning I got up, showered, made a plan with Accacia, and hit the street. I stopped at a bank first, and then proceeded to not turn on Division like I was supposed to. I don’t remember what deep thoughts had me so distracted, but I just kept marching down Milwaukee, and didn’t realize it until I’d gone about 4 blocks and started wondering where the Ark was. Urgh.
So, I took a corner through some apartment complexes, and walked up 3 blocks to the corner of Division and Noble, only to discover that the Ark is closed. Paper over the windows, with the word “closed” spray-painted on the front door. Ya gotta be kidding me, right?
Okay, so I google coffee and discover a Starbucks a couple blocks past the apartment on Division. Okay, that’s a sure thing, at least. But what’s Lovely? I’ll be it’s closed. Reverse path, back through the apartments, up Milwaukee and lo and behold Lovely does exist. It’s big, and beautiful, and just about 40 steps from where I started this little Saturday-morning odyssey.
At least I’m happy to be here. It feels like I earned it.