Nancy Ketchman, a thoughtful reader, submitted this inquiry:
I wanted to add to your list of RIP coffee shops. Did you ever go
to Beanhead Cafe on MLK Jr.? It opened about 4 or 5 years ago to much
excitement in the Brewers Hill neighborhood. It was in a remodelled,
historic building (former site of a tea shop). It had a great vibe to
it, cool music, and was racially and economically diverse crowd (which,
as you no doubt have observed, is very rare in coffee shops around
Milwaukee). Many people I know visited Beanhead with great
expectations. Unfortunately, the service itself and the coffee was not
so great. Beanhead was closed when it was supposed to be open, took
forever just to get your order, and they charged a lot for substandard
food (e.g. storebought cookies as in from Pick n Save brought in!!).
Sadly but not unexpectedly, they closed within a year or so. It was so
sad 'cuz it was a very cool space and -- had the service and quality
and prices been at least average -- would have thrived. Sigh.
Here's my question to you: which coffee shop, in your opinion,
comes as close as possible to Beanhead in terms of racial and economic
diversity?
My response: tough one. I have to try not to reply with my instinctive response, as I don't drive across town to visit different coffeehouses, nor do I ever really find myself "just in the neighborhood". There are pretty much ruts in the road (or hiking trail) between my apartment, my office, and the various East Side/Riverwest/Bayshore area coffee shops.