This morning I was going to pack up the truck full of boxes and drive across the GG Bridge to my school. It is always a foreboding feeling of walking into my classroom at the end of summer, which technically doesn't end for 16 more days. As I was fiddling around with a couple of boxes of papers that I should never have boxed, but threw out instead in June, I told my wife about today's plan. Janine told me to wait and go on Thursday. I really like it when Janine tells me not to work. So, change of plans for today.
She got up early to take a 6:30 shower since the water was going to be shut off on our street at 7 am. For once, she was actually ready to go to work by 7:45, so I decided to hitch a ride, and we went out to coffee in the Mission District, which is on the way to her work. Of course, there are several cafes in the Mission, on Valencia and the adjoining blocks. But, drive another few blocks to Folsom and 20th, where I used to take writing classes through Writing Salon, and it is easy to find several cafes that spot this post industrial, loft spaced, hip neighborhood, that is somewhere between Mission and Potrero Districts. A favorite cafe in the area is Atlas Cafe, which has amazing espresso, good sandwiches and excellent salads.
My wife wanted to try Progressive Cafe, which she drops into from time to time on her way to work when she has time. I ordered a cappucino and she ordered a soy latte. The cafe is open until 10 pm, which is more common in the Mission, but not in my sleepy neighborhood. A sign in front advertised a band playing next weekend, and an application for a limited cabaret license was posted in the window (as is the regulation in San Francisco). The menu had the usual bagel and baked goods array for breakfast, and a reasonably priced lunch menu, as well as appetizers that focused on Mediterranean food. They even have beer and wine. Progressive is a place that one could come anytime of the day. It has plenty of space, and since it is on a corner, plenty of large windows. The furniture is what I consider standard issue 1970s cafe - wood tables and chairs, as well as three sets of sidewalk tables. Old timey, 1930s - 50s jazz maintained the mood. Free wifi was also available.
Oh, and of course the coffee. My double cap was delivered in a large bowl size cup, that was more common before the boutique coffee houses downsized the cappucino to two shots of espresso and 4 ounces of milk. This large bath of a cup often has it pitfalls, typically washing out the coffee with milk, and destroying the flavor of the coffee, but this was not the case. The coffee had a cocao after taste that lasted well in the cup a half hour after being served. I enjoyed the cappucino very much.
As is the case of several of the cafes in this pocket of the east Mission district, friends often meet, several others meet for business meetings. The different between cafes in this part of town and the Haight and NOPA is that people are not afraid to talk to each other, as opposed to just look down at their laptops and focus on the mundane internet and emails, when their friends are just around the corner, waiting to meet and chat at a cafe, just like Progressive.
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