I've returned...

So.

This is kind of awkward, but I seem to have closed the La-Jolla-dwelling chapter of my life. Don't get me wrong, I'll still visit. (It's where my favorite person lives, for Chai's sake!) But I'm not going to live in La Jolla. Not long-term anyway. Sure, I'll always love it. And I've made some lovely friends, most of whom I'd be really sad to think I'd never see again...

But I explored the coffeeshops, found my local ambrosia(s), fueled my insomnia...and now it's time to move on.

For nostalgia's sake, here's a little pit stop back in my home town. (It's not a chai place, but this was never really about The Perfect Chai. Surely that's become apparent. The music, the lurkability, the heart-warming heat of the drink-in-hand, the people...No, it was bigger than the chai in my belly--big as that belly may have gotten. It was about Finding Home.):

The Coffee Garden (2904 Franklin Blvd Sacramento CA 95818)

I used to come for the ambiance, but I'd buy a coffee and maybe a salad or a bagel so they wouldn’t kick me out. Even then, I felt like the unfriendly man at the cash register was itching to kick me out for being too happy.

I think I tried the chai, but it left no lasting impression. Similarly with the food. As for the coffee, there are a few roasts, and they let you fill up for yourself so you can even make your own special blend. Or just take a sip of each before choosing the lightest roast and chugging it like water. Or sipping it like your only excuse to be there and wondering if they'll let you re-heat it when it gets past the delicious-tepid-stage and into the unpleasantly-frigid-settling-into-grains. (They probably won't, but the first refill is free and the second is under a dollar...)

Hours: 6 a.m.-11 p.m. every day but Sunday (7 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sundays)

Service: One unfriendly man and a handful of charming barista ladies. And some guys too, probably. Mostly there’s just the one EXTREMELY unfriendly man, who I think owns the place or something, because his presence is inescapable. (I mostly forgive him because once he wore a shirt bedecked with a reference to Me and You and Everyone We Know.)

This one. On a brown shirt.

Seating: ADORABLE. Fairy lights outside and quirky metal sculptures everywhere. Chess sets and barstools! Coffee Garden, you know the way to this girl’s heart! I don't even care if you're vaguely emotionally abusive!

Eatables: Yeah, the use’ (that’s pronounced “youge,” like short for “usual”): salads, sandwiches, quiches, pastries, bagels, packaged overpriced vegan cookies, slightly-overripe and overpriced fruits, etc.

People: Cute, musically-inclined (Like I said, I'd come for the ambiance, which was my favorite on the open mic nights on Thursdays...) Apparently they also host gay-man game nights and atheist nights, if those are your scenes.

Music: Open mic!