Intelligentsia

Today Intelligentsia Coffee Bar opened in Old Town Pasadena. I must say, I recommend it. You could tell that it was the first day too, because all the employees are falling all over themselves in order to do a good job...I like that. It makes it more likely that they will finally develop into a well-oiled machine that does a good job. In fact, the barrista gave me a card for a free coffee because she hadn't given me my iced coffee in a real glass. :o) Oh, and they give you a real napkin too! As you can tell by the picture, I was patron No. 1...though I was not the first No. 1 of the day. That's all right; it still feels fabulous to walk around with a sign that has a great big "1" on it.

I know you probably can't see much detail from this dark picture, but I really like the taste of whoever decorated Intelligentsia (I might add that the name Intelligentsia has this lovely bourgeois hipster ring to it). The walls are bare brick or bright blue. The ceiling is that of the inside of a warehouse where you can see all the circulation piping...but it has all of these light bulbs wrapped up in it that look like so many fireflies. Some of the chairs are actually old church pews (the hard ones!).
Now this is terribly silly of me, but I did not take a picture of my lunch! It was lovely too! I had a cheese sandwich, open-face with sheep's milk and goat's milk chevre on garlic toast. I was a little "iffy" on the sheep milk idea, but it was actually pretty great. The manager asked me how I liked it; of course, I said it was fabulous. He tells me that they will have a revolving menu, so it will be a little different every day. Apparently, he has very strong emotions for their "Lasagna Cupcakes." Perhaps, I will try these when I go in for my free coffee. :o)

This is the back...I love that there are all of these steel girders and posts in the place that have been painted red. Sometimes the best way to hide something that might not be so attractive is to paint it red and make sure that everyone does notice it.
If you want to check out Intelligentsia, it's at 55 Colorado Blvd. in Old Town Pasadena.

Well, this doesn't really have anything remotely to do with the restaurant other than that this is the window of the pawn shop next door. If you will note the two drums in the middle, someday I will have a drum like those too. I have these aspirations of beating out my heart on a drum on some lonely beach. I'm saving my pennies.
So, that was the fun I had today. Glad I went; I almost didn't go.
Talk to you later! :o)