We started out inside Old Soul @ Forty Acres in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento. We then went across the street to an abandoned building (that I love). There was a VW bus parked on the street so naturally it became a backdrop for a few of the shots.
To see the photos she took, you can visit her Tumblr page.
Here are a few I took that day.
Downtown Roseville is a small stretch of Vernon Street lined by shops and restaurants. There is a walking bridge to the Union Pacific and Amtrak Capital Corridor train station and Old Roseville.
I have been to Roseville many times since we used to live nearby, yet I had never been to Old Roseville. Unfortunately, it looked like a majority of the businesses in that area were closed and of the 5 people I saw out there, 2 were homeless. Not good odds. I hope the city can get traffic increased to that area, I like the feel of it much better than the other "richer" areas of Roseville.
Here are a few shots from my evening.
It was a rainy day in SF and there wasn't that much by way of signage on the shop, but we found it without a problem. When walking through the door there is a pour-over coffee bar to the left and a fair amount of seating on the right. While standing in line the girl in front of me was wearing rollerskates so I made sure to snap a photo for instagram.
They had multiple espresso stations going so getting my drink didn't take long at all. The roaster is in the back of the building and was lined with bar seating on the way to the bathroom (I also included a photo of the powder soap in the bathroom that I thought was cool). I noticed on Google maps they have interior shots of Fourbarrel's shop, so seeing this might help with the layout a bit.
When I ordered my soy latte, I asked the barista if she minded that I take a few shots while I was there. She replied, "uh, yeah!" With that response, I thought we had another Sightglass-style incident, but she quickly smiled and said, "only if I'm in all of them!" Her name is Elicia and I made sure to get a shot of her before I left. I received smiles or head nods from all of the employees when they saw me with my camera and didn't get any weird vibes from anyone.
Andy and I sat at the bar seating along the front window and looked out onto the street. After I finished my latte, I went to the "front bar" where they serve the pour-over coffee. I asked the guys if they minded me taking some shots and they said, "thank you for asking, most people don't." I began talking coffee with Bradley and he asked what other coffee shops I had visited. Of course, I mentioned our visit to Blue Bottle in Rockefeller Plaza and Caffe Vita in the Lower East Side while we were in NYC. I also mentioned our hopeful trip to London in October and he gave me a list of spots to visit, many of which match up with the list I got from my twitter friend Julie. He told me he was involved with opening a couple of the shops that are in Sacramento too!
I had a great time chatting it up with the folks at Fourbarrel. They have a great vibe in the shop and seem to stay away from the coffee snobbery, which was nice.
Here are a few photos!
As we exited the freeway toward downtown Petaluma we noticed the streets were packed with people. Come to find out it was the Butter and Eggs Festival, basically a giant party taking up mutiple city blocks. Luckily we found a dirt parking lot, ditched the cars and began walking.
We grabbed a bite to eat and walked by Acre Coffee. Bound by my inability to pass a coffee shop without entering, we did just that. Their space was incredibly clean and uncluttered and the decor was simple and neat. The baristas were friendly even though I was preoccupied with snapping photos instead of ordering. One of the baristas (don't remember her name) asked where she could see the photos. Unfortunately, I didn't have any cards printed up, so I had to write it on a sticky note.
For some reason Acre Coffee didn't come up on my Google search but I'm sure glad we found it. We weren't there long but I enjoyed it.
Here are a few photos.
Pizza Rock is on K street in Downtown Sacramento near the Crest Theater. We placed our order and walked down K street to Cathedral Square, home to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. What an amazing looking building!
We loitered for about 15 minutes, went back to Pizza Rock to get our food and head to Jess' apartment. Mal and Jess, being the mac & cheese conneisseurs they are, noticed a different taste than the last time they had it and called Pizza Rock to see if the recipe had changed. The manager said he would personally taste the mac & cheese to see if the taste was off and refunded our money. That is great customer service! My pepperoni pizza was splendid.
Here are some shots from the evening.
One night last week, Jesse, Malisa and I visited Broadacre Coffee in Downtown Sacramento and I made sure to bring the camera. Their location on 10th Street was previously Levinson's Books and became a Temple Coffee in 2005. Last year, Temple moved a block away and the lovely Danish-inspired building laid dormant, until the Broadacre boys came along! Broadacre Coffee begain in Fall of 2011 by 'four handsome baristas' and is already one of the most popular coffee spots in town. A couple of the Broadacre boys started Bloom Coffee in Roseville years ago, but Broadacre is now is their main focus. I will make one comment about Broadacre taking over this location. It always felt small when Temple was there but the remodel the guys did and choice of a lighter colored paint really helped to open the room up. It no longer feels like a dungeon.
While the guys don't roast their own coffee (as far as I'm aware), they get it from some of the best roasters in the country including Heart, Ritual, Insight (also in Sacramento), Intelligentsia, Verve, Coava and Stumptown.
While I was there getting my latte (and bacon glazed donut courtesy of Doughbot) I spoke with Justin. He prepared a pour-over for another customer and we talked about their Second Saturday Bicycle Coffee Tour. The bike tour is a great way for Sacramento coffee drinkers to get acquainted with the other shops in town. Even though Broadacre is one of the newer shops around, they are doing some creative things (like the bike tour and the pop-up shop) that cause them stand out.
Another thing I must mention is their 'memory' wall started by local photographer Nicholas Wray. On this wall you can take one of his photos, but must exchange it with one of your own. I wonder how many of the photos are his and how many have been exchanged already. I'll have to get some of my Instagram photos printed to exchange.
Oh, and, if you go in to visit, don't mention the misspelled words on the menu board, the guys already know about them...
Here are a few of the pictures, enjoy!
The roaster was in the front of the shop with the espresso bar toward the back. They have some seating along the bar and across the front window but most of it is upstairs in the loft area.
We walked a fair stretch to Sightglass so I wanted a iced soy latte. The barista said "we don't serve our espresso drinks iced." Ok, fair enough. I then asked if he could add some soy to my iced coffee. "If you want to soften your coffee, you can do that in the back" was the response I received. Malisa and I drink a lot of coffee and have had it from multiple cities, I know how I like it. I didn't walk in with a Folger's t-shirt on, why the attitude?
It seemed like all of the employees went out of their way to not make eye contact or make conversation. The location and decor was good to look at but I can't say that I'll be visiting Sightglass again anytime soon.
Here are some photos from our visit, enjoy!
The tour was around $15 and lasted over an hour. There were 60 of us waiting for the tour so we were split into 3 groups. We entered through the Giants Dugout Store and made our way toward the field. We were able to see the Visitor's Clubhouse (locker room) where the Pittsburgh Pirates uniforms were hung for game that night. It is very rare that tourists are able to see the clubhouse with the uniforms, but we did! We entered the field through the Visitor's Dugout. It was pretty incredible to be in the dugout and on the field while the grounds crew prepared for the game.
The tour guide gave us information about the field, players and history of the team. One thing that stuck out to me was the dirt they use on the field, it is actually a special blend of clay and brick. The dirt they were previously using blew onto the players and into the stands on windy days so they changed it between seasons. The park overlooks the bay so windy days are very common.
The guide took us to the upper level and sat us down in the seats. The perspective from the upper level shows the expanse that is AT&T Park. On a clear day, you are able to see across the bay to Oakland (boo A's!) and down into McCovey Cove. During games, kayakers sit in the cove waiting for a homerun ball to sail over the wall, called a Splash Hit. This was a more common occurence when Barry Bonds was playing, he hit 35 of the 60 balls that have made their way into McCovey Cove. By the way, there have been more homeruns hit over the wall from visiting teams, but of course we don't count those!
During the tour we also saw the press box, Virgin America level (with airplanes on the windows), box seating areas and some memorabilia, including the 2010 World Series trophy! There are also 24 baseball-related quotes up all over the park. I'm sure we did not see all of them.
Our tour ended where it began and I left the park with a desire for sunflower seeds, a mustard dog and some garlic fries.
When we toured Safeco Field in Seattle last year, it was cool but the Mariners aren't our team. Being where the Giants play was much more special to us. Neither of us follow sports but baseball holds a special place in our hearts and the Giants have been both of our team since we were young.
Enough talk, here are some photos. Enjoy!
I loved how clean and open the room felt, the ceilings were probably 20 feet tall. Another thing I can point out was the pastry bags were actually cone filters. I thought that was a nice touch.
With as many coffee shops (across the country) we visit, I probably should be commenting more on the specific notes and taste of the coffee but I like to incorporate the feeling of the entire visit. Obviously the taste of the coffee is incredibly important, but that's not the only reason I would visit. The cleanliness, accessability (parking or proximity to public transit) and barista interaction matter probably just as much.
I must say, this BB location did a great job at all of those things.
Here are a few photos, enjoy!
Also, I should have realized, with it being winter and all, that all of the plants and grass would be dead so it wasn't nearly as nice as I had imagined. I think it would have been a lot better to visit it in spring. I ended up getting a lot of shots of the nearby buildings but otherwise there wasn't much to see.
Here are a couple shots, enjoy!
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