Posted by David on www.practicalmadness.com.
January 08, 2003

Chicago to Vienna: $15

Quoth Jenny, with regard to Starbucks: "By 'community coffeehouse', we mean 'corral'."

Whatever possessed someone from Vienna's venerable Julius Meinl coffee chain to open their first and only American shop in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, I'm glad it happened, because nothing in American coffee -- not Peet's, certainly not Starbucks or Caribou -- can compare to the experience of a true, proper kaffehaus.

Thanks to my wonderful employers, here's what we expect of coffee shops in America: you stand in line, look up at a McDonalds-style menu, order and pay upwards of $2.50 for some concoction of battery-acid espresso and lukewarm steamed milk. You get your drink in a paper cup and split before the crowd of people behind you can swarm in for their own drinks.

This, my friends, is why, when Starbucks announced plans to open stores in Vienna, there were protests and even attempts to burn the first store down before they were finished building it.

Moments into a visit to Meinl's in Chicago, one can understand why. The Viennese take their coffee seriously not only as a beverage, but as a culinary and cultural experience. Coffeehouses are where the Viennese have always gathered to smoke, enjoy a good coffee and argue the meaning of existence.

And they do so in perhaps the most refined, sophisticated spaces imaginable. Meinl's has managed to manufacture such a space here in Chicago; a theorist could argue that in manufacturing something that is like a Viennese coffeehouse, and not spontaneously, intrinsically a Viennese coffeehouse, Julius Meinl Chicago exists semiotically somewhere just this side of Disney World. Such a theorist can kiss my shiny, metal butt.

Meinl's is simply a great place to hang, and do they ever encourage hanging. Perhaps it's because we were there on a weeknight when there was nothing compelling enough playing at the nearby Music Box Theater to draw a bigger crowd, but the space just reeks of intimacy and calm. Several Wrigleyville denizens were in there with laptops and Wi-Fi cards (I don't know if Meinl's is rigged for Wi-Fi but it wouldn't surprise me); it seems like the nicest place imaginable to write a novel. (Maybe J.K. Rowling should come to Chicago to finish that damned Harry Potter book...)

I ordered Meinl's Millennium Torte, a luscious chocolate torte served with a drizzle of raspberry coulis and vanilla custard cream. Jenny had an Opera Torte, with layers of hazelnut, espresso and burnt sugar, with caramel sauce on the side. Both of us ordered espressos (hers a single, mine a double), which was served in the traditional Viennese manner: in china cups, on silver trays, with a tiny demi pitcher of cream, a glass of water and a piece of rich chocolate on the side.

Altogether the bill came to a little under $15, which is more than one would expect to spend at Starbucks (Meinl's pastries range from $4-7; Starbucks's are $1.25-$2.50) but you truly do get what you pay for, and then some. Like Starbucks, Meinl's has a wide selection of retail swag, all imported from Vienna -- straight from Vienna. All the labels are in German, and the prices are far from what you'd pay for comparable stuff at, say, Whole Foods. In America, these things are premium; in Europe, they're simply expected.

The seating is open, and there is table service, which was polite and as swift as could be expected from the cafe's one, lone waiter. In fact, even their to-go coffees are kind of expected to be consumed in-store, at the little standing tables nearest the door. We chose a small table in the very back; nearly all the seats are of the big and comfy variety, and I sprawled out on a small sofa. The lighting is suitably subdued, and the clientele not terribly annoying in their yuppiness.

What I liked most was the general lack of pretension; the staff are extremely respectful of the environment they're trying to cultivate, and treat guests as such. This is a far cry from my beloved employers, who send people out into their cafes only for cleaning and to sample things in order to generate more sales. Meinl's is a very low-pressure environment, and the laid-back quality is what made our visit there so soothing. Simply put, the place is as comfy as a Caribou, as delectable as Peet's and more elegant than Starbucks could ever hope to be.