And Now There's One In Venice.

We decided to go to Intelligentsia. The one in Pasadena, not Silverlake. There was mercifully no line stretching down the block peopled with flannel wearing bearded guys staring mindlessly into their smartphones while talking really loudly about what "projects" they are working on with people with names like "Bruce" and "Kyle".

No, it was just us. Lucky us. It was my fault really since I decided I needed to use the facilities. The delightful one in the antique store I would use a couple hours hence would just not do so we popped into this joint where we were immediately confronted with a woman behind the counter who seemed to be in a trance, hypnotized by the motion of the stirring water as she stirred it with a long spoon. Another lady down the counter was similarly undone by a kettle of warm water. Presumably dazed by all the bubbles that were in there.

They finally noticed we were standing there, and they cooly informed us that there was a menu. Which there was with a total of seven options for coffee each one even more unpronounceable than the first and each boasting origins from countries which I don't think technically exist.

We managed to get our orders in, and I managed to get directions to the the loo which was only two flights down. It was nice, which you would expect for a cup of coffee which costs $6.45 and takes 12 minutes to make. I returned from the loo, and waited with my party for the coffee which eventually came and which tasted, unremarkably, like coffee. I was too wearied by the experience to complain that they only had animal milk on offer, but looking back I sorta wish I made a fuss about it. Just to keep it real yo.