ive been secretly boycotting de cafe since it's grand opening, so when J. invited me to coffee for a much needed catch-up session last night, i thought what the hell. everyone deserves a second chance. maybe they will prove me wrong.
they didnt.
you should know before i share my personal experience that the coffee was good. in fact, of all the coffee i've had in inwood over the years, it was by far "the best" but mostly because the only other options were diner coffee, dunkin donuts, or cafe espresso - so that might not really be saying all that much.
from a retail perspective (i had been in retail both store level and corporate operations for over 15 years so it's almost second nature to assess a selling floor the minute i walk through the door), i thought the place was a little messy. it was kinda like going to my friends house unannounced: shit is lived in and almost too comfortable for a place of business. maybe that's what they are going for. the decor is nice, but again, here in inwood, we arent really used to nice things so our standards arent exactly that high. one thing that really irked me was that there's a big, awkward garbage can in the room where you actually have to lift the lid to open it - and in a food and drink establishment the thought of all those dirty strange hands touching that same lid skeeved me out. they should order garbage pails with push lids, especially since there's no place to wash your hands. to the right of the counter is this cart that seems to be "the office" area. papers were spilling out and it was in complete disarray, the employee billboard was even in plain site. i suppose they wanted to use every inch of space possible so building an office wasn't practical. if they expand, my suggestion is someone take a trip to ikea or the container store and get organized. the mess out in plain site represents you to your customer, but that's just my opinion. the menu options look great, and i took one home but i dont think we'll be ordering there any time soon.
my issue is customer service, and not just with this place but many places in inwood, and i end up boycotting all of them, one by one. if im not having a good experience from beginning to end, i'll find somewhere else to spend my money, i dont care how delicious the food is. everyone knows im a big believer in spending my money locally, but i will not support places that appear to be exclusive. and what ive noticed over the last year is that there is a shift in local businesses on how poorly they treat "others." the "others" used to be white or upper class or newbies (however you choose to define it) because they weren't from here and were not necessarily welcomed, but yesterday at de cafe there was a new spin:
allow me to explain.
if you've met me you know that im puerto rican and look "ethnic," that is until i open my mouth and then i sound "white." this is what ive been told by many, many people and it's a bit annoying and frustrating that people are always surprised by my "accent." daniel is a jewish frat guy - and for the longest time was known as "the white guy" on nagel, until he moved to seaman ave. im explaining this all again for new readers who have yet to meet us in person.
as per their website, one of the owners of de cafe is a co-owner of the barbershop next door. when the barbershop first opened i thought it was fabulous. it was upscale and had that downtown feel. the young guys who owned it were fashion forward, and it was so great to finally have a nice place where my son could get a decent "downtown" haircut without hopping on the A. several months later, i told daniel about the new barbershop - and he went. the first time he got a really great cut by one of the owners, and was thrilled. the second time he was told to wait, and fine, shit happens, people wait all the time. the third and fourth time he kept getting passed over for "latin locals" who drove up in loud, expensive cars and would come in seemingly not having an appointment, not having to wait, yet still getting seated immediately. am i making assumptions? absolutely. because this is how it appeared to us. and im all for drug dealers when i feel like getting stoned, but if they take over a barbershop all at once, it can be a bit intimidating for anybody who is not part of that culture. the clientele, at the time, was NOT diverse. there was one type of guy getting his haircut in there every time we passed. i kept telling daniel, give them another chance, so, he did. and he waited over an hour, again, and ended up having some choice words with the barber and just walked out. he came home furious, claiming he was ignored because he is white.
he said they dont need our money, that they have plenty of money coming in.
and that was the end of that.
if you have ever experienced prejudice of any kind - you know exactly when it's happening. there is absolutely no question in your mind that you've just been jacked. it's happened to me over and over in the spanish speaking shops - apparently because i dont speak spanish im not a "proud latina" and have been told in no uncertain terms. there is this really intense reverse discrimination here. so when daniel comes home with his story, i was not shocked.
fast forward to last night, over a year of me promising to never give the owners another penny out of loyalty, i thought i'd give it shot anyway.
i arrived at de cafe a bit earlier than our scheduled time, and J. wasn't there yet. it was about 8pm and the place was empty. there were a couple of guys hanging outside speaking spanish, one of them was the barista. the nice young gentleman greeted me, moved his laptop off the table, and smiled. i walked to the counter, and he asked what i wanted, i said i wasnt sure yet. excellent, i thought. two gold stars for service. i didnt have my glasses so i looked up at the overhead board for a little bit longer than usual, trying to make out the offerings. nobody was behind me, so i didnt feel rushed. after a few minutes, he suggested that i take a menu because not everything was on the board. great, i thought, and ordered coffee. i turned around, looked outside, and noticed two older, white gentlemen had stopped in front of the cafe, debating on whether to enter. i smiled at one of them through the window. one came in, and literally took two steps before the barista rushed across the cafe to hand him a menu. it all happened so quickly and awkwardly that the other customer and i looked at each other, a bit confused. the barista then turned around so fast that he didnt realize i was behind him and knocked into me so hard i almost fell. he apologized and i sorta felt bad for him, but there was no question in my mind that this white guy who walked in was getting the red carpet.
the barista was literally falling over himself to make sure he had a menu in his hand the second he walked though the door.
interesting, i thought, because i was left to kind of figure out the menu on my own for a few minutes before i was even offered a paper menu.
so my question of the day is: has the tide finally turned?
are the whites and gentrifiers so important to local business that it's a detriment to ignore them the way daniel was ignored on so many occasions more than a year ago?
i should you tell that the rest of our time there was lovely. we stayed almost two hours on one drink each, and werent rushed out even though we didn't order anything else and kept the table. people came and went, and there was a young white woman behind me who stayed with her laptop for a bit. the spanish group behind J. were happy and laughing.
it's a very nice and much needed addition to inwood, i just hope in the future that everyone, of any race, religion and class, gets treated equally in both establishments - and not just by who (presumably) has more cash in his pockets.
Read More...
Summary only...
