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One of my favorite décor styles is the design of European cafés and bistros. While I'd prefer to hop a plane and sip my au lait at an authentic Parisian two-top, it's easy enough to shop for my café furniture here in the US. From Thonet bentwood chairs and varnished metal Marais stools to cafe curtains and old timepieces, a few bistro-style items can recreate the look of a sidewalk restaurant right here in my backyard. I've rounded up some of these stylish items to help you get the look.
Photo courtesy of NBC
As I think about warmer weather and less rainy skies, I'm excited to spend more time outside at a sidewalk cafe. However, it's sometimes hard to get to a cafe to lounge at one of their outdoor tables, so I'm hoping to get one for my own house. I adore this Pensi Cafe Table (shown here), but at $692, it's a little out of my budget.
To see a more economical alternative, read more
I never thought I'd want to live in an old boxcar, until I saw this cheerful cafe built into a converted train on Treehugger. Located in Deptford, London, the pop-up shop is selling sustainably farmed coffee while the nearby train station, originally built in 1836, is being renovated.
I'm surprised how sunny and spacious the space is. It makes me want to park an old train car outside my house and use it as a guest quarters. With so many old railway cars around, I wonder why more people don't do this. What do you think of the idea?
Would you pay $20,000 for a pot of coffee? James Freeman did.
When the man behind San Francisco's cult favorite Blue Bottle Coffee decided to open his first café — a step way above the original kiosk — he took the plunge and purchased a $20,000 halogen-powered coffee siphon bar. The bar, which is imported from Japan, is the only one like it in the US and is really a sight to behold. In fact, it doesn't really look like a coffee maker; at first glance you might even think it's some sort of gadget from Journey to the Center of the Earth — or perhaps some weird device found on the Lost island.
However, I'm here to tell you that it is indeed a coffee maker. It uses a technique known as siphon or vacuum, where water rises from the bottom chamber to the top. We recently met up with Freeman and he and his crew gave us the lowdown on how it works. To find out just what a $20,000 coffee bar can do, read more
Does Paris have room for another cafe? I guess that's a pretty silly question - sort of like asking whether or not I have room for another baked good (hint: the answer is always yes). However, does Paris have room for another McCafe? That's right a McCafe, as in McDonald's. Over the next two years, McDonald's is hoping to open 250 McDonald's-branded cafes in France. The move is being considered by McDonald's as a way to be considered more than just an American hamburger joint. The pilot McCafe is open now on the Champs Elysees and does not feature the classic McD's red & yellow colors, it uses a darker, richer color palette instead.
I'm personally not sure how this will do (although Starbucks broke through eventually), so maybe people will be okay with this. What I want to know is, if it does well in Paris, will McD's try to open some McCafes in the US too?
Source: Yummr
