Top 5 Coffee places

Coffee is a large part of the modern adult's life. You can't wake up without it and it's a fantastic thing to drink at night when you're studying/working. For me, it's often one of the first things I drink and the last thing I drink before going to bed. I also often study at coffeehouses as it inspires me to actually work instead of goofing off on my computer.

I've compiled a list of top 5 coffeehouses I love in no particular order.

1. Tuscany Premium Coffee

• Favorite Drink: Vanilla Latte
• Location: 5 E Greenway Plz Ste C610, Houston, TX77046
• Pro: Their latte come with elaborate coffee art. They make all their own syrups and the baristas are super friendly. Their cookies are also pretty darn delicious and if you sit at the bar and converse with the barista, sometimes they let you taste new coffee.
  
• Con: It's hard to find and it's in a food court. Not to mention, they close at 5 and they only validate 2 hours of parking.

2. Inversion Coffee

• Favorite Drink: Latte
  
• Location: 1953 Montrose Boulevard, Houston, TX 77006
• Pro: Sunny and spacious, it's a great place to study. They have wonderful decor and a food truck outside. Inversion also sells 50% old pastries and apparently smoothies. Also, they're opened late (around 10 pm).
  
• Con: Parking is really hard to find
  

3. Salento

• Favorite Drink: Mocha
  
• Location: 2407 Rice Boulevard, Houston, TX 77005
• Pro: Located in Rice village AND at Rice, Salento has fantastic coffee and food. Seriously, try their brie sandwich and empanadas. It's also a great place to meet up with people and chat but they have free wi-fi in the morning for people to work. I can probably credit at least four of my papers to Salento mocha.
  
• Con: Free wi-fi is stopped at 6 pm and it may be too dim to study during the night as everything is by candlelight.
  

4. Agora

• Favorite Drink: Greek iced coffee/ Earl grey lavender tea
  
• Location: 1712 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77098-1612
• Pro: It's opened until really late (2 am), the clientele is pretty international and many people are open to conversation. They also serve wine and beer as well as sodas, so if you don't want just coffee/tea...try those out. Wednesday has belly dancers so that's always a rowdy day. Otherwise, Agora is really nice to study or for a good chat on couches.
  
• Con: Crowded, oftentimes loud, and their mochas taste more like chocolate milk. The stairs to get upstairs are also kind of steep, so be careful when you're balancing a full cup of hot drink. The owner could also be kind of gruff on a busy day.
  

5. Catalina

• Favorite Drink: Cappuccino/everything
  
• Location: 2201 Washington Avenue, Houston, TX 77007
• Pro: Small, intimate location with comfortable chairs. The baristas are pretty nice and they have fantastic selection of coffee. Pretty much anything here is worth drinking. The espresso is just fantastic and it's just really nice and quiet so you can get a lot of work done (bookwork that is).
  
• Con: They close too early for me (8 pm), and it's hard to actually get there. It's also kind of hard to find if you don't know where it is. Also, don't bring a laptop...they don't really have more than one plug. Do your bookwork here.
  

Honorable Mention:

1. Rice Coffeehouse
2. Coffee Groundz
3. Katz (not actually a coffee place, but it's 24 hours and they have some awesome coffee)
4. House of Pies (also not a coffee place, but they serve coffee and you can get pie, and it's 24 hours)

Farrago's - easy breezy brunch

Quality	Ambiance	Service
7.0	8.0	7.0

Location: 318 Gray St, Houston, TX 77002
Phone: (713) 523-6404
Cuisine: Modern American
Price range: each item $8 - 12
www.farragohouston.com

Farrago is located right in the fashionable Midtown district, which means that parking will be impossible. There is a parking garage that offers free parking for up to 3 hours and you can usually find a place there, but the street side parking will be a nightmare.

Farrago is relatively spacious, with generous outdoor seating. It may be a bit awkward as some of those seats are right next to the road. But if you don't mind sitting next to pedestrians and drivers, it's a wonderful way to catch a bit of Houston weather before it gets unbearably humid and hot. The interior of Farrago is comfortable in hues of warm red and brown. There are rumors of live music at certain times, so you may want to look that up.

As suggested, we went to Farrago for brunch. The menu was interesting and we ended up ordering Spinach and Feta Souffle and Cajun Benedict. Also exciting was the bottomless mimosa on the menu. If there is one thing that makes brunch awesome, it's that it's perfectly okay to have an alcohol laced drink before noon. For $10 + entree, bottomless mimosa is a fantastic deal if you want to get your drink on before noon. However, I find that one mimosa was a solid amount for me to face the weekend. Their mimosa also has the right ratio of orange juice sweetness to champagne tang, so I highly recommend you to order some.
The spinach and feta souffle came with a toasted cheese stick, which was super fluffy. The actual souffle was not bad...although it was really more reminiscent of a steamed egg omelet than an actual souffle. The sauce that it came with was creamy but a bit bland.

The actual Cajun Benedict was superb. The potatoes that it came with were a tad dry, but as with all potatoes, it's hard to really disparage them no matter how they are prepared. The eggs were poached just to the right amount, so while it was solid, the yolk was still moist enough to not crumble. The Cajun cream sauce it came with had actual little crawfish in it and the biscuit was fluffy.

Service at Farrago's was a bit slow, but it wasn't terribly so. Our orders were taken promptly and it wasn't too long before we got our food. However, the waiters kind of disappeared after we got our food, and it was difficult to get their attention.

Overall, I think it was a mildly pleasant experience and I wouldn't mind coming back but not on my own. However, for the food and service...I find that it's a bit overpriced, but that's sort of a defining mark of Midtown. It's a lovely place to go for a brunch gathering with your friends and there were plenty of large groups and couples there, but I wouldn't go there just for the food.

Any suggestions as to where I should go next? Leave a comment!

Van Loc - makes me miss Mai's

Quality	Ambiance	Service
6.5	6.0	4.0

Location: 3010 Milam Street, Houston, TX 77006
Phone: (713) 528-6441
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Price range: each item $2 - 10

First and foremost, Farrago will be coming up - but in the mean time, Van Loc.

Van Loc is a pretty popular place for Vietnamese food among the student population as it's accessible by metro rail. It's a casual place and it's good on both the student budget and the belly. The most exciting thing at Van Loc may be their bright chrysanthemum below their counter shrine...which says a bit about the rest of the experience. Oh, and they're opened until 11 pm Mon -Th, and midnight on Fri - Sun, so it's really nice for late night Vietnamese food.

The menu itself is pretty standard...pho, vermicelli, rice of chicken/pork/beef/tofu, but it lacks the variety of other Vietnamese places. Usually, you can order parts of beef like tendons/tails/etc for your pho...but you only get to pick between well-done and medium-done here. The broth is pretty good, but I disliked the noodles for some reason. The rice dish at Van Loc is pretty mediocre. The portions served are also pretty standard for Vietnamese food...that is to say, large.

Like most other Vietnamese places, you can also get a nice cup of ca phe su da to go along with your food. Ca phe su da is essentially personal drip coffee with condensed milk poured over ice - and it's delicious! It's pretty hard to go wrong with condensed milk and coffee...there is also a warm option available, called ca phe su nong.

The service at Van Loc is, like the rest of the place, mediocre. The waitress seemed to rush our ordering and answered our inquiries for different beef cuts a bit harshly. Granted, it was near closing...but there were other guests too!

My feelings toward Van Loc is met by ambivalence. I prefer Mai's...but it sort of burned down. Of course, I might be romanticizing Mai's, but I really do miss their larger selection of pho and their more flavorful broth. I also prefer Givral's and Pho Saigon to here...but I'd come back to Van Loc's again for late night Vietnamese (as it's one of the few Vietnamese place open past 9).

Any suggestions as to where I should go next? Leave a comment!

Brasil - good food with a dollop of hipsters

Quality	Ambiance	Service
8.0	7.0	5.0

Location: 2604 Dunlavy Street. Houston, TX 77098
Phone: (713) 528-1993
Cuisine: Modern, American
Price range: each item $5 - 12

Brasil is one of the best known places on Westheimer and ideal for people watching. Located right next to Domy bookstore on Westheimer, Brasil and Domy hosts movie screenings during the summer and live music can often be heard on the patio of Brasil. Every time I come around, I never cease to be amazed at the large range of hipsters that frequents the place.

The food at Brasil is really what keeps me coming back. The menu is sizable, and their penchant for goat cheese continues to draw me in. Despite the name, don't expect actual Brazilian food - most of it follows modern American cuisine. Which is not really anything to be too upset about (unless you're looking for actual Brazilian food). Brasil has one of the best pizza around. The Alsace pizza, with red onions and prosciutto, is tasty and large enough for 2 to eat. The Mediterranean sampler is also just right for two to eat. The hummus and baked chickpeas has a vibrant taste while the olive salad and the artichoke, pine-nut dip provides a lovely compliment. The pita bread they come with are also excellent and the right amount of chewy. As for coffee, you're probably better off going to Empire Cafe right across the street (and serves very similar fare with similar ambiance), but Brasil's coffee is not bad either. Their ice coffee is refreshing, but their mixed coffees are a bit too sweet. But Brasil still rates high on my food list.

The dining area is large - there are three main places for dine-in: the area directly adjacent to the counter, the patio, and the middle section which sort of resorts a glorified warehouse. Despite the large space, there may be some claustrophobia due to how close the seats are. The general din of the other customers are easy enough to block out, so sound isn't that big of an issue. However, the music being played are usually enjoyable and range from the indie pop to obscure.

The service at Brasil isn't exactly the most outstanding. The servers do tend to stand around and look more interested in being cool than actually helping you. You can almost hear them judging you as soon as you walk in the door. As Domy is connected to Brasil, you might find that your server is now hanging around the bookstore instead. Since you make your orders at the counter before finding your spot, the actual ordering may take a little bit especially around busy hours. It also takes a little while before the food comes out, but not extravagantly so.

Anyways, I'd come back to Brasil again, if not for the food, then definitely for those summer nights when the patio is open and a good film is playing. It's also a lovely place for a brunch date.

Any suggestions as to where I should go next? Leave a comment!