Big Dogs

If you want to run with the big dogs, you gotta learn to hike your legs.

That's one of my dad's favorite expressions. I have some notion what it means, but none of its significance. I like the saying though - like when Oz observes the caged zombie cat on the Dead Man's Party episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (best TV series ever, in case you were wondering), and says... well, somewhat anticlimactically, "I like it."

But back to the reason for this: Big Dog Coffee. I work in the Southside Works, and until now, the only coffee choices were Caribou Coffee and Crazy Mocha. While I like the Crazy Mocha in Bloomfield, the one on the South Side doesn't seem to make coffee quite as strong as Bloomfield; and Caribou's coffee is better anyway, so I usually go there.

Big Dog is much, much better. They use Intelligentsia Coffee, and so it has roughly the same excellent taste as the Strip's 21st Street Coffee, although 21st Street uses a Clover to brew a single cup at a time.

Big Dog is very classy - rich wood, vivid but pleasing colors, and a roughly European feel I lack the vocabulary to describe adequately. Its only problem is the location; it's tucked behind the Goodwill, down an alley, so they're far less likely to get shopping traffic.

But as a neighborhood coffee shop, it's outstanding. Not quite as outstanding as Enrico's Tazza D'Oro in my own neighborhood, Highland Park - but hey, that's a very high bar indeed. They'll get their own long posting soon, but I was overjoyed to find a great coffee shop near work.