Clifton Coffeshop.
Sitwells - Clifton
Edith Sitwell is a poet from the early 20th century that I know practically nothing about. But the owners of Sitwell's, a coffee shop in Clifton, must be fans as the shelves are lined with ragged books of her poetry. By all appearances, Sitwells seems like a pretty ragged place. We happened upon it prior to a movie at the Esquire, the art house theater in town. We walked in, enticed by the chalk board sign out front bragging about their Belgian waffles. Inside is cluttered with tiny tables and wobbly mis-matched wooden chairs, dim lighting and artwork from various local artists all over the place. Already read newspapers are strewn everywhere, there is no one to direct you to a table, or even make it clear if this is a table service or counter service type of place. So we stood around ignorantly until a harried college student waitress told us to choose any table.
I immediately ordered a chai so that I could have time to peruse the menu. Both times we have been there, we have missed waffle time (2pm I think) and had to choose something else. While their menu options are light, everything we've ordered has been great. My first time there I had the soup of the day which was some sort of mushroom cream thing (wonderful). Today we both had the Briemato sandwich, slightly melted brie, tomato and greens on a toasty criossant. Our waitress, the same one we had last time, welcomed us back and told us that we were ordering the best sandwich on the menu. She wasn't kidding. It was so simple and so wonderful. The brie was perfectly creamy, the croissant was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and the tomatoes and greens were fresh. And the chai was perfect...if a little small....with the spices freshly mixed in and floating around the foam on top.
Sitwell's feels like it was made for late Sunday afternoon meals. It's the type of place you want to go to after running your errands on Sunday, when your big sunday breakfast has worn off and you need something to eat, but don't want to do anything fancy or formal. It's comfortable, warm and artsy in the way that only coffee shops near college campuses can really pull off. Conversations flow easily here and there's no pressure to pay up and head out after you've downed your teas, peeled any remaining melted brie off of you plate and wiped your mouth clean.
The casualness of this place is both the blessing and the curse of this place. I'd go here every Sunday with my favorite people, but wouldn't bring out-of-towners here as impressive is the last word used to describe this place.
Is this that place? B's review:
Chillness: university chill. Students, professors and others having nerdy conversations abound.
Price: Priced for the discerning dirt poor college student.
Food Quality: Comfortable, familier, warm and tasty. Trying something new or sticking to what you love will be the delima.
