By paJAVAgirl

    It's a chilly start to our September holiday. After a long and complicated journey from the forests of New Jersey we were finally in New York city. We started our journey at Central Park South and 6th Avenue. Many hoity-toities to be found in this area, the Caffiend was impressed by the amount of nipples to be seen in this city. Apparently no one believes in sweaters.

    After walking down 5th Avenue we spotted a GNC which we ducked into to find Mr. Cakey Pant's requested drugs. The problem.... finding where I actually wrote what it was that he was looking for.

    The friendly clerk helped us find "phenyl-lalal-nime-nine-mine". Fortunately once we found the bottles I found the paper to confirm that this was, indeed, the drug of choice. Bonus 1 - buy 2 bottles and the price is cheaper. Bonus 2 - find 2 bottles that are priced cheaper than the rest and buy those ones.

    Whether this would result in the death of Mr. Cakey Pants by shoddy product was of no concern to us. er.... did I say that out loud? After trying to entice us with purchasing a membership to get an extra percentage off for the low-low price of too much money we paid Mr. Friendly Clerk for the drugs and were off.

    It was a long 30 block walk to our first destination of anime products. But really, that's another story not for coffee junkies who are reading this drivel. Suffice it to say it's another obsession of the Caffiend and I, as trusty sidekick with signing power (ah, power) over our travelling cash, am always present.

    We ended our multiblock tour of the city in the New York University area (NYU) tired and fast running out of steam. The answer to this dilemma was clear, find coffee, food or both - fast!

    There was a fleeting hope that we would find a cheap student hangout that had good food and cheap coffee. Where we ended up was none of the above. Caffee Panne & Chocciolatte (or some such chi-chi nonsense) was located at Waverly and Mercer. You know that you're at the lower end of the city when the streets actually have names.

    We chose a small table and perused the menus. There were a variety of coffee styles and strengths, equally as many cakes, pie, cookies... more sugar then one should be exposed to at a coffee joint. The young and uninterested university waitress eventually sauntered by to take our order. The second indication to us that this is not a student joint. (our first was the general age and designer-clothing-suggested wealth of the current patrons)

     The Caffiend decided to be 'Merican and ordered up the
"American" coffee (I'm sure you don't need a description of what this might be like) with an "American" style cheesecake. The cheesecake was made with the standard cream cheese & graham crust with no fruitlike goo drenching it. Yes, they called a good number of things American... like they were in some other country. I'm not lying to you about this. I'm still stunned.

    I decided on going European to match the new snobby airs I was developing from being in the city. I ordered the "Viennese" coffee, an espresso with chocolate and whipped cream and an
"Italian" cheesecake made with riccotta cheese.

    While enjoying our mid-afternoon caffeine sojourn we came to realize that there has been non-stop ABBA playing. This is a definite negative to the whole caffeine experience. Let me tell you, I am not a dancing queen, the waitress while young wasn't very sweet, and none of the other patrons could possibly be considered 17. Song after song in Swedish disco hell, I never thought that I'd make it out alive.

    The Caffiend said that the cheesecake was excellent... although I find it hard to believe since I barely saw it enter his mouth, so fast was the blur of the fork. After washing down the crumbs of graham crust with the last of his cup of coffee the pitiful cup sat empty for the rest of the meal. How American is that? In the land of the $3 buffet of cheap greasy food you can't even get a free refill of a $2 coffee? Bah I tell you! My cheesecake was lightly lemony and quite tasty, although it seemed a bit dry. Now, never having the "Italian" style of the dessert before I'm really not a very good judge. The coffee was good and strong.

    Yummy! And to support my theory of excellent espresso-ish coffee, they had a Faema machine. I don't know of too many places that actually invest in these Italian wonders but I would pay top dollar and sell the soul of The Caffiend for coffee made in one of these puppies. I was introduced to this wonderdrug during my days as Corporate drone in the Financial District. The big boys really like their coffee.

    We finished up our only free beverage, water and were back on the streets of NYC. Off to the Village to shop with the freaks.

Afterword by The Caffiend:

    After quickly quaffing my coffee, I discovered that I had to instantly urinate, so I took this opportunity to review the washroom in this establishment. As you can see from the cream coloured exterior shot, they carried the theme through to the industrial-looking restroom interior. Martha Stewart says:" It's a good thing".

Next stop.....MOMA.