A Queen East/Leslieville coffee tour
Out in Leslieville (actually the very edge of Leslieville right before you get to the yucky new Woodbine condo/house zone), just east of Coxwell at Ashdale Ave, I come across the newest Ideal Coffee branch. It was very dead, unlike Red Rocket Coffee or Darkhorse Coffee down the street. Perhaps the Eastenders are suspicious of anything originating West of the DVP? And with Mcdonald's across the street, it was interesting to watch the hardcore locals cross the street to go to mcd's rather than try Ideal's excellent $2 americano...weird.
Well since I happen to love people watching, Ideal Coffee Leslieville might not be very ideal.... An inside view shows they've got the ideal space though:
I skipped Red Rocket Coffee this time--their coffee isn't that great unless you like adding tons of sugar to your bitter brew and are part of the Mac-designer geek crowd, but here's a photo anyway:
I also go here for nostalgic reasons: I get to imagine I'm still living in Vancouver.
I haven't made it to these Queen East coffee joints yet.... All look very tempting for different reasons.
Darkhorse supposedly is to-die-for coffee, Tango has this really cool darkened room vibe, while Mercury is the odd ball on the south side of Queen--ever noticed how Queen East has mostly crappy chain stores etc on the south side?