So it’s the end of the week, and I’m incredibly scatterbrained at the moment for some reason. I’m at my parents’ for the weekend–it’s my dad’s birthday today.
I took the 3:50 pm Brunswick Line MARC train up to Frederick from Union Station this afternoon. I picked the drunk train. (Fox 5 did a story about it on the late night news once. It’s a real thing.) At Rockville, some dude whom I had never met before wordlessly handed me a Sierra Nevada IPA after sitting down in the next seat. It was kind of awesome. (We subsequently talked.)
I seem to be spending a lot of time on/near Capitol Hill lately. The other day I noticed that the house at 314 Maryland Ave NE has a giant, metal letter π above its door instead of regular ol’ Hindu-Arabic-European numerals. Cute.
I usually prefer to walk up to Union Station instead of catching the Metro from any of the blue/orange stations on Pennsylvania. (For me it’s a 15-20 minute walk in lieu of 6-7 station stops.) Any time I’m by Union Station during the day, I stop in Ebenezer’s Coffeehouse. Until recently, that is. I started going there in 2006 or 2007, but I go less frequently now; it’s been overrun by the nondescript Hill types who all sorta look the same to me and could potentially be mistaken for window dressing if I wasn’t paying attention when walking by. I enjoyed its looks-like-a-Starbucks-but-isn’t, hidden-in-plain-sight qualities. Who cares if all of your money supports the National Community Church, which I know zero about? (It’s not run by Sun Myung Moon, so I’m sure it’s fine.) It was quiet, there was always a free table, the place has Wi-Fi, and it’s one block from the Metro. But, alas, those days are gone. Well, it’s still a block from the Metro. Anyway I blame Yelp. I hate you, Yelp. Let people be curious and find new places on their own. Then they will tell other people in real life using their mouths. (AV Club DC, you’re not helping either.)
My latest go-to spot in that ‘hood is Jacob’s Coffee House at 8th & D. Man, there’s never anybody there. They don’t have a website. I wonder how they stay in business. I guess it’s a strange thing to seek out solitude in a public place, but that’s what I want, and this place delivers. Oh, they also have “all day sandwiches.” One day I will order one. In conclusion, don’t ruin this for me, Yelp.
I was going to blame Yelp before I got to that paragraph. Is everybody at Ebenezer’s twenty-two years old? How is the coffee there? How is it at Jacob’s Coffee?
Yes, they’re all 22. The coffee is pretty good at Ebenezer’s, but it’s nothing special at Jacob’s. The quality of the coffee is almost irrelevant to me–It’s the sterile ambiance that gets me excited.