Hi Neighbor restaurant group, the team behind Fat Angel, Trestle, and Stones Throw, is getting ready to open a new coffee shop in the 100 Van Ness building (we mentioned a project was coming to the building a couple of months ago). There are actually two projects moving into the building’s ground floor: CORRIDOR and CORRIDOR CAFÉ. Corridor Café is all about coffee, in a partnership with LAMILL Coffee, a Los Angeles-based roaster. The café will offer speciality coffee drinks, many prepared with the same attention given mixed drinks or cocktails (but nonalcoholic), as well as sandwiches and other light lunch items. As for Corridor, it is a fast-casual concept offering lunch and dinner, with wine and beer. Both new spots are slated to open in the winter of 2015. 100 Van Ness Ave. at Fell.
Just in time for our Indian summer and its warm days, RITUAL COFFEE is adding nitrogen-infused kegged cold-brew coffee at their Valencia Street location. They’ve been serving the silky-smooth iced coffee at their Napa Oxbow location all summer, and now we can get a sip in the city too. They’re using their Don Guayo single-origin Guatemalan beans for the brew and then serving it from a pressurized keg. Get it while it’s hot! Or, um, cold. 1026 Valencia St. at 22nd St., 415-641-1011.
Back in June, we wrote about local coffee roaster BLUE BOTTLE discontinuing their wholesale operations. It ends up the last roast date is September 27th. A tablehopper reader wrote in about how one local coffee shop, SPECIAL XTRA, was handling things: they started working on their own signature blends!
I spoke with owner John Quintos (he is also behind CENTO and Vega), and he said he is working with RoastCo (and roaster Julia Lancer) on what they’re calling the Clutch espresso blend, to mimic the darker style of the Hayes Valley Blend they love so much—it is chocolaty and bittersweet. For drip, they came up with African Presence, emulating Blue Bottle’s Three Africans, which is chocolaty with a mild berry finish.
Cento is 100 percent using these new proprietary blends (they are calling the private label Cento Coffee by RoastCo), and by September 29th, Special Xtra 1 and 2 will be 100 percent as they phase out the Blue Bottle. If other shops are interested in carrying these blends, Quintos said they will have the capacity to take on new accounts. He is also working with De La Paz on creating a couple of vibrant blends, both an espresso and pour-over. Look for those to be coming soon. Cento, 331 Ritch St.; Special Xtra, 46 Minna; Special Xtra 2, 138 Minna at John Colins.
Coffee from LAMILL Coffee, coming soon at the Corridor Café. Photo courtesy of LAMILL via Hi Neighbor.
