tour of rittenhouse coffeeshops

yesterday. karl and laura and i went out for coffee in the morning. at 2:30pm. whatever. looked in vindigo for coffeehouses near karl's. found ihop. my joy was unimaginable.

off we go to ihop (at 17th and walnut, purportedly), and find, in place of the lovely pancake establishment with the welcoming blue awning, a xando. sigh. xandos are now nearly as omnipresent as starbuckses. very sad, if you ask me (which you didn't, but i'm going to assume that's only because you aren't actually *here*). so, on to the next possibility, because we're trying not to give our money to The Man.

there is a place called paninoteca (bread tech?) a block this way and a block that way. only, it's closed on sundays, apparently. next choice: la colombe, which has excrutiatingly lovely coffee and yummy sandwiches (fresh mozzerella, prociutto, fresh basil, drizzled with extra virgin and balsamic, on homemade foccacia. mmmmmmmm). all the tables are full with people either reading the paper, typing madly on a laptop, or otherwise looking like they're only going to give up their table when they are physically kicked out. next stop: le bus bakery which makes good food but i've never actually tasted the coffee. but the le bus on 18th street, unlike every other le bus i've been in, has no tables. at all. hmph.

so we ended up back at xando. oh well. the coffee's good and my pesto grilled chicken, brie, and sundried tomato spread, warmed, sandwich was deeeeee-lishus.