Broadway Cafe

I really like the Broadway Cafe. The Broadway Cafe is a coffee house and roastery. They also serve premade sandwiches and the usual pastries and such.

If you are looking for a Star Bucks clone, this is not the place for you. It is the choice of ecletic folks. Growing up in West Texas, diversity meant wearing Levis instead of Wranglers. At the Broadway it is not uncommon to see a kid with a blue mohawk in line behind behind a guy with a suit.

One morning during the 2004 election season I was registering people to vote in Westport. I stopped in for a lattee and met a buddist monk who was getting his morning wake me up. He at least seemed like a real monk. He was wearing the orange robes and had prayer beads. I talked to him for a little bit. He was already registered and said he voted in every election.

In the summer, people sit outside drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and talk about whatever. You half expect Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassady to stop by.

The Broadway is not just a place for bohemians and hipsters, even family guys like me can feel at home. At the back of the cafe they have a bookshelf. There are number of childrens books. Zoe and Kai usually go with me. I have coffee and they have juice and cookie.


The staff is very friendly. Prices are average, probably about the same as Star Bucks. Speaking of Starbucks, they opened a store right next to the Broadway. So you have two coffee houses adjacent to each other. It is kind of neat to look at the two and look at the differences in each's clientel.

Anyway, the Broadway is a cool place to go and gets my recommendation.

Westport Coffeehouse

A cool place to hang out is the Westport Coffeehouse. Like the name says, its located in Westport. It's not quite as funky a hangout as the Broadway Cafe.

The barista's are you usual hipsters and art school students. They are always friendly and do a great job. They have a theater in the basement and usually have plays or comedy shows on the weekends. Upstairs they sometimes have bands play.

I remember my sister and I stopped in one saturday night when a local highschool band came to play. It was three guys with way more ego than talent. A couple of their friends came to watch them. It was all we could do to keep from laughing at them.

After my son was born, me and him would stop by every thursday afternoon. I would pick Kai up from daycare on thursday and we would stop in on the way home. I would have a latte and Kai and I would share a cookie. Kai would play with the jukebox and try to share his bottle of milk with any girls that might be sitting close by.

One day Kai dropped his cookie and it broke in half. Some little ones get very upset when their routine is disrupted and having a broken cookie was very upsetting to Kai. He started crying and I had to take him outside. The owner was vey nice, she brought out a new cookie and helped me calm him down.

The Westport is a cool place to go and I give it a thumbs up.

Oak Street Coffee Shop

The Oak Street Coffee Shop is a cozy little cafe in Brookside. It reminds me a little of Cheers, but with coffee. Martha, the owner, almost always greets you by name when you come in.

The customers are mostly Brooksiders who live close by. The Oak Street kind of acts like a community hub. About a year ago some school board members had a meet and greet there.

Besides coffee, they also have a kitchen. They make eggs and other breakfast stuff. I think they also have lunch food, but I haven't stopped by at lunch.