j train

258 cafe

b and I have been out on foot distributing everbrite mercantile co. post cards to coffee houses and cafes for the past week. we've had this gorgeous warm weather to take advantage of after all. on the first day we hit the obvious places, our neighborhood being adjacent to fort greene/clinton hill, and park slope being the next neighborhood down. on tuesday it was beautiful out again, so I suggested we get some lunch here in bed-stuy and pass out some more cards. we had seen 258 cafe mentioned on the bed-stuy blog but never ventured in. ridiculous seeing how close it is to our apartment, but we tend to either work at home or go OUT. we stopped in on our way to food 4 thought (which was closed for renovations, so it was peaches instead) and I met the very outgoing owner of 258, francine. she said she'd take a few cards, but insisted "try a cup of coffee!" I felt so compelled to obey her wishes that we stopped back by on the way home (to francine's amusement) and tried a cup of her joe. I'm not even a fan of flavored coffees, but I fell in love with her chocolate raspberry. just the thing for dessert. the three of us got to talking about the neighborhood and its burgeoning local businesses, and before we knew it, we had made a new friend.

francine said that she's had great success with local artists setting up a table in front of her shop to sell their goods, and asked us if we'd like to do it. the next time we came by to chat, she introduced us to frank, who was doing laundry next door. he's a jazz musician who played at 258's anniversary party, and francine invited him to play next sunday, november 1 while we were standing there. that's when it came together and we decided to set up our little table on the same day.

so stop on by. we have a neighborhood cafe! with live jazz! and coffee and treats!

november 1, 12-5ish p.m.
twofiftyeight cafe
199 malcolm x boulevard
@ putnam

A/C train to Utica Ave. Exit towards Malcolm X Blvd. and walk straight up till you hit it.


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our favorite neighborhood spots

b and I were over in Long Island City yesterday, visiting PS1 and the surrounding galleries that were open on a Monday. we picked up a neighborhood map at PS1 that pointed out the neighborhood museums, galleries and restaurants. As we sat eating our lunch at the court square diner (best moussaka I've had yet!) b remarked, why doesn't our neighborhood have a guide like this! to which I replied, we could totally make our own. and so b did, forming a google map with our favorite bed-stuy neighborhood places. we just started it yesterday, so it will continue to grow. I need to put in the actual street addresses and links in case you're interested in visiting some of these places. so go on and check it out at ebmerc.com/our-town.