Illegal Americano?
I am sitting in Scottsdale, AZ with my girlfriend Annie at a local cafe called DISH. DISH is a self proclaimed "Food Experience" and is not just a coffee shop, but a bistro, catering company, sandwich shop, restaurant, fresh produce market, wine cellar, and bakery. All of that in one store space! Wow. The reason that Annie and I came by was for the free WiFi. I decided to get some coffee while I worked and walked past the bakery, the wine cellar, and the sandwich shop to the coffee shop counter. I ordered an iced Americano and told the story of the Aggie Ring to awe inspired barista. After she finished her amazement with my "one ring to rule them all" she handed me my drink. I sat down at the table with Annie and took a sip of the concoction that she had put together for me. And while I had some ice, water and espresso floating around in my cup, it was not an Americano. It was trying to be, but really it was closer to an illegal Americano. You see, an Americano is a pretty simple drink, just water and espresso. (and ice if you get it iced, but that is probably self explanatory) It is called an Americano because during WWII, the Italians had to water down their espresso drinks because the US troops couldn't handle the intensity of straight shot of a perfectly pulled by a true authentic Barista. (This is a great one upper line when hanging out at a coffee shop. Bonus: Viente means 20 in Italian. A Starbucks Viente cup holds 20 oz.)
So back to my illegal Americano, I asked her to remake it. The second attempt was closer to the way it was suppose to be, but it would just be amnesty to grant it the privilege of my coffee snob's approval.
But even now as I type out my complaints about the inadequacy of the DISH Americano, it is almost finished because I tend to finish what is in front of me. (a consistent 20 year member of the Clean Plate Club, if that is any indication) But I couldn't help but wonder if the reason that my coffee drink wasn't up to par was the fact that the DISH staff is attempting to do too much. Can they really bring a top notch experience in all eight of their service departments? Or in their attempt to be an all in one experience have they spread themselves to thin and not created a niche offering?
I have offend said that I am "a Jack of all trades and a master of none." I have a lot of things that I can do pretty well, but I feel that there I have not settled in on that one thing that I can do better than anyone else. Am I trying to be pretty good at too many things? Or have I just not found that one thing that I enjoy doing more than anything else?
On the whole, my time at DISH was a lot of fun. Heck, they had samples and that is the quickest way for me to over look an unfortunate watered down espresso drink. The place had so many things going on that I am not sure what it actual was or to whom I would specifically recommend it. I liked it, but for what reason or what specialty, I am not exactly sure.
If today's experience at DISH is any indication, I need to hone in on my niche offering before I become someone's opinion of a professionally watered down illegal Americano.