The New 'Due Focacceria' on Fairview
Had to check out the new Due Focacceria....in the previous Neighborhood
Coffeeshop across from the Caribou that put it out of business, on
Fairview near St. Catherine's. (I do hold a grudge against Caribou for
their corporate strategy of locating across from
locally owned coffee shops in order to put them out of business...way
too many great places are gone because of it).
Intriguing reviews on Yelp, obtuse website....best thing to do is show up in person at Due Focacceria and figure out what it's all about.
Due Focacceria Ambience
Exterior: The exterior is an improvement over the previous coffee shop look, which
became a bit shabby over time....more of a clean, sleek look. The
parking lot is just as awful as ever...but we persisted and parked near a
planter of grasses.
Interior: The interior could be described as unfinished industrial or roughened
Italian or '20th century trying to be 21st century modern meets 200 year
old building' look. Eclectic combo of sleek and roughly finished to
look unfinished...that's the best I can do
to bring you into the space.
Seating: The seating seems inadequate/non-functional. The whole food prep side
of the building had tabletop along all the windows seating...so not
comfortable for any more than 2 people together since there was no way
to converse. It seems like there was adequate
space for cafe tables that might have served diners in a more
comfortable way.
In the booze and espresso room there were a couple of
counter height long tables...that would have worked for a larger
group...but were partially filled by groups of 2-3 people.
There was also a long bench with 2 cafe tables, but no chairs...where
it appeared that you might wait for your espresso. We found it an odd
configuration of seating arrangements. There are about 30 seats (the
same as Marianne's) but we found none of the
options very welcoming. Awkward.
No WaitStaff at Due Focacceria: The staff is a terminal
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| Ordering is Painful |
Ordering....you're really on your own at a screen...and don't be slow
because if your credit card isn't ready when you've completed your
order, your entire order will disappear and you'll have to start again.
We'd recommend having your card in hand when you
begin entering your order. No cash or human contact.
What we ordered at Due Focacceriea...
As always, we tried to select from 2 different menu categories, so we
chose a focaccia and a salad. Since sorrel isn't yet a very common
ingredient on many local menus (and since I just created a kale pesto
recently), we opted for the sorrel pesto focaccia.....essentially
with a base of sorrel pesto as the bottom layer of the sandwich. The
pesto was topped with prosciutto and sorrel leaves. We chose the
caponata salad with farro, greens, and perfectly-made veggies (eggplant,
celery and carrots--all perfectly tender with
a hint of celery crispness).
Immediate Reaction to Due Focacceria...
Within a few minutes of being there, I announced to John that Due Focacceria was not a very welcoming place. Is that too strong? Maybe...I'll mull my initial response
over the next few days. John responded with "That's pretty harsh...but I've found nothing to like."
First, the seating was unappealing.....there were a few people in the
restaurant, but with even those few, the seating options
were....non-existent. We ended up along the window in the 'single'
seats. Okay for two of us...glad we didn't bring anyone else
along for conversation.
Then there was the ordering. If it's dark outside
and you want the
customers to do the McDonald's kiosk routine, give us some light.
You're trying to read the small menu in poor lighting, then key into the
screen...then it tells you to swipe your card....except
in the dark, you can't see the dark-colored card reader--kind of a shot
in the dark approach. If you want a drink or a receipt to show that
you really did manage to order, you have to go to the drink counter and
tell the person you're waiting for your receipt.
Awkward. If you want to order alcohol, you do this at the same
counter, although there are people sitting at the counter having
conversations...... Again, awkward.
So on the second try, I managed to get the order in, swipe our card in
the dark, and get a receipt (the girl's team won this round!!). John
had given up....he ordered, then tried to get his cc from his
wallet...in the meantime, our whole order disappeared
because he 'timed out' on the screen. He was now an unhappy camper (John: "I was ready to walk after the terminal ordering labyrinth...and I'm quite techie!").
We retreated to our seats (John: "Weird seats.") and grabbed some water from the cute 'outside
faucet'...the kind you use to attach your garden hose to the outside of
your house. It was a rustic touch.....but turning the handle on and off
for each glass was, well, awkward as well.
The glass glasses were so small, that people were all taking larger
disposable glasses for their indoor dining...which seemed a little
wasteful when providing slightly larger re-usable glasses would have
been an easy fix.
What we tried to drink at Due Focacceria...
We had ordered a chai, so were hoping it would appear immediately since
it was such a windy, chilly evening. Not only didn't it arrive right
away...it never arrived.
I looked at the food 'pick up'
counter...where a woman was grabbing her food while running
her sleeves through everyone else's food that had yet to be picked up.
Not there. I finally went to see if there was a 'drink pick-up'
counter, too. Nope. But the guy who had handed me my receipt said 'oh,
I didn't see your ticket....I'll make it right
away'. After a couple of minutes I went back and then he said he'd
bring it to our table when it when it was ready.
A few minutes later a
young woman 'awkwardly' brought it to the table....hardly able to keep
the chai in the cup...and then didn't really
know how to give it to us--she looked really uncomfortable and
expressed her indecision in how to deliver the filled to the top
cup...because we were sitting along the window, facing away from
her....where exactly would you place the cup and saucer? I turned
and gently took it from her hands (in my best Marianne's Kitchen
balancing style)...for which she seemed grateful. The problem
now....if I returned for another meal...where DO you pick up a drink? I
have no idea.
The 'awkward' food pick-up stand at Due Focacceria...
Similarly, after a few more minutes, I looked for our food at the
'pick-up' stand. There were many food items there....all chillin' and
waiting for someone to give them some attention. But, there were 2
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| Where you pick up your food... |
customers standing in the way...the guy with the sweater
with his arm on the counter where the food was sitting...ewwwwww, so no
real way to see what food was there waiting. (This is the location of
a second ordering kiosk...which you could not have used, because these
two were standing in front of the kiosk for
ten minutes waiting for their order, with the guy leaning on the food
counter). You had to be able to read the ticket to see whose food it
was....again, not an easy feat...since the plates and tickets were
inaccessible past this guy. Luckily, our food came
up just then and a young woman who tried so hard to be helpful all
evening grabbed it and brought it over to our seats. Again, I took the
salad dish from her hand and turned to put it on the 'table' and grabbed
the sandwich which was partially wrapped, but
with no plate. She offered to grab a plate for us, which we gratefully
accepted.
Due Focacceria: Finally...the food
The food: our conclusion is that the ingredients were high quality,
and the person at the 'sandwich station' or 'salad station' who seemed
to be prepping the food was doing a very careful, diligent job (there
were 4 other people at a back counter ....they
seemed to be putting food in plastic containers which were later dumped
into bins at the front station that was manned by just the one person.
Their exact roles were fairly unclear to us).
 |
| $14 |
The sandwich was
tidy....although there were almost no ingredients
in the first third of the really not all that large sandwich. Once
John removed 1/3 of the foccacia, the rest of the sandwich was tasty,
with really good prosciutto...but not much else that stood out in a
flavor profile. The sorrel was there...but in appearance
only. The foccacia itself was quite good....the right thickness, with a
chewy texture. It was a serviceable sandwich...but somewhat expensive
for the amount of ingredients....$14 for what we'd call an average
sized sandwich, somewhat under-filled.
The salad was tasty, although unevenly dressed.
 |
| Farro Salad $10 |
The farro was
perfectly cooked, as were the veggies. But the bites varied in flavor
quite a bit. The serving size was adequate...but many people would
walk away hungry if they didn't add dessert to their
salad lunch....and it certainly wouldn't be a dinner course, even
though the price is $10. It was a fine salad...not an outstanding salad
and not a great value.
We returned the chai at Due Focacceria...
The chai was,well, returned to the maker. It was bitter and
watery.....and we found it undrinkable. The person who carried it out
to us asked us to describe what we found unpleasant, and then explained
that they steeped their tea for 4-6 hours. John and
I both expected a rich, aromatic drink...and that isn't what this drink
was. The barista thought he might have improved it if he had steamed
the milk a bit longer...but he had already forgotten to make the
drink...so perhaps the pressure was on. They did
cheerfully exchange it for a cold brew to go.....so we took our drink
for the road.
Observing the staff, the kitchen, food handling, health codes, operations, etc.
We always observe the kitchen, health code, organization and staff on
our restaurant visits. We came to the conclusion that our description
tonight would be 'slow motion confusion'. There were people in street
clothes with backpacks walking through the
kitchen and grabbing drinks or standing and talking to staff...one
later appearing as staff...a bit-um, awkward? The people working all
seemed a little dazed. Everything was just like molasses......sort of a
slow motion flow that wouldn't end up in disaster
if you, as the customer, paid attention and were diligent in finding
your order in the various places it might show up.
Many, many employees...maybe 7 or 8...for about a dozen customers. On a
busy night, this could have turned into massive disaster. No one
appeared to be in charge of how things flowed....the one person doing
final food prep would set the food on the 'pick-up'
station...usually with an accompanying ticket to identify it. Then it
just sort of sat there. No apparent order....should the customer pick
it up, is someone going to bring it out to a table......again, awkward.
Due Focacceria: Overall Rating
We'd rate our experience for the evening about a 3 or 4 on a 10 point
scale. John might say that was too high. Ordering was painful, seating
was odd, the chai didn't appear even after 2 inquiries....and when it
arrived, it just wasn't a very good chai.
The food appeared at our table due to the diligence of one person...she
was the best asset they have. The sandwich was good quality, but
missing ingredients on one third of the focaccia...unacceptable for
$14. The salad was tasty and the woman prepping
worked hard to stack it into a nice pyramid on the plate..but it was
uneven in taste and a little light on value at $10.
Everything just
seemed like slow motion confusion.
The best word we could find to describe the Due Focacceria experience overall: awkward.
Details:
Location: Google Maps
Social Media: Facebook
