If you’re looking for one of my signature elaborately scathing reviews, read no further. This will yield you no satisfaction. This article is designed for those of you who, like me, have 3 or 4 jobs, all of which involve sitting down for hours on end, staring at computer screens and jotting down notes. For you and I, choosing cafes to work at is like shopping for your next apartment. Unfortunately, this is not a comprehensive Boulder work-place cafe comparison, just an ode to my new cafe-love, so excuse the lack of flow-charts, Venn diagrams and graphs. Rather, let this be a little tip-off to you, a work-place guidebook entry of my new favorite cafe-office.
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the grand opening of Laughing Goat’s new location. I wrote the article because my cafe preference (a tempestuous, shifting libido) had shifted towards the Laughing Goat as my new #1 hangout spot and I was surprised at how few people knew of its other locations. Since then, my fondness for the Laughing Goat has grown and begs a follow-up article.
What immediately separates the Laughing Goat cafes in my mind from Boulder’s other cafes is their modest but apparent dedication to the community. Like other Boulder hotspots, the Laughing Goat has its hoard of mac-clad, croissant-munching regulars. At the Goat however, the same people who spend lunch breaks there can be seen throughout the week on the Pearl St location’s stage for nightly live music and poetry readings, at the mixing board and dancing in the audience.
The Baby Goat, the 3rd and newest location on Pearl and 55th, is a different breed and seems to attract a different crowd. The new location, situated right off of the Goose Creek and Boulder Creek Paths in an up-and-coming business district, is much more geared towards bike commuters and its surrounding businesses.
It sells food that will actually get you through lunchtime, an eternal midday cafe challenge when trying to decide between a cinnamon roll, gluten-free banana bread and a chocolate b
ar for a suitable lunch. All of the Laughing Goats have fantastic food, more often than not featuring small local food businesses. The new location also sells large-portioned boxed Kaladi Brothers coffee for business meetings. Ahh, the entrepreneur in me winces at this brilliance! Aesthetically, the location is shaping up to be quite the work-break oasis, as potted plants, comfortable couches and outdoor lattice seem to be multiplying like rabbits since its opening.
Co-owner Johnny Jenkins, who can be seen daily either working behind the counter or sitting down and chatting with regulars, is a cafe junkie whose business approach is based on his love of cafe culture, fostering community and connecting people through excellent coffee. “What I love,” said Johnny during our chat, “is the unique experience to be catalysts and curators of community. I love watching the relationships between all of our regulars deepen and evolve. People I’ve known for decades are thrilled to find that there’s now a Goat that’s much closer to where they live or work”.
If you haven’t been to the Baby Goat, pack up your books and computer, and give it a shot. And be prepared to be fully indoctrinated into the Goat life.
Current Baby Goat Special:
$15 Boxed Coffee for Businesses
I don’t get out that way much, but I know you to be an excellent judge of cafes, so I’m going to make the trek and do so by bicycle, to boot! Thanks for the great read and really awesome shot of the sun glinting off a table!