#73 – ICED COFFEE at CAFE PEDLAR

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

SADLY, CAFE PEDLAR IS NOW CLOSED.

If you drink coffee and have not yet discovered Portland-based Stumptown, then you’re truly missing out. They have a location in the trendy Ace Hotel and a roasting plant out in Red Hook. But those are certainly not the only places to find this intensely complex java in the city.

Many cafés and restaurants now proudly serve Stumptown coffee. One such place is a little neighborhood café called Café Pedlar. They have a location on the Lower East Side and a shop in Carroll Gardens. Since the Manhattan location is now only open in the evening, we made our way to Brooklyn to get another caffeinated list item.

The iced coffe is what Time Out recommended and since the sun was attacking, this was exactly what I wanted anyway. The shop is surprisingly very large, but only has a handful of seating options in one corner. We weren’t staying so we didn’t have to fight over a much coveted table. We got our iced coffee and added a little milk. When I do drink coffee, I much prefer to drink it black to really get all the intense flavors. But, other people will argue that milk brings out all those flavors. And since Time Out suggested it with a splash of the white stuff, I did as I was told.

After trying it this way, I still prefer it without the milk. Just a matter of preference. But the coffee was really good. It had hints of chocolate and roasted nuts. There was barely any acidity and bitterness. It went down very easily, especially on a hot summer morning.

And while I understand Café Pedlar probably used some fancy cold brewing process to extract the flavor from the beans, I’m still not sure I’d give them credit for this drink. It’s good to know there’s another location to get Stumptown’s great coffee, but if this were to make my Top 100 (and Stumptown’s coffee did last year), I think I’d have to give the credit to the source. That being said, I’m glad I discovered this cute, friendly shop and that if I ever am in Carroll Gardens, I now know where I can get my Stumptown fix.

Would Café Pedlar’s Iced Coffee make my Top 100? I’m not sure I’d give the official credit to the shop in this case, but there’s no denying they serve an intensely flavored cup of cold joe. Both them and Stumptown deserve this 8 out of 10.