Lola Coffee (Downtown Location)

In many American cities, there's a distinction between Downtown and Uptown neighborhoods. The difference has been celebrated in popular song for decades. In 1980, Prince sang "Uptown -- that's where I wanna be." Three years later Billy Joel longed for an "Uptown Girl." On the other hand, Petula Clark sang back in 1965 that Downtown is where "you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares." In other words, there has always been a rivalry between Downtown or Uptown. In Phoenix, the role of the two is less clear because many residents inaccurately label everything up to and including Camelback Road as "Downtown Phoenix." The reality is that Phoenix does indeed have both a Downtown and an Uptown, and they're becoming more vibrant at just about the same slow-but-steady pace. Lola Coffee has wisely decided to bet on both by placing coffee houses in each part of the city.

Lola's first shop opened Uptown at Central and Highland in 2009. Setting up shop there was a bold move given the proximity to Lux, but the steady streams of customers at both places has made it clear that Phoenix is undergoing a huge, long overdue expansion of its coffee house culture. Now, less than a year later, Lola has gone Downtown and opened a second site in the northern portion of Downtown. The new location is in the Gold Spot building at the corner of Roosevelt and Third Avenue and just three short blocks west of the Roosevelt / Central light rail station. The Gold Spot is an historic structure and originally housed one of Phoenix's earliest markets. Now it houses a mix of tenants providing goods and services to residents of the walkable neighborhood created by nearby historic districts and the Roosevelt Square apartment complex.

Lola's exact location was, until recently, home to the Calabria Italian Deli, a family-owned enterprise that turned out consistently excellent sandwiches, lasagna, ziti, and arancini. The loss of Calabria was a sad event, but it was encouraging to see the space turn over so quickly and be put to productive use as a third place appropriately situated in one of Phoenix's bastions of true urban design. During the brief transition between Calabria and Lola, the site has been reworked into a look that corresponds to the building's historic character. It's tighter and a little more ulitarian than Lola's original location. Lola Downtown suggests a workspace with its tables and stools of metal and wood while Lola Uptown suggests a living room with its couches and mint green stools facing Central Avenue.

The look and feel are subtly different between Uptown and Downtown, but the food and beverage is of the same high quality at both venues. The old Calabria kitchen in back has been put to use as both a place to roast coffee and as a bakery. The latter role provides a workspace for Danielle Librera, the expert baker who produces scones, cakes, cookies, tarts, and other treats for both Lola locations. The nicest aspect of her work is its restrained sweetness. Everything that needs to be sweet is, but not to an overpowering extent. A strawberry tart shines with a buttery, flaky crust and the slight tartness of fresh berries in the filling. Shortbread and scones often deliver an initial taste from a sprinkling of sea salt and then deliver a second note of sugar as one bites deeper. It all works to produce the best assortment of coffee house pastries in town.

The drinks are the same as Uptown with a concise assortment of coffee beverages and loose leaf teas. A basic drink like a cafe au lait delivers the right blend of coffee and milk without pretense. A more elaborate signature drink, the Matador, adds cinnamon, mocha, and whipped cream but never loses sight of its coffee roots due to multiple shots of espresso. Multiple to-go sizes of just about everything are available, but if time permits, why not get the drink "for here" and stay a while. As at the other location, there's free wifi and an amalgam of both new and retro-chic music. Vintage Johnny Cash is just a likely to be heard as jazz. There's also local art on the walls in a rotating selection that brightens the room. Occasional special events featuring DJs or artists add to the urban vibe.

About the only thing not entirely likable about Lola Downtown is the back patio. It's an attractive outdoor cafe space well suited to coffee and conversation, but it's marked by a big ashtray that dominates one of the tables. Smokers no doubt appreciate the accommodation, but for everyone else, the tobacco use may render the patio a sort of no-fly zone. Fortunately, customers who enter through the front door from the street never have to experience the smoke, and Lola is a thoroughly pleasant experience on the inside. Think of the two Lolas now as a pair of fraternal twins. They maintain an equal level of quality over the slightly more than three miles between them, but each one has a distinct personality fitting their respective Uptown and Downtown identities.

1001 N. 3rd Ave., Phoenix AZ 85003 Map
(602) 265-5652
http://www.lolacoffeebar.com/