QUICKVIEW: Sedra Cafe- +++ / $$

On a recent trip to URI's emporioum, I was walking back to the car along the sidewalk and decided to stop staring at my shoelaces and become aware of my surroundings. Oh how I'm glad I did.I found a gem of a cafe just getting down to business. Sedra cafe has been open since September '07 and I can only assume it's giving Bagelz a little something to think about. It's a cafe/hookah lounge, so if you don't like the smell of flavored tobacco coming out of small, table-mounted chimneys, I'd recommend avoiding Sedra in the later hours. I have since confirmed that, yes, Sedra is exceptionally busy in the later hours, remaining bumping until 1,2, even 3:00am. For college students, I think this is great because it gives them a place to hang out that isn't some seedy bar where they get drunk, kidnapped, have all of their organs stolen, and get sold into slavery in Cambodia.

I've heard that happens.

But for the daytime crowd, Sedra is, just generally, one of the best places to while away an hour or two in the area. The inside is fantastically adorned, with cushions, pillows, and other Arabic-looking decor. They take the comfy, snuggle-up-with-a-book aesthetic to new heights for the usually more downmarket area. Deep, dark reds, golds, and browns, all wrapped up a believable Arabic motif create a cocoon of opulence that is truly unique for the South County area. This is one of the nicest restaurants to just sit in for quite a distance.

Coffee and espresso is very good, even though my cappuccino was more a latte. Regardless of nit-picking about milk, espresso, and foam ratios, Sedra is easily the best bet for URI students to get a cup of espresso. The cappuccinos I've had are leagues ahead of Bagelz and Brewed Awakenings. The milk was velvety and rich, the mixture was strong, and choice of roast was decent. I would have preferred it darker, truth be told. I would have also liked a wider selection of drink flavors, toppings, and sweetener. Nothing against ordinary sugar, but I like honey and turbinado sugar more. Also, and this is a big one, I would really like to see take-out. Sometimes I'm on the run, but I still want great espresso. All things considered, if you consider yourself an espresso connoisseur, this is your only choice.

The menu is achored by a nice selection of competitively priced sandwiches that would be exotic if not for ninety other places in the emporium also offering hummus. Desserts were affordable and of good quality and smoothies made with fresh fruit are very satisfying. As a place to sit and enjoy a well-made espresso, Sedra is the best option for those on or nearby URI. Unfortunately, as I said, they're not competing with Bagelz in the Morning Routine business, as they don't even offer drinks to go. Hopefully they'll start doing this soon. After that, they will be the best espresso in town.

Sedra Cafe: +++
Price range for two: $5-$10


View Larger Map

99 Fortin Rd
Kingston, RI 02881
401-788-0096

REVIEW: Bagelz- ** / $$

Bagelz has been serving up coffee and bagels to needy URI students for years. Their combination of free Wi-Fi, good selection, nice lounging area, and long hours have made them a favorite. I have to admit, they've certainly hit on something since, against my best judgement, I continue to go. I'm not sure why.

Both Bagelz locations scream "college hangout." Their doors are covered in local happenings, band fliers, and calls for roommates. The inside is stuffed with coolers, counters, tables, and girls in lots of denim and Ugg boots. At the Kingston location there's an upstairs lounge-like place from where you can look down on the first floor. Smelly chairs with unidentified stains are strewn about with a few tables. Sporting a laptop, I can't think of a better place to blow an afternoon. There is an undeniable and ineffable charm that comes from a college hangout. A charm that cannot be bought.

After the small, flier-covered portway, you're immediately presented with your choice of reading for the day and a display case full of muffins, biscuits, and goodies. Their general selection is very good, and they have a wide variety of brewed coffee flavors. Their variety of espresso drinks is... not so good. They have a cappuccino, latte, and mocha. That's it. Nothing inventive, but that's fine as long as the espresso is good. Well, slight problem there, but we'll get back to it later.

They have a wide selection of bagels which are reduced to a decent selection of bagels after a short time on any given day. Twelve varieties can be brought down to six pretty easily. They also have a dynamite variety of spreads for the bagels, from ordinary butter, all the way to red-pepper hummus. Almost expected, Bagelz has very good bagels and are the saving grace of the entire establishment. Nearly the entire menu is anchored with bagels, and bagels are an option with all selections.

Their baked goods are all decent. A few kinds of cookies, biscotti, cakes, and buns all act as suitable back-up to a cup of coffee or a cappuccino as you browse the web on their free internet and listen to employee-chosen CD's skip every minute and a half. But as I hinted at, for a cafe to provide decent backup to a cup of coffee, the coffee really needs to be good. And good it ain't.

I have had weaker coffee, though I really can't remember when. It had zero body, was watery, and had a faint bitterness. It had great aroma, which was weird considering how terribly weak it was. That was only my most recent visit. I've been other times and have never, I repeat, never had a very good cup of coffee. I've had decent. I've even had good, but never very good. I don't get it. It's not hard to make a great cup of coffee. The instructions are simple and available in books, on websites, and from every secretary on Earth.

The espresso is worse. I have had the third worst cappuccino of my life at Bagelz. The first was one from a vending machine, and the second was the very first one I ever made. They apparently foamed the milk by blowing through a straw, pulled the espresso as fast as they could, didn't bother grinding the beans and just put them in whole, and used 1% milk that, as 1% usually does, tasted like water. It was a really, really bad cappuccino. The worst of the worst aside, I've never had a very good espresso drink, either. This single cappuccino was exceptionally bad, but I've had ones that came close. Every time, I tell myself it's impossible. That no business open for as long as Bagelz could actually be hawking such horrendous espresso. Every time, I'm disappointed. Tea-lovers, though, are in luck. Bagelz has recently started stocking Mighty Leaf, and in a wide variety. Mighty Leaf is some excellent tea and it's no different here.

The coffee notwithstanding, I keep going back. Now and then, I feel the urge to go hang out at a nice, collegiate place, watching scruffy professors wander in and out, watching scruffy non-conformist musicians look angst-ridden, and watching the seemingly endless array of girls in Ugg boots. I do like Bagelz, but for a reason that isn't entirely because of Bagelz. They provide the environment that invites the atmosphere. The small, cafe-like tables, the music, the upstairs lounge with stained chairs. Bagelz works in spite of itself. If only the coffee matched the atmosphere. Hell, if only the coffee was acceptable.

Bagelz is a perfect example of a place that succeeds for sheer lack of competition. There are a few cafes in nearby downtown Wakefield, but on URI campus, their competition until recently had pretty much consisted of places that offered "coffee" and a Tim Horton's which recently transmogrified into a Quizno's. They were the only place that offered the "morning routine" package of coffee and a bagel/muffin/sandwich, but if another place opened that offered better, I suspect Bagelz wouldn't be long for this world.

Bagelz: **
Price range for two: $7-$12

http://www.bagelzthebagelbakery.com


View Larger Map

99 Fortin Rd
Kingston, RI. 02881
401-782-2295


View Larger Map

90 Pershing Ave
Wakefield, RI. 02879
401-783-9700

Hours
Kingston:
Monday through Thursday 6:00am to 10:00pm
Friday & Saturday 6:00am to 7:00pm
Sunday 6:00am to 4:00pm

Wakefield:
Monday through Friday 6:00am to 6:00pm
Saturday & Sunday 6:00am to 5:00pm