Those of you who have been in the 14th St. neighborhood for a few years might recall a small coffee shop/cafe known as "Cafe Collage" that used to occupy a spot next door to Saint Ex on T St. The owners of the cafe, in addition to being longtime DC residents and coffee connoisseurs, were also dedicated art patrons, and the Cafe functioned as both a neighborhood coffee shop and an art gallery.
Several years back, the Cafe closed--and though their sign remained on the building's exterior, there have been no signs of life at the location. Until now, that is.
According to a source close to the owners, Cafe Collage is set to re-open within a couple of weeks. By the looks of the building and property, it appears as though they may be set to also have some type of outdoor patio seating--which would be fantastic. No word yet on what, specifically, will be offered in the way of drinks and food, but I can say that prior to its closing it was known as one of *the* places to go in DC to experience a true Ethiopian coffee ceremony; no doubt that practice will resume upon their reopening. It will also be interesting to see what artwork is displayed in the space when the cafe reopens in April.
Though we weren't around for Cafe Collage's first go-round, we're excited to see this small business return and can't wait to try what has been described to us by one of their former patrons as "the best coffee (they) have ever had in (their) life".
Friday, March 14, 2008
Cafe Collage Returning to T St. in April
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11 comments:
when i stop and think about it, it's amazing how different of a neighborhood it is now compared to the last time they were open...
Let's hope that this time, the owner are able to assuage the concerns of the neighbors on T St, who are worried that this reopening will be a return to situation the neighborhood faced with the prior tenants of the Cafe St Ex space (after hours gambling and money laundering for off-duty DC cabbies).
Do you have a link for that, anon? Not saying it isn't true, but please provide additional information or citations when making such assertions. Thanks.
"...outdoor patio seating--which would be fantastic."
unless you happen to live in a house on T St next to it.
Considering that Saint Ex is literally right next door, and is in fact both a bar and a full service restaurant--it's difficult for me to imagine some evening coffee shop patrons disrupting the peace and quiet of the adjoining houses more so than Saint Ex already is.
Cafe Collage seems to have been a sensitive issue for the neighborhood in the past. If you'll allow me to link to even more anonymous comments (that may or may not have spread untruths), read the comment thread in my post the last time they tried to reopen.
I was living on Wallach when they opened - around the same time as the 13th and U Starbucks, which certainly didn't help them. The owners were super friendly and I was rooting for them. I'll be interested to see what happens next...
Were they ever really open? I've been walking down that block to the Metro for years and I've never actually seen that place open for business.
Great, I'll definitely hit that over the Starbucks. Not particularly impressed by the coffee at Love or 14U.
I live on T between 13th and 14th, and think this is awesome. If you live in a city with houses mushed together like DC, a little chaos is expected. If you want peace, find a forclosure in a suburb. At no time, when thinking about adjectives to describe DC, has 'peace' been in the first 50 words that popped in my head. Maybe "peace march".
The comments are interesting in this thread and the one you posted, Amanda. Maybe Cafe Collage will sell me Red Bulls to bring next door to Saint X, since they're too hip to -give me wings- in between awesome beers that make me tired.
I'm excited about cafe collage re-opening. seems like they've been advertizing re-opening for a long time.
I love having them in the neighborhood and liked their coffee - ethiopian, of course. It's great to NOT go to Starbucks and be able to support local business. Although, I'm not willing to drink bad coffee just to support local.
Anyway - they're nice guys, too.
I understood the problem before was partly that the building owner next door (owner of the St. Ex building) was making life miserable and filing complaints on Cafe Collage. Hopefully they've solved that problem. I live on that block of T and a lot of us signed petitions and made it known that we supported Cafe Collage.
Yay they are open! Or at least, they are participating in this years Learnapalooza. I may go to the knitting class.
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