GUESS WHAT?!

So here I am, sitting in Passyunk and I'm not going to lie, it's the prettiest day I've ever seen. Oh, and it's ten in the morning. IT'S TEN IN THE MORNING AND PASSYUNK IS OPEN! Guys, this is epic. They've got the good bagels! And the pastries! And are smiling like crazy, waiting to see your beautiful faces. Come say hi, South Philly. Get some coffee and chat with us.

Bagels?!

You wanted em...you got em!

H&H BAGELS ARE HEEEEEEERE!

With house made, low fat AND regular spreads...
home made preserves, Koeze's organic peanut butter AND AVOCADOS!

BAGELS! You Want Us To Have Bagels?!?!

Over the years I have been asked to carry bagels. I thought for a second and then laughed in their faces. HAHAHA! We are Italian, dummy. Bagels, come on! I love bagels, but pu-lease. Don't ask me to do that. Besides, I grew up in Jersey, by the beach, and the bagels were delicious. Philly bagels, not so much. Okay, maybe I was not that obnoxious, but I was in my head. I could not imagine bagels fitting in with our cafes. We serve beautiful Au Fornil pastries and La Colombe that pairs well with our gelato and panini. Bagels? Bagels are for delis and bagel shops, not our cafe! Bagels make too many crumbs and all those spreads? No, can't do it. So, sorry. Go away.

Did my rant stop the requests? No. It did not. Why? I'll tell you why. Bagels are delicious. Bagels are the perfect morning accompaniment to drip coffee. I love bagels and I missed them. Could it be? Could I have been wrong!?! Apparently. I am so wrong because when I tell people that we can have the famous H&H Bagels sold at Capo, no one says, "You're selling bagels? Wrong, so wrong." They say, "FINALLY, GOOD BAGELS, SO EXCITED. WHEN? WHEN? AT ALL THE CAPOS?" Next Monday. Bagels arrive. Fresh bagels, made that morning.

I don't hate being wrong....not really.

What does a Genie have to do with Breakfast?

A few years ago while walking the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica early one morning, I ran into this fellow that was selling coconut milk. He had this large container full of coconuts and an even larger knife. I was game so I called on him for a bit of his tasty nectar. He grabbed a coconut, threw it up in to the sky and with a swift chop of the knife through the air, sliced the coconut in half. Sweet presentation. So I'm walking down the beach enjoying my breakfast treat when I suddenly found myself face first in the sand staring at a old, dingy bottle.

It was mentioned in an earlier blog entry that I have this "genie in a bottle." Well, it's true. And every now and then I turn to the genie for advice or wisdom or what the winning lottery numbers might be (still working on that one). On a recent Genie session, these two words kept coming up, break and fast.

"Breakfast." Turns out, this genie in the bottle really likes breakfast. In fact, he's the clever segue I'm using to talk about the amazing breakfast at CapoPenn. Oh, sure the other Capo's have breakfast fare, but we at CapoPenn, have Ted. Sure, sure you all know about Ted, but man, he sure does serve up a mighty fine cup of La Colombe coffee and an even better latte. You must experience his velvety foam first hand.

Sure, the other stores have sweet and savory pastries from Au Fournil (I highly recommend the Almond croissant), but it gets even better when you take one of the delicate croissants and add Lancaster double smoked bacon, fontina cheese and a hard boiled egg. Warm that up on the grill and you're set till dinner.

Oh, yes, thank you, Genie. Now our steel cut oatmeal is really hearty and satisfying, but let's say you want something a bit lighter, a bit fruitier, well then, may I introduce to you: the Granola Coppa Bar. Yep, we have two bars here at CapoPenn. A drinking bar at night (or the afternoon if that's your fancy) and breakfast bar in the morning. A wonderful cup of our house made granola with Pequea Farm yogurt (that organic yogurt, friends, is made from grass fed cows) topped with seasonal fresh fruit cut daily just for you.

So remember what your mom always told you, that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. And no matter which Capo store you get your morning fare from, it's going to be the beginning of so many great choices for that day. The Genie says so.

CHEAP COFFEE WEEK!

Ah yeah, good coffee. La Colombe to be exact. Strong, dark and life giving coffee. I was a student once (a hundred years ago.) I had my favorite spot to grab my morning addiction. I would order a coffee that was housed in an awesome cup - as shown here. It was a breakfast truck coffee. I loved it. It was coffee dressed in brown with lots of sugar and cream. I was a student, don't look at me that way! Students need coffee like they need air. The baristi at Capo understand this and more importantly, they LOVE coffee. Chris at Capopenn makes a mean cappuccino (we call it the sexaccino.) So, to show our love to the students and honor their love of caffeine, Cheap Coffee Week is in full force! FiddyCent La Colombe coffee this week at our University City location at the Radian Building to ease you into that morning class. Offer ends at 11am. We don't have those uber cool coffee cups, but we do have amazing pastries, yogurt and steel cut oatmeal.

CapoPenn is ready!!

So, today we worked at our University City location and ironed out some kinks before the students officially arrive. This location sits on Penn's campus, but is in close vicinity to Drexel. Today, U-Hauls and parents were EVERYWHERE! You could see the "Maaaaammmmmuuuh, you are soooo embarrassing me....sigh..." look on many faces. The athletes are settled in. I cannot count how many large, slightly sweaty, flipflopped young men wandering about post workout. They drink a lot of lattes. My kindof peeps.

We are so excited to welcome the students back. We have a great healthy breakfast menu awaitn'. Breakfasts includes a yogurt bar with local Pequea Valley yogurt, housemade granola and fresh seasonal fruit, Big Toast, NUTELLA (yes, I yelled that), Au Fournil pastries and breakfast panini (eggs and bacon!) To welcome everyone back, Capo is going to have "BACK TO SCHOOL CHEAP COFFEE WEEK!" Yes, the first day of school is Tuesday, Sept 8th and to help everyone get fully caffeinated, $.50 cups of La Colombe coffee will be available for everyone through Friday, Sept. 11, from 7a.m. to 11a.m. Your teachers will thank us for how alert and happy you are! Prego Professori!