Sunday, June 5, 2011

Caffeinated Weekends - Zibetto

This one you could walk by, a few times, and just not notice.  The door is that small, the width of space the slender espresso bar takes up on Sixth Avenue at 56th Street is this narrow -
Zibetto Espresso Bar is a very discrete, purposeful coffee bar in Midtown, perfect for a quick throw-back or even a longer linger at the thin marble counter, but only if your shoes are comfortable, and only with, at most, a little Italian cookie (or a panino if during lunchtime).  I thought, you gotta be kidding.  No New Yorker will go for this, so bare bones, so lacking hype (and chairs!), and yet, in that same vein, totally authentic Italian.  I was wrong - at 4:45pm on a weekday, a steady flow of people walked in, ordered, either alone or with a companion, stood for their few minutes to imbibe their caffé or macchiato, and then, zip - out the door like a New Yorker (or Roman), mission accomplished. 
It's an out-of-New-York experience, right down to the central casting Mediterranean servers; calling them baristas just wouldn't fit here.  This is no Seattle-by-way-of-Williamsburg coffee house.  For a few minutes, I was in Rome, having my afternoon caffeine shot to carry me through the late day to my 10pm dinner (well, in that daydream, anyway).   

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