The Richfield

Richmond (District) Coffeehouses 
~ Round 9

(No official web-site. I couldn't even locate a phonicular contact on the Intro-Net.)


Place: ★ The ★ Richfield 
Location: 195 5th Avenue (on the corner between California and Cornwall Streets)
Hours: open Tuesday through Friday at 7:00am, Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am; closed Monday
Meal: Black Sesame Ricotta Toast ~ housemade (that would be "coffehouse-made", of course) black sesame ricotta on King's Hawai'ian toast, topped with wildflower honey, granola, and roasted black sesame seeds; and a cuppa pourover Snowbird Coffee, Southpaw (a delicious blend of heirloom Burundi and Yirgaceffe)

http://snowbirdcoffee.com/

(Their official web-site could use a bit of work, though.)

(These EweToobular juxtaselections will make more sense once you read through today's 'blog-entry.

Hey, the first song could have been much worse; I could have chosen "Eye of the Tiger" instead.)


I figured I'd systematically continue my Richmond District Coffeehouses series by going to the northeastern-most coffeehouse in the Richmond District. That just happened to be ★ The ★ Richfield. (I am pretty sure that there is nothing located along Lake Street. I think the last commercial place  on that street ~ a small restaurant on the corner of 12th Avenue ~ closed more than ten years ago now.) This place is literally a little corner coffeehouse joint with just three tables for two inside, two tables for two outside (which was where I sat this morning because it was nice enough and I could), and a (very dog-friendly) bench for two-to-three people (with a water-bowl next to it for our canine friends that are on a caffeine-free diet; when I first arrived, there was a really friendly pupster there with his human companion; however, they didn't have any dog-biscuits for sale inside; I asked).

★ The ★ Richfield has only been opened since mid-June this year. This business location has seen several incarnations over the years. It was last called Ro Café (which was an Iranian [I think] family-owned café and pretty good in its own right; it looks like they have found a larger location along Geary Boulevard in Laurel Heights now) and was only open for a few years itself at this spot.

Because I am naturally a Nose E. Parker type of person, I had to ask the barrista-guy at the counter, "Why is it named '★ The ★ Richfield'?". According to him, it is named after the Richfield Coliseum (which is just south of Cleveland [the city in Ohio, not the area in the North Riding of Yorkshire]). One of the major sporting events that the Richfield Coliseum was famous for was the forum where Chuck Wepner had a once-in-a-lifetime shot at World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali. Because of which, they also have a boxing motif going on around the place. I don't know if the people that own the coffeehouse are originally from Cleveland or not; perhaps they just like the whole "poor little white guy underdog vs Big Bad Black Man" fantasy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coliseum_at_Richfield

They only offer five things on their ★ The ★ FOOD MENU. The other four items are: Mixed Berry Yogurt Parfait (plain yogurt with organic strawberries and blueberries, topped with granola and wildflower honey; of course, this is not something that I would ever order at a coffeehouse, as I could easily make it at home myself... well, that is, if I ever had any yoghurt... or strawberries... or blueberries... or granola in my refrigerator or kitchen cabinets [I do usually have some kinda honey, at least; just not any fancy-schmancy "wildflower" stuff]); Avocado Toast (smashed avocado with bits of sweet pickle, spread over sourdough toast, drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon, topped with shredded radish and seven spice pepper; which I know I would love); Peaches and Cream Toast (roasted summer peaches, covered in peach caramel, topped with housemade whipped cream, over a slice of King's Hawai'ian toast); and Brekkie Sandwich (folded omelette, melted Cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, special house sauce, on King's Hawai'ian toast; this was my second choice and I would have ordered it less the bacon junk; if I didn't already really like their Coffee, I would probably make a return trip for this alone).

Granola on toast?! Well, it actually works. I was particularly impressed with the (Coffee)housemade black sesame ricotta; it was very good. Now, this was not an awful lot of food, but, at least, it was not a lot of awful food, either.

The real find here was the Coffee. I am thinking that this coffeeshop is probably owned by the same people that own the Snowbird Coffee coffeehouse in the Sunset District. In addition to standard coffeehouse drink offerings, they do have three blends/roasts of Coffee that they offer as "Pourover Coffee". I liked my Coffee so much that I even purchased a 12 oz bag of Zatarra (a special blend of 3 Africans [ sic ] Coffees [which they describe as "Apricots, Maple Syrup, Roasted Hazelnuts"... I just hope it tastes something like Coffee]) for home use. And keeping with the whole boxing-theme thing, they have an old sports-locker in the corner where they display their goods (t-shirts and bags of Coffee, etc.) for sale.

The only condimentary supplementation that I saw was Huy Fong Foods, Inc. Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce. I had brought a few of my own collection, too, but none were actually needed with this morning's sweet (not savoury) meal.

"I coulda bin sumbuddy... I coulda bin a coffeehouse contendah." 
(Okay, sure, this is paraphrasing a quote from a different semi-boxing-themed movie and a different city altogether, but you get the idea.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Black Sesame Ricotta Toast ~ 6.5; Snowbird Coffee, Southpaw ~ 7.3