Duesenberg's American Cafe and Grill, Catonsville MD

http://duesenbergscafeandgrill.com/

Reviewed 7/30/2011


I usually do not review cafes that have terrible coffee, because the support of cafes that support coffee farmers is the whole point of my Yelp account. But I could not resist in this case, because I have never encountered such a strong contrast between the coffee and the food.

First, the food: it is amazing! Invited to Duesenberg's by family, we shared a wonderful donut-type confection before our meal (thanks, SIL!). And though I usually do not order omelets, I was very tempted by the turkey-apple-brie-bacon omelet, and I am glad I succumbed to the temptation. It was  unbelievably delicious, and worked well with the accompanying home fries.

The service was friendly (if slow -- calling ahead does not help) the decor both airy and interesting. So the experience was good overall and I will go back.

But I will not get the coffee next time, unless I learn of a change. I should have heeded the reviewers who commented on the coffee, but my curiosity got the best of me. "How bad could it be?" I thought. Very bad, it turns out. This is not simply coffee that was held too long on the burner or allowed to cool. It is defective coffee. It might have to do with the roasting and it most definitely has to do with the selection of coffees. It probably has even more to do with the use of chlorinated tap water that has not been filtered. Whatever the combination, it is a bad one. I'll stick with OJ next time. What is pathetic is that I had already prepared some good coffee for myself the morning of the visit, so I had no excuse to let this taint what was otherwise a good experience.






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Why Another Blog?

This blog grows out of the eponymous page on the Geography of Coffee portion of my "main" environmental geography web site. Just as that main page spawned the environmental geography blog a few years ago, it is now time for a blog dedicated to the good, the, bad, and the ugly of coffee shops.

The main purpose of this blog will be to allow students in my Secret Life of Coffee class the opportunity to make a permanent, accessible record of the coffee-shop visits they report on orally in class. Yes, I teach a course in which students -- among other assignments -- have to go to a coffee shop and then report to the class on what they learned.

On this blog, they will present basic information such as the location of the shop and a description of the visit, along with some ideas about the geography of the shop and the elements of its business model. Of course, a map to each shop will be included!