In Tending Bar, we like to take a moment and get to know those folks behind the counter at your favorite bar, coffee shop, juice bar, or other beverage-making establishment. Afterall, you probably see these friendly faces more often than you'd like to admit and there's a lot more to them than just the way that craft their drinks. Roy Robertson is a barista at Cultivar Coffee. One could easily make the argument that the little shop on Hickory St. inside of a doughnut store serves some of the best coffee in town (definitely top three). Robertson is also a musician (you probably know him best from the recently defunct Denton band Pageantry) and just an all around solid dude. We stopped by Cultivar last week to talk with Robertson and grab a few photos of him at work to document his process. Read on for more...
Read MoreTENDING BAR: WADE MATHENY
In Denton, baristas are everywhere. Take a look to your left, there's probably one there beside you right now. Or even behind you. Watch out! In fact, chances are, you might even be a barista. See what we mean? Who are these people anyway? They are people, after all, real people - with hopes, dreams, and stories. They have more to offer than just your frothy, espresso drinks and iced vanilla mochas. So, that is why we are setting out to learn more about our beloved baristas - to interview them and learn about the people behind the bar. Sure, the coffee you made me today is from the Yirgacheffe region in Ethiopia, but tell me barista, what is your origin?
Read MoreTHE ALWAYS UPDATED GUIDE TO THE DENTON COFFEE SCENE
The coffee game in Denton has drastically changed in the past two years. Seven Mile Coffee started the shift to third-wave coffee almost three years ago (if we're ignoring The Hydrant), but since then, the local coffee scene has expanded in size almost exponentially with Shift, West Oak Coffee Bar, Big Mike's, Cultivar, The Whitehouse, and even a few more opening shop in town. Having so many options can be a little stressful - especially if you're the type who doesn't just pick and spot and stick with it. All of the new shops have their own specific strengths. Below, we've got a bit of a Choose Your Own Adventure tour of the Denton coffee scene in the spring of 2015, let's get to it. Also, anybody remember Cappuccino Cafe?
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QUICK DENTON BUSINESS UPDATE: AUGUST 2014
As always, there's a lot going on in town, business-wise at the moment. Glen is gone on his honeymoon at the moment, so there's no Mr. Farris Goes to City Hall column, but instead we've got a fast-paced post with a bunch of updates on local businesses for ya.
Bet the House, the recently-opened BBQ restaurant on South Elm, is doing great and expanding their seating area. In addition, they've hired a few helping hands and will be rolling out a few new menu items including things such as brisket and pulled pork eggrolls. Needless to say, we're excited.
Crickette's Flowers and Gifts on University by Books and More closed up shop for good recently. We wish them the best.
Captain Nemo's has been open for a bit over at the old Hoochie's location on Bell. While they're currently being faced with a lawsuit for usage of the name "Captain Nemo's" from a former owner, they seem to be doing well. After being threatened with legal action from naming one of our older posts "The Denton Taco Trail" we feel for them. Have you stopped by Captain Nemo's to grab a steak sandwich yet?
The newly-revamped Sweetwater should be open in mid-to-late August.
We recently spoke with Matt Fisher of West Oak Coffee Bar who gave us an opening date of October for their new coffee shop complete with a creative workspace and chocolate milk on tap. We're not holding our breath for that one, though. As much as we want it to be open right now, we're expecting it may be a little later than October. That said, we've been watching their work from afar and those men are going at it pretty hard so they just may prove us wrong (which we hope they do).
A stack of Hypnotic Donuts' donuts from their Dallas location.
Hypnotic Donuts and Cultivar Coffee should be open in about one to two weeks. More on that within the next week, hopefully.
Pizza Snob will open this fall in the retail space at the bottom of Martino Group's H Squared apartments on Hickory Street. The build-your-own pie facility will also feature beer and wine and has a location near TCU in Fort Worth already which we can attest to being pretty dang good.
Speaking of apartments, H Squared apartments on Hickory and Jack Bell's The Adagio apartments on South Locust should both open this month.
Shift Coffee will reopen (after being closed for six months) at the base of The Adagio apartments. We've reached out to them for comments and to check out the space, and hope to hear back soon (tell Angelo to call me back, y'all).
Vietbites' will open their new, speed-oriented location closer to UNT very soon. The spot, next to a place called Seoul Wings and Beer that we're pretty darn excited about just based on their name, and the location that Sushi Cafe is relocating into was recently called "accidental Asian fusion" by the Denton Record Chronicle.
Outside of city lines, but still in Denton County, the Whole Foods in Highland Village will open on September 10th. In a Cross Timbers Gazette article, a spokesperson for the the healthy grocery chain called it, "[our] first store in Denton County," which has us excited.
More meat markets are coming. A new La Azteca and a La Michocana Meat Market will soon be open on University and the Better Block location on Sherman in the next few months. We hear they're a great place to "meat" singles, but we don't know what that means.
Thrift Giant, a used-good chain opened over on 288 last month. We'll probably stick to our list of thrifty places, though.
That's it for now. Do you have an update that we missed? Tell us in the comments. If you have an upcoming business that you'd like to let us know about, email will@wedentondoit.com and tell us all about it.