This is a positive review. Langdon Street Cafe is to thos. more of Philadelphia what the hashish dens of Amsterdam are to Jules of ‘Pulp Fiction’; one thought of drifting across a parker truss over the North Branch for a locally-roasted cup and a handful of vegan ginger-raspberry towers, and he proclaims, ‘That did it, man — I’m fuckin’ goin’, that’s all there is to it.‘ The camera cuts to a dreamy-eyed thos. standing in a vestibule and staring wistfully at ads for houses on 300-acre farms renting for $250 a month.

Vermont is the ideal to which every state aspires; unfortunate aspects of civilization such as industry, impoverished cities, and sprawl have been carved out of the state, leaving it free from the accompanying pollution, crime, and people who have no community. This is a state which survived as an independent republic for 14 years, fending off aggression by France, the British Empire, and the neighboring United States; in more recent times, it has discovered a method for extracting universal health insurance from Sugar Maples.

In its capital city, just east of the state house, you will find a luxuriously spacious cafe owned and operated – collectively – by the folks working inside. The vast space is uncluttered and broken only by a few columns and small partitions which establish divers zones of occupation whilst allowing the Brahms from the piano in the corner to carry throughout the cafe. Rather than a regimented arrangement of identical tables and chairs from Ikea, a variety of seating situations are possible – from large tables for group meetings to laptop stations, and from clusters of couches which invite friendships between strangers to individual arm chairs under a reading lamp.

If you neglect to bring reading material, or if you finish your Gwyn Jones before you leave White River Junction, you can pass through the door to the left of the counter; after your eyes adjust to the luminance, you will see a stairway ascending to a tidy chambre lined with ‘radical and scholarly’ texts.

‘We actually aren’t open today,’ the giant, raven-haired betty at the top of the steps announces. “I’m just straightening up.”
‘Oh, i didn’t know. I’m from out-of-town’
‘Well, go ahead and look around; I’ll be here for a few minutes.’

Radical.

coffee, cafe, coffeeshop, review, café

Langdon Street Café

4 Langdon Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05602
http://www.langdonstreetcafe.com