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As seen in Creative Loafing’s 941 Blog

Four homegrown coffee chops that do it right, with a great cup of coffee, espresso and atmosphere to hang out in. Give them a try!

BISTRO DU MONDE
5119 N. Tamiami Trail, Ste. 7, Sarasota, 355-1114 or bistrodumondesrq.com

This quaint little café on the North Trail has quickly built a loyal local following willing to stand in line for moist muffins and delicious coffee. Steve and Maureen Gillum are lifelong restaurateurs who understand the nuances of the industry and it shows. Coffee amounts to only 5 percent of their gross business, but its painstaking selection and preparation is the foundation of Du Monde’s success.

A true connoisseur, Steve tried four local roasters before settling on CCM out of Tampa. His Americano is as good as any you will find and his self-made pastries leave Starbucks in the dust. Despite its limited capacity, they do a very brisk lunch business with a small, but distinct $6-$7 menu, anchored by the best muffaletta this side of New Orleans.

Maureen Gillum has transformed the failed Cool Beanz location into a Paris-like café with authentic décor and extra touches like linen napkins and upscale restrooms. The warm atmosphere is elevated by her husband’s own surprisingly good paintings and it is no wonder that Du Monde is a popular complement to the museum crowd that often stops by after a tour.

“We go to France a lot,” says Steve, “and there is a perfect little café in every neighborhood. We live behind our place and our goal was to be just that for this community. We get a lot of students and staff from New College, Ringling and the East West [College of Natural Medicine]. We get the people who live close by. They know that we’ll go that extra step and give them exactly what they want and fix it if it isn’t right. When they go to Starbucks they’re dealing with a machine.”

The Gillums hope that the current economy will spark a renaissance in local congregation and commerce. “For years, everything has been about getting more for less and now we’re starting to see the price for that,” Steve says. “I think people are deciding that they want to be involved in their communities again. They want a place where they can gather with their neighbors.” Bistro Du Monde is just that and more.

FUEL CAFÉ
2161 Siesta Drive, Sarasota, 373-1222 or fuelsrq.com

Dex Honea (pictured, right) and his fellow café racer motorcycle enthusiasts always met at a coffee shop to start their rides. The café racer tradition in Europe has always been symbiotic with the coffee house culture; Honea felt the niche group was strong enough locally to support a small café.
He was right.

Fuel Café has beaten the odds, recently celebrating its second anniversary and going strong, despite being just south of Starbucks’ original and most popular Sarasota location. It certainly helps that Honea knows his beans. A perfect French press full of premium coffee from local roaster Sarasota Coffee & Tea for $2.50 is the best deal in town, and his espresso shot is as good as any I’ve ever enjoyed.

The atmosphere is modern and cozy with leather couches, flat-screens, and PS2s loaded with racing games. “Literally all of our business is word of mouth,” Honea says. “This is kind of a forgotten plaza and we get very little business from the mall and other vendors, but we have a lot of regulars who come every day for coffee, to hang out, or grab a quick lunch. The biggest challenge is people thinking of it as a biker joint when it’s really just a coffee house with a niche and a theme.”

Whether you bike or not, this is hands down the best local across-the-board coffee menu, and the perfect caffeine pit stop before heading to Siesta for a day at the beach.

MONKEY PAWS
11161 E. State Road 70, Ste. 103, Lakewood Ranch, 727-1591 or mymonkeypaws.com

This East County gem may be the best-kept coffee secret in the area. Hidden on the side of a large Publix in a spot you don’t need to pass when entering or exiting, owner Monroe Ranceful (pictured, left) faces the challenge of being sandwiched between a high-profile Starbucks to the west and a Dunkin’ Donuts to the east, both with drive-throughs and far superior visibility. An Army veteran who did two years in Afghanistan and was stationed in Honolulu, Monroe serves the legendary Kona mountain coffee you’ve heard anyone who’s ever visited the Hawaiian islands rave about.

Monkey Paws is the largest café we visited and gets an A+ for atmosphere. With overstuffed leather couches, a massive flat-screen, warm tones, wooden floors and the kind of cleanliness that only an Army man can achieve, you quickly forget you’re in a strip mall. His fresh baked muffins and warm, gooey “island” cookies leave Starbucks’ offerings seeming like something you’d get at a 7-Eleven and they serve some of the tastiest premium, locally made ice cream you’ll find. “We started out as a coffee house that happened to sell ice cream and have become an ice cream parlor that happens to sell coffee,” says Ranceful’s wife, April.

Monkey Paws also produces a small lunch menu that includes a killer fresh chicken salad sandwich. They host group meetings and birthday parties, come on-site to cater corporate lunches and have recently started a Saturday night open mic for music, poetry and lit readings. Come on out to East County, say thanks to a vet and take two minutes to get out of the car for your morning-commute coffee drink. Once you do, you might never drive through a corporate chain again.

MAVERICK COFFEE
4615 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, 924-0208

This unique café was formerly Local Coffee & Tea, but owner Thierry Rouillard saw little benefit to the unrecognized franchise name and recently switched monikers and added a unique twist: a bike shop. A competitive tri-athlete and six-time Iron Man, Thierry has combined his two loves.

“I went to school in France for hospitality management and worked for years at international luxury resorts, but I always wanted my own place,” he says. “Originally, I envisioned being a roaster on one side and a café on the other, but Latitudes (where he formerly worked) is already a great local roaster, so I use them. I knew I would need another revenue stream besides the coffee, so I decided to do what I know. If I were a golf or tennis enthusiast, it would be a different concept.”

Maverick is essentially two businesses sharing one roof, but the cost sharing makes each possible. Rouillard offers authentic crepes, croissants and other self-baked treats in addition to smoothies. His authentic fare has made him very popular with European tourists who refer to his espresso as the best from Atlanta to Miami, a point you’d find hard to argue. Maverick is also one of the only places to get a cup of delicious chicory coffee, à la New Orleans’ world-famous Cafe Du Monde. Rouillard has been in business for 18 months now, with a Starbucks just one block away.