Coffee and cured meats are the specialty at Bower Cafe
"Double espresso for here, and how about a half-pound of soppressata to go?"
Coffee and cured meats?
At the new Bower Cafe (263 S. 10th St.), you can get your espresso or latte with a pastry — and order a half-pound of, say, chorizo secco or guanicale.
Thane Wright, a coffee-industry veteran for many years with La Colombe and Bluestone Lane, is bringing in dry-cured meats from Ends Meat Co. in Brooklyn, which he displays in cases next to those housing pastries and other coffee accompaniments.
For now, he's selling sliced meats, but is planning to offer toasts and sandwiches soon. (See photo of menu.)
Why meat?
It's a tribute to his father, Lester, who passed in 2011.
"I wanted to do something that was bringing my story and his story together, which was meat and coffee," Wright said. "He did a bunch of pig roasts growing up. He introduced me to a bunch of styles of meat — not necessarily cured meat but smoked meats and barbecued meats and stuff like that. Since I didn't want to do open flame or hoods in the coffee shop, I just decided to do cured meat instead." He is a longtime friend of Ends Meat founder John Ratliff — hence the connection.
Hours, for now, are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends.
To explain names here: Thane's mom dipped into her love of Shakespeare to name him; "thane" is a title of royalty in medieval Scotland (Macbeth is Thane of Glamis and later Thane of Cawdor). And "Bower" comes from the Australian bowerbird, whose males build a nest decorated with bright objects to lure a mate.