Boost vs Heaven
By John & Susie Pratt in Food on Feb 18, 2005 8:00PM
It’s cold out. The kind of cold that makes us want to escape the indoors and head to…a different indoors. Yes, we are talking about the can’t-take-the-mess (or my roommate) any-longer-must-go-to-coffee-shop blues.
When the Cabin Fever hits us hard we tend to head to Andersonville where, until last June, the clear front-runner of coffee shop choices was Café Boost at 5400 N. Clark – an independent, friendly, plant-filled joint with a light soup and sandwich menu, and the requisite corkboard full of fliers and ads with tear-off numbers.
But things took an interesting turn when the renowned coffee shop and bakery Taste of Heaven moved into the space directly across the street bringing with it fresh baked goodies – rugala, muffins, and cookies (free samples warm from the oven if your timing happens to be right). Moreover, with a menu that “kicks it up a notch” from Boost, the arrival of Heaven made it look like the coffee shop war might be on.
If not a war exactly, there has been a kind of shouting match in poster form with Heaven proclaiming that it offers Oak Park’s Petersen’s Ice Cream, and Boost countering with a poster advertising ice cream that turns out to be the equally delicious Homer’s of Wilmette fame. Both coffee shops offer locally-roasted coffee – Casteel, of Evanston, at Boost and Metropolis, of Edgewater, at Heaven. (Although, in an interesting move, Heaven has now added a poster advertising “Free Coffee Mondays” with the purchase of any pastry), and both display the work of local artists and offer a variety of independent publications.
For our money, the difference between the two in terms of taste is almost negligible. Heaven is perhaps the better baker, but we have been happy with every carrot cake or lemon knot that we have ever bought from Boost. The real difference, in our thinking, is in the vibe. Boost (whose owner’s post pictures of their child behind the counter) provide an actual play space complete with toys and books in the back of the shop, and the larger space allows for easy stroller navigation. Moreover, Boost frequently plays host to a number of groups who rearrange tables and chairs for informal meeting space. Heaven on the other hand, has a decidedly more restaurant feel, with small tables made for intimate conversation and a sign on the door encouraging children of all ages to “behave and use their indoor voices.”
Chicagoist thinks this is an interesting experiment in free market capitalism and are waiting to see what happens. Can the market sustain both of these places? And if one goes under – was it meant to? This is the kind of thing that keeps us up nights. That, or all the coffee…