Grind It Up

By Matt Wood in Food on Mar 1, 2007 3:00PM

With a serious addiction to coffee and an ever-growing frustration at the sheer number of corporate coffee chain locations, we love to find independently owned and operated coffee shops around town; especially when these places do pretty much everything right. Enter, The Grind.

We gladly stroll right past the Starbucks on the corner to visit this cozy little place, located on the main strip of Lincoln Square. The Grind offers a warm ambiance, consistently friendly service, fantastic coffees and teas, and delicious food. The free internet access doesn't suck, either.

The small yet diverse menu features fresh pastries, breakfast sandwiches (they incorporate rosemary into the fluffy eggs on the Breakfast Bagel Sammitch), Belgian waffles served with fresh fruit (a newish addition), quiche, sandwiches (hot and cold), soups and salads. We haven't found a bad thing in the bunch.

Most importantly, the coffee — the people here know what they're doing. The process is a little more time consuming, but the results are far better than anything that comes from one of those fancy all-automatic espresso machines. Plus, they make pretty designs in the foam; our insides are all warm and fuzzy.

In the end, it's a win-win situation here — a local, independent business gets the support it deserves, and you experience a stellar beverage, great grub and good people.

Thanks Amanda!

The Grind is located at 4617 N. Lincoln Ave.