There certainly is no shortage of coffee shops on the three block stretch of Clinton Street below Houston. Caffeineofiles already had Cafe Pedlar, Cocoa Bar and Falai Panetteria. Now there’s a new option: Williamsburg’s Atlas Cafe has opened a Manhattan outpost. As our food sleuth Mitch Weinstein tweeted over the weekend, this place has one noticeable edge over its competitors: H&H bagels (although you can’t buy a whole bunch of them to take home).
We stopped by on Saturday afternoon. It’s a small place — just about 8 tables and a counter along the window. There’s a huge map (imported from France) covering one wall. Jazz was playing softly and the guys behind the counter were unusually nice (asking everyone whether they enjoyed their coffee and pastries). There are half a dozen or so panini. The prosciutto version I tried came with a delicious white bean, celery and black olive salad.
There’s free wi-fi. Lupa Tesconi told Fork in the Road recently, “you can come in, you can stay all day.” As for what will differentiate Atlas Cafe from the other coffee proprietors on the block, he said, “I can’t think about that–you gotta worry about your own thing. We make sure a cappuccino is a cappuccino, an espresso is an espresso.”
Atlas Cafe is located at 37 Clinton Street (near Stanton). They’re open 7am-10pm every day of the week.
