True Love: Intimate Setting, Good Drinks

Restaurant Review: True Love Coffeehouse

Food: * *
Service: * *
Atmosphere: * * *
Drink: * * *
I ordered: Tabouli Salad, Blood Orange Tea, Orange Steamer

The lights in the True Love Coffeehouse were odd colors and unobtrusive.

The colorful chalk menu, written in a very Bohemian way, artsy chaotic, and passionate, made me feel like I was not just ordering a drink but a lifestyle I could be proud of. Full-leaf teas! All organic! $2.75 a pot! Dark Lord Mocha! Cherry Hot Chocolate! The menu screamed "Why be normal? Love life! Down with Mundanity!"

The decor had a similar message: unusual art from (I can only assume) local artists festooned the bright walls, and bands and shops I've never heard of had flyers sitting out on the tables just inside the door.

Because the place is very small, people walking in and out of it will bump into each other as a necessity of passing. While waiting in line to order, it was hard to not feel like I was in the way.

There are movers and shakers in the world, and you can almost instantly tell when you look into someone's eyes for the first time if they are movers or shakers. The cashier had a wild, friendly, let's-shake-things-up attitude that made me feel like part of an art revolution just by ordering from him. I went in to True Love first without my classmates and ordered a steamer.

"What flavor?" he asked.

"Hmm," I said, "Surprise me." I was caught by the art bug surrounding me and thought I'd try my own miniature revolution. Why always order the same old vanilla steamer?

Steamers are milk-smooth cups of frothy warm comfort, and my preferred drink. They are steamed milk with a shot of flavor syrup. Upon hearing my request, the cashier looked me up and down. "Hmm," he pondered. "This is difficult. What if I chose the wrong one? What are you feeling right now?"

"Adventurous," I told him, hoping that would give him the freedom to chose any syrup flavor he liked.

He pondered again before nodding at me. "Got it," he said.

A few minutes later, I was handed a white cup. The froth on top was bubbling pleasantly. I took a sip and creamy orange exploded on my now-burnt tongue. Though I had expected a more vanilla flavor, the warm citrus did not derail my taste buds. In fact, they seemed to fairly dance with the new flavor.

"Like peach rings on ice," I said ineloquently. It tasted nothing like that, of course--I had my citrus fruits all wrong and the drink was definitely hot, not cold!--but I was living the moment, reaching for a bit of artful expression that wasn't really there. He smiled knowingly.... maybe as a way to say "be quiet and drink it."

I sat inside by myself that time, and let my mind wander. It was a cheery place to pass the time, though I found myself wishing I had someone to talk to. I stayed away from ordering the food.

When I went with the group, I had plenty of people to talk to and ordered food. The highlight of the group outing: Visiting with fellow students, and that's what True Love is about. It's a place to be with your friends. Small tables inside and out front lend themselves to an intimate setting. We had six people give or take come and go throughout the dinner, and because the group was so large, we were relegated to the back patio, unfortunately where the smoking was allowed. Aside from choking on fumes, we had a nice conversation.

The food was nothing a student couldn't have made at home. The tabouli salad, a small grain tossed in pesto with small pieces of tomato and cucumber, tasted distinctly vegan--palatable, healthy, earthy--but ultimately less filling than a box of air. The nachos Mike Althouse had been so anticipating looked a little like microwave-at-home nachos, except not as good, as Althouse told me he would have put a little more kick into his home plate. I had ordered a blood-orange tea, delighted because the weather was finally cold enough to justify a hot cup. The tea had a good, strong flavor that I liked. I would order it again if there weren't so many other promising teas on the menu to chose from next time.