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Voodoo Kitchen: Elijah Bleau's espresso machine, which churns out some serious charm, is manned in this photo by Lucas Meyer. Photo by Scott Thompson |
CommentsGood Juju, Great Java
Published: February 11, 2010by Kira Yannetta
Java Jabber
Tucked in a corner banquette, bedecked with brocade pillows, I am transported far from snowy Truckee. It’s like I hopped on board the freight train, which passes right outside the window, and ended up in the Deep South. My laptop sways on a rickety antique table and, next to me, a woman in a rocking chair moves in time with the blues beat that wafts from the rafters. Barn lights and corrugated sheet metal shine in contrast with the dark plank service bar and community trestle tables. Paintings of pigs and alligators, colored glass candleholders, and signs with monikers like “Voodoo Kitchen” accessorize the colorful walls. The newly opened Elijah Bleu’s Coffee House and Good Eats has captured the essence of faded elegance, flamboyance, and gracious hospitality for which the South is known, and brought it to Old Town.
Since the baristas’ T-shirts say, “Good Juju. Great Java,” I looked around for the “juju” — a good-luck charm or fetish with supernatural powers. It turns out that a snowman, cleverly made out of coffee cups, is just a seasonal decoration and the juju to which they refer is what owner John Evans calls, “good karma, magic.” He explained that he wanted “to create a magical, cool, fun place to hang out.” Elijah Bleu’s definitely has good vibes, even without a shrunken head talisman.
Now, I can be a real bad voodoo witch if I don’t get a good cup of coffee in my system when the hankering hits, so I was counting on them serving the “Great Java” their shirts touted. Evans, who is originally from Georgia, and his wife, Dawn, considered using a local roaster in their quest to serve the best coffee possible, but they wanted to differentiate themselves from other local coffee shops. (A “Kiss My Grits” sign in the Sierra apparently wasn’t different enough.) They ended up selecting Oakland’s Blue Bottle Coffee; it is rumored Bay Area folks will wait 45 minutes to get a cup. Yes, the coffee is magical, and Elijah Bleu’s is surely brewing up good karma for serving it. Not only is the coffee organic, but it “is better than Fair Trade, because they pay more than Fair Trade rates,” said Elijah Bleu’s General Manager Kimmie Bullock. (More good juju.) The friendly and knowledgeable baristas spent a weekend training at Blue Bottle Boot Camp learning the particulars that make this coffee so decadent, as well as how to create “latte art” in your foam, should customers indulge in frou-frou drinks. Each cup of coffee is served fresh, either single brewed or made in the French press.
More good vibes come from using fresh and mostly organic or locally produced food. Evans admitted that “healthy” and “Southern comfort food” aren’t necessarily synonymous, but he and his cooks are doing their earnest best to change that. Using both grandma’s church cookbook recipes and Slow Food savvy, they’re concocting ingenious daily specials and everyday favorites.
Good juju also comes from caring for the Earth. Elijah Bleu’s composts and then donates it to Truckee’s Shaw Family Farms. Moreover, they use compostable corn to-go products, which may be more expensive than Styrofoam, but oh, the real savings.
There’s free WiFi as well as free street parking until 10 a.m. Please do not park in the neighboring For Goodness Sake parking lot. (You could get a pin with your name on it stuck into the voodoo doll kept behind the counter for people with entitlement issues.)
Open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 10115 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, (530) 582-1040, elijahbleus.com
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