no. 7 — An ode to New York’s best all-day cafés

did it all start with dunkin’?

I love asking people about their first jobs.

It usually sheds light on some idiosyncratic part of their personality and often in a “never would have guessed,” but “now it all makes sense” sort of way.

Well, I created a guide of New York’s best “all-day cafés” for today’s coolstuff.nyc (a newsletter I love following for NYC openings and happenings). And incidentally, answering the first job question for myself revealed a beautiful irony behind the guide.

That’s because my first in-uniform, W-2 official job was at an illustrious Dunkin’ Donuts / Baskin- Robbins franchise outside of Philadelphia. (Yes, I had to wear the visor. Yes, I worked the register and the drive thru. And yes, it was local, which meant I regularly served my public high school teachers, coaches, classmates, and their parents.)

peak chic

So while everyone else will claim New York’s iterations of the “all-day café” were inspired by our Australian mates, I think Dunkin’ might be the real OG here. Since 1990, the strategy for co-branded franchises was simple: Dunkin’ Donuts brought you in by morning and then Baskin-Robbins’ 31 flavors brought you back in by night.

But during my tenure, Dunkin’ Donuts always held the pole position. And you learn a lot about people while serving a small community its daily coffee.

For the most part, customers’ orders were consistent and highly specific. Over twenty years later, I still remember:

“Large coffee, three creams, and two sugars”

“Medium black with two Splendas and one ice cube” (true story.)

There was ritual to it. There was personality, eccentricity. And there was genuine delight in sending someone off to start their day smiling.

All-day cafés as third place

Coffee shops in NYC are a different beast (and fortunately “all-day” here generally means the café has a liquor license), but I love them and my first job for the same reason.

They’re what sociologist Ray Oldenburg would call our “third place,” the social spaces where people gather between the home (”first place”) and the workplace (”second place”). The third place is where communities get built. And in an age dismantled by the pandemic and rife with a loneliness epidemic, they feel more important than ever.

Whenever I can, I’ll go early and enjoy my morning coffee to stay (usually at Petit Paulette). I’ll make half-hearted attempts to “be productive,” but I’ll usually dial into the interactions between customer and barista, between customer and customer, between customer and other customer’s dog. I love the morning symphony of neighbors unexpectedly running into each other, hearing a couple speaking in French on my left and in Spanish on my right. It’s loud and deeply romantic.

I think New York’s all-day cafés get amplified in a way that can only happen here. In this frustratingly beautiful city where we live in tiny apartments that we can’t really afford, all-day cafés become extensions of home.

So for now, enjoy the guide!

And someday, when I open my own boutique hotel, I’ll build a special all-day café wine bar especially for you. See you there.