Berry To Bean Coffee House — Restaurant in San Antonio

February 27, 2020 at 9:29 AM McDonald’s in the WalMart at Roosevelt & Military San Antonio, Texas

Every day, I search for an expression of culture, and I don’t always find what I seek. Last night, I hit the jackpot. Across Broadway Boulevard from the Witte Museum, the Berry to Bean coffeehouse hosted the weekly reading of the Sun Poet’s Society, a play off the film title, Dead Poet’s Society. I met a few of the readers who arrived early, all circled around Rod Carlos Rodriguez, who has passionately led the society for many years, maybe for twenty-five years.

The society celebrates twenty-five years in style with a performance at the Guadalupe Theater, March 21st. Rodriguez went to great lengths to make sure the City of San Antonio picked up that tab for that night. The show will be free to all who wish to attend.

For an open mic, the reading brought in a strong house, keeping the barista busy making drinks. He had to find a pause between the orders to get up and read from his work. He read an old poem and a new poem. “I have some new stuff”? “New stuff?” chimed the audience in unison. When the barista can make a great cappuccino and a great sonnet, a small part of the world has gone right.

I write new stuff every day. I was worried that, like so many open mics, that too many people would want to read and I would have to wait until the bitter end to read. I wanted to get up and say, “I wrote some new stuff today” and hear the audience declare, “New Stuff”? Rodriguez kept the program moving. People knew to not jam the stage with epic poems apparently. One after one, people got up, began reading without a spiel and read only two.

He declared a break, and anyone who wanted to sign up for the second half could. I have never attended a poetry reading that moved so efficiently in my experience. Usually one poet hijacks the proceedings, and usually it’s the host. Or worse, the host puts his favorites first and calls up the outsiders when the house is about to close and most in the audience have gone home.

I learned to love the characters. Dee read ballads that always rhymed, and full rhymes too. The Barefoot Poet took off his shoes but not his hat, which read Barefoot Poet embroidered in sundown orange ink. One man stood up to read who hadn’t read at the event for two years, but everybody remembered him. He read with a full, confident voice, reciting by heart his light and comical verse. He looked like Emmett Lathrop, the scientist who soups up the Delorean in Back to the Future. He made everybody laugh because he read poems with the timing of a comedian.

Rodriguez kept busy filming the readers, using a GoPro mounted on a selfie-stick, crouching low to get the best angle. I wondered how long had he kept a video archive of the readers who had walked into the society’s weekly event? These films become incredibly precious for many reasons, not just when a poet hits the literary limelight years after appearing at Berry to Bean.

I was reminded of Dan Wilcox, a cherished poet of his city, who has photographs of hundreds of poets who have appeared at the many programs hosted by the Albany Poets in Upstate New York. I know that the dozens of photographs I took at the Downtown Writers Center in Syracuse have become remarkable documents now that one year has passed.

Rodriguez and his society have a house to fill and I hope they turn to the schools and the universities to fill every seat in the Guadalupe Theater. When the Association of Writers and Writers Programs comes to town March 4 to the 7th, he has done everything in his power to attract those traveling poets who love to read to a real audience. Whomever desires that authentic an audience in early March will find just that Wednesday, March 4th at the Berry to Bean, near the headwaters of the San...

This place has the potential to be great, but right now it’s a 6 out of 10. We drove 40 miles from Spring Branch to have a proper latte in a cup for here, and hopefully some good eats. Pros:the interior atmosphere is nice, enjoyed the jazz music in the background and the barista did a decent job on my latte. Here’s how they could make this place outstanding: 1) offer breakfast tacos or something besides sweet pastries. 2) put a seating bar below the window so single people have a place to sit (will help with limited seating). Take the plants and maybe put them in tall, round containers and place around the room. 3) Replace the two wrought iron two-tops with small square tables. Everyone prefers wood -not cold iron. 4) have chairs with backs at the tables. (We watched people move the chairs with the backs to their table). Put the stools at the countertop by the window. 5) get true latte and cappuccino porcelain cups. Drinking a latte out of a generic coffee mug is like going to iHop next door. Part of the experience, when you have a dine-in coffee house is the tableware. 6) put small lamps at the larger tables. Some may prefer the darker atmosphere, but we had to move to a front table so we could see and do a crossword. I write the suggestions because I would love for the owner to have a booming business, and selfishly I’d love to have a place like this to make the...

A poet friend invited me to a reading scheduled at Berry to Bean this evening. This coincided with Starbuck's decision to suspend in house seating and offer grab-n-go orders only. Upon arrival, I discovered, to my delight, that this quaint San Antonio coffee house, on Broadway Avenue near the downtown riverwalk, still offered patrons the opportunity to sit, sip and surf the net. As of today though, the owner informed us that the Mayor has put the kibosh on that, but not before I was able to plunk down $2.50 for a tall sized cup of their Thai blend, Doi Pang Khon, locally brewed in Texas. Every cup, from my 1st to my 3rd refill (insert "free refills" here) was quite smooth, lacking a bit of the Pikes’s Place punch I’m so used to downing at the Bucks. But at this time of uncertainty & not a little panic, that might not be too bad. Hours have been adjusted to 7AM to 8PM, and seating is no longer available inside, though there are a few seats and chairs outside, which coincidentally appeared out front just as the Mayor's decree went into effect. The owner and staff, by the way, were as pleasant and friendly as you could wish from a San Antonio coffee house, and you could see them them all work as a team to keep the coffee brewing the and the place neat and comfy. Adding up taste, quality, price (insert "free refills" here) and customer service, I won't quibble with a star...