In Search of the Local Cafe, Finding it in Red Lodge

I’m at the Coffee Roasters Cafe in downtown Red Lodge, and the place is full of men who don’t take their hats off when they sip their coffee. Outside the sun is bright against some distant mountains.  I have a coupon for a free breakfast at the Pollard Hotel, but yesterday’s oatmeal was not good enough to bring me back…and I always love going where the regulars go. Coffee Roasters is the place a local man said was where most people here like to go.

As I entered I looked up at the menu, and here’s one of the things that’s fun about having your own cafe: you find items on other people’s menus that you end up wanting to bring back to your place. Here they have a ‘grasshopper latte,’  which is creme de menthe Toriani syrup.  Hmmm.

The other night at Red Lodge Ales, it was the Quattro Formagio pannini that caught my eye. Hey, what a cool idea to put four different cheeses between bread and melt it into cheesy goodness!  They also had those baked sandwiches, which I bet they thought of before Quiznos did.

There are so many unique cafes and I always make a point to seek out the local ones. I never, ever go to DD, you know, the ubiquitous chain that dominates our coffee world on the East coast. No, I want a place like this, where they have an internet station (2o mins free with purchase!) and men wearing cowboy hats talk about game hunting and the weather.

Now that’s a good idea…20 minutes free with purchase…maybe we should try that!