easy e*

Knocking Out The Competition

The Bourgeois Pig is where I go for inspiration, ambiance and coffee. In that order.

Intelligentsia is where I go for coffee, ambiance and inspiration. In that order.

I run into Chris at Intelligentsia. Chris is the barista most of the time when I’m at The Pig. It’s because of his vibe and, quite frankly, taste in music - that I go there as much as I do when he works. The playlist is psych rock, trip hop, all the moody kind of stuff that will let you zone out and get inspired. You know what inspires me at The Pig? The blue and red-hued lights all over the place. How no piece of furniture inside is ever repeated in fabric, structure or even symmetry. How there is a room called “The Forest” in the back fashioned with fake trees and even darker lighting straight from the set of the remake of Willy Wonka.

Ambiance? Yeah - this kind of means that service is slow. Dark lights? You’re not certain it’s clean behind that couch 100% of the time. If you don’t know better than that you should mean to stay awhile because with one barista (and no more) working at a time this is not a place to expect nor demand Starbucks expediency.

Yes, I run into the barista who works at The Bourgeois Pig at Intelligentsia. Even immediately before his shift at The Pig. And you can’t really knock him for it. But people try to. The two “coffee houses” offer completely different products.

Intelligentsia is known for its coffee. It has three or four baristas that became finalists in a World Barista Championship competition or other and there are at least that many working at a time. People go to Intelligentsia for the tea leaves and coffee. The patio is nice, sure, but you don’t see the bagged roasts flying off the shelves at The Pig. Actually - they’re not even available to take home.

Another case in point: Intelligentsia closes at 8 or 9PM. The Pig? 2AM. They are but a mile away from each other.

Anyway, so this is how the coffee culture has been shaped on the east side of Los Angeles. It’s evolved past Central Perk in Friends (which, by the way, really was inspired by The Bourgeois Pig).

I love Los Angeles