Elf Sternberg

"But I can't help but wonder if a local cafe', with good coffee, where the place smells like a roaster, where each barista gets to set the music, and where the owner got to choose his own wallpaper, wouldn't be a more local, more intimate, more neighborly experience."

It would. There is exactly such a place in the previous town I lived in. Best damn coffee I ever had. Best setting. I still visit it every chance I get.