Wednesday, September 12, 2007

On the Pavement: Istria on Cornell

Served up the other afternoon with my Yergacheffe, this little amuse-bouche: Istria's long-awaited North Cornell location inside the Hyde Park Art Center may be ready to go by mid-December 2007, making it without question Hyde Park's hippest cafe.

We've heard a lot of target-dates prior to this, but this time, we're assured, everything is lined up to go, starting this weekend when, as the saying goes, the "paper goes up" and the crew gets in and starts banging around.

Delays stretching for more than a year stemmed from problems with the plumbing and wiring in the space Istria took over from HPAC after the latter's renovation, the lack of available crews through the jumping 2007 construction season, and the ever-glacial City permitting process.

With immediate proximity to artistic hipness, a much larger space, an enormous commuter crowd, and catering opportunities at HPAC, this may be one of the best small business moves we've seen in the neighborhood.

Most importantly, it means I can grab some java in my pajamas. Now that's Hyde Park Progress! Not sure if that will ever happen, but the new cafe could become this blog's new Ground Zero.

1 comment:

Elizabeth Fama said...

Istria on 57th is participating in the "Midnight Madness" event on September 22nd, to welcome the University community back to 57th Street at the start of Fall quarter. They'll be offering gelato between 10 PM and midnight.