Coffee in Worcester: Cafe Du Jour

Happy second Sunday of advent.

Here’s a discussion about Worcester’s Cafe Du Jour (237 Chandler St).

Bruce at Cafe Du Jour
Bruce at Cafe Du Jour

Pie and Coffee: Cafe Du Jour. What can you tell me about it?

Bruce: Where was that place, now?

At the Martin Luther King Center.

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John Kerry at Cafe Du Jour (photo by Kevin Ksen)

Oh, yeah. It was pretty good. That was the first time I’ve ever gone in there. I’d like to go back sometime and see if they have anything to eat.

They have a menu and everything.
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Oh, really.

I like the brick walls, I like the posters.

Yeah, me too. I mean, I’d like to go there again, when you come back to town. We could go there the first of next year. Actually go there in the evening time.

I’m not sure how late it’s open.

Well, we could go there in the morning, for breakfast or something.

You know, I used to live very near to the Martin Luther King Center, but I never went in there. I know that Earn-A-Bike is in there, I think there might be a food co-op in there. And then there’s Cafe Du Jour. How was the coffee?

It was pretty good. It had like a bold flavor to it. You know what I mean by “bold flavor”? It wasn’t like really really strong, it wasn’t bitter, it was in between. Strong, kind of like a medium-strong. Starbucks has got three types of coffees. One’s a real bold one, then there’s like a medium-bold. This was between medium and light. So it was a light bold.

When we were in there, we were the only people, I think because it was an odd time of the afternoon. I’d like to go back when there were more people there and get a sense of, if there’s a scene.

Yeah, see what kind of people actually go there. Then you could really fine-line how it fits with everything else. The atmosphere and everything.

So how was your show Sunday night?

You mean Saturday night? It was excellent.

I wish I could have been there. What all happened? Tell me the story from the beginning.

Well, I left my house right at eight, about the time Cindy was gonna be there. I walked through the front there.

The front of the Hotel Vernon.

Yeah.

Had you been there before?

Yes I have, but not the Ship Room before.

Do you know anyone who lives in the building?

I used to know one person who used to live here, like eight years ago.

So I go there like eight o’clock, and Cindy was there, and there were some people drinking in the front, in the pub there. Cindy’s guitar player got me an O’Doul’s, because I left my wallet back at the house. Then Nicole asked her, “Cindy, is Jacob coming?” She said, “Well, I’m gonna call him and find out.” So she called him, and he showed up.

So, the guitar player from Cindy’s band was setting up his amp, and tuning his guitar, and putting new strings on it. She goes, “Do you need an amp?” and I said, “Yeah,” so I used his amp.

Did you bring your guitar down?

Yes I did.

Did you have that guitar case that’s shaped like a coffin?

Yes I did. Everybody knew it was mine.

So Jacob showed up. Because I was going to be doing my songs myself. Two songs is all I did. So I said to Cindy, I wouldn’t mind if I played myself, but it would be better if I had Jacob because we’ve been talking about doing a show for a long time anyways. So it really worked out well.

Most all the women really applauded, and clapped, and everything else. And the singer from Cindy’s band said, “I want to thank the Snow Ghost for coming down and playing.” The last two bands, from Providence, said the same thing.

And the last band from Providence, this two-piece band, there was so much volume, and so much sound, and like air from the speakers, they had big stacks almost, half-stacks, I could feel the air coming off on my arms–the hair on my arms sticking up in the air.

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