I knew this day would come

Frank White, the coffee shop on Atlantic @ St James Place, is dead.

Bummer, but it wasn't a good place for a nice coffee shop.

oh no! definitely a bummer. i hope that choice atlantic fares better.

I went by choice atlantic. Seems like a crazy location. I asked the person there and he told me it is actually more for their new centralized kitchen. The retail counter is more of an afterthought. Certainly is not a location you'd like to hang out at. Perhaps for those driving by it would make sense - but who would stop on Atlantic?

...kind of like Margaret Palca's [main] Columbia Street location over in the waterfront district.

Functions primarily as the main catering operations kitchen, but has a very basic front counter as well.

(Their apple and banana muffins are both killer, btw...especially right out of the oven in the mornings. Always thought Tea Lounge should dump Manhattan-based Sarabarfs uberboring baked goods for some Brooklyn-baked Palca goodness, but that's another issue altogether)

And I think that Sweet Melissa has a similar catering kitchen facility with basic front counter over on Bond & Sackett on the edge of Carroll Gardens near the Gowanus.

Seems to me that these simple counter places are *exactly* the best places to shop, as everything's fresh out of the oven at various times of the day.

/drools

thats really sad... I like the outdoor space that they had in the back...

Unfortunately the location was not the only bad thing about Frank White. I live on that block and would have gone there all the time if the coffee and pastries were any good. Honestly they were no better than you'd get at a bodega. The owner was super sweet and I felt bad about not patronizing it more, but I always ended up walking up to Outpost where the product was good. I know that block is weird, put if they had sourced their coffee from somewhere like Stumptown or Gorilla, and got their pastries from a great bakery, the word would have gone out and it might still be in business.

I hate to say it, but I couldn't get past the black and white wallpaper. It induced vertigo or something. Outpost is a much better experience.