Day 32, Week 4- The Iron Bird Cafe

Okay, so its new, and it hasn't had a lot of time to become a staple of Fresnawesomeness (a whole two days!), but I'm just going to throw this out there- I predict Iron Bird Cafe is going to be becoming my favorite coffee shop. And when I go for lunch, it might even make it up there near Cosmo if the food is as delightful as it looks on the menu! I wasn't even planning on blogging today, but this is definitely 31 days worthy.

I came in with my kids and they were so nice, despite the inevitable melt down my un-napped 3 year old had. (I know, right? Some day I'll learn just to stop leaving the house. For the record, he still hasn't napped.) I ordered a mocha and to my taste buds, deadened by repeated Starbucks offenses, it was a very rich and flavorful experience. This is the kind of coffee I want to be drinking while taking a Mom's night off- sitting at one of their tables or comfy chairs and reading "War and Peace". Or "Potty Training for Dummies", which is probably more believable of my reading list these days.

But what I really like about the Iron Bird Cafe, and what makes it bloggable is that it is located at the Iron Bird Lofts on Divisadero, another great reason to make your way downtown. The bottom line is this, folks. Unless we have places like Iron Bird breathing life into downtown and bringing first rate "uptown" style places into our downtown, we can kiss it goodbye. I know there is a large part of Fresno that is willing to do that and they've written the whole place off as a "do not enter" zone on their maps, but Downtown is one of our essential organs. If it fails, the rest of the body city is going to have a harder time functioning optimally. Moving everything further out North and ignoring the center of our city is like giving a mani/pedi to someone who is suffering from a heart attack. Extremities look great, but, well, damn.

We need to step it up and be sure to make these places that Dare to Downtown succeed because they're not just serving our need for coffee and lunch. They're supplying the heartbeat, lifeblood and oxygen to the rest of the city. This is what people see when they come to Fresno on business, for conventions, or are just taking a pit stop off of the 99. What we put within their reach will determine what they'll think of us when they leave, and if they'll come back.

That is what I, in just a few sips, have come to love so much about The Iron Bird Cafe, as well as all of the other business owners who believe in Downtown Fresno. Plus, they're open late. Later than Starbucks. (11:30 on weeknights, 1 on weekends. New hot date spot say WHAT?!)


**Edit**- I just went again, loved my mocha again (I should have tried something else, but I couldn't get the flavor out of my mind. You understand.) but found out that they're closing at 9:30 right now until they can determine that they have enough customers late. So get your coffee drinking butts down there this week in the evenings and make sure we make it known that there is a need for late night stuff downtown!