3 Cafes in Bari / Beers Brewed from Rage

CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >> Bari 3

A couple of months ago I went for a short break on the southeast coast of Italy. I stayed in the city of Bari, which is the capital of Puglia. This region, also called Apuglia, forms the heel of the boot of Italy and features many fascinating places to visit. During my short stay I also made it down to Alberobello, with its stone trulli houses and their conical roofs, as well as Matera, famous for the cave dwellings in its sassi area (and technically over the border in Basilicata). But I didn't have time to visit a lot of other fascinating places including Lecce, known as the Florence of the South, and Polignano Al Mare, with its gorgeous coastal caves.

The only real reason I had for going to this particular destination was because a year earlier I found myself with a week of flexitime I had to use up from my job, and I thought I’d go somewhere on the Continent, perhaps by train. I caught a glimpse of a program on TV about celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo out in the countryside of Puglia, and on an impulse I said, "That’s where I want to go."

I ended up not going on that occasion, because it would have taken way too long to take trains there, and I didn’t want to waste the time and energy getting over to Manchester Airport at the crack of dawn to take a flight. So I ended up going to Bordeaux in France instead, and I had a wonderful time. As it was my very first completely solo trip, I decided I had to travel this way more often.

This past October I ended up with another week of flexitime I needed to use, so I decided to finally go to Puglia. Bari seemed like the best place to stay for a few nights, leaving room for an excursion or two from there. So after a marathon travel day, with two trains to the airport followed by three short flights via Amsterdam, with the nightmare of missing the connection from Rome, it was just before midnight when I finally reached my AirB&B apartimento in Bari Vecchia (Old Town). And naturally, exhausted from my extremely long day, I ended up struggling for some time to undo the complicated dual multipoint lock system. Fortunately I finally figured it out.

The next morning I woke up bright and fresh, and after starting off with a La Vazza pod-machine espresso out on my private balcony, I headed off to find a Continental breakfast. This didn’t take long at all, because just around the corner from my apartment and down a busy lane, I found Antico Caffe del Carmine.

I went inside, ordered a cappuccino and a cornetto (croissant), and seated myself out front at a small table. It was a perfect morning: temperate, with a clear blue sky, very noisy and bustling with tourists and locals, with the hourly background symphony of amazingly ancient-sounding churchbells that rang out each hour.

My cappuccino was very pretty and extremely smooth, and my croissant was wonderfully buttery in a different, softer, definitely not French sort of way. Perusing the menu I discovered this cafe also does some great-looking paninis, sandwiches, gorgeous-sounding pastas, mussels, ice creams, cocktails, wine, and beer. As I wrote my notes and sipped my coffee, a delivery motorbike zoomed by out of nowhere, which I discovered happened quite frequently while I was there. Obviously catering to tourists, this is a very welcome local cafe, and my light breakfast was pretty much just what I wanted to start my day.

Having opened in 1931, Antico Caffe del Carmine has been run by four generations of the same family, and it’s currently run by two sisters. It seemed like a perfect place to relax for hours and watch the throngs of tourists passing by, if I'd had more time to do that. The online reviews about the food seem to be mixed, but they all say that the staff are very friendly, which they were indeed.

On my second day in Bari, I stopped into a cafe even closer to my apartment, Bar Colella, where I picked up a cappuccino and croissant to go, because I had to catch an early bus. The two men behind the bar of the cafe couldn’t understand what I meant when I asked for a “plain cornetto", so they decided that I wanted it “without cream". (I learned later that I should have ordered a cornetto vuoto, which means “empty", because the common way to have a croissant is filled with cream.) My croissant did have a very light dusting of powdered sugar, but it really wasn’t a problem. I should have thought to say “no zucchero", but I didn’t, as it was really early and I hadn’t had my cappuccino yet.

But I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast, consumed while sitting on a low wall of Basilica Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale San Sabino, with two envious pigeons watching from afar. The croissant was much better than the other place down the road: more buttery and tasty. I was quickly discovering that Italian croissants are quite a bit different from my own preconceived idea of a perfect croissant baked the French way. And they should indeed be different.

On the last full day of my visit, I returned here in the morning and had the same thing for breakfast. This time the two men seemed a bit friendlier, as it was more of a reasonable time of day. Apparently Bar Colella also offers excellent drinks and nice cheeses, and one reviewer said they make the best aperol spritz in Bari. So that’s something to remember for next time.

On the morning of my multi-flight-and-train return home, I had a very pleasant and chatty taxi ride to the Bari airport. After checking into my flight and getting my boarding passes, which only took one minute, and passing through Security which only took five minutes, I had nearly an hour before boarding started. Because Bari Airport isn’t very big, consisting of just two levels without outstretched arms of infinitely long concourses, I managed to find Briciole Bar, where I experienced the best croissant and cappuccino of my trip, accompanied by a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. As I sat very leisurely enjoying my breakfast, I started to feel like my late father who travelled a lot and always insisted on being very early, just in case. Hey, it does smooth out that edge of worry, because you never know when there will be a massive hold-up. And besides, I always have plenty to write about and plenty of things to read and post on my phone. So I was quite content, and of course I was blissfully unaware of my equally stressful day of flights home, where I nearly missed one connection and did miss a train. Oh well, that’s travel for you.

Briciole Bar also offering focaccia cipolla, penne pomodoro, puccia, and sweet pastries.

Speaking of returning from a break from the world reminds me of a very recent conversation with my Bay Area friend about the new world order:

Has anyone in California brewed any Rage for America-style beers? I haven’t seen any obvious ones yet. Some coincidental beer titles are subtly suggestive, like We’re All Gonna Die Double IPA (8% ABV) from Altamont Brewing in Livermore, and Fieldwork’s Ticket To Anywhere Hazy IPA. Over here we have WPAs (West Coast Pales) and NEIPAS (New England IPAs). So how about a FUSAPA (Former USA Pale Ale)? And when Putin drops the bomb, Altamont can put out a special 12% version called We’re All Gonna Die Anyway Quadruple IPA. Meanwhile, here in the Bay Area, I just read that our Atmospheric River weather forecast is being replaced by a Ridiculously Resilient Ridge. The future looks right! Well, considering that because the degenerated neck problem that I suffer from has caused “cervical radiculopathy", I’m looking forward to visiting the Bay Area next year and bringing my radiculopathy into a ridiculously resilient climate. I mean, it’s going to be a ridiculous four years ahead of us, so why not?

That sounds like the perfect prescription.