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Into the RABBIT HOLE -- for a perfect cup of coffee

By: Alexander Mickelthwate

Posted: 09/25/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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Alexander Mickelthwate says the new Parlour on Main Street will be a favourite coffee joint for a lot of Winnipeggers, if it isn't already.

My favourite place in Winnipeg? Hmmm. The cool thing about our city is it has all these hidden treasures -- first-class, world-class, local yet magical portals to the most creative worlds comparable to places in Paris, Sydney or Berlin.

One of these places is the studio of architectural glass artist Warren Carther, located in the East Exchange District. Industrial. Raw. Sublime. Spacious with enough room for the unique vision and art form of this Winnipegger who has his work mounted all over the globe, from Toronto to Hong Kong. Glass as a living organism, light years away from your kitchen window, crafted with techniques that remind me of some secretive guilds of the old continent. I never was into glass art, but here you feel mastery and beauty with the strong urge to just buy something.

Another place is the new playground in Assiniboine Park. Playground? Yes, exactly. You can tell somebody had a smart, creative and fun vision, from the kid-sized Alice in Wonderland-like entrance to the artsy animal-plant sculptures, to the down-and-dirty creek. Even if you don't have kids, it's worth a trip to the little rolling hills to either be a child again and run up and down with a smile on your face or to have a picnic with some Australian Shiraz and be moved for a moment through that magical portal -- your Rabbit Hole -- away from the impending fortune of hacking the ice off your windshield in the dead of winter.

The one thing I really wanted to write about is this new coffee shop on Main. Parlour. Have you been? Aaah, I love that place. It focuses on one thing: the art of the perfect cup of coffee. (Or espresso, Americano or cappuccino. You name it.) Yes, I like my Starbucks on Corydon, but this is different. It's another portal that takes you away from memories of ice-hacking in the middle of January. The place looks simple with its high, white walls. You won't find gazillions of different brands and flavours; what you will find are completely fresh-roasted beans flown in from Vancouver or Calgary (the owner can explain all this much better) and the perfect machinery. Don't know how else to call it. They have the old coffee filters my dad used and I made fun of as a kid: "Why can't we have a real coffee machine?"

But every art form requires some sort of patience, and the special slow process they use enhances the flavour in some shape or form, plus it just looks really cool. I went there last Monday for the first time on the recommendation of a friend, a coffee connoisseur who is able to taste the entire range of coffee from smooth, oaky wood to hoarse, musky earth (I'm kidding). Let me say recommendations can be hit or miss, depending on what you like or what you don't like, of course. But trust me on this one. Parlour will be a favourite coffee joint for a lot of Winnipeggers -- if it isn't already.

I walked out that Monday with an Americano in one hand and a tasty pastry in the other and I felt like I was walking on clouds, into my own rabbit hole, here in Winnipeg. And in case you're wondering, yes, coming to our concerts will make you walk on clouds, too.

Alexander Mickelthwate is the music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 25, 2011 A8

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