Elena and I had one last spot to hit in the Willy St neighborhood, The Mermaid Cafe. We got ready and got Elena dressed up in her second outfit for the day. The Mermaid Cafe is on Winnebago, so street parking wasn't an issue. We parked right in front of the restaurant. They only accept cash, but we had enough left over from yesterday to get the drinks. I wished I had extra because their breakfast menu looks delightful.
The Mermaid Cafe is very small, but it wasn't very busy. We were able to find a table without an issue. The whole storefront is glass, and most of the wall space was taken up by menu. There doesn't really seem to be much of a theme to the cafe. There were some flyers for famous old magicians, some trinkets in a case window, and a large blackboard that looks like some kids had a good time scribbling on. Everybody that walked in seemed like they knew each other, so it must have quite a few regulars.
I ordered a latte and a double espresso. The latte was superb but no latte art. The espresso was also very good. It had thick creme on top and had great mouth feel. It was slightly bitter, but not like over-extracted bitterness. It tasted more like hops.
The Mermaid Cafe uses a Wega espresso machine. I'm not really familiar with this brand, but it had two groups and seemed to do the job. The grinder was either a Rancilio MD50 or MD40, I can't tell the difference because they both look the same. They use coffee from Just Coffee in Madison.
I liked The Mermaid Cafe, but it's kind of out of the way from anything. It's just down the road from some friends of ours, so maybe I'll stop by next time I'm in the neighborhood. I would like to try their food sometime.
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