Fiddleheads Bayshore – 5600 N. Bayshore Dr., Glendale, Wisconsin

Monday – Saturday 6am – 8pm, Sunday 7am – 7pm

I've been up here a couple of times, the border of Whitefish Bay and Glendale, where Bayshore Town Center is, which is one of those post-mall malls that are mostly outdoors so people can drive from store to store instead of walking. There's no lack of coffee shops in the area, and Fiddleheads is actually on Silver Spring, not a bad location, a good place to stop if you're on your way somewhere, I guess. The first time I came here I was on my bike and I noticed that even though the place has several bicycle themed things going on, there were no bike racks outside. I suppose this has to do with no one ever actually coming here any other way than in a car, which is really the way the vast majority of people get around, in spite of a lot of talk (except for poorer people, who actually are the majority, who get around in whatever way they can, rides from people, or the bus). It makes me think about all that sickeningly sweet, bullshit cheerleading writing for urban living, with all the new high-priced apartments and condos going up near downtown Milwaukee—how they always say, “a short walk to shopping, theaters, and the art museum!”—as if any of these people walk, ever! Expect new, big city traffic congestion, new urban dwellers!

Anyway, besides that there is no bike rack, I only have good things to say about this cafe. I was able to get a cup of coffee for drinking there, in a pleasant, bowl-like cup, and sit at a little counter (dumb highchairs, but that's what you always have on the counter-seating, looking out windows) looking out the front windows at the endless, soul-numbing car traffic on Silver Spring. There are also places to sit at little tables. Either way, this place has some fans, regulars, no doubt, and you can sit and eavesdrop, or work on something—it's comfortable for that. The coffee was good, and the people working were warm and pleasant. This is everything a coffee shop should be. Nice bathrooms, too. Fiddleheads Coffee Roasters is a small cafe chain, over 20 years old now, with five cafes in small towns and suburbs north of Milwaukee, so it would be interesting to try to hit them all. They also have food (they have their own bakery), but I didn't pay much attention to the food on my couple of visits, or even eavesdrop. I just sat, looking out the window, occasionally writing in my notebook, but mostly mesmerized by the endless hypnotic traffic-light patterns, as faceless car people turned left, at their allotted times, off of Silver Spring and onto the rest of their long days and short, regimented lives.

Richard Skiller 5.6.18