Do a Dollop. Doooo doooo a Dollop of Daisy.

Now that I've said the name of this coffee place several times I cannot get the Daisy sourcream commercial jingle out of my head! It's maddening. At the moment it's funny but if it goes on any longer I may have to go to harsher extremes in hopes of extracting this song out of my head. If only I had a pensieve like that of Dumbledore's where I could cast this memory/song into and lock it away forever.

The Dollop Coffee & Tea on 4181 N. Clarendon Avenue near Irving Park is not the cleanest of coffee shops I have been too but I do love the old library/1900s era back room-kitchen-esque feeling. Waiting at the counter to order I made friends with a small fruit-fly who was looking longingly at the S'more cookies through the glass case. To see what all his fuss was about, perhaps he knew how good it was from previous experiences, I ordered the cookie along with my usual staple of a chai latte w/skim.




I found a long wooden table near the back, where I sat next to a lamp that leans awkwardly to the side. If this lamp had arms and legs I'm sure it'd be splayed out on the table with its head in its hands with a tired expression and droopy eyes. From my wooden table, beside my leaning lamp companion, I have a great view of the entire cafe, great for people watching. My favorite part of this shop is the free wi-fi. I had read that Dollop had recently changed to the 2-hour card carrying limit for wi-fi access but I was pleasantly surprised to find my macbook instantly found the connection which purred instantly with its accomplishment.

Over head the music selection is blasting that "wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up" song which brings a smile to my face and adds to the funky, eclectic feel of this shop, later "Sloop John B" comes on and I laugh out loud to myself as I am reminded of my previous high-school years in the musical review show "Sing-Out" that I spent five amazing years in with some of the most amazing and generous friends I have had the pleasure of having.

The trek out here was a long one. Taking the 146 bus from State to Gordon Terrace took approx. 35-40 mins. It is still early in the semester so my work load has not completely taken up my weekend so I'm able to take the luxury of going long distances to these places but I fear that as the semester rears its ugly head in the season of midterms I may be confined to shorter distances.





Alright enough chit-chat let's get down to business shall we? The chai latte, the latte version is a syrup which I can tell easily because it has a similar taste to about the majority of all other coffee shops in the area. There is a great selection of loose leaf teas which include chai but those are separate from the lattes and I guess are brewed differently.

The S'more cookie which sounds just devine fell flat in keeping up with its name. Apart from the occasional chunks of chocolate, the cookie tasted bland and the texture was stale and kind of chewy (but not in a good way).

I have formally worked at my aunt's bakery business back in New York off and on as the main cookie baker for almost nine years so I am able to say with confidence that I have turned into a cookie snob and know the art inside and out of baking a decent cookie or two.

This cookie was probably leftover from the previous day and left out over night in the case instead of being wrapped up like it should have been. The one thing I hate is getting day-old baked goods, if you're going to keep it longer than a day be sure to wrap it up during the night where not a lot of air can get to it so that it doesn't taste or feel like I'm eating something only slightly softer than a brick. Too harsh? Maybe, but in the food business one bad tasting can turn a customer off which will lead them to never returning. Trust me, I know! I won't hold the cookie against them, but the chai was dissapointing. But I am interested in trying their vanilla rooibos tea which I have recently fallen in love with.

It's starting to get a little busy as the morning turns into an early afternoon. Instead of keeping a chairs distance apart, strangers have succumbed to sitting next to each other to share a table or two. All for the love of coffee... or free wi-fi... which ever keeps your boat buoyant.

The service was very friendly.

All in all...

Chai latte 5/10 (no foam art?! Saddening).
Atmosphere 7/10 (would have been higher if my fruit-fly friend would stop bothering me with his chit-chat about the S'more cookie).
Studying atmosphere 9/10 (needs comfier wooden chairs... I think my butt is numb).


Cheers!