Aldo Coffee Company

About Those Parking Violations...

As many of you know, there was a bit of an altercation across the street last Saturday involving our neighbor Frank Caruso, his wife Josephine, three local police officers and a discharged taser gun.

Apparently the initial cause of the problem was that Frank was alleged to have used the sidewalk cutout in front of Molly's to park so he could pick up his wife.  In interviews about the altercation, Frank indicated that many people use the cutout for temporary parking.

At it so happens, driving down the street on Friday I couldn't help but notice this Dormont police car doing the same thing in the same place. 

There were no police in sight, however.  We can only hope that the officer parked there for the purpose of enjoying a couple of slices of Caruso pizza.

PSA: Hot Weather Tips

We all know that hot, humid weather like what we've been experiencing is the cause of many a bad hair day.

In the interest of keeping our customers and friends both cool and sexy, we'd like to share this set of beauty tips designed for surviving hot weather in style. 

At least we should be thankful we're not in Tuscon.

Aldo would also like to ensure your pets are safe and comfortable, so here's a list for them.

We'd also like to remind you that we've got plenty of refreshing, cold drinks on hand for days like today: 
- More than two dozen flavored syrups to make your own fosfato (Italian soda).
- Iced coffees and teas
- Fresh squeezed lemonade
- Coffee frappes
- Fruit smoothies
- We've even been experimenting with some "virgin" smoothies, like pina coladas, mojitos, daiquiris and margaritas that we can create on request.  They're a perfect "happy hour" alternative! 

And if you're looking for the ultimate Italian cooler you can make at home, try a nice cold Sgropin:
2 oz. grappa (or vodka or rakia)
2 oz. light cream
1 oz. Cointreau
Big scoop lemon ice (granita)
Mint leaves for garnish.
Pour into champagne flute and enjoy!

If we could serve them here, we would...

We Now Have Amenties Offered By Some of the Top Hotels

Recently we read this post from Seth Godin about the W Hotel in San Francisco.  We know that the W is cool and San Francisco is cool, therefore the idea must be cool.

Anyway, the story inspired us and moved us into action.

So now we too have our own Etch-a-Sketch for your doodling pleasure.

San Francisco has nothing on Mt. Lebanon.

Btw, if you'd like to get serious about your Etch-a-Sketch art, here's a site with some pretty amazing doodling.

For you technophobes, we now have dominoes, too.

No Live Music Tonight

Sorry to say we weren't able to get a late replacement for Mark Shuttleworth and Christin Salem, who will be with us next Friday instead of tonight.  We had some offers, but none that fit into this month's entertainment budget. 

So you're on your own.  Feel free to hum along with whatever's playing in the store.  We do have some great desserts this weekend, so all is not lost. 

Of course, if you know some standards and feel like bringing in your own piano, you're more than welcome to lead an impromtu cabaret.  Rich will contribute gravelly vocals for  "Summer Breeze" and Melanie can do show tunes.

Lose Your Job at PNC? Come In for Free Coffee

Melanie spent a few years at PNC herself, having left there just this January.  So with the news that PNC is laying off 300 locals, we're making this offer to those who've received their displacement notices from PNC:

Come on in.  Show us proof of displacement.  Get a free espresso drink, coffee or tea.

When you get laid off, every little bit you can save counts.  So while you're holding out for your next job and watching your pennies, at least you can enjoy the simple pleasure of a great cup of coffee.

Legal stuff: Offer limited to one free drink per customer from July 22 through August 6, 2005.  To qualify you must be a Pittsburgh-based PNC employee working in the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area who has received a displacement notice dated July, 2005.  Proof of displacement required.

TFC: Thursday, July 21

This morning, Cara and Lorene are making Organic Sumatran and Organic Dark French Roast.  A commercial is being filmed outside on Washington Road:  lots of action and they are enjoying our coffee, too.  I love the streetscape of Washington Rd. and all that happens during the course of a day, week, month.  How lucky we are in Mt. Lebanon to have this residential business district.  THere is a discussion about this business district going on on Pittsblog, click belowto  read and join.
 

How Do You Really Feel About Mt. Lebanon?

A few days ago, one of our neighbors, Michael Madison, took issue with a few things about Mt. Lebanon on his own blog, called affectionately enough, Pittsblog.

Mr. Madison is a law professor at Pitt and has been in town about seven years.  Which is about twice as long as your favorite panini guy (moi).  While the subhead of the Pittsblog site reads: "Optimism in and around Pittsburgh", it appears the definition of "optimism" seems stretched at times. 

Melanie and I aren't the type to use our store as a platform for politics (other than support for Fair Trade) but then again, we're a coffeehouse.  And coffeehouses were created to facilitate discussion and debate.  So why not embrace our legacy.

Plus, in his screed, Michael was kind enough to call Aldo Coffee Co. "hands-down the most interesting coffeehouse in town" (see his point #2), for which we thank him profusely. 

To show our thanks, we'd like to show Michael how interesting we - rather, you, our customers - are.

We invite you all to read what Michael has to say and to use his comment button to share your thoughts on our community.

Who knows, maybe we can start some regular roundtable discussions on topics like this.

Schedule Change: Mark and Christin Moved Back to July 29

Due to a scheduling conflict, Mark Shuttleworth and Christin Salem will perform a week from Friday, on July 29, instead of this Friday as originally planned. 

Which means we have an opening to fill for this Friday.  We'll let you know who's playing as soon as we get a confirmation.

Getting Noticed

It seems Business Week found us.

Now, if only the author, Steven Baker, had actually mentioned us by name so Google and Yahoo! would know it was us...

Maybe if we send him a pound of Black Cat?  Thanks Stephen for changing the post and mentioning us by name. Editing this post also gave me an opportunity to spell your name correctly!

(Also) Many thanks to friend and fellow blogger Sue Pelletier, who mentioned us to Mr. Baker.  Although Sue has never visited Mt. Lebanon, she knows about Aldo from our other business blog.

On second thought, maybe we should send Sue the Black Cat?

What's With All Those Buttons on the Right?

You don't need any geekiness to get daily Aldo Coffee Co. news fed right into your MSN or Yahoo! welcome screen.

If you're an MSN user, just click the "My MSN" button.  If you're a Yahoo! user, click the "Add to My Yahoo!" button.

For those of you still somewhat unfamiliar with blogging, there's a technology called "RSS" (Really Simple Syndication) that we - and most other blogs - use to send each individual post to an "aggregator". 

Some users prefer to visit specific aggregator sites, like Bloglines or Newsgator, which is why we've included buttons for those too.  In fact, Newsgator can feed our posts right to your Outlook inbox.

But most of you are more familiar with the MSN and Yahoo! welcome screens that give your weather and news headlines.  So now you can add Aldo Coffee Co. to the news you'll receive.  We assume AOL will allow this feature at some point, but for now, AOL users can either keep visiting our website, or you can subscribe to Bloglines or Newsgator and get Aldo Coffee Co. posts along with whatever other blogs you wish to subscribe to.

Now you can be the coolest espresso drinker on your block!