Coffee, Free WIFI: Lake View, Chicago

Update: Senem’s has closed.

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MiLam reviews two nice spots for an espresso: one of them an independent café, and the other the gayest Starbucks in Chicago. We evaluate them in terms of their laptop friendliness, vibe, coffee, and proximity to lunch.

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Coffee, Wi-Fi, and Eats in Lake View, Chicago

Hotspots-a-Go-Joe, edition XIII

Places to Work: Senem’s • North Broadway Starbucks in Boystown •
Places to Eat: SpritzBurger•

Senem’s Coffee & Tea House

The Pros: the baklava and the sound system. Senem’s has an in-house deal for baklava and a Turkish coffee that they serve with a tiny little side of vanilla ice cream. The baklava is perfect: crunchy, just moist enough (rather than swimming in honey or syrup), superb with the ice cream, which is deeply vanilla … with a rumor of a mint overtone that I could not latch onto strongly enough to verify. “Red Dust” by Zero 7 – which I like – is on the sound system. The system quality is superb, and the sound level is absolutely spot-on. I can think. I can shut it out, or listen. I can speak in a soft tone and still be heard.
The Cons: This place is intimate. But with strangers, I mean. The single, square, seating area is, oh, I don’t know, maybe 24′ x 24′ and has seating for 20. To me, that doesn’t qualify as crowded, but you’re really there “with” the other people that you’re there with. If intimacy with strangers is your kind of thing, though … rock on, baby.
The Coffee: They serve a several types of coffee, but of course you should order Turkish. It’s thick – as you’d expect – and foamy. Full-flavored, but not bitter at all. Not spiced with cardamom, although if you ask nicely, they’ll make you one with cinnamon. If you want sugar in your Turkish coffee, you have to ask for it to be prepared that way for you.

Ample plugs; excellent WIFI speed. The vibe: quiet, cozy, welcoming. The hood: you might feel that Senem’s is in Lake View East. Or you might consider this area to be Boystown-adjacent, which sounds even more than bi-curious when you consider this: Senem → S · en · em → S&M.

Senem’s Coffee and Tea House
3508 N Broadway
(4.5 / 5)