Cafe Tourane

So, I happened to find this little cafe tucked away in this little office building. I've passed by this building probably a million times, and I've only noticed this place the last couple weeks. The idea of quaint little cafe down the road sparked a lot of interest. I told myself "I HAVE to check this place out." and made sure I was gonna follow through with it.

Before we get started, let me drop that address now in case you want to check it out.

12460 Euclid St. #103
Garden Grove, CA 92840

They are also on Twitter and Facebook under their name.

Ok, lets get this shindig going!

When you walk in, you can quickly tell it has a very modern feel to it. Some places make you feel like you should be escorting your grand parents there. Not this place. In fact, I felt like the oldest thing there, and I'm only 31. Just looking at the equipment behind the counter I could tell that almost everything there was new.

As I step up to the counter, I notice a word written around the cafe that I like: Organic. This place is making a point to serve organic blends of coffee. That is definitely a good thing.

I'm approached by one of the 3 employees there. He says "Hi" and asked if I had any questions about anything on the menu. I chuckled a little and said "I think I can figure this one out". He laughed and said "Cool. Let me know when you're ready". Now, the reason why we both laughed is because the menu is very simple. Hot coffee, iced coffee, blended ice, tea and smoothies. All with 3 or 4 of the same flavor options. Very simple, very straight forward.

Since the weather was closer to a warm day, I decided to go with a mocha blended ice. Then the employee said "We also make fresh beignets. Would you like an order to go with your drink?".

Now I'm gonna share what was going on in my head when I found out about the beignets. "Local spot. CHECK. Organic. CHECK. And these muhfuckas got beignets??? You bet yo ass I want some muhfuckin beignets wit my drank!!!" And here's how I answered: Sure, I'll go with that.  Hey, I can't go into my nigga act everywhere. You gotta pick your spots!

Now, up to this point, everything I've written has been on the up and up about this place. But, not all is well here. I'm giving you the pros first. The cons will be coming up soon. Read everything before you make any opinion.

Before I got my order, I sat down and took a few pics of the place. They aren't great, but you can get an idea of what the place looks like.

I got my drink a minute or two before the beignets were done. They dropped the beignets off at my tables when they got out the deep fry. Here's what I was looking at.

I took a sip of the drink and was in shock. Not diabetic shock, the surprised-in-a-good-way shock. The drink tasted like....COFFEE! So many blended coffee drinks are more milk shake than coffee. And this one wasn't too sweet either. For me, I liked it a lot. I can see some being underwhelmed and whining about it not being sweet enough. My advice for them is stick with your frappe' and shut the fuck up. And I say that with a big, kool-aid smile.

The beignets....I'm gonna try and be nice here. The chef in me was not happy with these things. Too chewy and half of them hollowed out. Plus, they give you some simple icing to dip them in. No chocolate? No berry sauce? How DARE they disrespect the beignet like that???? FUCKERS!!! (Clearing throat) OK, with that said, I'll try and cut them a little slack. I like that for under $2 bucks you can get some fresh doughnuts. They need some work on their technique, but their hearts are in the right place. But I wasn't thrilled at all with those beignets.

Now, remember what I said about being the oldest thing there? I was clearly the oldest customer there, too. The cafe is just a few blocks away from a high school. And judging from some other kids that came in, I think there is a junior high close as well. All I know is teenage girls make a shit load of noise for no damn reason.

For real, I don't think I could chill there with all those kids coming around. If I was R. Kelly, I'd be in heaven and give out golden showers to everyone. But I don't get down like that.

The drink was good and the location is great. But those fuckin' kids and lame beignets didn't sit well. Odds are I won't be heading back soon. If I do, I'll take my drink to go.

Later,

J. Miller