october 19, 2026

I left the house this morning at 8:30, which means I was walking to the subway alongside all of the 9-to-5 workers heading to clock into their jobs for the day. I felt like one of them... my laptop peeking out of my shoulder bag, playing the Shuffalo (my favorite New Yorker mini game) and the Wordle (classic NYT) as I took the C train through Manhattan.

But I wasn't going to work, I was heading the opposite direction of most folks at this hour. I got off in Prospect Heights, and walked a few blocks to a small coffee shop called Dark Necessity. Admittedly, this was my plan B for the morning, I originally passed by Canyon Coffee, curious to see how busy it was. I wanted a seat, and there were none at my plan A. But at Dark Necessity, there was a perfect table right next to the window for me to clock into my job (working on assignments for my part-time college classes).

There are a few things I absolutely love about this quaint cafe, and a few things that weren't so great. This is a small place, but they still have a clean bathroom and good wifi. There was only one barista who was running the show, and she was incredibly sweet. I ordered an almond milk cappuccino and a cinnamon roll muffin (that I could tell was supplied by Sixteen Mills, a popular gf/vegan bakery... so I knew it was gonna hit).

My cappuccino came in a beautifully unique mug, on a tray with a glass of sparkling water– in true coffee-snob fashion. My coffee was far too hot, it was unenjoyable until I let it cool for 10 minutes. It was also not creamy at all, and there was no latte art. I'm fine with this... but I looked on their Instagram and found that they are "anti latte art." Interestingggg. Their belief is that latte art can't make up for bad coffee. The problem with a coffee shop making this claim is that their coffee has to be especially delicious in order to make up for the lack of creamy milk and latte art. Unfortunately, the coffee was not very good. It wasn't bad, but I would never point a coffee-lover to this cafe.

This being said, I had a perfectly productive work session, sitting at the window-adjacent table, listening to the quiet buzz of the local radio station.

Other things I saw this morning: