Bis.Co.Latte 08-26-2011

Location: 667 10th Ave.

Time: 12pm

Feelings: After experiencing 10 days of blackout in Astoria, and the Great Hanshin earthquake, a category one hurricane might not be a big deal. After all, I managed to put on makeup and curled my hair in the dark. During the MTA strike in 2005, I walked from Astoria to Midtown East in five inch wedge boots for three days. But I could not hide my nervousness on Friday.

I decided to take a walk to Bis.Co.Latte on 10th Avenue. Bis.Co.Latte is a quaint family-run cafe that specializes in tea, coffee (Illy coffee), baked goods and what else--over 60 variety of hand-crafted biscotti. If you want to pick up light lunch while you are here, they have savory offerings like cold and warm soups, frittatas, and risotto. After reading the reviews on yelp, I was nervous about their service that seems to involve a lot of shouting, but they were surprisingly warm and friendly.

I ordered iced decaf white raspberry tea ($2.75) and corn and leek risotto ($8.95) and to finish off, chocolate hazelnut biscotti ($1.15). The portion of risotto was quite small for $8.95, but it was fresh, buttery and hearty, and I would certainly order it again. It would be a perfect lunch for the crisp fall weather to come. The biscotti was chocolatey and scrumptious, and compared to cantucci from Il Cantuccio in West Village, it was more of the American style. I would recommend getting a warm cup of latte or tea to go with it.

Bis.Co.Latte is an adorable cafe with no-nonsense Hell's Kitchen mood, which means you need to treat this place as pre-Starbucks era--no laptop, no sticking around for hours without ordering--the basic code the "cafe" people have forgotten after the Starbucks invasion. So if you are tired of Starbucks full of tourists in Midtown, stop by here for a moment of serenity with delightful tea and biscotti.