EDITOR’S NOTE: To read the latest posts on Simon’s coffee shop adventures, visit his blog at www.hold-the-coffee.blogspot.com.

Simon is back this week, and I am reviewing another coffee destination in my home city of Buffalo.

My boyfriend, Matt, and I visited my parent's house for a three-day weekend earlier this month. More important than meeting my parents, I wanted to introduce Matt to some of Buffalo’s cool, hip assets. On Saturday Jan. 4, Matt and I scouted through the famous Elmwood Village. It's not actually a village, but a vibrant commercial district in northern Buffalo filled with locally owned shops, galleries, restaurants, bars and cafes.

I tried to fit SPoT Coffee's sign in the frame,
but if I backed up any farther into the street,
I am sure car would've hit me.

Matt and I spent more than two hours at SPoT Coffee at 765 Elmwood Avenue. I have to confess, SPoT is actually a publicly traded company with nine locations and blurs the lines between indie and corporate. Despite being headquartered at its Toronto location, the company has most of its cafes in the Buffalo area. Three are in the city, two in nearby suburbs, two in Upstate New York cities and one in coastal Florida.

I am sure some people might accuse SPoT of being a big corporate chain, but I don't think their size is that out-of-control, and from what I've seen, each location is very different from one another and tries to emulate a neighborhood coffee shop. (Granted, I've only visited a SPoT once before my visit to the Elmwood location, and that was a quick stop at the one on Delaware Avenue.)

Instead of reviewing SPoT, the company, I am dedicating this post specifically to the Elmwood Avenue location. (Expect the same treatment for other regionally chained coffee shops. I am looking at you, Pheonix Coffee and Erie Island.)

This beautiful mural of Elmwood Village was the
first thing to greet our eye's at SPoT Coffee.

Location:  Elmwood Village a place founded by hipsters, and taken over by college students and rich single people. It's the kind of place you meet someone for a day-long date and by the end of the day, you'll have sworn you walked a half-marathon. What's more, a strong portion of the shops and restaurants are located inside renovated and repurposed old homes and mansions.

Despite being located inside a one-story, single-use building, SPoT's high roof and streetside facade blends well with its surrounding buildings. 

Nearby curbside parking can be hard to find In Elmwood Village. Not so much the case at SPoT. There's actually two public parking lots within walking distance of the cafe. Parking lots might grind my gears, but they do serve well in accommodating commuters, much like myself.

Because the lighting was so dim where we were eating,
I lit the food using my second smart phone's flash.

Food and Beverages: SPoT carries the traditional wide range of caffeine beverages, smoothies, sandwiches, wraps and breakfast items, but it's also known for its selection of gourmet pizza, which presents a valuable option for a group of young hipsters who want to hang out together on a tight wallet.

Matt and I didn't order a pizza. He got a bagel with enough veggie cream cheese to clog someone's sceptic tank,and I ordered a hummus wrap, which you can imagine contained enough hummus to do the same. Together with two 16-ounce coffees and a side salad, we spent a little more than $15 and two quarters.

I am in love with those glass jars on the left.
They have packets of sweetener in them.

Space and Atmosphere: Matt and I were thrown off our feet when we first entered SPoT that Thursday evening. Like most coffee shops we visit, we were expecting a calm and personal atmosphere. What we found was pretty much a crowded date night with colorful walls, bright lights and music almost as loud as a college town bar. We don't normally go to coffee shops after 5 p.m., and I am sure that played a big reason for the unsettling atmosphere. 

We first sat at a small table adjacent to a woman and man of our age who were clearly on a first date. (I think it well because later I saw both walking together toward Downtown Buffalo.)

Don't be fooled. Nearly half were playing video games.

After several minutes, Matt and I found more welcoming space at a a bar stool area near the windows. The seven or eight people sitting there were all on laptops. The softer music, dimmer lights and nearby wall outlets allowed Matt to work on his online test for nursing school and me to therapeutically creep on people walking between stores outside. I've never seen a seating area at a coffee shop so blatantly designed for work. 

Unlike most coffee shop's I visit, SPoT's volume of seating and tables can accommodate groups of up to a dozen people. I know that Saturday I saw one group of nearly ten people crowded comfortably around a large table.

With SPoT's large space, it is no surprise I saw flyers for an upcoming open mic night posted around. (Too bad it was scheduled two days after Matt and I returned to Cleveland. Would've loved to try my stand-up comedy one more time.) 

SPoT keeps a Ken and Barbie doll posted on the women's
and men's restroom doors. Groundbreaking! 

Again, if you have suggestions of a coffee shop for a future entry, send it to me via email--shusted@news-herald.com--or on Twitter at @SimonSaysNH.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To read the latest posts on Simon’s coffee shop adventures, visit his blog at www.hold-the-coffee.blogspot.com.

This week I am broadening my hunt for indie coffee shops to include a secret gem on the city of Buffalo's south side.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: I am born and raised in Buffalo and I make infrequent visits to the Queen City to meet family and check out all of the up-and-comings in the city. Throughout the months, you'll see a few blog entries dedicated to indie coffee shops in Buffalo.)

Yes, that is my younger brother Adam
pictured in the blue hoodie.

Dogs Ears Bookstore & Cafe, at 688 Abbott Road, is part-bookstore, part-coffee shop and all not-for-profit goodness. It shocks me more coffee shops haven't applied for 501c3 status. I know I am not speaking only for myself when I say people love patronizing coffee shops that invest in civic matters versus profits.

For Dog Ears, all of the proceeds from the coffee shop go directly to support the Enlightenment Literary Arts Center, located upstairs in the building, according to their website. (I don't know what the center does, and quite frankly, I don't care. The name sounds wonderful.)

I visited the coffee shop with my younger brother, Adam, Nov. 27, during my trip back home to Buffalo for Thanksgiving week. It wasn't my first time at Dog Ears. I've shared a meal their once before this summer with a friend who is a producer for one of Buffalo's TV news stations, and I also visited the place a couple times when it had a different owner and was called Caz Coffee Cafe. That shop closed down in 2012 and the bookstore took over the entire building some months afterward.

Here's part of the bookstore in the back,
but half of the bookshelves are woven incredibly well
into the coffee shop's dining areas.

The new management hasn't taken down or altered the old sign above the door, which could fool people into thinking it is still called Caz Coffee. At least that was what I thought that Wednesday when I was searching the place on my phone.

Below is my breakdown of the coffee shop:

Location - For those who don't know Western New York--South Buffalo and especially this portion along Abbott Road--is not often a highlighted destination for young, hip people to hang out. Buffalo's Elmwood Village, Allentown, Hertal Avenue, Chippewa Strip and more recently Canalside, Amherst Street and Larkin District are the spots people scope out for a good time. (And I haven't been to half of those places, of course.)

Dog Ears is one of a few businesses nestled between residential streets and in close proximity to a major park and hospital. That's part of the charm of Dog Ears. It's a very walk-friendly destination for the thousands of nearby residents and employees in South Buffalo. It works well with neighborhoods, even when patrons--myself included--are forced to park along residential streets because Dog Ears has no parking lot.

Look at these massive monsters!

Food and Beverage - Dog Ears offers a wide range of lunch-time meals and hot and iced beverages for coffee and non-coffee drinkers. Most importantly, the beverages come in gargantuan mugs. So gregarious, that the camera on my smart phone couldn't stop shooting photos.

Not to be overly pious about the "not-for-profit" status, but my brother only spent 20 bucks and some change for both of our quesadillas and our 16-ounce chai latte and cappucinno. That's pretty affordable cuisine for an urban indie coffee shop.

Space - In addition of adding more seating in the back of the building, Dog Ears made some noticeable interior improvements to the coffee shop since Caz Coffee left. It integrated its bookshelves nicely with the cafe's tables, fostered more open space, and most importantly, introduced me to the art of eco-friendly design: turning used doors into tables.  They are both beautiful and reused.

Why don't I see this more often?

Yes! Those are indeed coffee beans inside the
rectangular indents of the door. Groundbreaking!

Despite the added seating, I would advise to bring no more than three friends with you to Dog Ears, especially when the outdoor tables are unavailable because of a blustery Buffalo winter.