I first fell in love with coffee and the cafe experience at The Wormhole, with it’s 80s nostalgia channeled through memorabilia small—Nintendo; Zelda figurines—and large—exact replica Janine Melnitz desk; actual Delorian mounted on the wall. Like many a hip spot on the Milwaukee corridor, it has aged out of its prime. The clever joke on the entryway, “Established 2015,” was an obvious Back to the Future reference … until 2015. The Wormhole will always hold a warm place in my heart, but it’s not quite as energetic as it was (then again, neither am I).
In Avondale, a few neighborhoods north on Milwaukee, I recently discovered The Wormhole’s spiritual sibling in The Brewed. Deriving its homophonic name from the David Cronenberg 80s movie, the space is overflowing with horror-genre memorabilia. I don’t think the two shops are actually related, though they do serve the same roaster’s beans.
Though I’ll never again spend months straight of Saturdays and Sundays alone at the Wormhole like I used to, it’s fun to see a new spot pick up where my favorite shop left off, and to see the younger clientele and baristas blasting music, joking around, and having fun at a space that feels like it’s there just for them.
sabbatiblog 