Talk of the Point

This week one year ago I was in Sicily near my grandmother’s home town. The morning after I arrived, I took a walk with my cousin and her son down to look at the Mediterranean and then up to the Terrasini town square for cappuccino at a table on the sidewalk. This year, I found a place in the Point with cappuccino and a view nearly as good: Rosamaria’s Cafe, across from the post office.

The espresso is strong and the steamed milk is thick enough to suspend the coffee in thick streaks. According to a barista I know with 22 years’ experience, the cappuccino’s good because owner Mike Nova and cashier Ana Maria Delgado pay attention. When they steam milk, there’s no hissing, spitting, roar or rumble, which indicate a shallow nozzle or scalding. They judge the temperature by feeling the pitcher, not by reading a thermometer.

Outside, the sidewalk tables put the cappuccino sipper inside the Point’s daytime epicenter.

Next best is Little Louie’s when Tony, one of the owners, runs the espresso machine. If only there were tables on the street.

I now avoid the corporate coffee shop in the Swan Yoga Building, despite the tables and chairs outside. The counter people steam the milk indifferently, producing large, useless bubbles. Typical in a company that runs by formula, the espresso-machine operators use thermometers to know when to shut off the steam. And as for the coffee itself, the handful of lattes I’ve had there were so weak they may not have contained any coffee at all.

I haven’t tried espresso at Altura or Hidden City in a year or more, and I’ve never tried Hotel Mac’s.

When the Point has mastered espresso, perhaps someone will introduce a pastry to go with it: authentic Sicilian-style cannoli.

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• Terrasini’s town square

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