Breaking News: Beaner Bar Now Carries Sweet'N Low!

HUGE NEWS!   The high-pitched whine of the anonymous internet ranker has spoken, and for once, someone actually took it seriously!! Beaner Bar has now converted to Sweet'N Low-friendly, thanks to this very blog.

Someone from the Beaner Bar website just posted a comment on my post about them with a link to their own blog, where they proudly display their new addition to the sweetener station:


On 2/10/10, they write"

"Sorry for not having Sweet n Low, we’re not complete haters. (Lori is a Splenda fan.;
2/22/10 UPDATE: You asked for it, you got it, sweet n low down reviewer!"

Beaner Bar, you have made my day!

Now, everyone go there and order tons of expensive drinks and buy a muffin to go along with it and let them know how happy you are!  Whether you use Sweet'N Low or not, the real key here is that this is an establishment that really cares about making their customers happy and wants to make sure they're really enjoying their coffee.

ONE LOVE, BEANER BAR. ONE LOVE.

Reader Report: Boqueria - Flatiron District

A tipsters reports via cameraphone picture of a deficient sweetener arrangement at his business lunch:

I do a lot of searching around Flickr, looking at strangers' pictures. And I've noticed that so many people take pictures of their plate at a restaurant. It's kind of like taking a picture of the animals at the zoo - what, are you never going to see another photo of a lion in your life? I understand if you cooked it yourself and you're proud of it, but in a restaurant? "This is to remember the meal a Guatemalan man prepared for me!!!"

My distaste for restaurant meal photography makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable whipping out my camera or phone to snap a pic, but this I approve of. Well done!

Boqueria
53 W. 19th St.
New York, NY 10011

Variety Cafe - Williamsburg: BTYOSNL

Variety Cafe
368 Graham Ave between Conselyea St & Skillman Ave



Look at the wooden drawers used to hold the Splenda and Domino raw sugar packets! Charming! Tres mignon!  But what is missing????

I decided to stop by here on a pretty glamorous Sunday afternoon errands run (99 cents store, liquor store, nail salon aka 3 places I spend most of my paycheck).

I had never been to Café Variety before, but I had a suspicion about it, so I packed a packet of Sweet'N Low from home into my purse. Good thing I did. Let me tell you, with my BYOSNL packet dumped into my latte, it was fantastic. It was exactly the taste sensation I craved, and with the kind of sweetener I'm used to, I was able to tell that this coffee was really delicious.

People have asked me before why I don't carry around my own Sweet'N Low packets just in case. If you've ever had a packet explode in your coat pocket or purse, you will know exactly why I don't. It's disgusting. Plus, I don't see you carrying around your own packets of ketchup in case you happen to go into a MacDonalds, do it?

But then I saw this vintage Sweet 'N Low packet holder on eBay, and I had to get it. The young person inside me shouted, "I love whimsically ironic old knick-knacks!" but the old lady inside said in a nasally voice, "this is pretty practical."

Done and done.

BIG UPs: Cafe Beltran - Williamsburg

I put whole milk in my coffee, not Haterade, so I like to give big ups where deserved.  And it's deserved for Café Betran on Woodpoint Rd in Williamsburg, since they did have Sweet 'N Low.  I really doubted it walking in - it has all the trappings on a SNL-free zone: teeny tiny space, spartan décor, and irregular hours (they once told my friend they're open "whatever days we can").  But to my delight, there were those pink packets! 

However, they did NOT have Equal, which if I were a fair-minded person I'd say is just as bad as not having Sweet'N Low.  But hey.  This blog is about one thing and one thing only:  Sweet'N Low.  If I were to be kvetching about the lack of Equal, this blog be called something really catching like "All Things Created Equal" or "Equality NOW!".  So let's just take our pleasures where we can get them.

Because I'm into you, Café Beltran, let me give you a piece of advice:  when I Google searched you, trying to find a good pic to use for this post, the only stuff that comes up for your name is your bad restaurant inspection details (no toilet paper apparently).  Do yourself a favor and plunk down $10 for a domain name and set up a free Blogger account or something to act as your website so a bad inspection notice isn't the only thing on the internet about you.

ONE LOVE.

Cafe Betran
135 Woodpoint Rd at Withers St.