So here is something I am a little embarrassed to admit. Cafe Pettirosso has been around on Capital Hill for at least 12 years and I have never really noticed the place, at least in a way that it stuck in my memory… that was until just a couple of weekends ago.
And its not that I have never driven down that side street because I have several times. This particular day, I had not had my morning latte and it was now afternoon and I had a headache. I needed a latte and I needed it now! So there I was, needed to run an errand near Cafe Vita and I thought this would also be a great time to pop into Vita for a latte. As I was driving around looking for parking I happened to notice the Cafe Pettirosso sign which is that of a latte in a cup, and a heart shaped rosetta and the first thing that came to mind was, “hey a new coffee shop… must try it out once I get my errands done”.
When I finally got to Pettirosso, I immediately noticed that there was something rather familiar about one of the two baristas.. As I was staring at her with a puzzled look, it finally struck me who she might have been. On telling her that she looked rather familiar, she replied that I too looked familiar… and she actually remembered me because I frequent Le Fournil, the French bakery where she used to work. I also remember her even more so because she once refused to allow me to take a picture of their espresso machine which had a lot of blinky lights… I don’t know if she thought that would be like uncovering trade secrets or something. But I decided not to remind her since I was hoping to take a picture or two inside Pettirosso.
I asked her about the name Pettirosso. What she told me is that Pettirosso is Italian for Red Breast… in the sense of the Red Breasted Robin. Hence, the name is basically an idiom for Robin or Cafe Robin. She told me that the cafe has been around for 12 years, and something about 20 years. I don’t remember if she was saying that the cafe has been around for 20 years and has been owned by the current owner for 12? Next time I decide to drop by, I’ll have to ask her again.
And what about the coffee. Well, the latte was ok. The first few sips wasn’t anything to write home about, but after a few sips it tasted a little better, certainly not earth shattering. She told me that they get their beans from Caffé Vita, just round the corner. They use the Cafe Del Sol blend… Caffé Vita does not make any custom roast blend for them.
And to be honest, I think next time I’ll probably pass by the Robin and continue on to Caffé Vita. Those folks certainly do pull a mean latte… Actually, I should head on over sometime soon so I have put up a post about it 
