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Caffe Paradiso »
Address: 801 S. Lincoln Ave. Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 384-6066
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To some, the café’s customers and staff may seem intimidating at first glance — an offbeat crew with a penchant for shaggy hair and bohemian clothing, our generation’s beatniks. They always greet others with a welcoming smile at this gathering place for writers, performers, intellectuals — those who have come to the edge of historic Urbana to escape the commercial bustle of Campustown. It is Caffe Paradiso, an independent café at the corner of Lincoln and Nevada in Urbana, that is very much a lure for la vie boheme and an encouraging community for creative minds.

Although Paradiso has the look of a coffee shop, their offerings far exceed just coffee and tea. (Though I should mention that they serve arguably the best coffee on campus, ordered weekly from Intelligentsia in Chicago. The coffee is roasted fresh, shipped the same day as the order, and received the next day, with baristas who really know what they’re doing. Watch their work behind the counter and it resembles, at its best, performance art or a choreographed dance. Not to mention, nowhere else in Urbana-Champaign have I had such perfect foam atop a latte.)

The café offers a build-your-own sandwich menu every day. Pick a bread: sourdough, nine-grain, rye, ciabatta or baguette; pick a meat (or not, if that’s how you roll); and pick all the veggies you want. All the ingredients are fresh, and the bread is local, brought in regularly from Mirabelle’s bakery in Urbana. Paradiso’s pastry selection, though limited, also comes from Mirabelle’s, if you fancy a slice of downtown Urbana with your coffee.

Stray from the regular menu and check out the ever-changing blackboards to see what else they have to offer. Listed on the counter-to-ceiling blackboards you can find the day’s specials — from housemade soups made daily from local ingredients to meal offerings such as Italian beef sandwiches. And, as can be expected from such an “indie” establishment, small baskets next to the register display vegan cookies and other baked goods. Paradiso also makes their own hummus, chickpea and spicy black bean, which you can order on a platter that comes with both varieties, toasted pita and fresh vegetables. The hummus plate is a personal favorite choice for an afternoon work snack.

Order “for here,” and your food will be served on real plates, your drinks in real (big) mugs — mismatchy, to complement the café’s eclectic feel. The dishes, unassuming though more special than simply paper, paired with the rickety old tables that may as well be in your grandmother’s house give Paradiso the homey, comfortable feel that puts its guests at ease.

“I call it the dreamy café,” says Young Sun Lee, a graduate student in the University’s dance department. “Even with the music and all the people, for some reason, I can always concentrate.” She twirls her fingers next to her temples, mimicking gears turning. “I don’t know what it is about the place, but I feel my mind works differently here. I can be creative.”