Brookside's Coffee Contest

The coffee competition in Brookside heated up recently when the 800-lb. coffee gorilla, Starbucks, opened a new store on Peoria, across the street from Crow Creek. We visited recently and were, well, underwhelmed. The new location is slick and bright, but had little of the charm of our comfortable Brookside favorite, Shades of Brown.

We at AltTulsa don't mind a good cuppa Starbucks on occasion, but for a home-grown alternative, we recommend Melinda and the friendly folks at Shade of Brown. (Besides, Shades has free wifi, and Starbucks requires us to pay for T-Mobile, which we decline to do).

We realize this endorsement puts us on the same side as some other Tulsa bloggers (Michael Bates at Batesline, for instance), but that's fine. Even Michael is sometimes right.