Foxtail
To read more about Foxtail, check out my published coverage in the Winter 2020 issue of Winter Park Magazine: https://issuu.com/digitalissue/docs/wpm_win20/54.
UPDATE 12/06/2018: Ended up circling back here after one evening of Italian food out in WPV. My dad's exact words were, "well, what about that place your mother said is too dark?" I laughed in understanding—of my mother, not of the cafe she referred to—and we headed over to Foxtail at my behest. I remember it being open till 22:00. However, I Googled it to double check and found that it is actually open till 00:00. Something must've changed. Something must be going on.
When we arrived, the doors available for entry had doubled. The space had grown tremendously—the barn door acting as a partition in the previous cafe was pushed aside—with this cafe adopting something called a Gravity Bar. I found an article about this new area being called the Farmhouse and opening up last April. Later night owls had nabbed a glass of wine while some still stuck with coffee at the tables perched on window sills and high top tables. My father and I picked up some cappuccinos ($4.25 each) and sat in the original barn wing. He asked me questions about where they got their beans, whether the coffee was a blend, what made it taste different from Starbucks, etc. When he finished sipping it down to the echo of a plastic cup, he flipped it and said, "two conclusions: one, good. Two, too small." The whole way back to the car I explained the beauty of a cappuccino's delicate proportions, why they had done this part right. Later on the discussion blossomed as, back at home, he mentioned once more that the cappuccino really was good and a nice change of pace. I begged to differ. Yes, the quality was their. However, their was a flavor at the tail end of the espresso that was unpleasant. The proportions of their blend was off. I understood where he was coming from though. The conclusory note was this—this cappuccino is like bleu cheese. It is distinct, it is unmistakeable from the other cheeses, but it takes a very specific person to enjoy it and is better as a garnish or additive to enhance other flavors (so, if you put sugar in it, it's like adding lettuce to a bleu cheese crumble salad). I would never get it again, but why other people do again and again does nothing to perplex me.
