Located almost across the street from the Dempster L stop, Cafe Express is a convenient stop for commuters that has enough personality to sustain caffeine junkies throughout the day. Mismatched tables and chairs look grungy against quaint white dressers that house milk, cream and sugar in the three-room cafe. The main room houses espresso machines that look like they may be hand-me downs; that's not to say they look unclean, just like they've been given a lot of TLC. The middle room is more of a nook, with peach- and gray-painted brick walls and more tables, while the darker back room, or "reading room," as I have come to call it, is populated with books and piles of free weekly and monthly city magazines.

Cafe Express offers a standard menu of beverages—coffee and non-coffee drinks, iced and hot—as well as nearly every kind of to-go breakfast pastry/snack you can think of: bagels, coffee cake, scones, muffins, cookies, etc. Sandwiches and salads are also offered ($4-6).

Centerstage Reviewer: Kate Puhala