For the last two weeks, my friend Elizabeth and I have been switching up our morning walks from Prospect Park to other neighborhoods. It's exercise and work at the same time. She scopes out sites of architectural or historical significance for her work, I scope out food for mine. With mornings like these, I actually don't hit the snooze button 20 times like I usually do.

Earlier this week, we did a nice little walk through Fort Green and Clinton Hill. One of the stops was the Pratt Power Plant, an amazing old steam-generating power plant from 1877 that's just sitting there and open to the public at Pratt Institute. (Tip: make friends with a historic preservationist. It'll improve your life dramatically.) But more on that later!

Afterwards we ended up at Urban Vintage, a café and vintage furniture shop rolled into one.

Kind of a genius idea, if you ask me. Why aren't there more of these cafe/furniture shop hybrids? I love this gilded mirror-turned-menu.

It's one of those coffee shops that I could spend the entire day working from. The photos here were taken on an overcast, drizzly day, but I could imagine the entire cafe being swamped with light on a sunnier day, especially with two walls of floor-to-ceiling glass in the front area (not pictured.)

I need to find an excuse to come back to Clinton Hill soon. There are surely plenty of architectural gems —and menu items here! — left to explore. I'm looking at you especially, Thyme Truffle Cheddar Grilled Cheese.

Urban Vintage
294 Grand Ave. (between Lafayette Ave. and Clifton Place)
Brooklyn, NY
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Map