Hot Dish

Cafe Society has been Dallas' favorite coffee-talk cafe since it opened. It beat the rest of the coffee hustlers here, but the real root of its charm is its attitude. It assumes Dallas reads, talks, converses, and debates. It bases its whole business on that. Its mission statement says that "they value free expression over structure, truth over tranquility..." It's not the usual business plan. Pretty flattering. So it's encouraging to hear that Cafe Society has been successful enough to launch its own product line, shown to retailers at the January Gift Show. Of course, they're selling their own line of coffees--who isn't? But they're also selling coffee mugs, caps, and T-shirts with catchy slogans such as "Coffee is cheaper than Prozac," "Corporate coffee sucks," and, most interesting, a set of cassettes called Cafe Society Live featuring six artists who perform regularly at the Cafe.

Cafe Society, 4514 Travis in Travis Walk.

--Mary Brown Malouf