That said, there’s no question that the restaurant industry is a tough, fickle consumer, labor-cost-heavy, margin-driven business and I know squat about what it takes to run one that can stay in business. And if I were a restaurant owner, I would probably be doing prison time right now for attempting to strangle every customer that wants their double-tall, four-pump vanilla caramel macchiato. And you could write multiple books on the sources of problems with espresso at restaurants in this country.

But given what restaurants are already attempting to do with wine, and even the lower-margin tea nowadays, the sad state of coffee in most (though not all) restaurants is no excuse. Restaurants in SF such as Bar Bambino disprove the myth that good espresso is incompatible with a successful restaurant business — let alone just about any restaurant in Portugal or Italy that puts the typical American restaurant espresso to shame.

Restaurateurs too often send home patrons with a bitter taste in their mouths after a pricey meal, and that probably has the most to do with the status quo: they can get by because they don’t see/experience a competitive disadvantage. It was the same scenario with American coffeehouses some 15 years ago, before the likes of Starbucks profitably showed the public that things could be different. Most restaurants lack any vision in this regard — eventhough the path has already been paved in other venues.

But I’ve come to appreciate the restaurant that clearly acknowledges what it is and is not — by, say, offering individual French presses of a good, local roaster and distancing themselves from any additional misplaced pomp or pretention.