Besides The Big Cup in Chelsea, where would I find a good, funky
coffee shop in which to have a first date in midtown to lower Manhattan?

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Clarification of Question by mccook-ga on 30 Aug 2004 17:12 PDT

Pink,

That sounds exactly right. Want to post it as an official answer so I can pay you?

McCook.

Thank you for accepting my suggestion as your answer. I've reposted
the material below, with some additions.

"But best of all is Sucelt Coffee Shop (200 West 14th Street;
242-0593), a Colombian-run restaurant that has been in business for 22
years. How could I have been so blind as to miss this place? Sucelt
Coffee Shop has two orange counters, nine red stools, relaxed and
informative service, and a steady supply of satisfied, mostly
Hispanic, customers. There is a busy takeout trade, but I was made to
feel welcome sitting at the counter over a frothy café con leche.

The food is of a maternal wholesomeness, simple and delicious, and has
that supreme quality of Mom-cooked grub: It can do no wrong... Sucelt
Coffee Shop is like a home away from home, and I'll be lingering there
until -- hell's bells, until the next Bush administration."

New York Metro
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/reviews/underground/360/index1.html

My friend says that the Sucelt Coffee Shop is small, but very friendly
and pleasant. If you visit the Sucelt Coffee Shop and see a thin
middle-aged guy wearing a tee shirt that says "Harvard Drinking Team,"
that's my friend.

Here are a few more coffee shop possibilities that I found on a messageboard:

"Cafe Reggio in the Village 

 Veniero's on E. 11th St. 

 Higher Grounds Cafe, 700 East 9th Street #2

 The Halcyon in Brooklyn at 227 Smith St. 

 Chelsea Coffeehouse at 7th Ave and West 21st

 Cafe Gitane at 224 Mott Street near Prince"

Fodor's: Travel Talk
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=1&tid=34403214&numresponses=9&start=50&screen_name=margot55

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "sucelt coffee shop"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22sucelt+coffee+shop

Have fun on your date!

Best,
Pink

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 30 Aug 2004 18:01 PDT

I meant to include this, which sounds intriguing:

"A covenant diabolique seems stipulated at HIGHER GROUNDS CAFÉ, a
bewitching pussycat of a place run by a comely group of gallant
muchachos. The coffee will brace you for hatching cunning love hexes
and avenging hat tricks both. Pinch blueprints for slaying hearts or
wreaking malice from domino players while nursing a barrel-sized iced
Red Eye (perk with espresso). And if those imprints fail, moon over
the weeping willows across the street.  -Nita Rao

700 East 9th Street, Manhattan 212-358-9225"  

Village Voice: The Best of New York 2003
http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/2003/detail.php?id=3524

Pink: Still hoping to swing the date, but the good news is he's never
heard of the place and sounds intrigued. Just what the doctor ordered.

A friend of mine is crazy about Sucelt Coffee Shop. "New York"
magazine gave it a good write-up:

But best of all is Sucelt Coffee Shop (200 West 14th Street;
242-0593), a Colombian-run restaurant that has been in business for 22
years. How could I have been so blind as to miss this place? Sucelt
Coffee Shop has two orange counters, nine red stools, relaxed and
informative service, and a steady supply of satisfied, mostly
Hispanic, customers. There is a busy takeout trade, but I was made to
feel welcome sitting at the counter over a frothy café con leche.

The food is of a maternal wholesomeness, simple and delicious, and has
that supreme quality of Mom-cooked grub: It can do no wrong... Sucelt
Coffee Shop is like a home away from home, and I'll be lingering there
until -- hell's bells, until the next Bush administration.

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/reviews/underground/360/index1.html