As with pubs or bakeries, a good coffee shop can have a central role in neighborhood life. Losing one can be a heavy blow. So it was with the Congregation Coffee café in Algiers Point.
But after a seven-month hiatus the café is back open with a new owner, and more plans ahead.
The front doors of this bright open shop of vintage woodwork and broad windows swung open this week, and people have been streaming in with strollers, pups on leash and welcome-back smiles on their faces.
Congregation’s comeback story is a two-parter. In addition to the Algiers Point cafe, there's also the return of the brand for tihs wholesale coffee roaster, which based Uptown. Eliot Guthrie closed both down last spring, hinting that someone may take over.
Congregation Coffee, the New Orleans-based roaster, has a cafe in Algiers Point, near the ferry landing. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
That someone turned out to be Patrick Brennan, son of restaurateur Ralph Brennan (of Brennan’s Restaurant and Ralph’s on the Park, among others). The younger Brennan left the family hospitality company to bring Congregation back as his own venture.
Roasting at Congregation’s production facility Uptown on Tchoupitoulas Street resumed in the fall shortly after the sale was complete, and Brennan is working now to resume wholesale relationships with restaurants and retail spots.
Congregation Coffee, the New Orleans-based roaster, has a cafe in Algiers Point, near the ferry landing. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Guthrie, who with a partner runs the tavern kitchen Duke Walter’s inside Finn McCool’s Irish Pub, is part of bringing Congregation back too, advising and sharing expertise on the production end and make introductions.
The cafe now has a selection of pastries from the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group's bakery, which Patrick Brennan helped create.
Congregation Coffee, the New Orleans-based roaster, has a cafe in Algiers Point, near the ferry landing. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Brennan is looking at expanding Congregation with additional cafés in the New Orleans area, and he’s eyeing the French Quarter for a possible first location.
Congregation got its start in 2015, roasting artisan coffee and taking its name for the term for a group of alligators.
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