Goodbye Blue Monday
Goodbye Blue Monday
319 Division Street
Northfield, MN 55057
(507) 663-6188
A no smoking coffeehouse in the heart of Northfield, Minnesota. Northfield is a small college town 40 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, home to both Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges. Situated nicely between the two, the coffeeshop has become a nice study venue for students from both schools (and since it is open until midnight on a regular basis, and sometimes later during finals, you will likely find someone studying on the couches).
Besides the constant flow of students on their way to or from class, the coffeeshop caters to the locals (also known as “townies”) as well. Professers regularly stop by on their way to teach class, as do the local high school and elementary school teachers. Local business people drop by for a morning scone and latte, as well as the latest gossip from their circle of friends.
Their are three unique elements to Goodbye Blue Monday that make it stand above and beyond most other coffeeshops. First, the owners. Dan Riggins and Catherine Dominguez met in Law School at Stanford. After graduation, Catherine was hired by a firm in St. Paul, but they never gave up their hope of opening a small-town coffeeshop. Finding a great spot in Northfield, they never looked back. 15 years down the line, you will still find the two of them behind the counter, serving coffee, making scones, and talking to customers.
Second on the list is the decor: it can only be described as comfortable. Retro chairs and tables abound, as well as couches that would seem to be more at home in a college dorm room than a respectable business. Quite the opposite of conveying a feeling of shabbiness, these touches lend a sense of “home” to the store. Comfort is a number one priority.
And finally, the most unique element to the store is the music. Underneath the counter behind the bar are two 250 disc CD players full of the most eclectic music collection you may ever run across. It is just as common to hear the Beatles as it is to hear Son Volt (a band that recorded their first album in Northfield), from Moby and St. Germain to Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. The sound is never the same, and never dull.
Over all, I have to give Goodbye Blue Monday a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars (the only problem being the lack of a lunch menu, although pastries and sweets abound). Last visited 5/8/05.
Comments
5 Responses to “Goodbye Blue Monday”
Got something to say?
Resources
i think that it has some of the best coffee in town!…..
[...] I was saving the best stop for last, Good Earth Food Co-op. I walked in the familiar front doors, and braced myself for the lovely site of loaves upon loaves of fresh baked, dense, hard on the outside, soft on the inside Fred’s Bread. Truly the best bread I have ever tasted in this country. So close to what I had experienced in Europe at every breakfast. Fred’s Bread barely made it the half hour trek home usually, and was always the first thing eaten when I got home- a slice of Mega Grain or Flaxseed Oatmeal with a big slab of butter, or hummus, or pesto. I’d fry up some Smart Bacon for dinner, just to incorporate it into the evening meal through a BLT sandwich. I had once sent it off to Northfield to impress D & C from Goodbye Blue Monday Coffeehouse (they aren’t easily impressed by amateur baked goods-Fred’s was oh so not an amateur). Fred had traveled all through Europe learning the style, recipes, bringing back ovens from Italy, he was a rock star living in my back yard. His bread had a cult following. [...]
This is my favorite coffeehouse of all time!
[...] and construction (using WordPress, of course). I did a quick web search and found a 2005 review of the Blue Monday by the Meridian Coffeehouse blog (“All about Coffee House Culture – Running a Coffee House, [...]
The coffeehouse was established in 1991 by Chad Snelson and John Podeszwa. Dan Riggins and Catherine Dominguez purchased the coffeehouse in 1995.