“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”

Tired of Butler? Sick of burning your tongue on another scalding Starbucks latte? Want to pretend you’re spending your winter break in Europe? Bwog brings you the third installment of our cafe reviews–this time, we’re covering cafes that will make you feel as if you’ve been transported to the streets of Paris or Budapest or something. Don’t forget your French cigarettes and your ADP pledge pin.

La Toulousaine: Between 107th and 106th & Amsterdam

• Wifi: Yes, but you have to awkwardly ask them for the password.
• Outlets: Not sure, probably not though
• How much do they hate campers? A LOT. You probably have to buy something every hour if you want to avoid dirty looks.
• Space: A few tables–plenty of room to work, but little enough room that four campers could easily prevent anyone else from being able to sit there.
• Number of people: Generally pretty empty, with a few regular customers.
• Food quality: Amazing. Almost everything they sell is made of lots of butter and flour, and the coffee is pretty good, too.
• Price: Fairly cheap. Would probably be two dollar signs on Yelp, but they’re an independent place so you don’t feel bad giving them your money.
• Background music: Quiet to none.
• Noise level: Can be loud when it’s busy because the door opens right onto the street, but generally very quiet.
• Bathrooms: Nope.
• Atmosphere: Cute French bakers, families, and older couples in a cozy room that smells like croissants.

Hungarian Pastry Shop: 111th & Amsterdam

• Wifi: No.
• Outlets: No
• How much do they hate campers? People come and stay for hours at a time. Buy something when you first come in and maybe every couple of hours. But the place offers free refills on coffee so they almost encourage camping out.
• Space: Pretty big but also pretty crowded. You will probably have to share a table with a bunch of other people and will repeatedly bump your chair against the person sitting behind you.
• Number of people: Unpredictable. Usually pretty crowded, but starts to empty out in the evening. Avoid Sunday mornings.
• Food quality: Everything is about the same level of decently delicious: I’ve only tried pie. If you’re in the mood for a fancy coffee drink, get the Viennese coffee because it comes with a cup of whipped cream, but the regular coffee is really good.
• Price: $2.45 for a coffee, and a lot of the baked goods are under $5.
• Background music: None. Thank god.
• Noise level: Can get pretty loud when it’s crowded. Not too distracting though, unless you’re sitting next to people having an obnoxious conversation.
• Bathrooms: Covered in “high-minded scrawl.”
• Atmosphere: A little bit dark and the tables are kind of rickety and crowded. Great for reading, writing, or doing problem sets. Not so great for spreading out with 50 different books and a computer to write a research paper. Although there is this one old guy who sets up shop with a macbook AND a computer stand.

Croissants make us want to quote Camus via Shutterstock