Go Get Em, Again

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the new Go Get Em Tiger cafe in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.  Go Get Em is a part of a small, burgeoning LA cafe empire owned by Charles Babinski and Kyle Glanville.

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I went for coffee and lunch with my friend and mentor, James Marcotte.  James had the Adobo Grain Bowl and I chose the Soccatta (chickpea frittata) and Chopped Salad.  All of it was fresh and tasty, and I appreciated that all three were gluten free.

James had one of the famous iced-almond-macadamia-nut-milk iced lattes (haha, sorry for outing you, James!), and I had a proper cup of black coffee from the Fetco, as any coffee pro would, while secretly coveting James’ latte.  The coffee, Ethiopian Worka, was delicious and beautifully extracted. To be fair, it was James' first foofoo latte, but I suspect it won't be his last.

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I’m reviewing Go Get Em a simple reason: they consistently deliver a level of service and quality I find rarely anywhere else.  Visiting GGET is the highlight of my day when I'm in LA, along with going to Vinnie's yoga class.

Of the 1000+ coffee shops I’ve been to in the US, Kyle and Charles’ cafes serve the most consistently excellent coffee.  They don’t try to do anything fancy; they offer no hand pours and no coffees roasted so lightly that I worry I’m about to invest $4 in a cup of vegetable broth.  They brew all filter coffee on a Fetco.  They pre-grind and pre-weigh their espresso doses, which they will surely go to coffee hell for.  They offer a simple-to-execute food menu of fresh, delicious food (though not the 100% gluten-free nirvana Kyle once promised me; I’m still smarting from that tease.)

The service at all of their cafes is a rare mix of friendly, competent and efficient.  Sometimes I've wondered if I get special treatment because most of the staff  knows me or because I'm in the coffee industry.  But that concern was put to rest when I was treated impeccably by the new staff working in Los Feliz who didn't know me.  If I had a complaint, it would be that some of the food portions could be a bit larger.

The new Go Get Em seems to indicate the company is making a strategic pivot toward greater emphasis on food.  The cafe has an open kitchen, they’ve expanded their food menu, and really, the cafe model is more Australian cafe than American coffee bar.  I’m on board with that as long as they continue to maintain the same high standard for coffee service and also continue to not serve naturals.

Go Get Em Tiger

4630 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

Full disclosure:  I've been friendly with Kyle and Charles and some of their team members for several years, and GGET sells my books in their cafes.  However, everything I've written is my honest opinion, and I've driven over an hour, each way, to visit GGET about 40 times in the past few years.  That says a lot about how much I enjoy it.