Andytown, A Sunset Roaster with Irish Roots

Andytown Coffee Roasters
3655 Lawton St., Outer Sunset
Phone: (415) 753-9775
Web: andytownsf.com
Status: Open

The foggy Outer Sunset now has a new place to warm up over a cup of coffee, as Andytown Coffee Roasters opened its doors there this past weekend. The project comes from married couple Lauren Crabbe, a writer who was a longtime lead barista for Blue Bottle, and Michael McCrory, her musician husband. It's named for Andersonstown (known as Andytown for short), the Belfast suburb from which McCrory originates, and there's definitely an Irish influence here, most notably in the griddle-baked Irish soda bread that's the cafe's signature treat, and comes from McCrory's grandmother's recipe.

The couple are roasting their beans in-house on a Probat roaster, which they're sharing with another roaster, Orivor. The two roasters are teaming up on a signature coffee called L43, named for the cafe's intersection (Lawton and 43rd); other beans will include a washed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, a Panamanian, and an espresso called Short Strand (named for another Belfast neighborhood). Beans are also available for sale. Tea and hot cocoa round out the drink menu, along with an unusual option: the Snowy Plover, a housemade espresso soda topped with whipped cream.

The bright, open space, mostly constructed by hand by Crabbe, McCrory, and their friends, features lots of salvaged wood and surfing-inspired accents. Even other local roasters pitched in: fans of the now-closed Blue Bottle cafe at SFMOMA will recognize their Idrocompresso espresso machine on the counter, and Jeremy Tooker of Four Barrel hooked the couple up with a speaker set he was no longer using. Custom-thrown ceramic cups come from local ceramicist Douglas Dowers. Food offerings right now, besides the soda bread, include chocolate-chip cookies, scones, and steel-cut oats; lamb stew, grilled cheese toasties, and salads are planned for the forthcoming lunch menu, and a beer and wine license might come into play down the line. For now, Andytown's hours are Tuesday-Thursday, 7 am-12 pm, Friday-Saturday, 7 am-3 pm, and Sunday, 8 am-12 pm.

· First Look: Andytown Coffee Roasters In San Francisco [Sprudge]
· First Look at Andytown Coffee Roasters [SFoodie]
· Andytown Coffee Roasters [Facebook]