Readers, Digest

This issue of Market Street touches on a few of my favorite things: food, coffee, wine, music and a healthy political debate.

Let me start with tacos — more specifically, the guacamole that goes on the tacos. You haven’t had really good guacamole unless you know Honest Tom, whose chicken tacos are so wholesome I feel guilt-free eating them for lunch. Plus, his taco shop on 44th near Spruce is a bit of a hike from LeBow, so I get a workout making the trip to fetch them.

Mugshots Coffeehouse is my all-time favorite coffee shop; there was one in close proximity to my old house and another near my former job. Now that I know alumna Angela Vendetti is the owner, I’m going to make a point of going out of my way to visit more often. She has a very progressive vision for Mugshots, which is a certified B Corporation. That’s pretty cool — or pretty hot, depending on how you order your cup of Joe. Another coffee connoisseur, Frank LaRusso of Mars Drinks, is responsible for more of the content in this issue than he realizes. He is the pioneer of single-serve, workplace coffee machines (we really depend on ours). Without this innovation, I’d be getting much less done come 3 o’clock each afternoon. So, thanks Frank!

I’m really digging another entrepreneurial alumnus: Jeff Dill. Not yet 30, Jeff got laid off from his job in the commercial mortgage sector in 2008 and didn’t sweat it because he was already dreaming of opening his own winery. He says most customers tend to favor his Jabber Waulkie line of sweet wines; I prefer his dry riesling. It’s dill-icious.

Good food and drink are best served with music and conversation, so I’d like to raise my glass in honor of three faculty members who contributed to this issue: Ed Nelling on his rock and roll past (and future?) and Sebastien Bradley and Irina Murtazashvili for debating the critical question of whether our government should subsidize corn production.

I hope I’ve whet your appetite. Feel free to devour this issue with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine!

Cheers, Lisa

Lisa Litzinger-Drayton Editor, Market Street