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We were feeling blue.

It was four days away. We were completely packed. We got haircuts, the cats were even given a rare bath so they would smell nice for the cat sitter. We were literally counting down the hours until our Central America adventure trip. Then I got a call from the tour company. There was an issue. They had to reschedule us. Now instead of only four days to go, we have to wait another six weeks until our trip.

It was fine. I was still excited to be given the opportunity to go on this adventure, and changing flights and hotel stays was easier than expected. Still, we were a little bummed. When you’re only days away from a big trip, your mind has already shifted to, it’s ADVENTURE TIME, and it’s hard to convince your brain otherwise. It’s also a bummer going into work on the day you were supposed to be on an airplane.

To cure our postponed trip blues, we decided a visit to one of our favorite places, Rim Café, was in order.

Located in the Italian Market section of the city of Philadelphia, Rim Café is known for its hot chocolate, desserts, and most importantly, its owner, Rene.

This isn’t the type of café where you pull out your laptop to work on that novel. There are no laptops allowed at Rim Café (seriously, there’s a sign by the door). This is a place to bring your friends (something we’ve turned into a mission) so you can share a collective experience. It’s an interactive environment.

In our experience, it’s not uncommon in other countries to go to a restaurant where the restaurant’s proprietor is the person taking your order and the person cooking your food. Said person tends to be interactive, freely sharing their zeal for what they are making. I think as a customer, you get a deeper enjoyment and connection to what you are consuming when you experience firsthand the passion that goes into its creation.

At Rim Café, Rene and Belle aren’t just baristas, no, they are creating art, amazingly tasty art.

The other thing that I love about proprietor interactive establishments is that the proprietor is usually willing to impart sage advice.

Rene’s motto is, “Make it Happen.” He will tell you, you’ve got to make it happen, because if you don’t make it happen, somebody else will.

Inspiring stuff. Making it happen can be applied to whatever dream you have. Even if you have to start out with the smallest of baby steps, start doing. Rene is a man of action and I aspire to be a girl of action.

We had a chance to sit and chat with Rene during our recent visit. We chatted about one of my favorite subjects, travel. When asked what his favorite place in the world is, he replied,

“everywhere,” and then followed it up stating that if we asked what his favorite food was, he would answer, everything. Great answers.

People will ask me which hot chocolate at Rim Café is my favorite, and I’m always at a loss, because I can’t decide on a favorite. I will say that if you are a peanut butter-holic like I am, then you can’t go wrong with the Nutty Peanut Butter.

I’ve also had the Godfather tiramisu,

the salty caramel, and this time, the special- not- usually- on- the- menu, sweet potato hot chocolate. The sweet potato was like drinking a chocolate-sweet potato pie. Yum.

See, it’s too hard to choose a favorite. They are all worthy of savoring.

This recent visit was the first time we’ve seen the making of the marshmallow brulee, and once we saw that it involved fire, we’re definitely getting it next visit.

The sweets are also fabulous. We usually aren’t huge fans of cannolis, but I think that’s because we haven’t had many good cannolis. We love the cannolis at Rim.

The shell is nice and delicate, and the filling isn’t overly sweet. I’m also partial to the African peanut butter truffles.

We had ourselves quite a feast.

*Picture taken by Jason Clendenon

Perhaps the best part of the evening, aside from the hot chocolate, and getting a hug from Rene, was getting to be the person to hold Rene’s phone while he did a Facebook Live video. I was ecstatic with joy.

It was an awesome night. The fun and all of the warm chocolaty goodness was the perfect cure for our postponed trip blues. Thanks Rim Cafe.

If you are visiting Philadelphia, make sure you stop by Rim Cafe. In fact, if you plan on doing the obligatory Geno’s/Pat’s cheesesteak tourist thing, then you have no excuse since Rim Cafe is only a two minute walk away.

Fun Fact: When I was a little girl, my dad worked with a former get-a-away driver for the mob. He found me endearing and called me Shirley Temple. Every so often he would stop by our house with a box of cannolis for me. Ever since then, I’ve never been able to eat a cannoli without thinking of “Lefty.”

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