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Java and Jungle Gyms

Head over Heels for Fun

    When the rainy season hits, many parents look for indoor kid-friendly spaces. Sometimes all a mom or dad wants is a place to peacefully sip some tea without worrying that his toddler’s latest rendition of “Old MacDonald” will drive the patron next to him insane. It’s this quest for welcoming eating and drinking locales that’s recently motivated the opening of four East Bay cafes that cater (in some cases exclusively) to parents and kids.
    For some establishments, being kid-friendly is just another way to
create community in neighborhoods teeming with families. For others, it’s the focus of their business, and the setup is far more elaborate and child-centered. The latter—of which there are currently two in Oakland—also charge admission fees.
    Because this trend of kiddie-adult cafes is catching on in the Bay Area, we thought this would be a good time to take a look at the spots where parents can go for a cuppa joe and some respite while their children eat and play.
    The impetus behind Kei Katsunuma and Rafa Cano’s kid-friendly cafe came from personal experience. The husband-and-wife team has a young daughter, and Katsunuma had always wished for a place like PriPri after her baby was born and the family was living in Madrid.
    “I wanted to create an environment where people feel safe to go with a baby who might cry,” says Katsunuma. “I didn’t want them to have to worry about bothering other patrons.”
    The couple moved to the Bay Area and started searching for a space, and within five months, they had started PriPri. Having a business has been challenging—more so than they’d ever imagined—but rewarding as well, they say. The cafe has been well received, and PriPri has grown quite a following.
    PriPri is not devoted solely to kids. The layout features a peaceful distinction between the kids’-and-parents’ area and the cafe space for the rest of the patrons. A long entryway with tables leads to a large back room with a cafe counter and a play area and loft for the kids along one wall. This back room contains a small kitchen, little couches and tons of books and toys. The little loft area is popular with older children who set up great imaginary play there.
    PriPri’s owners often schedule kid-friendly musicians, and they’ve offered up their space for numerous classes and workshops. The last Saturday of each month from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., PriPri stages a “kiddie disco” in the back room, complete with darkened lighting, disco ball and guest DJs.
    Though PriPri presents much of the usual cafe fare—there’s a full coffee bar and a nice selection of teas, pastries, soups and sandwiches—the cafe sets itself apart by serving interesting tapas. Katsunuma’s husband is Spanish, and he has pulled together a great selection of cheeses, meats and other Spanish snacks for grownups. But the menu also features an extensive selection of kid-friendly foods and drinks, including fresh-squeezed fruit and veggie juices. Because they don’t charge fees for the kids’ play area, PriPri asks parents not to bring outside food into the cafe for their kids.
    PriPri Cafe, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany, (510) 528-7002, www.pripricafe.com.

Tumble and Tea

    Tumble and Tea has been a long time in the making. Susan Older-Mondeel first envisioned it when her son, who’s now 5, was an infant.
    “The concept isn’t really that novel; every mom dreams about someplace indoors where she can get food and coffee and sit down while her kids play,” says Older-Mondeel. “What it really took was the combination of personalities that my business partner and I have to make it happen.”
    Older-Mondeel and her friend and business partner, Georgina DeCarlo, were two stay-at-home moms who knew what they wanted out of a child-friendly cafe. Nine months of planning and a year’s worth of construction later, they opened their dream cafe at the southern end of the Temescal district.
    Tumble and Tea is one large room that’s divided down the side with a mesh curtain to distinguish the play area from the cafe. Though the cafe welcomes patrons with and without kids, the majority of adults come with a child. The decor is bright and fun, appealing to both kids and adults. There are plenty of chairs, tables and big, comfy couches. Thick carpeting around the couches provides a nice space for parents to set down crawling children. Entrance fees apply to children who go into the play area. If the space is not too busy, parents seated in the cafe can comfortably see their kids playing. If Tumble and Tea gets too full, the play cafe institutes a
waiting-list system.
    The menu consists of filling breakfast and lunch items. There’s a full coffee bar, and staples are pastries, soups, salads and sandwiches. Tumble and Tea also offers some very “adult” lunch choices, such as lobster bisque. The kids’ menu is equally pleasing for its age group: tofu dogs, grilled cheese and organic baby food and biscuits. Tumble and Tea’s monthly calendar is full of classes for kids and adults, and these classes—many of them free—are part of the owners’ effort to build community around the cafe and have ranged from baby yoga to CPR certification. Tumble and Tea also schedules evening guest lecturers to talk on topics of interest to parents and hosts parent support gatherings. Patrons and kids can enjoy live bands every Sunday at breakfast.
    Older-Mondeel and DeCarlo hope to open a few more Tumble and Teas in the Bay Area. As it is, they have regulars who come from San Francisco, Marin and Walnut Creek that urge them to open a Tumble and Tea in other Bay Area neighborhoods.
    Tumble and Tea, 4210 Telegraph Ave., (510) 601-7378, www.tumbleandtea.com, $5.95 per child (pre-crawlers free; additional siblings  $2 each); $30 for a 30-day membership.

Play Café

    The Play Café was the only cafe in the East Bay devoted solely to kids and parents when it opened in August 2005. The concept for the cafe came organically: Two moms met when their children were infants and wished they could find a place to relax and have lunch or coffee while their kids played. One had a background in interior design, the other in store operations. Three years later, after many hours of research and a few business classes, the two friends decided to make a go of it and opened the Play Café. They found a space in a small shopping area off Interstate 580, near the Oakland Zoo.
    “Our whole concept is centered around imaginative play for the kids,” says owner Kelliane Lam, who now runs the Play Café with a staff of six. (Lam’s friend is no longer her business partner, but they remain pals.) “We jokingly call ourselves the anti-Chuck E. Cheese.”
    This cafe is bright and fun, definitely designed with a child’s eye in mind. Colorful murals run along the walls in the seating area. The rest of the space is divided into “play stations.” Kids can run their own store or play kitchen in a “malt shop,” and they can take a trip from the “train depot.” Other attractions include a ball pit, a dress-up area with lots of costumes, a “schoolhouse” with quieter activities and books and a small play area devoted just to crawlers. The play spaces are arranged around the dining tables so that parents can see their kids almost anywhere while they sip their coffee or eat lunch. The cafe has free Wi-Fi for parents who dream of doing a little work or catching up on e-mail while their kids play.
    “We really tried to design the space so that parents don’t have to run around chasing after their kids; so they can sit down and relax,” says Lam. “And kids can play happily for an hour or two.”
The Play Café’s menu caters to the tastes of both kids and parents. For the kids there are basics, like fruit and veggie plates, yogurt and applesauce, and adults can enjoy interesting salads, soups, pastries and coffee drinks. It’s a win-win situation.
    The cafe certainly gets a little chaotic on busy days, especially when the weather isn’t great. Lunchtime tends to be the busiest time of day, Lam says. But the Play Café does have a maximum occupancy limit, and Lam starts a waiting list when the space gets too full. Luckily, there’s a pizza place next door where parents and kids can wait for their turn.
    Play Café, 4400 Keller Ave., (510) 632-4433, www.PlayCafeWebsite.com, $5.95 entrance fee per child (children under 1 free); $59 for a yearly membership.

Zocalo Coffeehouse

    When Tim Holmes took ownership of Zocalo Coffeehouse in 2003, it was nothing like it is today. A big part of his mission in renovating and rethinking his coffee shop has been to create community. And since the surrounding neighborhood is abounding with young families with children, it made sense to create a kid-friendly space. It didn’t hurt that Holmes had a young child himself, so he had a good idea of what parents and kids spending time together in cafes needed.
    “I felt like it shouldn’t cost you $6 to take your kids somewhere to play,” Holmes says. “I don’t buy into that, so that’s not what we’re about.”
    When Holmes remodeled Zocalo in 2005, he built a special area in the back of his shop just for kids and parents. It’s purposely not completely enclosed; instead, three half-walls delineate this play area from the main cafe. “When you cage kids in, all they naturally want to do is get out,” Holmes theorizes. The restaurant is filled with cozy chairs for kids and adults, small tables and lots of toys and books. Low chalkboards are mounted on the walls for kid doodling, and high shelves give parents a safe place to put their drinks. Two layers of cushioning on the floor create an easy landing for toddlers.
    “There’s plenty for kids to do in there, but it’s not a playground,” Holmes emphasizes. “That’s one of the differences between our place and others that cater to kids. We ask for inside voices and no rough and tumble, so we do sometimes have to do a bit of ‘parent training.’ ”
Zocalo’s proximity to the Oakland Zoo makes it a great stop for parents who need their own little pick-me-up before heading there.
    The menu, for the most part, caters to its adult patrons, but there are some special snacks for kids, such as little cups of freeze-dried fruit and veggies that are so popular among the toddler set. Kids and parents can also share plenty of pastries, but parents will appreciate the in-house fresh roasted coffee and reasonable prices.
    In the spirit of creating community, Holmes often offers up Zocalo as a venue for local politicians and community organizers to host after-hours meetings. The kids’ play area comes in handy in those instances as well, because parents can take part and know that there’ll be a good place for their children to hang out. Zocalo also has 1,100 square feet of space in the back available for renting, and classes in yoga, kids’ musical performances and after-school tutoring sessions have been held there. Saturday nights are unofficial game nights, and parents often bring their kids to play in the kids’ area while they engage in their own games.
    Zocalo Coffeehouse, 645 Bancroft, San Leandro, (510) 569-0102, www.zocalo­coffeehouse.com.