(Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

With a new kiosk from the venerable Porto Rico Importing Company, Essex Street Market gets its first bona fide coffee shop—and, if owner Peter Longo has his way, a smokeless roaster in an empty stall nearby. He’s already got whole-bean competition: La Tiendita, a retail arm of the Lower Eastside Girls Club, is a rare source for organic shade-grown beans from Café Alta Gracia, writer Julia Alvarez’s Dominican farm.

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• Archive: “Restaurant Openings & Buzz”
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• Table of Contents: Mar 2, 2009 issue of New York | Subscribe!