In an article in today’s Brooklyn Paper by young reporter Ben Kochman (full disclosure I know this young man) there’s a joke masquerading as news. Cafe Martin’s Martin O’Connell claims he never met his sister, who owns Cafe Regular.
I’d chalk it up to Martin O’Connell’s droll sense of humor. Well, the article in the Paper is good humored, too. Here from the Brooklyn Paper:
It’s a feud so overcaffeinated that a brother now claims that he’s never even met his sister!
The sour sibling spat that split the ownership team of Cafe Regular in Park Slope has boiled over once again, now that Martin O’Connell has opened Cafe Martin — a new joint on Fifth Avenue that’s only six blocks away from the original coffee bar that his sister, Anne, still runs.
“I don’t want to comment about that,” said Martin O’Connell, when asked about his sister’s cafe. “I wouldn’t want to cause consternation for someone I don’t know.”
Someone he doesn’t know?
For years, Martin O’Connell was the popular public face of Café Regular, which is located on 11st Street near Fifth Avenue, known mostly for his wry humor and “life-changing” cappuccino.
But last fall, he and his sister feuded over whether modernizing with wireless Internet and an electric cash register would sacrifice the old-school Parisian authenticity of the café.
One rumor suggested even suggested that the spat occurred after Anne demanded that the baristas wear uniforms!
The tension between the two became so heated that now Martin flatly denies any former association with Café Regular.
“No, I don’t know them at all,” said Martin of his former abode, while he served up customers at his new café on Fifth Avenue and Fifth Street. “I don’t know anyone who worked there.”
Martin has a new cafe in a great new location — on Fifth Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets. It’s a lovely place with pews for seating, an attractive tin roof, a standing room only cafe/bar and black and white photography on the wall.
And the coffee?
Well, Martin is a master barista and the brew is strong and good.