Donna's for introducing lattes to Baltimore 15 years ago, two years before we got our first Starbucks.

The title is a line from the Baltimore Sun Food Review section...I'm glad we had Donna's before Starbucks. But I got introduced to lattes by Louie's Bookstore and Cafe. Louie's was a great place to chill. I would always see people I knew there. Anyway, this place introduced me to coffee, french presses and lattes. When Donna's opened you didn't have to go into the city for a latte you could just go to the bookstore. The TV show Friends had Central Perk, at UVM we had about ten thousand coffee shops I wonder what it would be like to grow up on Starbucks as your frame of reference for coffee vs a local coffee shop. Louie's Bookstore introduced me to biscotti, taragon chicken salad, creme brulee, and non-mainstream books and magazines. The bookstore cafe experience coupled with the fact that I was fortunate to be able to go to some of our better foodie places made me what I am today. But really, when i was younger that exposure corrupted my view on how food should be...at 12 years old did I have to know that slow roasted duck was the best meal ever. Anyway, without Louie's there would be no Donna's and without Donna's there would be no Starbucks. Without Starbucks we wouldn't have a Food Network.