Guest post: @nerdvana review | The Hoppy Half-Pint

Reading Time: 4 minutes read

“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

Article and photos by Ami Melaine.

Trigger warning: coffee porn
When I pursed my lips around the thin, plastic straw and sucked down my first sips of that October-roasted Brazilian cold brew, oh gods, did I know I’d made the right choice. I almost never walk into @Nerdvana knowing exactly what I want. If I do, all reason abandons me, as the smells of deep roast and Texas toast sweep through the air in the rush of the opening door.

This Sunday was different than many others because the city of Frisco was prepping for an FC Dallas game. The nerds* were swamped. The shop was the busiest I’d ever seen it; fans, families, girl gaggles, college students and FC Dallas jackets could be seen in colorful breakouts throughout the shop, proving that nerddom reigns over all who let it into their hearts and down their gullets.

*I’m not being rude. I help behind the counter sometimes, and I’m pretty sure I got the job by saying “Hey, I love coffee, and I’m SUPER nerdy!” That, plus my huge eyeglasses and more than medium dorkness level were at least soft requirements for employment.

I had to order quick, see, and they didn’t have the strawberries n’ cream Texas toast because all of those hungry swarms had caused a famine! When I asked the barista taking my order if I could see the beans they used for the cold brew, she wasn’t even slightly surprised I was writing a blog post about the place. A not-so-well-kept secret about us writer types is that we are, in fact, a nerd faction. She just hefted this giant brown sack onto the counter for me to read. Those Brazilian beans really were only roasted about a week prior to my coffee order.

I took my Uno card and set it on the only lonesome table I could find – the one with several renditions of Monopoly encased in glass – and wondered what sort of Chance card one would draw if they landed on Gallifrey. I got restless, the way many adult children do, so I got up to look around while I waited for my order.

Ordinary things to see at Nerdvana may include high school girls playing Scrabble, debating their daily dramas, and thus solving them over a game of clever words. I don’t care who you are, this is a worthy strategy. The board game and puzzle corner often provides solace to quieter souls and inquisitive young minds.

This magical place also displays and sells tabletop and novelty role playing games. I legit squealed. A lot. The crowd drowned it out this time, but the delight of a Japanese-made, multi-expansion panda adventure game is truly one-of-a-kind. Don’t fret, traveler. There are shelves loaded with coffee-making paraphernalia, in case that’s the only tabletop adventure time you need.

When it was ready, I consumed my brunch greedily. Even with the crowd, my tantalizing cold brew and sensuously sticky warm cinnamon apple Texas toast didn’t take long to arrive. Feeling inspired, the only thing to do was pay my next dungeon a visit.

I will freely admit @Nerdvana is one of my favorite local Frisco Texas spots. Say it with me: At-nuhrd-von-nuh. Now drop the “At.” You sound silly.

Ever walk into a space and feel like you belong? Like nobody really noticed you walk in but might notice if you were absent again? That’s the feeling this place, these people, exude. And they’re Texas friendly.

But just when you thought you’d heard it all: Kristy Pitchford, the owner of this magical place, also has a restaurant next door featuring specialty spirits and video games! Oh, and her husband is Randy Pitchford of Gearbox Software fame. Stay tuned. There will probably be more on that later.

Bio
Latest Posts

Ami Melaine

A student of beauty and the aberrant, Ami is ever in search of the perfect word. A small town Oregon girl with big ideas and too many things to say, she spends much of her time breathing green oxygen, imbibing the local abundance of good food and drinks, contemplating the possibility of discovering new colors, writing about monsters, and sketching oddities. She runs around in circles, a lot. She's currently working on her BFA in Creative Writing, a task necessitating many pints of vanilla porter, and other tasty beers.