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This is a classically pretty café at the rear entrance of the elegant Fairmont Hotel, which overlooks the cable cars intersecting at California & Powell Sts. (There is limited outdoor sidewalk seating at café tables.) It seems closely modeled after many of the thematic and modern Illy-branded cafés of Italy: modern red light fixtures over café tables, Italian music, and wait staff with accents. The tourists seem to go for the "authenticity" - even if the espresso doesn't come close to matching what you can get from an Illy café in Italy. They serve the usual Italian-themed light lunch fare, and there's a merchandising wall of Illy and Ghirardelli products so tourists can return bearing gifts. One nice touch is an old school, decorative brass Gaggia espresso machine on display at the hotel entrance from inside the café. Using a sparkling and shiny, Illy-branded two-group La Cimbali machine, they pull shots of espresso from the giant sealed Illy cans. It's the typical North American Illy flavor: soft, meek and based on mild pepper and spice. However, it does lack some of the woodiness you often find in Illy. It has a thin layer of lighter brown crema and is served in Illy designer IPA cups with no saucer.
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