Become a regular at these 11 Anchorage restaurants

Notes on: Tiny Costco sweets, nước chấm noodle salad, mandolines, hop water, hospitality, pel'meni, ghosts, watermelon radishes, McDonald's Dr. Pepper

I often write at Black Cup and lately the shop is training a bunch of new baristas. Sometimes the coffee is a little off, owing to the milk foaming learning curve, but I will go there and pay $4.05 plus tip for a tiny for-here cappuccino until there is no blood in my veins. Why? Because I’m a regular. And a regular is there for more than coffee.

I show up for the bustle and the ghosts. I used to get Mexican cocoa there when it was Cafe Del Mundo in the ‘80s. My grandparents went to Del Mundo weekly to speak Italian with their friends, sitting at the big oak table. Dale Tran, who was Kaladi’s CFO, and I drank pour-overs at the bar when the place reopened as Black Cup. That guy had a heart of gold. He died unexpectedly a few years later. I think about how cool he was every time I write in my favorite spot at the bar.

My favorite spot at the bar, featuring reading glasses, tiny cappuccino and too many tabs open. (Julia O’Malley)

A friend who left Anchorage and became a famous writer once as…