Cavallacci said that when he was young, he told his father that when he inherited the place, he was going to replace the artwork with fakes. Eventually the shaves ended but the coffee continued to flow.Ĭavallacci, who inherited Caffe Reggio from his father, Niso, called me the other day from Rome. The Caffe started because Parisi would offer cups of coffee to customers who were waiting for a shave. Comedian Bill Cosby wanted it back when he wasn’t using all his money on legal bills.Īccording to the Caffe’s literature, this was the first cappuccino machine of its kind brought to America.Ĭaffe Reggio’s previous owner, a barber named Dominick Parisi, moved it to the current location on MacDougal Street in 1927. The owner of Caffe Reggio, Fabrizio Cavallacci, had the gauges, valves, bronze decorative angels and horses fixed and polished a few years back so the machine sparkles. It requires too much work in a day and age when a cup of coffee can be made in about a minute with a Keurig.

The machine, a showpiece that was created for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, can be fired up with either coal or gas, but it hasn’t been used since 1990. The first cappuccino machine of its kind brought to America. The most noticeable object is a huge, shiny, 115-year-old cappuccino machine that sits against a back wall like the tabernacle on the altar of a Catholic church. There are, in fact, over 80 pieces of art - some dating back centuries, according to the owner. Something extremely interesting is going on here - look at all that artwork! “Old World quaint” is a good way to describe it.īut when you glance around the extremely crowded room, you soon realize that this place is something special. In fact, the first impression you might get of Caffe Reggio, the Greenwich Village coffee house - yes, with two “f”s - is that its name could be Nobucks.Īnd the bathroom! Well, you are better off waiting until you get home.

Caffe reggio