Sporting Around in NYC
Today in New York City it seems that anything is possible. Want to “go out for coffee” but are reluctant to miss some time with Fortnite? Fear no more as Waypoint Cafe is at your service.
Located on Lower East Side’s 65 Ludlow Street, ex-game and hardware reviewer Luigino Gigante opened the store last fall. Gigante also boasts the café background as he was raised in a family of restaurant owners. And now he’s combined these two passions and created an Esports café offering 30 Roccat-peripheral PCs, one stream room with 144 Hz monitors and someone who knows how to make a good brew.
“I’m Italian and Puerto Rican, so I come from two very different schools of thought [about] coffee. On my father’s side, it’s just straight espresso, and my mother’s side is very light, sweet, different pour-over types of coffee,” he says.
Gigante decided to create the café as he had found that there were many LAN centers but they were all sterile.
According to a recent review in Sprudge, it seems Gigante has achieved his goal of combining gaming experience with great coffee:
“While some multi-purpose businesses tend to focus on one feature over another, Waypoint is committed to both the art of gaming and specialty coffee. Serving Black Cat espresso from Intelligentisa on a La Marzocco Linea Classic and controlled drip brews from BUNN, plus cold brew from local roasters Death Wish, the cafe takes its coffee game seriously and its décor playfully. A plethora of plushies and action figures rest on the shelves of pastries and in between bags of coffee, and drink specials incorporate video game themes with them, i.e. the “star seeker sour” and “mur-lox” bagel.”
Frequenting the joint is a “mix of freelance workers, gamers, and coffee enthusiasts,” alike.