Dolores Park Cafe SFO Terminal 2 Concourse C

There is a pink La Marzocco espresso machine inside the SFO Terminal 2 Concourse C outpost of Dolores Park Cafe, and that's the most San Francisco sentence you can write about an airport coffee bar. The tables sit behind the cafe facing the airfield, which gives the operation a view most gates don't. Anne VanderMey orders the same breakfast burrito, latte, and Mighty Cleanse smoothie before every flight, which is the kind of repeat-flier loyalty that tells you what's working at a stand most travelers walk past without thinking.

The Boichick bagels are the food anchor. Everything bagel with cream cheese is the standing order. The breakfast burrito holds its own. The cubano latte and the vanilla iced latte are the drinks travelers single out, and the almond croissant is worth asking to have warmed before you take it to the gate. The Mighty Cleanse smoothie covers the people who need vegetables before a five-hour flight. The lattes get called the best airport coffee some travelers have had, which is a lower bar than a city cafe but still a real one. The prices, by airport standards, are easier to swallow than most of the alternatives in T2.

Fair warning. Service speed and friendliness vary by visit, and there are reports of curt early-morning staff and grab-and-go-only operations before the posted close. The Dolores egg sandwich runs expensive enough that some find it hard to justify, and the team isn't always set up to accommodate food allergies. The Thai tea is on the menu if coffee isn't the move. For everyone else flying out of T2 Concourse C, this is the stop. Better than typical airport coffee, with a view of the planes, at lower prices than the chain across the way. The Boichick everything bagel and the cubano latte are the routine to lock in. The smoothie if you're trying to feel human at 35,000 feet. Don't plan on lingering past 8pm. That's not how the stand is run late.