Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Jim was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He joined the air force and when they
showed him a list of duty stations said, “Oh look, there's Anchorage. My sister lives
there.” He's been in Alaska ever since, with hiatuses to study hotel restaurant management
(“I never used it until now”) at the University of Massachusets and to take a degree in
nautical science at the Florida Institute of Technology. “I was involved in the maritime in-
dustry from then on, crab boats, research boats, lifeguarding.” He even sailed a wooden
boat to the Bahamas. “I can tell you how to get to Cuba. I've got a lot of buddies who are
pirates.”
Jim received most of his barista training across the bay from Michael and Michaela at
K-Bay Coffee. “Michaela knows foam,” Jim says. “In me they found another passionate
coffee lover.” And one determined that the coffee he serves will never be less than the
best. “I'm cleaning the machine every night, wiping down the grinder every night, taking
it apart once a week and cleaning it. A lot of people know the rules but they don't abide
by them.” Jim names names on the condition that I won't, and adds, “And it's no fun
selling low quality stuff anyway.”
In its four years of operation, Nardelli's has become something of a magnet for events
both spontaneous and planned. The Halibut Cove book club meets there. Knitting parties
meet there on Friday mornings. A week ago astronaut John Phillips dropped by and talked
to a bunch of Cove kids and gave out mission patches. “They wouldn't let him go,” Jim
says, “finally he says to them, Could I please have a hot dog now?”
Sometimes he doesn't find out who his customers are until after they've gone. “David
Rockefeller was here with his wife a little while ago. Wally Hickel was here last week. I
knew who he was. It's a constant thing, all the coming and going. Sometimes there are
twenty-eight people here, eight'll come, then eight'll go.”
On occasion, Jim admits to the party just getting started after closing time, when
something called correcte is served, which is espresso “corrected” with grappa, a very
young Italian wine. “Of course I don't sell that,” he adds virtuously, “I don't have a liquor
license.”
Ed Banes and SJ Lee from Anchorage kayak over from one of the public yurts in Ka-
chemak Bay State Park. “We try to get out on a kayak once a year,” Ed says. They linger
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