Coffee Consumed, Community Connected

David Oricchio was nearly out of ​“carbs” by 2 p.m. Tuesday — no ​“pastries, bagels, bread”; just a container of Trader Joe’s plain yogurt, some Irish oatmeal, and three day-old scones.

Still the customers kept coming.

They arrived alone and in pairs and in groups of three or four — to partake in hot drinks and good conversation at Lulu’s European Coffee House, 49 Cottage St., one of the only neighborhood cafes open post-blizzard.

Oricchio, a barista who assumes ownership of the shop from founder LuLu DeCarrone in about a month, said he walked from his house at 5:30 a.m. to shovel a path to the shop’s door and await the snow-day rush. He was the only staffer for a steady flow of East Rock neighbors seeking warmth and an Internet-free coffee-shop experience on a day when many communal gathering-places were shuttered. (Click here for more on the upcoming change of ownership from the Register’s Randall Beach.)

Richard Mammana, Jr. (pictured above) had returned from Washington D.C. Monday, having ​“rushed ahead of the storm to get” home. He and 3‑year-old Emilia shared one of the shop’s last pastries, a chocolate croissant. ​“We come here almost every day on weekends,” he said. Tuesday on a snow day was the same thing.

Mammana waved hello to David Pettigrew (pictured) at the neighboring table. A philosophy professor at Southern Connecticut State University, Pettigrew is ​“one of the earliest regulars since 1995.”

“Usually I talk to people like you, strike up conversation,” he said. ​“When I’m not talking, I do some writing. I do a lot of field research,” about genocide in Bosnia. He grades papers for his classes: Holocaust and Genocide Studies and philosophy courses. Pettigrew said he likes writing in small flexible notebooks.

When he brings dignitaries or academics from abroad to speak at the university, he takes them to Lulu’s. A French ambassador he once introduced to the neighborhood coffee house said he would like to open one in Paris, Pettigrew said.

Yale School of Forestry students Sofi Madison and John van der Stricht used their snow day to relax and ​“get some fresh air.” They walked over to Lulu’s at around 1 p.m. ​“to warm up with some tea,” Madison said.

What did the rest of the day hold for them? Maybe a snowball fight in the Forestry School’s courtyard in the next hour, van der Stricht said. Madison was more hesitant about the idea of going into battle: ​“If you go, does that mean you’re involved?”

Most had walked to Lulu’s from nearby homes. Leigh Ann Tyson and Charles Schmuttenmaer live across the street from the coffee house. Wandering around among snow shovelers and sledders, they saw the ​“Open” sign outside and headed in for a snack. Schmuttenmaer, a chemistry professor at Yale, noted that the snow day was probably not necessary. The blizzard dropped up to a foot of snow on New Haven instead of an anticipated 30 inches. ​“Nobody knew,” he said.

Toby Welch, a new Foote School fourth-grade teacher, took a more roundabout route to the cafe. He cross-country skied from St. Ronan Street through ​“all the trails in East Rock Park” and back down to Lulu’s. A seasoned downhill skier, Welch began cross-country skiing just a couple of years ago. He said he prefers ​“backcountry telemark skiing,” when there are no other people around and he is making his own trail through the wilderness.

The coffee house filled up, then near-emptied, then filled up again — an irregular cycle that continued for an hour. Oricchio said he would close shop ​“when we run out of things. I think I’m going to go for 3 p.m.” Soon after, a group of women walked in, undaunted by the lack of food, and ordered a round of hot chocolates to go.

“I might be here till 6,” Oricchio said. ​“It’s an adventure.”