Tipico isn’t the first third-wave coffee bar in downtown Buffalo—Public Espresso’s Hotel Lafayette location beat it by about eight months—but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a beloved fixture on the city’s West Side. Beautifully designed by Davidson Rafailidis, complete with swinging windows for the summer months and a Kachelofen stove for winter’s deep freeze, the spacious café is the passion project of industry veteran Jesse Crouse. Having honed his craft as a buyer for Verve and tasting room manager for Intelligentsia, the Chicago native is determined to make Tipico an everyday destination. That shouldn’t be a problem; beans sourced from Ruby and Detour coffee roasters keep the drinks high-caliber, while toast from Breadhive and pastries by Butter Block reinforce the notion that all is good in the neighborhood.

128 Fargo Ave., Buffalo, NY; 716-331-3954.