There are many fine examples of patisseries and boulangeries that make wonderful coffee. Cocola, one such establishment in the Westfield, that new wondrous monstrosity of a shopping complex, is not one of them. While we're confident that most savvy SFist readers would have realized this on some fundamental level, we hoped that our instincts would prove wrong. After all, most everyone gets dragged on occasion to the mall or a similar place they'd rather not be; the promise of a decent cup of joe in the Westfield would have done much to mitigate our own reluctance....

Sure, we talk all big about how we're above crass materialism and how yuppie bastards are ruining this town for us Missionistas -- but okay, we'll fess up: we are extremely excited about the Westfield San Francisco Shopping Centre's reopening of the old Emporium space on Market and Powell this Thursday (the 28th). Cross your fingers along with us that the opening ceremonies will include Gavin cutting a red ribbon with a big ol' pair......