We include Progress Coffee as one of our few recommended cafés because it’s the rare place that sports good (even craveworthy) food; free Wi-Fi with plenty of outlets; great coffee and espresso, brewed and pulled carefully; and vibe for days.

The sandwiches use Austin-centric ingredients like Slow Burn habanero jelly, which appears on our favorite, the “5th Street Turkey.” Vegetarians love the “Eastside Avocado” and a brie sandwich with tart green apples and peppery greens. But breakfast is where Progress really hits its stride. The organic oatmeal alone warrants a visit (provided it gets to your table still warm, which is rare). It’s full of almonds and apples and makes us feel a lot healthier than we actually are. We also come for the fresh-baked jalapeño biscuit with egg and cheese, to which you can (and must) add avocado, bacon, and tomato for something that barely fits in your mouth…but dammit, you’re going to make it.

Progress Coffee defined Eastside industrial chic long before anyone else, with its exposed pipes and Werner-Herzogian scene of abandoned warehouses and weed-covered railroad tracks viewable from a hip womb of mint green walls and often-provocative art from locals. All this and a cup of free-trade, shade-grown Owl Tree coffee: why would we ever rent an office?