Thirst Quencher’s Cyber Cafe at 216-18 Jamaica Ave., the community’s first such establishment, celebrates its grand opening Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a…
By Adam Kramer
Queens Village is entering cyber space, taking along soup and sandwiches for the trip.
Thirst Quencher’s Cyber Cafe at 216-18 Jamaica Ave., the community’s first such establishment, celebrates its grand opening Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a tasting of Southern soul food and international cuisine on the menu as well as a wide variety of coffees.
“I took early retirement in 1996 and then the wheels started turning about getting involved in another business,” said Dealia Gwaltney, who owns the cafe with her daughter Michelle. “I love the quaint coffee shops in Manhattan and wanted to bring a little of Manhattan to Queens Village.”
The cafe has been open a few hours a day for the past three weeks to get the kinks out, she said. And right now there are two working computers, but Gwaltney said she is adding six more in the cafe’s cyber room.
Gwaltney, who hails from Augusta, Ga., moved to New York City which appealed to her, particularly Greenwich Village. So, in 1965, after completing two years at Memphis State University, she hightailed it to her brother’s Brooklyn home.
She continued her education at Stony Brook University, earning a master’s degree in social work, and then went to work for the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmentally Disabled. She also served on the agency’s advisory council.
“I spent most of my time in the coffee houses and loved the laid-back atmosphere where you could talk with friends over a good cup of coffee,” said Gwaltney, who moved to Queens Village in 1979. “I went to listen to the folk singers and poetry readings.”
The cafe is a perfect place for Gwaltney because it allows her to participate in two of her passions: talking to people and cooking. The cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. The daily menu of eggs, omelets, soups and sandwiches remains constant, but the dinner fare changes every day.
The Thirst Quencher’s Cyber Cafe can seat 65 people at tables, couches or at the counter. Haitian and West Indian newspapers and National Geographic are just some of the reading material available for customers.
The cafe’s imported coffee range from good ol’ American to Brazil Santos and Jamaica Blue to Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Gwaltney said the shop buys only whole beans and grinds them daily because it keeps the coffee fresh.
It took a little while to get the cafe off the ground, Gwaltney said, because she wanted to make sure the community would be amenable to the idea. A positive response to a survey of neighborhood residents gave her the confidence a cyber cafe could work.
“What I want to do is put a different cultural picture from the various Queens Village cultures on the walls,” she said. “I want to be a part of the community and have people feel that they belong in the homey atmosphere of the cafe.”
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
