There is so much chatter about The Smile at 26 Bond Street. The blogosphere is abuzz about this concept of general store/cafe/tattoo parlor, and when I took a tour back in February, I felt then that this was going to be a special shop. So this morning at 12:30 a.m., co-owner Carlos Quirarte and I had a chat. I asked him what he felt like less than 10 hours from the opening, and he told me that after 9 months of trying to make things perfect he had "only a little anxiety. ... I'm psyched to be opening, and I feel at ease because the place has an amazing crew." The Smile will open only for lunch (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) for the first few weeks, with a limited menu.

There are a series of interesting coincidences and stories that make you feel like the karma gods are on Carlos and his partner Matt Kliegman's side. For example, when they approached Melia Marden to run the cafe, they didn't realize that her parents had lived in the building in the 70s before she was born. In addition, the coffee maker is a rare 1963 Faema e61 that previously belonged to Jeff Johnson, who ran a 70s-style motorcycle shop in Los Angeles that served coffee on the side. He was this amazing barista, and the story is that his coffee began to sell so well that the lines of people overwhelmed the motorcycle/scooter/moped business -- which is the business that Jeff really wanted to be in -- so he loaded up a very old Toyota truck and chugged the machine cross-country for his lucky pal Carlos. He didn't trust shipping. Anyway, Carlos hired barista Jill Cuticello to run the coffee program, and John Freeman of Lovely Day will run the front of the house. Carlos feels that he's someone who "really gets the small cafe vibe."

One of the things Carlos is very enthusiastic about is the fireplace mantle. Different artists will hang art over the mantle and display DVDs, CDs, books, and other such items that inspire them, and these items will be for sale. This month, New York "scene" artist Nate Lowman has a painting hanging, and next up will be photographer Stephen Shore. Carlos says that he "has been connecting people for years, " and hopes that "it will happen organically every day, and that The Smile will become a gathering place for creative people." Well, he's up at 12:30 a.m. the night before the place opens talking to me. He is unstoppable, and The Smile seems destined to be a winner.

Photo: Patrick McMullan