When Sump Coffee (3700 South Jefferson Avenue; 917-412-5670) announced last week that it would be closed indefinitely because of a busted sewer lateral, the situation seemed bleak. Owner Scott Carey predicted on Sump's tumblr that Riverfront Times' reigning "Best Coffeehouse" would be closed through April -- at least.
One week later, the situation has improved. Significantly.
Enough bullshit! Sump reopens (with running water and everything) this coming Thursday. Please come out and have some coffee.
— Sump Coffee (@sumpcoffee) April 13, 2013
See Also: - Busted Sewer Lateral Grounds Sump Coffee - "Best Coffeehouse" 2012: Sump Coffee
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On Sump's tumblr Carey reveals that the secret to the quick turnaround was a whole lot of hard labor by the Sump staff and friends:
It was at this point the sky fell. It got dark. It felt desperate, hopeless, the end of the pier. I think it would have been too, but for Mike. Now not many people probably know who Mike is -- but he's the dude with the cycle shop in the back. Mike saved the day, because he said, 'WTF, we're already screwed, what's the worst that could happen -- we'll do it.' And so we did. We cut the floor, dug the 'swamp' out -- which took 2 days and was most likely the most humbling and gross thing I've had to do. We cored 25 feet of clay pipe, dry fit the interior lateral, had the plumber bless it, the outside guys used our coring to connect the lateral they dug, and we poured the concrete.
