Cheap thrills

Looking for a late afternoon glass of wine that costs less your morning latté? Try Gigi’s Cafe. Be forewarned: this is not a place to visit when you’re in a businesslike mood. It doesn’t have air conditioning, wireless Internet, or table service. And the staff tend to shuffle in circles, stirring up homemade salads, brewing iced tea, and arranging enormous muffins on a plate, totally oblivious to the waiting crowd. Then someone with dreadlocks anchored by a knit cap will glance in your direction and ask — utterly without irony — “Are you being helped?” If you say no, odds are good he’ll put down his spoon and amble over.

But if you can get past all this, putting your type-A personality defects aside, you’ll find the food is amazing — wholesome and inexpensive. Gigi’s bakery produces giant cupcakes, fresh-baked fruit tarts, and bread pudding as warm and comforting as your favorite blanket. Plus, every weekday afternoon from 3-6 p.m., house wines are Happy Hour-priced at just $3 a glass. Yesterday’s pick, an unusually light, organic Malbec, was easily worth twice that. For all of these reasons, Gigi’s happens to be the hangout where Jeremy Iggers and I meet to confer about restaurant reviews and blog posts on old-fashioned seltzer makers (check this out: it’s “vintage” Iggers). Critics: we’re all about long slow afternoons and cheap wine.