Frama Coffeshop – Marfa, TX

Frama, the local coffee/ice cream shop in Marfa, was the complete opposite of the empty streets from my previous post! Apparently, it’s the Saturday morning hot spot.

We’re not coffee drinkers, and mainly showed up for the free wi-fi! But I grabbed an iced tea, and a scoop of Blue Bell Creameries‘ Butter Pecan.

Blue Bell is a Texas-based ice cream brand, and my new favorite. Although we have had two other delicious brands while in Michigan, so that may change.

But seriously – this ice cream is delicious. Is it offered in California? We found it in Louisiana (and indulged there, as well. I liked Moo-llenium Crunch and Happy Tracks flavors!). Does California have any interesting ice creams? I feel like the stores only ever have the usual Breyer’s, Dreyer’s, etc.

Umm, you have my heart instantly when your menu is entirely in Scrabble pieces.

We sat ourselves down at the colorful tables, spread out, and got a few hours of work out of the way. Meanwhile, we spotted about half the bar from the previous night!

And we got a fantastic tip from an eavesdropping local. When she heard us discussing driving routes to Big Bend National Park, she interrupted and insisted we check out the McDonald Observatory. We are so happy she did – it’s still one of our favorite stops on the trip! Post coming soon.

I’m used to coffee shops featuring local artists’ work, but Frama took local to a whole new level.

Their wall art featured photographs by local Sam Schonzeit. All of the photographs are of Marfa locals, taken “paparazzi style”.

In Schonzeit’s words (an artist’s statement accompanied the photographs):

Here in this little town we are all minor celebrities to each other, and each of us is a reporter. We check to see whose car is outside what house in the morning. We talk incessantly about one another as if on an island with no access to world events.

Our collective solipsism and vanity allow us to imagine that local news is the only news, and the best local news is of course Page 6 news. Gossip, gossip, gossip […]

I began taking these photos one day in Tienda M, where a friend of mine worked. The tinted windows allowed me to spy on people at the food shark and walking up and down the street, and then take invasive photos of them going about their mundane activities. They were like celebrity spy photos; those ones with the captions that say “Angelina Jolie eats ice cream” and stuff.

Marfarazzi.

My particular favorite? The following, titled “Tim J— holds his keys in his mouth, and a book in his hand.”

(I opted out of listing Marfamous Tim’s last name here, lest this site shows up in a future employer’s Google search of him.)

Another great Marfa spot we indulged in, but didn’t snap photos of, was Pizza Foundation. Housed in an old gas station, Pizza Foundation features gourmet, tasty pizzas – with some funny restrictions!

Only three toppings are allowed – to preserve a crisp crust – and they only make a certain amount of dough. So when they run out of ingredients, they’ll close up shop!

Great pizza, expect a bit of a wait though.