First Sip: Livonia's Elen Café is a dreamy coffee escape

The vibe: Elen's Instagram tagline is a lot to promise — "A dream has become a place" — but it was, indeed, very peaceful.

• The front of the shop near the register is sleek and minimalistic, but the back area with more seating opens into a giant wall of art.
• I'm pretty sure that's the dream part.

Dig in: The menu has all the good stuff, like coffee, matcha, desserts, crepes and sandwiches.

• It emphasizes seasonality, with a long list of sweet drinks: hot apple cider, salted maple latte, cinnamon roll dirty soda, pumpkin spice matcha and more.
• I was happy with my iced oatmeal cookie latte ($7.95). The highlight, though, was a unique sandwich I still think about: The Elen Signature ($14.95) with mortadella, fresh stracciatella cheese, pistachio cream and pistachios on focaccia.

If you go: 8am-8pm Monday-Saturday; 10am-10pm Sunday.

• 29465 Six Mile Road.