Trailer Treasure: Good Bike Cafe

2401 San Gabriel St. 425-0853, www.goodbikecafe.com. Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Many a late Saturday night, I've walked home past the little mysterious coffee shack called Good Bike Cafe. I've seen it grow, Stephen King 'Rose Red' style, from a trailer on the corner of the Freewheeling Bicycles parking lot to a big, sprawling coffee hut. First a storage container, then the trailer got bigger, then a canopy appeared, then tables and chairs - the parking lot doesn't stand much of a chance. Every now and then, the owners pull out a movie screen and I catch 15 seconds of a war scene as I walk past. And the coffee guy is there, always there, with a hefty paperback book in hand, jamming to music when I'm walking home.

Food and drink options very well might occupy different ZIP codes on the random menu boards. I didn't know what to order, because I wasn't sure where to look. I scanned the specials board, which promised my drink would be 'awesome' and 'groovy' and that my treats would be 'organic' and 'rockin.' '

The pierced, mellow coffee dude was glad to serve as a tour guide. 'Which tea?' I quandered. He shook a container of citrusy, herbal loose tea ($1.50) under my nose. And after a little conversation, it's clear he knows more than just tea. For instance, he knows that starting around midnight on Friday and Saturday he needs to get busy heating up Hebrew National hot dogs ($2) and pizza paninis ($3) in preparation for the West Campus bar rush that staggers right past the walk-up window.

There's a difference between night food and day food here. At night, processed, pre-made munchies bring in more money than Heidi Montag's plastic surgeon. But during the day, fresh Italian wraps and bagel sandwiches with lox ($5) are big sellers. The lox sandwich would be a good grab-en-route-to-class lunch. A Rockstar 'everything' bagel (sesame seeds, garlic, salt, poppyseeds and more) is slathered in a healthy dose of cream cheese, sprinkled with capers and crunchy red onions, then topped with salmon. It paired well with my café con panna using locally roasted Cuvee Coffee beans ($2.50) and organic raisins, but I could have used a fire extinguisher full of Listerine to eradicate the garlic and espresso from my breath.

And despite a recent price spike, a heap of firm red tomatoes was stacked neatly by the window, ready to dress fresh sandwiches - because this is more than just a sprawling shanty next to a bike shop; it's a West Campus fueling station.