Café Nervosa is a fictional
coffee shopA café , also spelled cafe, is an informal restaurant offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. This differs from a coffee house, which is a limited-menu establishment which focuses on coffee sales. Depending on the jurisdiction, a café may be licensed to serve alcohol. The term...
featured in the American
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
sitcom
FrasierFrasier is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Paramount Television.A spin-off from Cheers, Frasier stars Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist...
.
It is ficticiously located on the corner of the real-world 3rd and Pike Streets in Seattle and is portrayed as being just across the street from the also fictional
KACLKACL is the fictional radio station on the television show Frasier. It broadcasts many talk radio shows, including Frasier Crane's advice show between 2:00pm–5:00pm each weekday, Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe's sports program, The Gonzo Sports Show, and Gil Chesterton's food show, Restaurant Beat...
Radio Studios. As such, many of the KACL staff go there during their free time, including
Frasier CraneDr. Frasier Winslow Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for twenty years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who...
and his family.
Café Nervosa is a fictional
coffee shopA café , also spelled cafe, is an informal restaurant offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. This differs from a coffee house, which is a limited-menu establishment which focuses on coffee sales. Depending on the jurisdiction, a café may be licensed to serve alcohol. The term...
featured in the American
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
sitcom
FrasierFrasier is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Paramount Television.A spin-off from Cheers, Frasier stars Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist...
.
Location and role in the series
It is ficticiously located on the corner of the real-world 3rd and Pike Streets in Seattle and is portrayed as being just across the street from the also fictional
KACLKACL is the fictional radio station on the television show Frasier. It broadcasts many talk radio shows, including Frasier Crane's advice show between 2:00pm–5:00pm each weekday, Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe's sports program, The Gonzo Sports Show, and Gil Chesterton's food show, Restaurant Beat...
Radio Studios. As such, many of the KACL staff go there during their free time, including
Frasier CraneDr. Frasier Winslow Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on American television sitcoms Frasier and Cheers. He was played by Kelsey Grammer for twenty years, tying the record for the longest-running character on prime-time American television, which was set by James Arness, who...
and his family. It is a prominent location in the series and the episode "My Coffee with Niles" was set entirely within the cafe.
The staff of the cafe has changed over the years, although one waitress (whose name was never mentioned, but who was portrayed by actress Luck Hari) was there for 4 years and in the later seasons of the series, a waiter named James was a permanent fixture at the cafe. Rick, the father of Roz Doyle's daughter Alice, was a cafe waiter and saved the money he earned there to study in Paris. One episode features Collette, an inveterate gossip who was in on KACL secrets that even Frasier and Roz weren't aware of. Waitress Kit, a "free spirited" young lady, dated
Niles CraneDr. Niles Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American sitcom Frasier, a spin-off of the popular show Cheers. He was portrayed by David Hyde Pierce...
in the final two espisodes of season 6, entitled "Shutout in Seattle" (Kit's reaction to Niles' break-up with her was memorable, to say the least). Waiter Eric dated
Daphne MoonDaphne Crane is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Frasier, played by Jane Leeves....
for a while, and her mother Gertrude got a job there when she moved to Seattle. An enormous young man named Thad was "the one who doesn't react when his arm touches the steamer nozzle", and Frasier attributed insipid latte foam to "Chad being back on steamer duty".
Pauley PerrettePauley Perrette is an American actress, playing Abby Sciuto on NCIS. She is also a published writer and civil rights advocate.-Early life:Perrette was born in New Orleans and raised all over the southern United States...
(credited simply as Pauley P.) did a two-episode stint as waitress Rebecca in season four. In the story, the cafe has a number of regulars, including the Crane family and friends, and it is where Frasier and his brother
Niles CraneDr. Niles Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American sitcom Frasier, a spin-off of the popular show Cheers. He was portrayed by David Hyde Pierce...
meet to discuss various topics, often joined by their father
Martin CraneMartin "Marty" Crane is a character on the American television show Frasier. He is played by Lancashire-born actor John Mahoney. Martin is the father of Frasier and Niles Crane.- Biography :...
.
Background
The producers of
Frasier decided that a non-work, non-home setting for Frasier should be a coffee shop, as Seattle is well known for them. They also made sure there were no stools (only chairs) in the cafe, to differentiate it from the
CheersCheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC, having been created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
bar back in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, where Frasier Crane had previously resided.
Fans speculate that the cafe was based on the
Elliott Bay Cafe.
The cafe's name, Nervosa, is a feminine Italian and Latin adjective, meaning "nervous", as well as a psychological term meaning "the debilitating psychological addiction to an object, belief or behavioral pattern". It can also refer to "coffee nerves"—a condition caused by drinking too much coffee. ("Mr. Coffee Nerves" was an advertising character used to sell the coffee substitute
PostumPostum was a powdered roasted grain beverage sold by the Kraft Foods company as a coffee substitute. The caffeine-free beverage mix was created by The Postum Cereal Company founder C. W. Post in 1895 and produced and marketed by Postum Cereal Company as a healthful alternative to coffee...
.) On the show, the coffee shop was in fact named after its owner, Maureen Nervosa.
Tie-ins
There is a real Café Nervosa on Yorkville Avenue in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
, Canada, and a Café Nervosa on Hastings Street in Burnaby, Canada.
The imaginary cafe has been the subject of a marketing tie-in cookbook,