Best Place to Impersonate Sarah Jessica Parker

All laptop owners are -- on some level -- jealous of Carrie Bradshaw, the fictional scribe/protagonist of HBO's hit series Sex and the City, but her sex life has nothing to do with it. We want that coffee-shop window table she's always clicking away at, that perfect spot where good java, a manageable noise level, and ample electrical outlets converge to form a workable environment that doesn't feel like work. If the show were set in San Francisco, Carrie would probably be clicking away at Qué Tal, which boasts all of those elements. Qué Tal (Spanish for "What's up?") is bright, filled with music just mellow enough to stay in the background (some early-1970s Van Morrison and the soundtrack from the Ken Burns jazz documentary were dominating the CD player recently), and even boasts a miniature fountain toward the back, for those who find running water soothing.