You could call Joe Buck Crisp the comeback kid.

Walk toward Joe Buck's Coffee Bar and restaurant on University Avenue and you might hear Crisp a long time before you see him, playing his battered upright piano and singing gospel songs.

He's been known to throw his head back and sing, loud enough to be heard down the block, "this little light of mine, I'm going to make it shine."

He has reason to sing. Crisp has been in business less than two years, but his restaurant is already successful – meaning he has plenty of customers who may be drawn as much to the atmosphere as the food and speciality coffee.