Our new home in the Strip, once completed, will be 50 21st Street. The space sits on the southwest corner of 21st and Smallman. Every now and then I’ll post pictures updates as we do our best Bob Vila impression (imagine Bob Vila with a quad shot Americano- that’s how fast we want to get this done).
During the time that we’ve been in business at our current location we’ve seen two businesses come and go at 50 21st Street. The first was a hot dog/hamburger joint known as “Top Dog” (in the Strip). Most recently it was the hoagie shop “Fadz”. Each time a business left, customers would ask us when we would be taking over the spot. The first time it became available we were getting ready to open up the shop at the Frick Building. The second time, however, we were ready to go.
Since we’ll neither be grilling up dogs nor doing the hoagie thing there will be some changes to
the layout of the space. First up is to remove the commercial ventilation hood that backs up to the Smallman Street window. We think customers will like the seating we have planned for that side.
Next up is to remove the wall under the mezzanine to open things up. We plan on flipping the “kitchen” around to maximize our workspace as well as maximize the prime seating areas. The window on the 21st Street side will be a nice place for some tables so customers can sip their drinks while looking over at St. Stanislaus Church.
Speaking of the mezzanine, yeah we have one, and there will be plenty of room upstairs for more seating, perhaps a couch or two and some coffee tables (yes there are bathrooms, too). We’ll see about the television… maybe.
So today we stopped down briefly to lay out where the bar, cabinets, and equipment would fit. We taped everything off and did a reality check on some measurements. Also we put up some signs on the windows and took down the “For Rent” sign.
While there we ran into some of our regular customers. They mentioned how they’re always wondering where to go on Sundays for coffee since we’re currently closed. With minimal arm twisting we temporarily opened up the shop and made the following drinks:
- 20oz American Style Cappuccino with Raspberry (once you try it you can’t go back- one regular customer explains)
- 20oz Americano (that’s 4 shots of bold coffee goodness)
- 16oz Americano (a little less volume, so “only” 3 shots)
- 12oz Latte with 2% Milk (topped with a nice latte art-heart)
No brewed coffee for this impromptu shift. Of course since we were already there we made ourselves drinks (12 latte and 12oz 4 shot Americano) because, quite frankly, we don’t know where else to go to get coffee this good in our neighborhood.
Having said all that… once the new space is open we’ll give Sunday mornings a shot (no pun
intended). I hope to update the site again Monday after demolition starts.