Summer is a GREAT time to put in all the schmuck work that goes into opening a new cafe. The long Home Depot days, the late paint fume nights, the quirky contractors, the hold-ups, the reclaimed lumber swap meets…it’s a joyful mess, and we love it. All summer long we’ll be featuring build-outs and sneak peaks from fab new cafes around the world.
Ah, Chicago in the summertime. Beach time on the lake, afternoons spent cheering at U.S. Cellular Field (or crying at Wrigley), long walks between Ukrainian Village and Wicker Park, and those endless Malört-drenched evenings that seem to stretch on forever. Chicagoans have a brand new cafe to look forward to this July, in the Logan Square neighborhood at 2385 N Milwaukee Ave – it’s called Gaslight Coffee Roasters, a collaboration from a few gents with impressive specialty coffee pedigrees, including a former trainer from Metropolis and a former roaster from our friends at Dogwood Coffee.
Gaslight attained their lease last September, and spent the next 6 months fighting through red tape and attaining the proper permits. Build out proper didn’t begin until last April, but is now in full swing there in Logan Square; for more on what patrons can expect when Gaslight opens next month, we turn to co-founder Zak Rye:
“The walls are brick, the lights are schoolhouse, the counter is zinc, the bar is charred cedar, our machine is a glitter gold La Marzocco Strada MP, the roaster is a murdered-the-fuck-out IR-12, the floor is giant white pine planks, the front door has homeless dude pee on it, pour over bar is v60s/waves/yamas, the tables are re-claimed wood stuffs, and there’s a giant steel I-beam in the middle of it all.”
Gaslight’s roasting space will be shared with HalfWit Coffee Roasters, the new handle for Wormhole Coffee’s roasting label. As per the afore-quoted Mr. Rye, Gaslight’s goal is to “create a space that grandmas and cool kids can both dig on.” Check out some more photos from their build-out below!
