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.
When life takes us to New York City, Everyman Espresso in the East Village is our living room, its staff our dinner dates, its lovely front bench our splendid makeshift stoop-away-from-home. Because of this, we’re overjoyed to share with you these exclusive details and candid photos from the crew at Everyman’s hotly anticipated second location. Last March, owner Sam Penix signed papers on a space located at 301 W. Broadway, the heart of Soho, in a building originally built in 1824 and designed by John R. Murray. It’s a quirky space, to be sure: upon move-in, Mr. Penix and manager / chief lieutenant Sam Lewontin discovered cut-off Jimmy Chu labels and a handbag den in the basement; the electric meter for the space is located in an adjacent t-shirt shop; and a number of celebrities, including Justin Timberlake, own apartments in the building next door.
Everyman Espresso has long been one of the crown jewels in Counter Culture Coffee’s roster of fine wholesale partners, and this relationship will be in full flourish at their new space. Brewed coffee will be offered via Fetco, Chemex and Aeropress; espresso service comes courtesy of the La Marzocco Strada MP; grinders are two custom-painted Robur E models from Espresso Parts – “they look like race cars”, according to Mr. Penix. Patrons can expect two espresso choices on offer each day, one suggested with milk, the other only for shots, and the crew at Everyman will be offering custom blends of production roast coffees and single origin espressos.
For more details, Sprudge spoke further with Mr. Lewontin:
We had extraordinary luck getting permits from the city. In contrast to the usual horror stories about weeks- (or sometimes months-) long waits for permitting, we had everything squared away in less than 2 weeks.
The design process has been a really awesome collaboration between Sam P, Jane Kim & myself, with lots of great ideas coming from all sides.
Many of our fixtures are reclaimed. We’re using St. Charles steel cabinets (acquired from Build it Green in Queens,) and our dish sink is a classic 2-bay cast iron number from a brownstone in Park Slope (it took 3 people and the better part of half a day to get it to the space, no thanks to lower Manhattan traffic.)
The idea behind the space is that it be both fun to work in, and fun to spend time in as a customer. We want it to be less like a traditional cafe (sorry: coffee bar!) and more like hanging out in your friend’s awesome kitchen– only with really, really good coffee.
There’s tons of other pics of the Everyman 2 build-out available here, via photographer Julie Robinson’s Flickr feed. Congratulations on the hard work so far, gents, and we can’t wait to visit after you open.
