Words and Images by Will Milne
Matt Fisher, one of the owners of West Oak Coffee Bar. Photo provided by West Oak Coffee Bar.
West Oak Coffee Bar is a few months away from being open for business and there's lots about it to be excited about, but we're here to talk about one thing and that one thing is chocolate milk on tap. We went and checked out the the space earlier this week and while there wasn't too much to see yet (aside from an extremely large space filled with some cool old stuff), we did learn quite a few excited things about the coffee shop that have us pretty excited.
Beyond the wood and mural by local artist, Dan Black, that is currently covering the construction going on at West Oak Coffee Bar is a large, two-story space that has a heck of a lot of potential. Anyway, back to the chocolate milk... West Oak Coffee Bar will have many things on tap including craft beers, nitrogenated cold brewed coffee, and most important chocolate milk.
Plans for the front.
When we stopped by the space, located next door to McBride's Pawn, we got the tour from Matt Fisher, one of the owners and a Lantana firefighter. Fisher is excited about West Oak Coffee Bar and hopes to have it open in October of this year. The space will be outfitted with a Linea PB espresso machine, a recent update to La Marzocco's top-of-the-line classic espresso machine. Intelligentsia, headquartered out of Chicago, will be the primary roaster featured, but expect to see lots of local roaster Bookish Coffee's beans abounding the through shop. Bookish roaster, Clay Rozell, is also a partial owner of the space. West Oak is a third wave coffee shop, so expect to see all of your favorite, artisanal brewing methods including the Kalita Wave, V60, and Aeropress at their slow bar. Aside from coffee, beer, and wine for your beverage consumption, there will be a full commercial kitchen cranking out plenty of awesome desserts that we hope to hear more about soon.
As far as the space, itself, goes, the design inspiration for West Oak Coffee bar is actually the very building that envelopes them. The space, which, until recently, was partially used as storage for McBride's Pawn, has seen many businesses come and go through it's doors including a shoe store at one point. West Oak plans to keep as much of the charm of the space as possible during the construction/restoration phase, including part of the original ceiling in a room upstairs and some of the signage from the shoe store. The lighting in the space is all repurposed (save for two fixtures). There will be recessed doors and a nice patio out front where the mural currently resides.
Aside from all this, Fisher plans on turning a portion of the upstairs into a shared workspace of sorts. Featuring a communal table to facilitate meetings/networking and plenty of amenities to make the spot appealing to creatives. With the demise of the almost-open Trade community workspace last year, this could be a potential boon for Dentonites.
There's a lot to make us excited about West Oak Coffee Bar. October better get here pretty damned quick.
