NYC’s Stone Street Coffee Opens an All-Day Dining and Drinking Den on Melrose This Week

Back in early 2018, the minds behind New York’s acclaimed Bathtub Gin speakeasy announced that a Los Angeles outpost was coming to Melrose, with a similar all-day model called Stone Street Coffee Company. The new transplant restaurant opens Wednesday, June 23, and only blocks away from Pink’s and Bludso’s Bar & Cue.

Just like the New York original, Stone Street opens at 8 a.m. as a daytime cafe serving coffee and dishes. Chef Jerry Zawacki developed dishes like smoked trout potato salad, overnight oats, and a New York-centric bacon, egg, and cheese on a kaiser roll. After 3 p.m., staff will ease into a more casual bar menu with chicken liver mousse, charcuterie, and pan con tomate as options. Sunday brunch is also on deck. Zawacki recently left Washington D.C. after working as pastry chef at Gravitas, and previously worked at New York’s now shuttered Del Posto.

Sydney Brown

Bathtub Gin beverage director Brendan Bartley developed the cocktails, which are also available to-go. Customers can buy a peach negroni or biscotti old fashioned either in-house or in a 50 ml cocktail container that can be poured over ice or refrigerated at home. There’s also frozen bellinis and strawberry margaritas pouring straight from a frozen drink dispenser.

One feature to not miss: a 4,000-square-foot patio in the rear. Owner Dave Oz says live entertainment will be on the books in the coming weeks, along with a Wednesday night comedy night.

Oz recently moved westward to be more involved with the opening process and plans to split time between Los Angeles and New York while working with business partner and actor Joel David Moore, and managing partner Laura Parkening. For now, hours are from 8 a.m. until 1 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday. “I’m excited to showcase what we’ve been doing for 10 years to Angelenos” says Oz. “I want them to try our coffee, and I think we have some of the best cocktails. Also, the weather and open space, I’m excited and looking forward to the change.”

• NYC’s Bathtub Gin Speakeasy Jumps Coasts and Lands Along Melrose [ELA]