Ballard will soon be the new home for the cozy dessert and coffee shop B&O Espresso. Owner Jane Lukatah says the landlord plans to bring the building down to make way for a new development, and asked them to move out. They’re moving to 5404 Leary Ave NW, into the old Monette’s Deli location. Their last day on Capitol Hill is on Sunday.
Lukatah says the space they’re moving into is much smaller than their original location, which they’ve been in for 36 years. A little background on the name: B&O isn’t named after the railroad in Monopoly. It actually stands for Belmont and Olive, which is the corner of their old location. Only a third of the staff will make the trek to Ballard, and they’ll scale back their menu. On Capitol Hill, they served three meals a day, but the new location will only offer coffee, desserts and light food options such as quiche, with the possibility of brunch on the weekends.
They’ll start moving everything over this month, and hope to be open sometime in January. Of the move, Lukatah says it’ll be convenient for her, as she lives in Magnolia. “We like Ballard,” she said, and is happy to be opening in the neighborhood.
B&O is the third Capitol Hill business that announced plans to move to Ballard this year. Bauhaus and Twice Sold Tales are coming to the ‘hood; they’ll be setting up shop just a few blocks from B&O at the corner of NW Market St. and 20th Ave NW.
