According to a recent permit filing, Yeobo Cafe and Bar aims to debut in Capitol Hill at 2332 E Madison Street.
Yeobo Cafe and Bar will be a 100% gluten-free cafe and bar that aims to debut in early 2025. A Kickstarter campaign from the brains behind the operation, Mars Sohn, has been created to support the new concept.
The Kickstarter page tells us more about the concept, stating, “Yeobo Cafe and Bar is a cafe-space focused on community-building and sharing third culture experiences through food and drink. We cultivate a sense of belonging through our Korean-American comfort food; the spirits on our shelves from BIPOC and queer distributors; and retail shelves featuring artists and creators of diverse backgrounds, identities, and media.”
“Ever since I was young, I have dreamed of opening a diner. For ten years, I envisioned a 50’s-style diner, “Tate’s,” inspired by Pop Tate from the Archie Comics that I was obsessed with growing up. Something about the casual energy, comfort food, and welcoming ambiance spoke to this idea of community I have always craved. However, as I grew up, so did my dream, especially when my body became intolerant to gluten in 2018.”
“On March 12, 2020, I quit my job as the food lead at a local cafe to pursue my dream of becoming a chef. Barely over a week later, Governor Inslee signed the first two-week stay-at-home order. The food industry came to a halt along with the rest of the world. I applied for dozens of jobs but, understandably, no one could hire someone who needed to be trained from the ground up.”
“Through the early months of the pandemic, I still pursued my culinary aspirations, albeit in ways different than I expected. I began by delivering homemade spreads and sauces to friends and family to test recipes. I then moved on to pop-ups at Post Pike Bar and Cafe, where I was hired in 2021 and promoted to kitchen manager soon after.”
“For over a year, I also sold buttermilk biscuits and spreads to Fuel Coffee. And now, after bouncing between various bartending, barista, and cooking positions, I have finally honed in on the direction in which I want to take my own space.”
“One of my mentors once told me, “If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the world, make it.” So, that’s what I’m doing. There are many comfort foods I miss since becoming gluten-free and, while most restaurants have maybe one or two substitutes, 100% gluten-free options are few and far between. While ingesting gluten for some (like myself) may mean a few bad days of discomfort, for others even the slightest cross-contamination leads to an Emergency Room trip.”
“This is where Yeobo Cafe and Bar comes in. Our focus will be not only on creating gluten-free versions of classic American comfort foods such as biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, and eggs benedict, but adding our third culture twist using Korean ingredients and techniques.”
“Our focus will be comfort foods, and our goal is to share our love and excitement for food and drink with our customers. We’ll have equal emphasis on the quality and creativity of our coffee, bar, and food programs. Not only will everything be gluten-free, but we also want to heavily emphasize vegan food, non-alcoholic options, and generally allergen-friendly options.”
“As someone who is gluten intolerant AND allergic to nuts, I understand the frustration of only having one or two accessible options when I go out. We won’t be able to accommodate every dietary request, but we’ll do our very best.”
