Beyú Caffé kicks off public soft opening today

The rain outside doesn't portend a happy day, but it certainly is one for downtown entrepreneur Dorian Bolden, who's been working on his vision for a downtown cafe, bar, restaurant and jazz/music lounge for a couple of years now.

His story's a fascinating one: a young Duke grad who left New York City and a Wall Street job to come back to Durham and open up his dream business. He found a half-million dollars from investors, only to lose it when the markets tanked last fall -- and then re-assembled it from largely local sources, including Talent Capital, the brainchild of Bandwidth.com and DurhamCares key men Henry Kaestner and David Morken.

And after a few months' work renovating the first floor of downtown's Snow Building, Beyú Caffé opened for business this morning, bright and early at 7am.

"Bright" is a good word, by the way, to describe the space -- which is, bar none, an absolutely gorgeous and rich space inside.

Beyú Caffé is currently in a soft opening phase, ahead of its January grand opening. But it's already stretching its legs with the most expansive hours of any business in downtown's city center district: 7am until 11pm, Mondays through Saturdays.

Upon entering, you find a pod with walk-up registers and a barista station on the east side, and a full bar -- featuring Brooklyn Brewery and Dogfish Head craft brews, plus wines and a full liquor set-up -- on the west side.

A full kitchen sits behind, featuring breakfast, lunch and dinner menus; Mary Melie, formerly of Guglhupf, was hired to create the food menu and kitchen plan for the restaurant side of the business.

In the remainder of the space are a few dozen sets of tables and eating areas, from comfortable couches and chairs to booth seating to a little front retreat facing out onto Main Street.

A raised platform sits up in the front, housing a couple of armchairs right now -- and, on performance nights, serving as a stage for jazz music, spoken word, and other performances in the near future.

I'm no restaurant reviewer -- I'll leave that up to the experts at Carpe Durham and the other food blogs -- but I will go out on a limb and note there's few better ways to start a nasty, rainy morning than by having just about the best coffee I've had in years, a latte drink brewed up by Bolden himself this morning.

Free wi-fi is available in the space, as is ample lighting, and a few strategically-placed power outlets along the wall, too. Beyú also succeeds somewhere many other places miss: on lighting, which is diverse and well-suited to the space, perfect for reading, working on a computer, or just hanging out with friends.

Stop by and check out Beyú your next time through downtown.

Comments

[sara]

I plan on checking it out this afternoon! as one of the many office-less self-employed types out there, I'm thrilled that there's another option downtown.

[ChiefJoJo]

Good deal. Downtown needed another option for coffee. I will most definitely check it out soon!

[benee]

i am excited. i have been waiting for a nice jazz lounge to open up in durham. if you were to ask me the one thing that i miss about new york it would be the many jazz joints that are floating around up there. i am looking forward to meeting the beyu'.

[Sarah]

I Beyu'd it today and can't rave enough! Fantastic coffee, welcoming staff, and hip ambiance. Definitely a plus for the downtown scene.

[Seth Vidal]

I went by today after lunch. Coffee-ish drink was good though I was unclear what was in it, ultimately. They also have a full bar which could definitely make long meetings w/folks out at a coffee shop more interesting. :)

I like the interior, lots of different kinds of places to sit down. Open, pretty. They probably need a week or so to sort out all the ordering and what-not but that's normal and to be expected for a bit. I'm glad to see another coffee shop/lighter-fare place in downtown. Hope things work out for them.

[Mollusc]

This place looks great but it would be nice if there were more vegetarian options on the menu.

[Laura]

Just returned from Beyu Cafe, which was pretty busy for a place that just opened two days ago. I ordered a cafe mocha to go and it's delicious. I'm thrilled to have another place to get coffee downtown and look forward to a grilled ham and Gruyere cheese sandwhich!