Pinup Espresso Takes Off With Standalone Cafe In Virginia Seashore

Inside the brand new Pinup Espresso store in Sherwood Lakes, Virginia Seashore, Virginia. All photographs courtesy of Pinup Espresso Co.

Virginia Seashore, Virginia-based espresso roaster Pinup Espresso Co. not too long ago landed its largest mission thus far with the opening of its first standalone cafe, together with a full kitchen.

With roughly 2,500 sq. toes of inside area plus a big lined patio overlooking a lake, the brand new cafe sits inside the Traditions at Sherwood Lakes improvement between the Crimson Mill and Pungo areas, not removed from the house of Pinup founders Stephanie and Bryce Wein.

“We all the time knew we needed to open yet one more cafe in Virginia Seashore, however we weren’t actively looking for this explicit location,” Stephanie Wein not too long ago instructed DCN. “We really found the constructing throughout an peculiar drive dwelling after work and one thing about it instantly felt proper.”

The cafe marks a significant development step for the regionally targeted firm, which the Weins launched in June 2021 whereas each have been nonetheless on lively responsibility within the Navy. Now Navy veterans, the couple opened a brand new manufacturing roastery in 2022 and Pinup’s first cafe contained in the Again Bay Farmhouse in 2024.

Stephanie Wein described the brand new store as a “clean canvas” previous to the buildout. “Constructing from the bottom up gave us alternatives we had by no means had earlier than, nevertheless it additionally launched challenges we hadn’t skilled with our first cafe,” Wein stated, noting that they labored carefully with an architect and contractors to position each plumbing line, ground drain, electrical circuit and water filtration system “earlier than the concrete was poured.”

The completed cafe extends the Pinup model’s themes by brushed steel finishes, polished concrete, a customized World Battle II pinup artwork collage wall and a big schematic wall nodding to each aviation and occasional tools engineering. Customized tables from Virginia Seashore’s Benevolent Design Co. have been constructed utilizing reclaimed wooden salvaged from an 1840s barn.

Among the cafe’s extra distinctive touches got here from mates chipping in after hours, working with the Weins to construct live-edge shelving, accent partitions and a number of other customized fixtures. That work, Wein stated, “allowed us to create particulars that felt uniquely Pinup as an alternative of settling for off-the-shelf options.”

The customized Sherwood bar is provided with a La Marzocco Linea PB 3-group espresso machine, Mahlkönig E65, E80 and EK43 grinders, pourover tools, a Bunn batch brewer and guide matcha units. Bryce, an SCA-certified espresso machine technician who additionally helps keep tools for wholesale prospects, led the set up.

Edited in Tezza with: Brightness, Shadows, & Wildflower

The brand new meals program, in the meantime, is the clearest departure from the corporate’s authentic store. Pinup labored with chef Megan Powers of Silver Fox Meals Truck — previously primarily based in Virginia Seashore and now primarily based in Lengthy Island, New York — to design the kitchen structure, choose tools and form a good menu of fewer than 10 scratch-made gadgets. The menu rotates seasonally.

Examples from the present menu embrace the Signature Pinup Sando (ciabatta with bacon, blue cheese crumbles, tarragon vinaigrette-dressed greens and a sunny-side-up egg), the Caprese Avocado Toast and the Candied Bacon Pimento BLT. Pastries and breads come from fellow Virginia Seashore small enterprise High Knot Artisan Bakery.

With each cafes and the roastery now in flight, Wein stated the corporate isn’t essentially seeking to broaden anytime quickly, though the way forward for the Farmhouse cafe might depend upon what occurs with a proposed redevelopment of the Again Bay Brewing Farmhouse property.

“Proper now, we really love the place we’re,” Wein stated. “Between our wholesale roasting program and our two cafes, every with its personal distinct vibe, we really feel like we’ve constructed the sort of native footprint Pinup Espresso Co. was initially constructed for.”