It being a dry, invigorating morning, we took the scenic route to this new inner NE shop.  We biked first to downtown via the Steel Bridge, then got on the Burnside Bridge heading east to assess the Bridgehead construction projects – just one of our three liked them – before reaching our destination.

Directly across from the two construction projects sits Cup & Bar, in a spare light industrial structure that also houses  Trailhead Coffee’s roaster, Ranger Chocolates’ mixer, and a fleet of bike delivery vehicles.   While the shop doesn’t possess some of the amenities that create a relaxing hangout experience, it is adjacent to ancillary food  activities that are stimulating to be around.

When not being aghast about the Republican Party’s nominating circus, our three’s talk centered on other adventurous unorthodox local entrepreneurs, often in the food field, like Morgan’s Theater: its owner creates/caters unusual desserts, delivers them by bike, and serves them as part of a performance piece; Courier Coffee who started out as a roaster also delivering by bike, and five years ago opened a commercial outlet that’s still in business; and quirky yet high quality food cart operators and pop-ups.

118 NE MLK    cupandbar.com