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

Virginia Seashore, Virginia-based espresso roaster Pinup Espresso Co. just lately landed its largest undertaking up to now 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 growth between the Crimson Mill and Pungo areas, not removed from the house of Pinup founders Stephanie and Bryce Wein.

“We at all times knew we wished to open yet another cafe in Virginia Seashore, however we weren’t actively trying to find this specific location,” Stephanie Wein just lately instructed DCN. “We really found the constructing throughout an bizarre drive house after work and one thing about it instantly felt proper.”

The cafe marks a serious progress step for the regionally centered firm, which the Weins launched in June 2021 whereas each have been nonetheless on lively obligation 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, but it surely additionally launched challenges we hadn’t skilled with our first cafe,” Wein mentioned, noting that they labored intently with an architect and contractors to position each plumbing line, flooring 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 Struggle II pinup artwork collage wall and a big schematic wall nodding to each aviation and low gear engineering. Customized tables from Virginia Seashore’s Benevolent Design Co. have been constructed utilizing reclaimed wooden salvaged from an 1840s barn.

A number of the cafe’s extra distinctive touches got here from buddies 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 mentioned, “allowed us to create particulars that felt uniquely Pinup as a substitute of settling for off-the-shelf options.”

The customized Sherwood bar is supplied with a La Marzocco Linea PB 3-group espresso machine, Mahlkönig E65, E80 and EK43 grinders, pourover gear, a Bunn batch brewer and handbook matcha units. Bryce, an SCA-certified espresso machine technician who additionally helps preserve gear for wholesale clients, 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 based mostly in Virginia Seashore and now based mostly in Lengthy Island, New York — to design the kitchen structure, choose gear and form a good menu of fewer than 10 scratch-made gadgets. The menu rotates seasonally.

Examples from the present menu embody 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 Prime Knot Artisan Bakery.

With each cafes and the roastery now in flight, Wein mentioned the corporate is just not essentially trying to broaden anytime quickly, though the way forward for the Farmhouse cafe might rely upon what occurs with a proposed redevelopment of the Again Bay Brewing Farmhouse property.

“Proper now, we actually love the place we’re,” Wein mentioned. “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.”

Pinup Espresso Sherwood is positioned at 2160 Locksley Arch, Virginia Seashore, VA.

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