The Cult of Canyon Coffee Arrives in Brooklyn
When Natasha Pickowicz was looking for locations to host a party for her first cookbook, More Than Cake, she zeroed in on Canyon Coffee’s Echo Park café.
“I was running into scores of people I knew that weren’t even there for the book event — they were just hanging out there because it’s a genuinely relaxing and chill place,”
Co-founders Casey Wojtalewicz and Ally Walsh have managed to build a reputation for vibe curation, even though Canyon operates just one café to complement its national wholesale roasting business. Chappell Roan, Harry Styles, Zoë Kravitz, and Lorde have all been known to stop in, while neighbors meet — as in, for the first time — on line. “We heard from the neighborhood about how much more they felt connected to their literal neighbors,” Wojtalewicz says. “We heard people who said, ‘I never knew my next-door neighbor until you opened here, and now I have dinner with them regularly.’”
That response is part of the reason they’re opening the second café, this one in Prospect Heights. (Opening day is scheduled for March 19.) Transplants are already thrilled. “I miss L.A. coffee shops, where you truly go to slow down instead of refueling on caffeine on the go,” says Mélanie Masarin, the founder of the nonalcoholic-cocktail brand Ghia, who moved to New York last year. “I enjoyed the 25-minute walk up and down a hill to Canyon for a great cup of coffee and a labneh toast on a thick and delicious piece of bread in a sunny corner.”
The toast, the vibes, and the coffee are all here in a bright, airy space designed by Klein Agency that mimics the wood-and-limestone look of the original. A mural, commissioned by painter John Zabawa, depicts a bowl of citrus and apples as a nod to the bounty of both the East and West Coasts. (Canyon serves fresh-squeezed orange juice in Echo Park; here, it’s apple cider.) The pastries will be supplied by Elbow Bread (the bakery’s first-ever wholesale account) and Amanda Perdomo. Brooklyn’s Masha Tea will offer a special café-only blend. The new café will also offer Canyon’s original toast and sandwich menu from chef James Wayman.
For Walsh, who grew up on Long Island, the new café is something of a homecoming: Her mother grew up in Brooklyn, and her siblings still live here. And because the wholesale business already sells to clients here — Levain and Simon Kim’s COTE are among the East Coast customers — they’ve found a receptive audience. “I’m beyond elated to welcome them with open arms in Brooklyn,” says the chef, model, and event planner Tara Thomas.
“The vibes of their Echo Park shop are immaculate. Definitely up there with Zabar’s for me in terms of the quality of the beans and the coffee. I am so excited for them to open it’s not even funny,” writes one user on the sub-Reddit r/ProspectHeights. “Canyon blows every coffee shop in Brooklyn out of the water,” declares another. Alas, if you enjoy coffee and vibes and don’t live near Vanderbilt Avenue, never fear. A second Los Angeles café is already months from opening, and more outposts are potentially slated for New York City and beyond.
