A Look Inside Weights + Measures, Soft Open Now in Midtown

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• Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Outdoor patio at Weights + Measures Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Weights + Measures dining room. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Weights + Measures Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Dining room and bar at Weights + Measures. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Love & Squalor Bar inside Weights + Measures. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Love & Squalor Bar inside Weights + Measures Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Weights + Measures Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Kitchen, pantry and dough room inside Weights + Measures. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Curing room at Weights + Measures. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• The espresso bar. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Slow Dough Bake Shop inside Weights + Measures. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography
• Bread from Slow Dough Bake Shop. Jeremy Keas Fine Art & Photography

Once a garage turned print shop, the nearly 5,000-square-foot warehouse at 2808 Caroline was recently reincarnated into a bakery, coffee bar, restaurant and cocktail lounge, otherwise known as Weights + Measures. Soft open since Sunday, the mutli-concept is the brainchild of longtime friends Ian Rosenberg and Mike Sammons (13 celsius, Mongoose versus Cobra), Richard Kaplan (River Café, Brown Paper Chocolates) and Heath Wendell (Slow Dough Bread Co.), all well-regarded for their various strengths within the restaurant and bar industry.

Remnants of past occupants are a distant memory and in its a place, a chic and retro space conceptualized and designed by the Weights + Measures team and friends. Drawing inspiration from the 70's (and touches here and there from the 50's and 60's), the Midtown complex sets up to be a hip yet casual place to eat and imbibe. The color scheme is comprised of muted shades of deep orange, pea green, grey with splashes of yellow. Custom made tables (that also have hidden compartments to hold cell phones and other items) function as dividers, breaking up the open space to define the areas for the espresso bar, dining room, bar and lounge. Retro carpeting also separates the dining room from the coffee bar and lounge areas with concrete flooring throughout. The Love & Squalor cocktail bar and lounge — which has its own entrance and neon-signage to indicate when it's open — maintains the vintage vibe with an eclectic mix of 70's-themed furniture and shag carpeted wall in the lounge, and a custom-built woven brass bar.

Rosenberg notes that the partners wanted Weights + Measures to have a homey feel too, starting with the noticeably bright orange old-school refrigerator next to the curing room. "When you visit a friend's house, the first thing you do is go to the refrigerator to offer your guest something to eat or drink," Rosenberg explained. It's also why the kitchen is fully open as is the service area known as the open pantries where plates and dining utensils are stored. On the dining room floor, a specially designed floor-to-ceiling storage area where housemade pickled fruits and vegetables serve as decorative accents and double as ingredients used in various dishes of the day.

On the opposite end of the restaurant, the encased glass dough room and espresso bar serving Amaya Roasting Company coffee beverages. Through the doors and into the foyer is where Wendell's Slow Dough bake shop resides. Once fully up and running, fresh baked breads, pretzels and doughnuts will be offered at 7 a.m. Currently, Love & Squalor is soft open until December 30 from 4 p.m. to close, serving a full bar menu from Kaplan plus reinterupted 70's classic cocktails from Sammons, general manager and bartender manager. The remaining concepts within the four-in-one restaurant will open at a later date in January.